EastWest Sounds

FAB FOUR is a virtual instrument inspired by the sounds of the Beatles, using the same kind of period instruments and authentic rare EMI recording equipment the Beatles used to create their music.

FAB FOUR sound engineer KEN SCOTT worked on five Beatles albums, including “A Hard Days Night”, “Help”, “Rubber Soul”, “Magical Mystery Tour” (engineer), and “The Beatles” (engineer) – also known as the “White Album”. Drummer DENNY SEIWELL and Guitarist LAURENCE JUBER were both members of Paul McCartney and Wings.

“The Beatles had a profound impact on me, as they did for millions of others” said FAB FOUR producer DOUG ROGERS, “and they were the initial influence for my fascination with sounds. They were creative geniuses that never rested on their laurels, always producing exciting new music and sounds with each new record, much of it ground-breaking! Putting this project together took well over a year of research, equipment procurement (much of it from collectors), and putting together a team that could pull off such a feat; but it was a labor of love for us all, and we feel the result is truly worth it.”

No expense was spared finding the same kind of period instruments and rare authentic EMI and other recording equipment the Beatles used to create their sounds to produce this collection, much of which, ironically, will end up in EASTWEST Studios, where the Beach Boys “Pet Sounds” was recorded, the inspiration for the Beatles “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” album, according to Paul McCartney.

Well over a million dollars worth of instruments, amplifiers, microphones, recording desks (including very rare EMI REDD tube and TG12345 desks), outboard equipment (including Fairchild limiters and EMI RS124 modified Altec compressors), and Studer J-37 tube multi-tracks were used in this production. If you are a film/tv/game composer, or a musician/producer looking for sounds not found in other collections, this is it. Blending these unique and sometimes bizarre sounds with today’s music should enable you to produce something truly fab!

Quick Facts

• Produced by DOUG ROGERS
• Engineered by KEN SCOTT (Beatles/David Bowie/Elton John/Supertramp etc.)
• Includes authentic rare period guitars (acoustic and electric), basses, drums, keyboards, stringed and other misc instruments
• The same kind of microphones were used to record all instruments (Neumann/AKG/Cole/STC)
• The same kind of period amplifiers – Fender Tan Showman (1963), Fender Bassman (1963), Vox AC30 (1963), Vox AC50 (1965), Vox Defiant (1966), Vox 730 (1966), Vox 7120 (1966), Fender Showman (1967), Fender DeLuxe (1967) – were used with the electric guitars
• The same kind of recording desks and preamps, including a very rare EMI REDD tube desk, EMI TG12345 desk (the same kind of desk used to record “Abbey Road” and Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon”), and EMI REDD47 preamps, were used to record all instruments
• The same kind of limiters (Fairchild) and compressors (rare EMI RS124 modified Altec) were used for dynamics control
• The same kind of Studer J-37 tube 4-track was used to record everything

Instruments

• Guitars (some costing over $200,000 each) played by LAURENCE JUBER (Paul McCartney and Wings) include Gretsch Firebird (1959), Gretsch Tennessean (1963), Rickenbacker 360-12 (1965), Martin D-28 (1966), Fender Stratocaster (1956), Epiphone Casino (1965), Fender Telecaster (1951), Gibson SG (1960), Les Paul Goldtop (1957), Gibson J200 (1966), Hofner 500 Bass (1963) and Rickenbacker 4001S Bass (1964).
• Guitars were sampled with up and down strokes, multiple velocities and picking styles, some with chords and effects
• Most of the sounds would be impossible to create without all of the above equipment. For example, the “revostortion” guitar sound was created by feeding a Epiphone Casino guitar into one EMI REDD 47 preamp, and the output into a second EMI REDD 47 preamp, which is exactly how it was created originally by the EMI/Abbey Road engineers
• Drums played by DENNY SEIWELL (Paul McCartney and Wings) include a rare 1960 Ludwig downbeat kit with Zildjian cymbals (snare 5 x 14/toms 9 x 13/16 x 16/kick 22 x 14/zildjan 20″ crash ride/18″ crash medium/14″ Hi-Hat)
• Drums are all multi-sampled with up to 16 velocity layers, left and right hand. The sounds were all matched to a particular style (e.g. A Day in the Drums, Ticket to Drums, Yer Drums). We even recorded some heavily modulated cymbals through a Fairchild limiter for authenticity
• Keyboards include Baldwin Electric Harpsichord (Because I’m a Harpsichord), Clavioline (Baby I’m a Clavioline), Lucy in the Lowery, Strawberry Flutes, We Can Work a Harmonium, and other stringed instruments including Swarmandel Forever

