Cultural Diversity

Sep 1, 2006 12:00 PM, By Geary Yelton

Quantum Leap Ra

At 13.19 GB, Ra ($995) has the most voluminous content of all the ethnic virtual instruments. Like Ethno World 3 Complete, Ra is based on Kompakt Instrument and features sounds from nearly every civilization on earth (see Fig. 5). Named after the Egyptian god of the sun, Ra descended from a sample library called Rare Instruments, but only a fraction of Ra's content came from that 3-disc collection. Respected sample-meister Nick Phoenix produced Ra for Quantum Leap, a division of EastWest.

Ra divides its content geographically into six main categories: Africa, Americas and Australia, Europe, Far East, India, and Mid East. Within each category are subcategories that divide instruments by type, such as Bowed, Perc, Pluck, and Wind. Each subcategory features individual instruments, and many instruments are further divided into articulations, effects, and elements, enabling you to impart nuance and detail to your performances.

Ra also divides some presets into four types, indicated by their names: Live, Keyswitches, Elements, and Melodies. Live presets are straightforward and easily playable without the need to master keyswitching techniques. Additional articulations in many Live sounds are triggered by higher Velocities; to bend a note, for example, just strike the key harder. Presets with keyswitches are indicated by KS in their names, followed by the range of notes that trigger keyswitching (Koto KS C0-F#0, for example). Because keyswitches are assigned to the lowest octave on an 88-note keyboard, you'll need to transpose your keyboard if it doesn't have 88 notes.

Elements allow you to sequence instruments by assigning each articulation to a different MIDI channel, thus avoiding the need for keyswitching. The Elements subcategory typically provides a submenu with choices such as Slur Up, FX (effects), RR (round-robin), and Leg Vib (legato vibrato). Melodies are melismas, trills, or other embellishments that are characteristic of an instrument; inserting them into a performance can enhance its realism.

Ra makes good use of Kompakt Instrument's programming capabilities, and unlike many other ethnic virtual instruments, it features Velocity layers in every preset. Although filters are generally left open and effects are unassigned, envelopes and other sound-shaping parameters are customized for the individual presets. All of the instruments are tuned to an equal-tempered Western scale. For instruments normally played with alternate tunings, Ra offers custom temperaments in its Microtuning menu. The 14 available tunings, which include Chinese Lu and Shruthi India, are different from the 19 choices you usually find in Kompakt Instrument.

Ra is quite generous in providing plucked instruments ranging from banjo to Vietnamese jaw harp, wind instruments from didgeridoo to zourna, and bowed instruments from sarangi to gadulka (see Web Clip 5). Although plenty of drums and percussion instruments are also available, their proportion is not as great as in the other products in this roundup. Considering that most world-music libraries tend to have more percussion than anything else, this may be welcome news for anyone who owns other ethnic virtual instruments or sample libraries.

Ra comes with a comprehensive 118-page manual in PDF form. It explains the software's basic concepts and describes every instrument in some detail, one region at a time, complete with color photos of instruments and performers. The manual also lists all the presets and explains the keyswitches and elements.

Swar Systems SwarPlug

SwarPlug ($230) is just one of several products made by Swiss developer Swar Systems that focus on the classical and folk music of India. SwarPlug is an instrument plug-in based on LinPlug's CronoX 2. It offers a cross-section of musical sounds representing the entire Indian subcontinent.

Compared with the other software in this roundup, SwarPlug has a very simple user interface (see Fig. 6). A menu lets you select and scroll through presets, and a display shows an image of the selected instrument. The control panel provides knobs for gain, pan, and pitch. You get four knobs to specify pitch; the two Main Pitch knobs handle coarse- and fine-tuning for the primary sound, and if an instrument has a secondary element (the left-hand drum in a pair, for example), the Alt Pitch knobs control the same parameters for that sound. Like the controls, the instruments in SwarPlug are programmed for basic performance, with no Velocity layering or keyswitching.

