Ethno World 4 Professional

ETHNO WORLD 4 PROFESSIONAL is by the renowned film composer Marcel Barsotti. This composer has already won several awards. He has composed music for more than 80 cinema, advertising and television films and his musicians have been placed in the charts several times.

ETHNO WORLD 4 PROFESSIONAL contains more than 200 professionally recorded ethnic instruments and more than 14,000 high quality samples in the following categories:
Bowed instruments, stringed instruments, woodwind and brass, key instruments, bell type instruments, metal type instruments, world drums, world percussion, gongs and bowls, and  the new category of voices.
Therefore, ETHNO WORLD 4 PROFESSIONAL with its 10 gigabytes of samples is one of the most extensive ethnic library in the world.
New in ETHNO WORLD 4 PROFESSIONAL is for instance a complete Morin Khuur string ensemble (Mongolia). It is now possible to create a whole string arrangement with up to 14 key switches, similar to large orchestra libraries.
Many instruments from all continents can be played, for example Saron, Tibetan Bells, Saz, Kantele, Irish Flutes, Military Cassa, Angklung, Egyptian Fiddle, Erhu, Gaohu, Scale Changer Harmonium, Bouzouki, Santoor, Hulusi, Dung Dkar Horns, Cajon, Balafon, Western Fiddle, Monochord, Irish Flutes and the new  Duduk, Dvojacka, Hotchiku, Shakuhachi, Fujara, Ciaramella, Mankosedda, Jews Harp and Launeddas. Originating from India are the well known string instruments Dilruba and Esraj. Unique and for the first time for EW4 are a Mongolian choir, Overtone Singing, and individual female and male voices. Altogether, there are 1400 licks and loops of outstanding quality and playability.
All ETHNO WORLD 4 PROFESSIONAL instruments and voices are played by renowned musicians under the direction of Andreas Hofner and Marcel Barsotti – Egschiglen Ensemble, Sandro Friedrich, Sandro Hussel, Enrique Ugarte, Raoul Alvarellos, Seref Dalyanoglu, Fabian Rőmer, Tom Hake and many more.

ETHNO WORLD 4 PROFESSIONAL, along with the new Kontakt 2 Player, are entering a new dimension with their progressive programming: with EW4 it is now possible for the first time to transpose all instruments and playing styles into any chosen key using the Kontakt Elastic Audio Engine “Time Machine 2”.  All drum and percussion loops can be played in all tempi with the Time Machine II and each individual loop is completely free to be programmed in all parameters. Using the Sample Start Offset it is possible to select the point when a lick starts playing. A Legato Modus is now available for solo instruments – very effective for instance with woodwind. With the Humanize Modus each new note can be given a slightly altered timbre. Microtuning makes possible the greatest diversity of ethnic tunings and tone scales.
With ETHNO WORLD 4 PROFESSIONAL it is now possible to program in an entire orchestra.

Just listen to the Demo!

More infos

User´s Guide
User Interface

Systemrequirements

NI Kontakt Player 2 is included in this product!

Minimum:

• Windows XP/ Vista, Pentium 4/ Athlon, Single 2,8 GHz, Dual Core CPU above 1.6 GHz per core
• Mac OSX 10.4 or above, G5 1 GHz or Intel Core Duo1,66, 1 GB Ram

Optimal:

• Windows XP/ Vista, Pentium 4/ Athlon, Quad Core CPU above 1.8 GHz per core
• Mac OSX 10.4 or above, any Intel Mac G5, 2GB Ram

Free hard drive space - depending on the regarding library content.

You can use this library with the free Kontakt Player 3.5 (or higher) which is compatible to all actual operating systems and interfaces on Mac & PC

Download free Kontakt Player Windows (71MB)
Download free Kontakt Player Mac (144MB)

Note on Support for KONTAKT Player products:
Native Instruments only provides Registration/Activation support for KONTAKT Player products. Technical support is managed by the manufacturer of the respective products/libraries.

Product activation:
An internet connection on any computer is required to authorize / activate the product.

Reviews

ComputerMusic 2/2009
Music Tech Mag. 5/2008
Future Music 12/2005
Music Tech 11/2005

ComputerMusic 2/2009

Weighing in at around the 10GB mark, this isn’t the biggest ROMpler we’ve yet encountered, but it’s certainly one of the most comprehensive within it’s intended range of applications. 200 instruments and kits are on offer, covering ethnic instruments from around the globe. They are divided into 11 instruments categories: bell type, bowed, gongs and bowls, key, metal type, stringed,voices, woodwind and brass, world drums, world percussion and construction sets.