Effects

• FAB FOUR includes a software version of ADT (artificial double tracking) with built-in tape simulator, created and programmed specially for this project. The software includes the smoothest filters you’ll ever hear, delay, and multiple high quality reverb choices.

(Please note: this product is not affiliated with, or endorsed by the beatles or apple corps, ltd.)

A Legendary Collection

Pianos was created with a singular goal: to fully capture every sonic detail possible from 4 of the most sought-after grand pianos in the world by any means necessary. With 3 individual mic positions, 8 separate articulations, and up to 18 velocities per note for each articulation, the detail and stereo image of every piano is highly customizable to your exact performance and mixing needs out of the box. You can easily mix multiple mic positions and simulate the damping effects of a real grand piano lid for each instrument, giving you full performance flexibility.

Unparalleled Realism

Listen to any of the audio demos of Pianos, and you’ll find it difficult to believe the performances weren’t recorded live in a concert hall. Every piano (Steinway, Bösendorfer, Bechstein and Yamaha) has enough fine detail to suit everything from quiet, subdued passages to virtuoso performances–and you can push their dynamic range as hard as you need to, effortlessly jumping between pianissimo and fortissimo as desired. Pianos seamlessly transitions between 7 different articulations: sustain, sustain with pedal, repetitions, repetitions with pedal, soft pedal, soft pedal with sustain pedal, and staccato, with individual release trails.

Steinway D: Bright, regal and elegant. The Steinway D captures the full sound of the concert hall and grows into a space larger than life. While capable of gracefully handling soft passages, this piano shines in broad, virtuosic passages. In the hands of a composer, it’s an excellent way to bring one of the world’s most famous pianos into your own studio; in the hands of a skilled performer, it’s a highly powerful weapon in your arsenal.

Bosendorfer 290: Far mellower than the Steinway D, the Bosendorfer 290 excels in both light & bouncy and legato & sustained passages. Rather than aspiring to the grandeur of its brighter rival, it prides itself on buttery smooth performances. When you engage the sustain pedal, this smoothness increases tenfold and lends this Bosendorfer the power and richness of an entire orchestra.

Bechstein 280: The clear winner in clear detail and note separation. Whereas the other instruments in Pianos excel in creating a larger-than-life acoustic tapestry, the Bechstein 280 is perfectly content to offer precise harmonic separation between every note. Each note is slightly thinner than the other pianos, which affords you the ability to perform incredibly complex passages and still hear each individual note, no matter how large your chord stacks are.

Yamaha C7: With a beautiful mid-range and a light twinkle in the high end, the Yamaha C7 is an excellent choice for blues and folksy music, especially old American classics. It offers a unique blend of smoothness and character that practically beg you to throw in a few jazzy ornaments here and there. While perfectly suitable for orchestral writing, this piano shines in genres like stride and ragtime.

Features

• Featuring the Bechstein D-280, Steinway D, Bösendorfer 290, and Yamaha C7
• Created by award-winning sounds producers Doug Rogers and Nick Phoenix
• Includes the same impulse responses used to record Symphonic Orchestra and Symphonic Choirs, allowing all 3 to blend easily and seamlessly
• Close mic recordings engineered by Ken Scott (Elton John, Supertramp, David Bowie, The Beatles)
• Recorded in a specially-prepared piano environment with vintage Neumann microphones, Meitner AD converters and a classic 8078 Neve console
• Load only the mic positions you want into memory (each piano contains roughly 60 GBs of samples)

Masters of the silk road

Effortlessly pull your listeners into the ancient world of your choosing. Produced by award-winning sounds producers Doug Rogers and Nick Phoenix, Silk features a large collection of world instruments from the lands of the Silk Road: China, India, and Persia. These bowed, plucked, and wind instruments were performed by master instrumentalists who have spent years perfecting their craft and were recorded using vintage Neumann microphones at legendary EastWest Studios. Using SILK’s broad range of articulations, live-recorded legato and full phrases, you can quickly create an ensemble that sounds like it was recorded in a time and place far removed from our own.

