User manual EAST WEST RA

End User License Agreement Please read the terms of the following audio samples License Agreement before using these audio samples. By opening the packaging and installing these audio samples, you agree to become bound by the terms of the License Agreement. If you do not agree with the terms of the License Agreement, do not open the packaging or use these audio samples. East West Sounds, Inc. ("Licensor") guarantees that all of the samples with these discs have been created and recorded specially for this project, and any similarity to any other recording is unintentional. 1. The audio samples recorded with these discs remain the property of Licensor and are licensed, not sold, to you for use with your sampling software or equipment. 2. A right to use the enclosed sounds is granted to the original end-user of the product (Licensee) and is NOT transferable. 3. The Licensee may modify the sounds. LICENSEE MAY USE THE SOUNDS FOR COMMERCIAL PURPOSES WITHIN MUSICAL COMPOSITIONS. 4. This license expressly forbids resale, re licensing or other distribution of these sounds, either as they exist with these discs, or any modification thereof. You cannot sell, loan, rent, lease, assign, upload to or download from any server, or transfer all or any of the enclosed sounds to another user, or for use in any competitive product. 5. Licensor will not be responsible if the contents of these discs does not fit the particular purpose of the Licensee. If in doubt over usage, please contact East West Sounds, Inc. by fax: (USA) 310-271-6968 or email: licensing@eastwestsounds.com ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. ©2005 EAST WEST SOUNDS, INC. QUANTUM LEAP is a trademark of EAST WEST SOUNDS, INC. Contents: Page 1. Cover Art Page 2. License Agreement Page 3. Contents Page 4-5. Introduction Page 6. Credits Page 7-9. Producer Bios Page 10. Ocean Way Recording Page 11. Using RA Page 12. Microtuning and RA Controllers Page 13. RA Instrument List Page 14-77. Ethnic Encyclopedia Page 78-81. Abreviations Key Page 82-100. Programs List Page 101-117. Keyswitch/Live Articulations Tables Page 118. Cover Art Introduction QUANTUM LEAP RA - RARE AND ETHNIC VIRTUAL INSTRUMENT In ancient Egypt, RA was regarded as the creator of everything, the god of the sun. RA is usually represented with the body of a man and the head of a hawk, holding an ankh & sceptre. The chief location of RA worship was Heliopolis (a Greek word meaning city of the sun). We thought RA would be an appropriate name for the largest, and most comprehensive rare and ethnic virtual instrument ever made. RA was born a few years ago, as a sample library called "Rare Instruments." All of the sounds from Rare Instruments are included in RA, but this only represents approximately one-tenth of the content. We recorded the other ninety percent of RA at Ocean Way studios in Hollywood. Because of the size and complexity of the project, I brought in two talented producers, Pacemaker and Tony Austin to co-produce RA with me. They have worked on other Quantum Leap projects and had some great ideas for RA. We spent time hunting down the best ethnic artists on the West Coast. Los Angeles is so ethnically diverse and blessed with excellent institutions like Cal Arts, it is actually the ideal place to record a rare and ethnic collection. RA is a 14 Gigabyte virtual instrument that covers many typical, and some unusual instruments, from 6 areas of the World 1. Africa 2. Americas and Australia 3. Europe 4. Far East 5. India 6. Middle East and Turkish Empire. So what is so special about RA compared to other ethnic collections? For a start, I think you will really love these sounds for the same reason that Rare Instruments was so popular. Every instrument or ensemble was sampled extensively, so the character of the instrument was preserved. Ethnic (or World) music is all about expression and how the instrument is played. To sample a Turkish wind instrument and not capture the bending, swelling and wavering of the notes is to miss the point completely. We made a big effort to keep things very organized, consistent and intuitive, which is necessary with a collection of this size. Every instrument has many articulations and fx that range from very controlled, to very expressive. This allows you to actually "play" the instrument with authentic results. We also came up with some innovative ideas for achieving realistic legato. We call this QLegatoTM. Introduction Continued.. You will