Top 5 Ethnic/World Libraries Available in The Shop

Today we will look at my Top 5 Ethnic/World libraries available in the shop, and how you can use them to make great tracks quickly!

We’ll start off with the Ventus Shakuhachi (Japanese flute) from Impact Soundworks, which is part of the Ventus Ethnic Winds Bundle available in the APD shop. The instruments in this bundle include beautifully sampled wind instruments from all over the world, and include playable instruments with multiple articulations, including smooth legato and various trills, bends, and ornaments to get a true, realistic and human performance out of your melodies. They also include phrases to get beautiful performances instantly.

Next is Koto Nation, again from Impact Soundworks. Since the quick track I wrote had an Asian sound to it, I used the Koto, a plucked instrument from Japan, to add a more lively and energetic feeling to the track. Koto Nation includes not only the Koto, but the Bass Koto and Shamisen as well, and some great effects sampled from the instruments as well. The instruments again are deeply sampled for ultimate realism and include various ornaments such as bends to add variety to your performances. Koto Nation is available in the Impact Soundworks Ethnic Instruments Bundle.

I used Rast Sound’s Ethnocinematc II as an ambient pad to add an atmospheric feeling to the track. While I used it as a pad in this instance, Ethnocinematic 2 has a wide variety of both playable instruments and loops/phrases. The overall sound is processed and synth-like, which presents some unique possibilities.

Next, I used Sonuscore’s Origins Vol. 4: Oud and Qanun. The Origins series is an amazing library which produces rhythmic sequences based on the notes you play, creating beautiful arpeggios and offering a variety of sequences and effects to choose from. You can also turn off the arpeggiator entirely, and use them as playable melodic instruments.

Finally, we have Expeditions by Sample Logic, which is a HUGE rhythmic, sequence/loop based library, focusing on ethnic/world sounds. Offering massive variety and customization, Expeditions is capable of doing both melodic sequences as well as percussive, and you can also get some crazy effects going on and get some wild and bizarre results. This is by far the most complex and deep instrument on the list, and I only use it as a percussive bed in this track, so be sure to check out Expeditions further, as it has a lot to offer that I don’t cover in this quick video.