Unique, authentic performances

This collection of instruments enables you to create subtle changes to the musical scale, carefully tailored to each instrument. Not only does this make your mockups sound far more authentic, but as producer Nick Phoenix says, “Silk is revolutionary in that the microtuning and scales actually teach users how to employ these sounds in an authentic way.” Because Silk includes multiple recordings for every single note, including individually captured legato transitions, you’ll be able to quickly create convincing performances with minimal CC automation. However, you can also automate subtle aspects of the performance such as portamento time. We made sure every instrument captures the most expressive performances possible from each musician. To further extend the amount of variation on each note, SILK uses a script which selects one or more of three randomly selected options to keep the sound a little different on each repetition:

• Using the sample for a nearby note (for example, a half step higher or lower) and retuning it to the needed pitch.
• Starting the note a tiny amount before or after the specified start time.
• And detuning the sample a few cents (hundredths of a semitone) higher or lower.

Instruments from China

The haunting lament of the erhu. The gentle raindrop-like plucks of the pipa. The playful call of the dizi. Within moments, you have an entire ensemble of Chinese instruments ready to be performed. As the most extensive section in Silk, these Chinese instruments allow you to weave a beautiful tapestry of the Far East into your music.

Erhu

The erhu is a two-stringed bowed musical instrument, sometimes known in the Western world as the Chinese violin. Dating back to the Tang Dynasty (618 – 907), it is the most popular of the huqin family of traditional browed instruments and is used as solo instrument as well as in small ensembles and large orchestras.

Dizi

The dizi is a Chinese transverse flute made of bamboo, widely used in many genres of folk music, as well as Chinese opera and the modern Chinese orchestra. Traditionally, the dizi has been popular among the common people of China, partly because it is simple to make and easy to carry. Includes large and small versions.

Guzheng

The guzheng is a plucked string instrument that is part of the zither family. It is one of the most ancient Chinese musical instruments with a more than 2,500-year history and is considered one of the main chamber and solo instruments of Chinese traditional music.

Jinghu

Principally used as an accompanying instrument for the Beijing opera, the jinghu is another important two-stringed fiddle in the huqin family. It was developed in the Qing dynasty (around 1790). The pitch of this instrument is the highest among all instruments in the huqin family.

Bawu

Although shaped like a flute, the bawu is actually free single-reed wind instrument played horizontally. Originating from the Yunan province of southwest China, the Bawu has become a standard instrument throughout the country and is often featured in film scores and popular music recordings.

Suona

The suona is a double-reeded horn with a conical wooden body, similar to that of the European oboe. It is an important instrument in the folk music of northern China, where it has long been used for outdoor festivals, military parades, wedding and funeral processions.

Pipa

Sometimes known as the Chinese lute, the pipa is a four-stringed plucked instrument with a pair-shaped body. It’s one of the most popular Chinese instruments and has been played for almost two thousand years, originating in the Han dynasty.

Sheng

The sheng is a mouth-blown free reed wind instrument consisting of vertical pipes, It is a polyphonic instrument, often used as a solo instrument or as an accompaniment for suona or dizi performances. Dating back to 1100 BCE, the sheng is one of oldest Chinese instruments.

Xiao

The xiao is a Chinese vertical end-blown flute. It is generally made of dark brown bamboo. It is a very ancient instrument usually thought to have developed from a simple end- blown flute used by the Qiang people of Southwest China.

Yangqin

The yangqin is a dulcimer played with bamboo mallets. It produces a high and tinkling timbre in its top registers, a soft, beautiful tone in the middle, and a strong, rich sound in the lower. It is a rather new instrument by Chinese standards, first arriving from the Middle East at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644).