find RA has amazing sound quality. This is the famous Ocean Way sound: an amazing collection of vintage mics and a custom API console. RA was captured with a phase accurate 8-mic setup that gives a complete 3 dimensional image of the instrument. It is this type of sound that takes to artificial or sampled reverb extremely well. The sound is clear and broad. Mics used were Neumann U67 (U47s as alternates), Neuman M50, AKG C12 and Shoepps. Another cool aspect of this virtual instrument is the fact that we recorded ethnic ensembles. This was done with African drums, bagpipes, gamelan and a Middle Eastern string section. The sound of these ensembles cannot be realistically simulated by layering solo instruments. RA was a very expensive project, but well worth the cost. A lot of thought went into selecting instruments that would appeal to composers of all types, from dance music, to film. You might want to put the middle eastern string section in your next pop tune, or the hardanger fiddle in a sweeping romantic score ala LOTR. You might also be surprised at how little percussion is included in this giant ethnic collection. The reason is, we already covered much of this in Quantum Leap Stormdrum. Stormdrum is the ideal companion to RA. The percussion in RA compliments Stormdrum perfectly. You can have a lot of fun with RA. The possibilities are simply endless, especially when you mix the sounds of different cultures together. Load up the middle eastern string section, apply an Indian or Egyptian tuning from the micro-tuning presets and play octaves. Make a really cool groove with the didgeridoo fx and the Vietnamese jaw harp. Take a classical filmscore piece and replace all of the instruments with their ethnic counterparts: strings with middle eastern string section, solo violin or cello with electric baritone violin, hardangerfiddle or erhu, french horn with alpenhorn, flute with dizi, oboe with duduk, percussion with taikos and African percussion, harp with kora, trombones with rag dung etc. etc.... Or perhaps try the hurdy gurdy, hardanger fiddle, washburn guitar, mandolin and the dizi and make an interesting folk ensemble or the gamelan ensemble with the ney flute, duduk and esraj. And dont forget the reverb! Nick Phoenix - Producer QUANTUM LEAP Credits Produced by Nick Phoenix, Tony Austin and Pacemaker Executive Producer: Doug Rogers Engineering and Mastering: Nick Phoenix Editing: Pacemaker, Tony Austin, Jared Selter, Justin Harris, Jonathan Marmor, Arne Schulze, Claudia Phoenix, Nick Phoenix and James Rickabaugh Programming: Pacemaker, Jared Selter, Tony Austin, Justin Harris and Nick Phoenix Graphic Design: Steven Gilmore and Doug Rogers Photography: Claudia Phoenix and Tony Austin PDF Manual by Claudia Phoenix, Nick Phoenix, Doug Rogers, Pacemaker and Tony Austin Special Thanks to Ocean Way and the artists The Complete Line of QUANTUM LEAP VIRTUAL INSTRUMENTS: Hardcore Bass XP RA Stormdrum Symphonic Choirs Symphonic Orchestra Gold Symphonic Orchestra Gold Pro Symphonic Orchestra Platinum Symphonic Orchestra Platinum Pro Symphonic Orchestra Silver Symphonic Orchestra Silver Pro Nick Phoenix Birthplace: London, England Age: 37 Axe: Keyboards Hobbies: Concrete Pool Skating, Playing Grateful Dead Songs on a Yamaha GS-1 and Bush Bashing Nick is responsible for all of the Quantum Leap libraries to date, either as the sole producer or co-producer. The inspiration for these libraries has always come from experience as a composer. QL libraries to date: QL Guitar and bass, QL Brass, QL Rare Instruments, QL Voices of the Apocalypse, QL 56 Strat, QL Stormdrum, QL Hardcore Bass, QL Colossus, QL RA, EWQL Symphonic Orchestra Pro (Silver, Gold and Platinum) and Symphonic Choirs . Nick has scored over 500 film trailers and has recently begun scoring more TV and film. Look for "Nightmare on Elm Street, Real Nightmares" this spring on CBS. He has also begun collaborating with BT on film projects. Tony "digital-t" Austin Birthplace: Los Angeles, California Age: 26 Axe: Drums and computer Hobbies: Walking along quiet beaches contemplating the meaning of life through his urban poetry. Tony Austin began his journey to the digital world of music at the age of seven. It was at this age that Tony came in contact with one of the innovators of music technology Roger Linn (inventor of the Linn Drum and MPC60 Drum machines). Roger Linn facilitated Tonys need to create and guided him through the complex world of midi and digital music production. It was