SwarPlug's 49 presets furnish 40 multisampled instruments that range from banjo and bansuri to udukke and veena, as well as 3 multisampled vocal sets: bols, konnakol, and sargam. Indian musicians learn to use their voices as percussion, a technique that's very important to their musical traditions. Bols are syllables that represent Hindustani (North Indian) rhythmic elements, and konnakol are syllables that represent Carnatic (South Indian) rhythmic elements. Sargam is a type of Hindustani solfège, comparable to Western music's do, re, mi, fa, and so on.

Over half of SwarPlug's presets are hand drums and other percussion instruments. Most of the remaining presets are stringed instruments such as sitar, tanpura, and even acoustic guitar. Also included are shehnai, nadaswaram, two harmoniums, and three bansuris (see Web Clip 6).

SwarPlug is bundled with Swar Librarian, a separate Java application that lets you preview over 1,000 melodic and rhythmic loops and phrases playing SwarPlug instruments in 12 idiomatic musical styles. When you find a loop that's suitable for the music you're composing, you can drag-and-drop it from Swar Librarian into a MIDI track in your sequencing program.

SwarPlug's only documentation is a folded, 4-sided page with basic instructions and a list of instruments. Swar Librarian's documentation is a searchable help file that briefly explains its layout and operation.

Wizoo Darbuka

The instrument plug-in Darbuka ($299.95) gets its name from a goblet-shaped Turkish hand drum that may have been invented earlier than the chair. Darbuka (the software, not the drum) is a virtual Middle Eastern percussion section. Wizoo's unique FlexGroove engine gives you real-time control over timing, arrangement, and other performance parameters. Nearly 2 GB of content comprises time-sliced recordings of live grooves played by master percussionists Suat Borazan and Mohamed Zaki. Darbuka encompasses the music of Turkey, Egypt, Algeria, Lebanon, the Arabian Gulf, and other East Mediterranean and North African cultures. The collection features indigenous instruments such as the bendir, douhola, riqq, and sagat.

On the Play page, Darbuka's unusual but intuitive GUI displays a list of 38 Styles (including 1 user Style) in the Style Selector on its left side (see Fig. 7). Each Style is a complete percussion arrangement with as many as 14 tracks and 61 Patterns, as well as fills, mixes, and various parameters. When you load a Style, graphical images are shown in the Instrument Symbols area, along with tabs that access the Mix page, on which you can adjust parameters such as level, pan, and 3-band EQ for each track. Eight instruments at a time appear, and if necessary, you can scroll to reveal additional tracks. Right-clicking in the Instrument Symbols area (Control + clicking on a Mac) will summon a color illustration and details about the selected instrument. If your computer has sufficient processing power, clicking on the XXL button turns on a playback mode with 32-bit fidelity.

You can display Styles by name, region, tempo, or time signature. Preview any Style either by holding down the Listen button after you select it, or automatically when you select it. Darbuka always locks to the host's tempo when you trigger a pattern, but the pattern plays at its original tempo when you preview it.

At the bottom of the plug-in pane is the Color Keyboard, which responds to mouse-clicks and to corresponding MIDI notes. When you click on a blue key or play a MIDI note below C3, a rhythm groove begins to play; you can assign color keys to any MIDI note. Playing other notes or clicking on other blue keys changes the pattern. Green keys trigger fills, and yellow keys mute individual tracks within the pattern. At the Color Keyboard's right side is an orange End key, which plays an ending when the current measure is complete, and a red Stop key, which ceases playing immediately. To the left, the Latch button enables and disables looping, which is turned on by default. All of Darbuka's controls respond to MIDI CC messages, enhancing its real-time controllability and capacity for sequencer automation.

In addition to keys that trigger patterns, Darbuka provides ample controls for changing percussion arrangements in real time. You can half or double the speed, adjust the timing and quantization, and add swing. High, Mid, and Bass buttons let you selectively mute instruments in those ranges. You can replace certain hits with other hits using the Variance slider. A Complexity slider lets you change a groove's rhythmic density in real time (see Web Clip 7).

To replace or add to existing tracks, Darbuka allows you to copy or click-and-drag tracks from one Style to another. You can even define additional user Styles. The Edit page gives you access to all parts, tracks, and patterns. The PDF manual explains how to use Darbuka to the fullest extent and describes the Styles and instruments it provides.