Zhonghu

If we call the erhu the Chinese violin, the zhonghu is then the Chinese viola, where zhong means “middle.” It was developed from the erhu in the 1940s. Both the structure and performing skill of these two kinds of huqin are very similar, but the zhonghu has a deeper-sounding timbre.

Instruments from India

From the unmistakable sound of the tanpura to the lyrical melodies of the dilruba, Silk allows you access a tremendous range of sounds from multiple iconic instruments of India. Whether you’re looking to create a raga or take advantage of Silk’s microtonal instruments, you have all the tools you need right here.

Bansuri

The bansuri is a common Indian flute with six or seven holes, typically made from bamboo or reed. It has been depicted in ancient Buddhist, Hindu, and Jain temples and is used in traditional folk music, although today it is found in Hindustani music and films.

Dilruba

The dilruba is bowed instrument, a cross between the sitar and sarangi. It is extremely close to the esraj and the mayuri vina. It was created over 300 years ago, although it was popularized in the west in the 1960 by acts like The Beatles in their psychedelic phrase.

Sarod

The sarod is a stringed musical instrument, used mainly in Indian classical music. Along with the sitar, it’s the most popular and prominent instruments in Hindustani (north Indian) classical music. The sarod is known for a deep, weighty, introspective sound (in contrast to the sweet, rich texture of the sitar).

Tanpura

The tanpura is a drone instrument. It resembles a sitar except that it has no frets. The name “tanpura” is common in the north, but in south India it is called “tambura.” The tanpura is known for its very rich sound and is a favorite of Hindustani musicians.

Instruments of Persia

Using Silk’s deeply sampled collection of ancient instruments from the Persian Empire, you can evoke the atmosphere of an ancient bazaar or even a sprawling desert with rolling sand dunes. Featuring such instruments as the duduk and qanun, the realism of these samples is unparalleled.

Duduk

The duduk is a double-reed instrument with ancient origins, said to be from 1500 to 3000 years old. Armenian duduks are mainly made from aged apricot wood. In modern times, duduk music has been used in a number of films, such as 2000’s Academy Award Best Picture winner Gladiator.

Electric Cello

The electric cello is a type of cello that relies on electronic amplification to produce sound. Many electric cellos have bodies modeled after acoustic cellos, while others abandon the design completely, opting for a totally new body shape. It’s popular in modern day Middle Eastern music.

Kemenche

A kemenche is a bottle-shaped, 3-stringed type of from the Black Sea region of Asia Minor. In Greece and the Pontian Greek diaspora, it is known as “kementzes” and in the last few decades as “lyra.”

Nay Flute

The nay is an end-blown flute that figures prominently in Persian, Turkish and Arabic music. In some of these musical traditions, it is the only wind instrument used. It is a very ancient instrument, with depictions of nay players appearing in wall paintings in the Egyptian pyramids.

Qanun

The qanun is a string, zither instrument played either solo or as part of an ensemble, in much of the Middle East. It is thought to trace its origins to Ancient Greece, or even to the earlier Minoan or Mycenaean times between 3000 and 1600 BCE.

30 Piece String Section

European strings were first introduced to the Middle East during Napoleon’s failed attempt at capturing Egypt in 1798. Featuring a different tuning style, characteristic performance techniques are very decorative with melismas, slurs and slides, trills, wider vibrato, and double stops.

Tar

The tar is a long-necked instrument with a pronounced waist. The word “tar” itself means “string” in Farsi. One of the most important instrument in Persian classical music, it has also been adapted into the cultures of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, and the Caucasus.

Features:

• Incredibly detailed Silk Road instruments from China, India, and Persia, part of the most ambitious world instrument collection ever created
• Created by award-winning sounds producers Doug Rogers and Nick Phoenix
• 25 GB instrument: 20 GB’s of multi-samples and 5 GB’s of authentic performances
• Recorded legato intervals for erhu, zhonghu, jinghu, electric cello, kemenche, duduk, 30-piece string section, dilruba, bansuri
• Master musicians recorded at EastWest Studios, using vintage Neumann microphones, Neve consoles and Meitner converters
• Now included in OPUS, along with individual downloads, custom keyswitches, and dozens of MIDI Tools and Mixer Effects

