Results for gamelan

Soniccouture has announced the release of Bowed Gamelan, the third free instrument in Soniccouture’s Exclusive Content series.

Following a Soniccouture tradition of playing instruments the wrong way, we present this unique library of a Bowed Gamelan instrument. This library is actually made from just one instrument of the gamelan ensemble, the ugal. This is pitched in the middle of the gamelan range, and so is quite versatile and generally leads the gangsa section of a traditional Balinese group. This instrument has 14 keys which cover a range of almost 3 octaves.

The metal Ugal keys were bowed using a standard cello bow, vertically across the thin edge of the metal. Instead of a conventional microphone, a Trance Audio Trance Inducer contact mic was used. This gives the sound an incredibly detailed, surgical scraping quality.

Bowed Gamelan features

• 24 bit 44.1khz Sampling.
• Total of 140 samples. The samples are looped with a bow change included in the loop, for a natural sounding sustain.
• 5 Alternate round robin samples per note.
• Key-off samples.
• Formats: Kontakt, EXS, Ableton Live.

Bowed Gamelan is available as a free download with every 3^rd product purchased since the new Soniccouture site launched in August.

More information: Soniccouture / Bowed Gamelan

Native Instruments has announced the release of Balinese Gamelan, a new Kontakt Player powered instrument in the Discovery Series.

The Discovery Series returns for another cultural exploration, this time heading to Indonesia to delve into the world of the BALINESE GAMELAN. This instrument contains 2 GB of pristine samples from several of the essential instruments that make up Gamelan. Powered by the free KONTAKT PLAYER (and also usable with KONTAKT), this instrument brings to life the rich and complex textures of Gamelan in its exquisitely-sampled classical form, yet also contains many features for tweaking and manipulating the sounds into new directions.

Created by the acclaimed sound-design house Soniccouture, the sound of the Balinese Gamelan can be heard across a wide range of genres and productions styles, from TV and film scores to electronic music compositions, and of course, classical Gamelan compositions.

Balinese Gamelan: Discovery Series is available for purchase from the NI Online Shop for $79 USD / €69 EUR.

More information: Native Instruments / Balinese Gamelan

Some interesting things I found recently:

# A Deal You Can’t Refuse | ryangruss.com

Ryan is about to release Volume II of his subscription based drum loops service, so in the next few days you can get over 200 loops for only $9.95.

As I’m putting the finishing touches on Gruss Loops Volume II, I realized I should make you painfully aware of the sweet deal that currently lays before you. You see, since I’m offering the loop packs as a subscription service, there will be over 200 loops available over the course of the next two days. That’s right. You could sign up now, grab Volume I right now AND Volume II in another 24 hours…. all for the rock bottom price of $9.95. You can even cancel after you nab both of the packs. See if I care (you cheap bastard). I know you’ll be back for more.

# SX-150 synth mod instructions, schematics and code

MrBook did a lovely Arduino hack on the Gakken SX-150, adding MIDI and audio out.

Many people have asked about the instructions and code for the SX-150 mod I did to add MIDI and Audio out, therefore I’m posting the plans for everyone to try. By using the Arduino as the brains of the operation, a lot of other options are available for the mod, really the sky is the limit. If you do any cool hacks to it, by all means, please let me know.

… read more

Soniccouture has released Professional, Composers and Compact Editions of Balinese Gamelan, a sampled instrument for Kontakt (+ Ableton Live 7 and Logic EXS24 for the Compact Edition).

Sampling the unique, magical sound of a Balinese Gamelan is no small undertaking. The 25 instruments that make up The LSO’s Semara Dana Gamelan Ensemble had to be recorded in great detail, as if each were to be a sample library in its own right. Any compromise in the number of velocity layers or the round robin alternate samples could result in the whole living, breathing sound losing realism and dynamic expression.

Balinese Gamelan features

1. Professional Edition
   • 24GB Library – 24Bit 96KHZ Stereo Sampling
   • 25 individual Gamelan Instruments
   • Up to 20 Velocity Layers
   • Over 4000 Samples
   • Multiple Round Robin Layers
   • Original and Concert Pitch Tunings
   • Kontakt 2 + 3 Format
   • Full Colour Booklet + Metal Case
2. Composers Edition — contains all the same instruments, the same number of velocity layers and alternate samples as the Professional Edition, but the samples are at 24bit 48KHz instead of 96Khz and are in Mono instead of Stereo. This reduces the size to 5.7GB of data, and comes on one DVD instead of 3. The full colour booklet is also included (no download version).
3. Compact Edition – download only
   • 2 GB Library – 24Bit 48KHZ Mono Sampling
   • All the essential tuned Gamelan instruments:
     1. Core Instruments (Combination of Gongs, Jegog, Calung, Penyacah)
     2. Gangsa (Combination of Ugal, Pemade, Kantilan)
     3. Kettle Gongs (Combination of Trompong and Reyong)
   • Up to 10 Velocity Layers
   • Over 800 Samples
   • Original and Concert Pitch Tunings
   • Kontakt 2 + 3, Ableton Live 7, Logic EXS24 Format

Check this page for details on these different versions.

Balinese Gamelan is now available for purchase, starting at 49 GBP for the Compact Edition, 99 GBP for the Composers Edition and 199 GBP for the Professional Edition.

Visit Soniccouture for more information and audio demos.

Soniccouture recently released Balinese Gamelan, a 24GB sample library featuring the sounds of a Balinese Gamelan.

So, what is a Gamelan?

A Gamelan is an ensemble of instruments originating from Indonesia. The majority of Gamelan instruments are percussive, and most of these are bronze. They include xylophone-like metallophones of different sizes and pitch, tuned gong chimes, very large pitched gongs, and an assortment of drums and percussion. There are many types of Gamelan ensembles, but the two dominant types are Javanese and Balinese. Balinese Gamelan has a characteristic ’shimmering’ sound which is due to the detuning of paired instruments playing the same musical part.

It seems no two gamelan ensembles are the same. Each instrument in a gamelan is built and tuned to be part of one specific ensemble.

Apart from traditional gamelan music, its sounds can also be found in many film soundtracks (i.e. Akira) and even in modern dance music.

Soniccouture’s Balinese Gamelan features samples of a Semara Dana, built in 2004 by I Made Gabeleran of Blahbatuh, Bali.

… read more

Some interesting things I bookmarked on del.icio.us on March 19th, 2008:

• The Sound of Touch – Instrument for real-time capture and sensitive physical stimulation of sound samples using digital convolution. Our hand-held wand can be used to record sound and then playback the recording by brushing, scraping, striking or otherwise physically manipulating the wand against physical objects. During playback, the recorded sound is continuously filtered by the acoustic interaction of the wand and the material being touched.

A texture kit allows for convenient acoustic exploration of a range of materials.

• the music of sound » FX Recording in Bali with a Zoom H2 Recorder – Sounds of a Gamelan workshop, a traditional fire dance, a New Year’s eve procession and more.
• Key Chain Studio – The man was wrong. You can take it with you and you don't even need to lug a laptop with you.
• Korg’s DS-10 Nintendo DS Instrument is Getting International Release – Tomi from AQI Inc. says they will release DS-10 worldwide.
• Mediamatic.net – Hybrid Toys Workshop – Participants developed prototypes for playful hybrid world applications, focusing on designing physical toys with digital and/or networked components.
• Wii Guitarduino – Jason Leyrer gets his Wii Guitar Hero guitar to talk to an Arduino prototyping board.