Each of these categories is broken down into subsections for each instrument, each of which may contain one or more patches. Most of these are tuned instruments, which are chromatically-pitched affairs, although it’s possible to configure micro-tuning if you’re after authentic exotic tunings. In addition, the Kontakt Player 2 patches feature performance controls, including humanisation and harmonisation settings, an automation panel with eight assignable controls, group effects with low- and high-pass filters, volume and tuning sections, and individual instrument effects with reverb, delay, EQ compression/saturation and phaser/chorus effects.

The chromatically-tuned patches are great (although some of the notes have a little more expression that you might wish) and the library has plenty of kits made up of licks. These are short but sweet, and you get quite a few, making a great alternative to the chromatic patches, as you get more of an authentic played feel. With multiple licks, you can piece together sequences, though it would have been more convenient had these and the construction sets been included as good-old audio files too. There are also plenty of drum kits that include loops as well as single-hits, and these live up to the same standard as the rest of the patches.

While Ethno World 4 isn’t perfect, and is rather expensive, its high volume of top-quality content makes it a great buy for world music and soundtrack producers.

Rating: 9/10   Review: Ethno World 4 Professional  Computer Music – February 2009 Weighing in at around the 10GB mark, this isn’t the biggest ROMpler we’ve yet encountered, but it’s certainly one of the most comprehensive within it’s intended range of applications. 200 instruments and kits are on offer, covering ethnic instruments from around the globe. They are divided into 11 instruments categories: bell type, bowed, gongs and bowls, key, metal type, stringed,voices, woodwind and brass, world drums, world percussion and construction sets.

Each of these categories is broken down into subsections for each instrument, each of which may contain one or more patches. Most of these are tuned instruments, which are chromatically-pitched affairs, although it’s possible to configure micro-tuning if you’re after authentic exotic tunings. In addition, the Kontakt Player 2 patches feature performance controls, including humanisation and harmonisation settings, an automation panel with eight assignable controls, group effects with low- and high-pass filters, volume and tuning sections, and individual instrument effects with reverb, delay, EQ compression/saturation and phaser/chorus effects.

The chromatically-tuned patches are great (although some of the notes have a little more expression that you might wish) and the library has plenty of kits made up of licks. These are short but sweet, and you get quite a few, making a great alternative to the chromatic patches, as you get more of an authentic played feel. With multiple licks, you can piece together sequences, though it would have been more convenient had these and the construction sets been included as good-old audio files too. There are also plenty of drum kits that include loops as well as single-hits, and these live up to the same standard as the rest of the patches.

While Ethno World 4 isn’t perfect, and is rather expensive, its high volume of top-quality content makes it a great buy for world music and soundtrack producers.

Rating: 9/10  

Music Tech Mag. 5/2008

World music sample libraries are plentiful, but few are quite as diverse as this. Keith Gemmell broadens his horizons…

Our world has shrunk dramatically in the twenty-first century – telecommunications and cheap air travel have seen to that. As a consequence, the demand for ethnic music to accompany the myriad of travelogues and countless other globally inspired media productions is continuously expanding. Small wonder, then, that film composer Marcel Barsotti’s sample library, Ethno World, has grown from a mere 1.4GB of content to 9.5GB in just seven years.

Now called Ethno World 4 Professional, the fourth edition contains more than 200 professionally recorded ethnic instruments and more than 14,000 samples. The GUI has been upgraded too, and is now powered by NI’s ubiquitous Kontakt 2 Player. That means that users can take advantage of the Kontakt 2 audio engine to transpose instruments and playing styles into any chosen key, not possible in EW3.

What’s new?

In addition to the new interface and audio engine there are many new interesting instruments. One is the bowed Morin Khuur, a fretless violin-like affair dating from 12th-century Mongolia. Like most of the instruments it’s supplied as a series of loops in a variety of tempi as well as single notes. Keyswitch articulations (Best Service calls them dimension keys) enable you to select different playing styles on-the-fly. That’s fine, but it’s not always a simple matter to play a melodic line and achieve the required result without further programming. That said, if you go with the flow and use the dimension keys to influence the composition process, unexpected and sometimes inspiring results are quickly obtained. The same goes for the loops, which are great for kick-starting compositions.

Returning to the Mongolian theme: an entire Morin Khuur string ensemble is also available. A first for Ethno World, this makes it possible to create a complete string arrangement with up to nine different key switches, similar to large orchestra libraries. Mongolia features quite heavily in the other new categories, too, notably voices (solo, ensemble, male, female) and world percussion (gongs, bones, drums and Jews harp). Other newbies include a generous helping of woodwinds and brass plus a joochin, which is similar to a European zither.