Kick Your Tracks Into High Gear

EastWest ProDrummer Volume 2 fortifies your drum arsenal with 40 Gigs of killer drum kits and MIDI drum grooves played by Matt Chamberlain of Peter Gabriel, Springsteen, and Pearl Jam fame. Produced by Grammy-winning engineer/producer Joe Chiccarelli and EastWest’s own Doug Rogers, ProDrummer Volume 2 was recorded in three different, great-sounding rooms with select equipment from Ludwig, Slingerland, Tama, Gretsch, Zildjian and more, using top-quality mics and recording gear. The plug-in gives you numerous sound-shaping options. Each drum sports its own channel with complete processing and routing. There are also ready-to-deploy drum kits pre-mixed by the experts. Take it from Sweetwater – EastWest ProDrummer Volume 2 will seriously up your drum game.

EastWest ProDrummer Volume 2 Features:

• 40GB of killer drum kits for immediate deployment
• Includes more than 14,000 MIDI drum grooves in a variety of styles
• Produced by Grammy-winning engineer/producer Joe Chiccarelli and EastWest’s Doug Rogers
• Groove Search Engine helps you find the right grooves fast
• Built-in Velocity Processor lets you control the dynamic power of your drums
• Onboard effects include:
• Solid State Logic EQ, Dynamics and Stereo Bus Compressor
• Ohmicide multiband distortion, compression, EQ and filter
• Transient Shaper
• Transient Shaper
• Amp Simulator with 80 presets
• Expanded Convolution Reverb
• Free iLok account required (hardware dongle not required)

A World of Cinematic Inspiration

Jam-packed with 645 instruments, EastWest’s Forbidden Planet contains 54GB of analog samples that span the full gamut of genres. Powered by EW’s Opus engine, this soft synth boasts a revolutionary hybrid design that melds electronic synth layers with orchestral, world instruments, choral samples, sound effects, and more. What’s more, you can manipulate, process, and combine these cinematic-tinged sounds in an intuitive — and inspiring — way to craft a sonic palette with a decidedly futuristic character. And everything was meticulously captured with state-of-the-art studio gear, yielding you the fattest analog-flavored synth textures on the planet. Forbidden Planet is divided into multiple categories, such as Arpeggiator, Bass, Drones, FX, Leads, Pads, and Polysynths, arming you with everything you need to embark on the ultimate hybrid synth odyssey.

Provides intuitive sonic control

Despite its undeniable sonic flexibility, gaining control of Forbidden Planet is surprisingly intuitive. Its central X/Y pad makes crossfading between sound sources and filter settings a piece of cake — creating morphing hybrid sounds has never been easier! You can dynamically capture broad, but smooth, shifts in both timbre and frequency content. Move left or right to change the blend between two contrasting sources, gleaned from analog, acoustic, synthetic, and large-scale cinematic sounds. Moving vertically controls the soft synth’s filter frequency, which is ideal for creating sweeping gestures. Bending Forbidden Planet to your will is easy, and above all, it’s an inspiring creative experience.

Pop the hood for even more creative options

EastWest’s Forbidden Planet isn’t limited to an X/Y pad. If you pull up the plug-in’s filter section, you can take full control of the synth’s modulation depth. You can add an ADSR-style envelope onto the filter cutoff with the Mod Envelope, automating its movement with each note, while the Step LFO section generates a gated rhythm as the built-in step sequencer modulates the filter cutoff frequency. This, of course, leaves you free to grab hold of Forbidden Planet’s X/Y pad to build progressive textures and drones to set the tone of whatever atmosphere your imagination prompts you to create.

Contains an array of oft-used categories

To keep things intuitive, the instruments in Forbidden Planet are divided into multiple categories. Arpeggiator includes a dual arpeggio structure, enabling unique rhythmic combinations across both layers. Bass surpasses typical, run-of-the-mill analog bass emulations with layered FX pedal tones, contrasting crossfades, and gritty overtone. Drones are mechanical, organic, and environmental, supplying access to a vast universe of atmospheres. FX is a collection of effects derived from voices, acoustic instruments, and an entire stable of synthesized sources. Leads go way beyond pure sawtooth and square leads, providing you with a means of creating organic, adaptive leads that really pop. Pads employ Forbidden Planet’s X/Y pad to sculpt warm, ambient, or gritty pads, then morph between cinematic textures with zero effort. Polysynth is a collection of presets that don’t fit neatly into any one category.

