Some of those groups contain a huge number of subdirectories containing loops and key instruments. The last five groups are Key instruments, Stringed instruments, Woodwind and Brass, World Drums and World percussion. Next is a Gamelan Orchestra directory, then a group called Gongs, Bells and Metals.
There’s Bowed instruments, then Construction sets, which combines melodic instrument loops with some appropriate rhythmical loops that fit well together. Instruments are divided into a few big groups. In any ethno world track those sorts of sounds could sound like just another overlay, but in any other musical genres EW6 can hit like a brick, adding an unexpected and fresh aspect to your production.Įthno World 6 Complete contains both the packs that used to be sold separately – Instruments and Voices – providing 80 new instruments or voices to this united package along with some new menus and controllers. Every such live instrumental or vocal phrase or loop can be a great hook for your arrangement. Some time ago I did a production for a TV station, spending some quality time building the whole song, adding just one vocal phrase as a fill at the last moment, just to glue two different parts, and the lady in charge of that production told me that she really liked the song, especially the vocal part. EW6 is a great collection of exotic real instruments and voices. Adding an ethno voice phrase or some exotic instrument to any of the named productions automatically adds some unique touch to that track, making it a bit special. It is a life-saver for all sorts of Pop, Electro, EDM, Rock, or any similar sort of production. Except for that small issue I’m big fan of this library. We are all masters in minor, major, and the various variations between the two, but I’m aware that some more exotic nations use some scales that are not the same as our standard western scales. It would be nice to get at least numerical info ( I, II minIII etc… ) allowing us to recreate similar melodies with “key” versions of instruments that come as separate presets along with most of the loops and phrases (a normal, playable version of an instrument). There is range info, but nothing about which traditional scale is used inside the loops and phrases. The other thing that I miss is basic scale information for every specific instrument.
I hope Marcel will find time to put that information also on some of the older content that is included with this new version. In the new version I found that even some instruments have key information – not all of them, but still, it’s a good start. Truth be told, most of the vocal phrases had, and still have, key info for loop groups. The new reincarnation of this library brings a new “Info box”. Most of the phrases are monophonic anyway, so all you needed to do was to find one that fit your song, maybe correcting a note or two, and that was it. Actually, no matter that there is no key information for all those loops and phrases, it is a fact that almost all major DAWs have some sort of pitch recognition and correction plug in that allows you to adapt the melody to your needs. Yes, I’m also doing some world music production, but I never use this library for that purpose. From version to version I had grumbled about the same thing, that there was no additional information about the key used in specific phrases and loops, but at the same time, no matter how much I had complained regarding this issue, the Ethno World library remained as one of the most used libraries in my sound arsenal. I can’t remember if I started with Ethno World 3 or 4, upgrading to every new version whenever it appeared. A traditionally big package of ethnic musical sounds becomes even bigger: 80 new instruments and voices from all over the world to enhance your clean digital EDM creations.