The sheer number and variety of instruments on offer is mightily impressive – eleven distinct categories with further sub-categories, including two sets of Chinese and Middle Eastern construction kits.

Good player

The sample player has been very well implemented. Each instrument is loaded with a common performance view and parameter set with which you can adjust the offset of start notes in milliseconds and assign controllers other than a keyboard to trigger samples. You can also apply parallel harmonies here. Two freely assignable intervals can be added; convenient for building exotically tuned pads.

Other player views include group effects (volume tuning, filter, envelopes), microtuning (graphical fine-tuning, modes), effects (reverb, modulation, delay, dynamics) and automation. The latter comprises eight slots with dropdown menus for selecting just about any controllable parameter.

If you compose or produce music that encompasses a broad range of world styles, Ethno World 4 Professional could be for you, particularly if you don’t already own many sample libraries. It’s packed with high-quality instruments that can be tweaked to suit your performance style. If you’re not such a good performer, this set also has you covered by providing a vast number of licks and phrases that yield speedy results.

SUMMARY

Why Buy

-High quality samples
-Sheer instrument diversity
-Lots of licks
-Walk on by
-Fairly expensive

Verdict

Quantity and quality:
amazingly diverse set of world instrument samples, licks and phrases plus an easy-to-use, well-implemented interface.

Rating: 9/10

Review: Ethno World 4  Music Tech Magazine – May 2008 World music sample libraries are plentiful, but few are quite as diverse as this. Keith Gemmell broadens his horizons… Our world has shrunk dramatically in the twenty-first century – telecommunications and cheap air travel have seen to that. As a consequence, the demand for ethnic music to accompany the myriad of travelogues and countless other globally inspired media productions is continuously expanding. Small wonder, then, that film composer Marcel Barsotti’s sample library, Ethno World, has grown from a mere 1.4GB of content to 9.5GB in just seven years. Now called Ethno World 4 Professional, the fourth edition contains more than 200 professionally recorded ethnic instruments and more than 14,000 samples. The GUI has been upgraded too, and is now powered by NI’s ubiquitous Kontakt 2 Player. That means that users can take advantage of the Kontakt 2 audio engine to transpose instruments and playing styles into any chosen key, not possible in EW3. What’s new? In addition to the new interface and audio engine there are many new interesting instruments. One is the bowed Morin Khuur, a fretless violin-like affair dating from 12th-century Mongolia. Like most of the instruments it’s supplied as a series of loops in a variety of tempi as well as single notes. Keyswitch articulations (Best Service calls them dimension keys) enable you to select different playing styles on-the-fly. That’s fine, but it’s not always a simple matter to play a melodic line and achieve the required result without further programming. That said, if you go with the flow and use the dimension keys to influence the composition process, unexpected and sometimes inspiring results are quickly obtained. The same goes for the loops, which are great for kick-starting compositions. Returning to the Mongolian theme: an entire Morin Khuur string ensemble is also available. A first for Ethno World, this makes it possible to create a complete string arrangement with up to nine different key switches, similar to large orchestra libraries. Mongolia features quite heavily in the other new categories, too, notably voices (solo, ensemble, male, female) and world percussion (gongs, bones, drums and Jews harp). Other newbies include a generous helping of woodwinds and brass plus a joochin, which is similar to a European zither. The sheer number and variety of instruments on offer is mightily impressive – eleven distinct categories with further sub-categories, including two sets of Chinese and Middle Eastern construction kits. Good player The sample player has been very well implemented. Each instrument is loaded with a common performance view and parameter set with which you can adjust the offset of start notes in milliseconds and assign controllers other than a keyboard to trigger samples. You can also apply parallel harmonies here. Two freely assignable intervals can be added; convenient for building exotically tuned pads. Other player views include group effects (volume tuning, filter, envelopes), microtuning (graphical fine-tuning, modes), effects (reverb, modulation, delay, dynamics) and automation. The latter comprises eight slots with dropdown menus for selecting just about any controllable parameter. If you compose or produce music that encompasses a broad range of world styles, Ethno World 4 Professional could be for you, particularly if you don’t already own many sample libraries. It’s packed with high-quality instruments that can be tweaked to suit your performance style. If you’re not such a good performer, this set also has you covered by providing a vast number of licks and phrases that yield speedy results. SUMMARY Why Buy High quality samples Sheer instrument diversity Lots of licks Walk on by Fairly expensive Verdict Quantity and quality: amazingly diverse set of world instrument samples, licks and phrases plus an easy-to-use, well-implemented interface. Rating: 9/10  

Future Music 12/2005

AS YOU FLICK through the pages of the glossy manual that comes with this collection, it provides a detailed history on all of the instruments included, and from the off it’s hard not to be impressed by the sheer diversity on offer. 