Features

• Cinematic synth plug-in with 645 instruments
• Contains 54GB of analog samples that span the full gamut of genres
• Meticulously captured with state-of-the-art studio gear
• Powered by EW’s powerful Opus engine
• Melds electronic synth layers with orchestral, world instruments, choral samples, sound effects, and more
• Divided into multiple categories, such as Arpeggiator, Bass, Drones, FX, Leads, Pads, and Polysynths
• Central X/Y pad makes crossfading between sound sources and filter settings a piece of cake
• Pulling up the plug-in’s filter section allows you to take full control of the synth’s modulation depth and more
• Dual arpeggiators enable you to create staccato and legato patterns, with portamento and more

The Most Extensive Percussion Library For The Big Screen

Featuring huge cinematic drums and percussion from around the world, you won’t find a collection as complete as Stormdrum 3. Designed for film and game composers looking to create bombastic and thunderous percussion, Stormdrum 3 delivers more power than you could ever ask for. And even when you want subtle, tame, more ambient drums and metal hits, it places all of this and more in your arsenal.

Drums From The World Over

The true potency of Stormdrum 3 is that it enables you to craft a fantastic musical story of any culture, any era, in any context. A documentary of the Amazon rainforest would be incomplete without deep tribal drums, and an intense sci-fi thriller featuring a heart-pounding speeder chase wouldn’t be the same without futuristic, designed auxiliary percussion. Stormdrum 3 gives you vivid realism, clean recordings, and maximum strike on every hit. We put all of our focus entirely on designing the perfect tool to architect cinematic experiences on command. Whenever your stream of ideas begins to dry up and you begin forcing yourself to continue composing, Stormdrum 3 will jumpstart your inspiration with a bang.

Mickey Heart: Mickey Hart (of The Grateful Dead) brought his private collection to Studio 1, in tandem with the Remo company. The producers recorded an arsenal of drums, woods and metals hand-selected by one of the world’s greatest percussionists over his career. “In SD3, our focus was to capture Mickey’s unrivaled percussion collection in the best possible multi-sampled way. It is very flexible. And note that even the close mix comprises the input from 8 microphones. This virtual instrument is his legacy, and mine as well,” says producer Nick Phoenix.

Taiko Family: The Holy Grail of taiko samples, these instruments were recorded from taiko drums in the collections of Mickey Hart, Remo, and the top taiko builders in Japan. Boasting individual hits as well as full ensemble strikes, Stormdrum 3 gives you the best source material possible to add a realistic taiko ensemble to your music.

Big Drums: Large, deep, and booming, this collection comprises the heavy backbone of Stormdrum 3, not including taikos. With names like The Beast, Lord Of Toms, and Dragon Ensemble, you should get a sense of the raw power in Mickey’s one-of-a-kind drum collection.

Gong Clocks Waterphone: Mechanical and detailed, this is the perfection collection for you if you enjoy adding subtle, barely-noticeable layers that your music. One of the coolest highlights is a set of recordings from 6 antique clock shops, perfect for creating complex rhythms without cluttering your percussion section.

Metals: You get access to the many bells, deep bowls, chimes, and cymbals collected by Mickey on his world travels. This unique collection includes everything from handmade doorstop drums and hammered copper pots to the Brazilian berimbau, played on a metal wire. If you like using a lot of auxiliary or “odd” percussion, this collection alone makes Stormdrum 3 an excellent investment.

Shakers: An assortment of uncommon objects: ganza, rainsticks, snake rattles, seed pods, and even deer hooves from Mickey’s private collection.

Small Drums: The classics: bongos, frame drums, tambourines. The slightly more obscure: tablas, madal, and many more. Clean performances across all instruments, captured by microphones that allow the most brilliant high-end details to shine through. These may be the most fun collection of all to play.