through this experience that Tony Austin eventually realized his passion for composing, arranging, engineering, and producing. Currently Tony co-owns a company, in Los Angeles California, with Pacemaker called Soundwarrior. As a team they have many credits in film/tv composition, sound consulting, and sample library development. Pacemaker Birthplace: N/A Age: N/A Axe: keytar Avocation: Shoegazer Ocean Way Recording, Hollywood, CA, Studio B Custom-built 48 input Ocean Way/API console with GML moving fader automation and separate 24 channel monitor mix inputs returnable to stereo buss. Pro Tools HD. Control Room 15w x 18d x 9h, Main Room 35w x 45d x 24h Using RA Programs in RA fall into 3 categories: 1. Keyswitches 2. Live 3. Elements Keyswitches use keys at the bottom of an 88 key keyboard to switch programs within the keyswitch. The keys used to do the switching are always listed at the end of the program name. EXAMPLE: Washbrn GTR KS C0-D#0.nki Here KS stands for keyswitch, and C0-D#0 means that CO, C#0, D0 and D#0 are used to switch to a different program within this keyswitch program. Keyswitches in RA generally have all of the programs of the instrument wrapped up into one program. This is very useful, because it allows you to have instant access to the entire instrument, and only tie up one midi channel. There is a 17 page document at the end of this manual which describes every detail of all of the keyswitches and Live programs in RA. "Live" programs in RA are simple, very playable programs that generally use the most common and useful articulations of the instrument. They also tend to have cool articulations assigned to the higher velocities. They can be used in live situations, or any time you want something simple and playable, that captures the essence of the instrument. The "Elements" folder contains all of the basic programs of the instrument. It also contains other cool programs like round robin programs. If you dont like using keyswitches, use these. Also look here for FX programs. Notes: The programs in Africa are somewhat basic and do not use keyswitching or live programs. There are also no "Elements" folders, as they are unneccesary. Multis are not used in RA, but of course you can create and save your own multi setups. Micro-tuning in RA Everything in RA has been meticulously tuned to a western, equal-tempered scale. This means that you can use these sounds with any other sounds you have, without any tuning problems. We have also offered a few programs in their un-tuned state as an alternative. These un-tuned versions retain more of the original character of the instrument, but may not mix well in your composition. If this is the case, use the tuned version. It was not possible to offer authentically tuned versions of each instrument, because that is a very complicated task. But we were dedicated to providing a way to easily apply alternate tunings to every program. The Kontakt/Kompakt engine supports micro-tuning, but we found that the NI presets generally did not work for RA, so we programmed our own. This was very difficult, so we concentrated on making a few very usable presets. We may offer more in the future. Please contact Nick at bunschel@aol.com, if you are interested in programming or sharing new micro-tuning presets. RA Micro-tuning Presets: Arabian in C F G.nkp Chinese Lu in B.nkp Chinese Lu in D.nkp Chinese Lu in G.nkp Egyptian in C G.nkp Egyptian in E A.nkp S. Muklund (Indian) In A.nkp S. Muklund (Indian) In D.nkp S. Mukund (Indian) in C.nkp Shruthi (Indian) In A.nkp Shruthi (Indian) in C.nkp Shruthi (Indian) In D.nkp West African in C.nkp Western.nkp Controllers in RA CC0- Volume CC1- Mod-Wheel controls filter CC7- Panning CC11- Expression Please enable CC0 and CC7 in the Kompakt options and restart Kompakt before using RA. RA Instruments Africa African Dual Wooden Shakers (Ewe) African Metal Shakers (Ewe) Atsimevu Axatse Batas Berkete Dejembe Ensemble Ekpiri Ewe Drum Ensemble Ewe Bombshell FromTonFrom Gankokwe Large Gyil Kalimbas Kidi Kora Log Drums Ngoni Udu Americas And Australia 1890 Washburn Guitar American Jaw Harp Banjo Berimbau Cuban Percussion Didjeridoo Dobro First Nations Cedar Flute Mandolin Pan Flute Ukelele Europe Alpenhorn Bag Pipe Ensemble Bass Recorder Frame Drums Gadulka Hardanger Fiddle Highland Pipes Hurdy Gurdy Irish Low Whistle Launeddas Uilleann Pipes Far East Dizi Erhu Gamelan Ensemble Gongs Koto Rag Dung Shakuhachi Shamisen Taiko Drums Vietnamese Jawharp India Bansuri Baritone