Listing the complete set of instruments contained within Ethno World have would probably take this entire spread, but just as an example you’ve got a good selection of wood shakers, bagpipes, gongs, sitars, flutes, tubular bells… in fact, we’re looking at pretty much every conceivable ‘world’ instrument that you can imagine. During my time on the magazine a fair few of these types of collections have passed through my hands, and each one has been a mixed bag – mainly because there are so many instruments out there that can come under the ‘world music’ umbrella. 

But this is a heavyweight collection – weighing in at a hefty 5GB – and has got the lot. It seems that no expense has been spared in the recording of this one: the depth and tonal quality to each sound is absolutely superb and a cut above most of its competitors. And because the samples themselves are on the large side, it can take a little while to load them when switching between patches, but the sheer quality makes them well worth the wait. 


Review: ETHNO WORLD 3  Future Music, December 2005AS YOU FLICK through the pages of the glossy manual that comes with this collection, it provides a detailed history on all of the instruments included, and from the off it’s hard not to be impressed by the sheer diversity on offer. 

Listing the complete set of instruments contained within Ethno World have would probably take this entire spread, but just as an example you’ve got a good selection of wood shakers, bagpipes, gongs, sitars, flutes, tubular bells… in fact, we’re looking at pretty much every conceivable ‘world’ instrument that you can imagine. During my time on the magazine a fair few of these types of collections have passed through my hands, and each one has been a mixed bag – mainly because there are so many instruments out there that can come under the ‘world music’ umbrella. 

But this is a heavyweight collection – weighing in at a hefty 5GB – and has got the lot. It seems that no expense has been spared in the recording of this one: the depth and tonal quality to each sound is absolutely superb and a cut above most of its competitors. And because the samples themselves are on the large side, it can take a little while to load them when switching between patches, but the sheer quality makes them well worth the wait. 

Music Tech 11/2005

Ethnoworld 3 Complete combines the first two volumes of the Ethnoworld series with 40 new and rare ethnic instruments in a single ROMpler, powered by Native Instruments’ Kompakt Player.

The collection includes more than 170 instruments, complete with a number of different playing techniques that can be accessed using the Dimension keys in Kompakt Player. The instruments have been gathered from across the globe and include some you may not have heard of, such as the grand monochord – a sound box from Germany with 50 strings. 

All of the instruments sound superb, and with careful planning it is possible to achieve a performance that sounds close enough to the original instrument to fool all but the most experienced ears. Many of the instruments include some stock phrases. There aren’t enough of these to make effective use of them in a musical context, but if you aren’t sure how any of the instruments should be used, it’s a good means of trying them out.

There is, of course, still room for expansion. While the library includes a good number of exotic instruments, there are a number of obvious examples that have been left out, such as the Shamisen, one of the most popular Japanese instruments (a Shamisen sample library is available through Discovery Sound and was reviewed in Issue 30. 

A wonderful collection of exotic instruments from around the world. Given that most of us will never get the opportunity to play such a diverse range of instruments, this library is the next best thing.

9/10
MTM RECOMMENDED AWARD  Review: ETHNO WORLD 3 COMPLETE  Music Tech, November 2005

Ethnoworld 3 Complete combines the first two volumes of the Ethnoworld series with 40 new and rare ethnic instruments in a single ROMpler, powered by Native Instruments’ Kompakt Player.

The collection includes more than 170 instruments, complete with a number of different playing techniques that can be accessed using the Dimension keys in Kompakt Player. The instruments have been gathered from across the globe and include some you may not have heard of, such as the grand monochord – a sound box from Germany with 50 strings. 

All of the instruments sound superb, and with careful planning it is possible to achieve a performance that sounds close enough to the original instrument to fool all but the most experienced ears. Many of the instruments include some stock phrases. There aren’t enough of these to make effective use of them in a musical context, but if you aren’t sure how any of the instruments should be used, it’s a good means of trying them out.

There is, of course, still room for expansion. While the library includes a good number of exotic instruments, there are a number of obvious examples that have been left out, such as the Shamisen, one of the most popular Japanese instruments (a Shamisen sample library is available through Discovery Sound and was reviewed in Issue 30. 

A wonderful collection of exotic instruments from around the world. Given that most of us will never get the opportunity to play such a diverse range of instruments, this library is the next best thing.

9/10
MTM RECOMMENDED AWARD