Violin (Electric) Esraj Sarangi Sitar Tablas Tambura Mid East & Turkish Empire Armenian Duduk Bulgarian Duduk Mid East Fiddle Mid East String Section Ney Flute Oud Qandahar Dumbek Santoor Turkish Duduk Yali Tambur Zourna Bata Origins Bata drums were first introduced in the Yorba Land region, what is now called Southwest Nigeria. They were invented during the reign of King Sango and were considered his royal drum. The Bata drums are mostly played in medium sized ensembles. They were traditionally used for a variety of purposes, including allowing a king to summon people to court, announcing visitors to the king, sending messages such as announcements or warnings to all within hearing range, and most importantly for ritual purposes to speak prayers. Construction The wood Shelled carved Bata is shaped mush like an hourglass. It is meant to be play parallel to the ground, hung from the shoulder of resting on the musicians lap. There are two animal skinned heads on either side of the drum. One is of lower pitch and the other is of higher pitch. Most Batas vary in size. A typical ensemble of Batas will normally consist of small, medium, and large sized drums. Techniques Because of the tonal nature of the Yoruba language, the Batas are typically played to speak certain phrases or passages in the Yoruban tongue. For the purpose of this sample library we have included two basic articulations that are most common to the Bata. The most basic articulation is the Open Tone. This is accomplished by striking the head of the drum with a bare flat hand and letting the sound sustain. When played correctly, the Open Tone produces a sound that is mostly comprised of the fundamental pitch of the drum. The second most common articulation is the Open Slap. This is accomplished by striking the head of the drum with a slightly curved bare hand. When played correctly, this articulation produces a brighter higher pitched sound. Berkete Origins The Berkete, also known as the Gungon, is from the West African country Ghana. It can mostly be found in the central and northern regions of Ghana. The Berkete is usually played in medium sized ensembles and is accompanied by an ensemble of African talking drums. Construction The wood Shelled carved Berkete is shaped like a bass drum and varies in size, mostly 14 inches in diameter. The thin goatskin head is strung with a medium gauge gut string on the outside in order to produce a sustained raspy sound. Techniques There are two basic articulations played on the Berkete. The open hit and the mute hit. Striking the head with a stick while letting the drum fully sustain produces the open hit. The mute hit is produced by striking the drum with a stick while pressing the stick firmly into the head to cut of the sustain of the drum. Djembe Ensemble Origins The Djembe originated from the Mali Empire around the time of the 12th century. The Mali Empire covered an area that encompasses significant portions of the present-day countries of Mali, southern and western Mauritania, Guinea and Senegal. It has been said that the Djembe was invented for King Sunjata Keita and was held as a shine for many years before it was publicly played. Construction The Djembe is carved from wood. It has a shape similar to a whine glass. Presently the drumheads are made from calf, deer, or goat skin. The heads are strung with rope in a very particular pattern around the drum in order to fasten the drum skin to its wooden body. As an option, some Djembe players attach metal fin shaped ornaments to the drum called Ksink-Ksink. These are usually made from tin or aluminum and have metal rings fastened to them. This produces a raspy rattling sound when the drumhead is struck. Techniques For the purpose of this sample library we have included three basic articulations and one extended articulation. The most basic articulation is the Open Tone. The Open Tone is accomplished by striking the drum with a bare flat hand toward the edge of the head while allowing the drum to fully sustain. When played correctly, the Open Tone produces a full, round and fundamental sound. The easiest articulation to play is the Bass Tone. This is accomplished by striking the drum with a flat bare hand in the center of the head while allowing the sound to sustain. This produces a sub harmonic bass sound. The most difficult articulation of the basic three is the Open Slap. This is accomplished by striking the drum towards the edge of the head with a slightly curved hand. When played correctly, this produces a brighter higher pitched sound. We have also included a Grace Note articulation. Many Djembe players use this articulation in order to quietly subdivide or keep time while playing patterns or solos. The Grace Note articulation is accomplished by quietly tapping the tips of the finger on the edge of the drumhead. Ewe Percussion Instruments : Ewe Drum Ensemble , Atsimevu, Kidi, Axatse and Gonkowe Origins These instruments are from the West African country Ghana and are native to the Ewe tribe. The Ewe people mostly use these instruments for cultural ceremonies, rituals and celebrations and are accompanied by an ensemble of dancers and singers. Construction The drums (Atsimevu and Kidi) are constructed of wood, either as one solid carved piece or, as is more common, of wooden slats bound by metal rings. The drum heads are usually made out of a skin of a deer or antelope and are held on the drums by strings attached to a number of tuning pegs. The shaker (Axatse) is made out of a gourd, hollowed out by removing the seeds, and covered with a net of beads or seeds. They look very similar to the shekere but with one noticeable difference, the top of the gourd is not cut off. This is done to give the Axatse a brighter and sharper sound that makes it cut over the loud ensemble of drums that it accompanies. The Bells (Gonkowe) are made from iron hand forged in a distinct traditional shape by blacksmiths. The structure of the Gonkowe consists of a larger low pitch forged iron and a smaller high pitch one permanently stacked together. The larger forged iron bell is considered as the parent and smaller high pitch one is considered the child in the protective bosom of the parent. They look very similar and could even be considered relatives of the agogo bells. Techniques The drums are played by striking the head with a full bare hand and/or a stick. Striking different positions and manipulating the head by damping it with the hand produces a series of pitches, which form the basic vocabulary of the Ewe drums. The Axatse is played by striking it lightly on the thigh and the palm. When struck off of the thigh, a dry rattling sound is produced. When struck with the hand in a clap-like manner, it produces a rattling sound combined with a higher tonal component due to the vibration of the air inside the gourd. The Gonkowe is thought of as a substitute for the human voice and imitates the manner in which the mouth produces speech. It is played with a stick held in one hand and the larger bell resting on the thigh of the performer who usually sits. Frontomfrom Origins The Frontomfrom is from the central region of Ghana. It is mostly played by the Ashanti tribe. Construction The wood shell carved Frontomfrom is a large cylindrical up right standing drum. Typically the Frontomfrom can range from 3 feet to 8 feet high. The head is made from goatskin and it tied by string to a number of tuning peg around the drum. Techniques The Frontomfrom is sruck by an angled stick or by bare hand. There are three basic ways to play the Frontomfrom. The open stick hit, the open hand hit, and the stick mute. The stick is produced by sticking the head of the drum while firmly pressing the stick against the head in order to mute the sustain of the drum. Gyil Origins The gyil is a 14-18 key xylophone played by the Dagara people in Ghana, Burkina Faso, and Cote DIvoire. It is the national instrument of the Lobi and Dagara people . Throughout West Africa, the people believe that its woody sound comes from a vibration of water that physically balances the water in the bodies of humans and animals. Construction The gyils wooden keys resonate over gourds, which each have holes lined with papery spider eggsacks. These vibrating membranes create a buzzing sound, or "spirit," around the melody that is a crucial element in music across Africa. The 14-18 wooden slats are suspended, on a frame, over the gourds. Its sound is like the Western marimba, yet more earthy in character. Gyil music is to the ear as a kaleidoscope looks to the eye - a dazzling matrix of consistent yet ever-changing interlocking elements engaged in dynamic conversation. Techniques South of the Sahara Desert in West Africa there is a long standing tradition of gyil artistry. In the gyil tradition, every rural community has its own style of playing, its own tonality, and its own musical masters. The instrument is played with a pair of large soft mallets or sometimes with sticks.