Woods: Unusual wooden percussion from all over the world, including: unpitched wooden resonators to the chromatic gourd marimba and balaphone, the mighty gourd drum, a playable 12 ft. long redwood tree branch, and scraped Thailand frogs.

Microphones: Stormdrum 3 was recorded in Studio One, the same location as Hollywood Orchestra, allowing them to blend seamlessly in a single mix. The library includes 5 microphone positions, including: Close (set of 8 Neumanns and Sennheisers), Mid (mid tree, 15 ft), HiFi (super-clean and modern, 15 ft), Main (Neumann M50 Decca tree, 20-25 ft), and Vintage (RCA ribbons, 25 ft). You can blend these different tones and positions as you choose into a single composite sound.

Features

• Electronic Musician Editor’s Choice Award Winner
• Created by award-winning sounds producers Doug Rogers and Nick Phoenix
• Tempo synced percussion performances played by master percussionists Mickey Hart, Greg Ellis and Chalo Eduardo
• Features the best instruments from the private collections of Mickey Hart and Remo
• Now included in OPUS, along with individual downloads, custom controls, and dozens of MIDI Tools and Mixer Effects
• Mixer Effects Include: SSL EQ and Dynamics Channel Strip, Transient Shaper, SSL’s legendary Stereo Bus Compressor, and upgraded “true stereo” reverb

The definitive rare and unique world instrument collection

Unearth these rare and beautiful instruments from ancient lands around the world. Produced by award-winning producers Doug Rogers and Nick Phoenix, RA features a massive collection of world instruments from Africa, Europe, the Middle East and Turkish Empire, India, the Fast East, the Americas and Australia. RA was created to preserve and recreate instruments from across the world in pristine detail, and offers you the opportunity to either exert control or allow each carefully-recorded phrase to play out naturally.

Authentic sounds and performances

If you’re looking to add authentic sounds from across the world to your next film/video game score or simply weave an elegant and eclectic tapestry into your music, RA was designed specifically with you in mind. “With world instruments, the key to authenticity of sound is expression,” says producer Nick Phoenix, “Now with RA’s built-in sensing technology that monitors a player’s style and adjusts the software and sounds accordingly, users will experience a level of detail that was lacking in other products in the market, making their projects come to life with range and emotion.” Captured with a phase-accurate 8-mic setup (Neumann U67, U47, M50, AKG C12 and Shoepps), RA presents a full 3 dimensional image of every sound, ensuring that every expressive detail is captured in its entirety.

Africa

From the light plucks of the kalimba to a detailed ensemble of drums nearly old as time, this collection is the perfect way to add a traditional earthiness and impart a deep village feel to your music.

Americas & Australia

From the Brazilian berimbau to Cuban percussion and the Aboriginal didgeridoo, the journey to the New World yields iconic sounds that morphed into a rich tradition of folk music shaping generations to come.

Europe

Few traditional instruments of Europe stand out like Scotland’s bagpipes, Ireland’s Uilleann pipes, and the hurdy gurdy of olde. Easily evoke any age of the West using beautiful collection of folk instruments from centuries past.

Far East

Combine the musical histories of Japan, China, Indonesia and more into a group of expert performances and multi-sampled instruments. You won’t ever be limited again by low-res, single-sample instruments when you can get to capture the full beauty of each instrument in the Far East collection.

India

All the staples of popular Indian ensembles are now at your fingertips. If you don’t have a simple but well-featured ensemble of instruments from traditional India at your disposal, use RA to expand your arsenal into South Asia.

Middle East & Turkish Empire

Evoke images of sand dunes unfolding into the distant horizon with RA’s library of Middle Eastern instruments. If you’re looking for lyrical, ambient, and expansive sounds, you’ll particularly love the duduk, an iconic double reed woodwind capable of the most haunting textures imaginable.

Features:

• A massive collection of world instruments from Africa, Europe, the Middle East and Turkish Empire, India, the Far East, the Americas and Australia
• Created by award-winning sounds producers Doug Rogers and Nick Phoenix
• 14 GB instrument: 20 GB’s of multi-samples and 5 GB’s of authentic performances
• Intelligent performance section including portamento, repetition, legato, round robin reset, improved micro-tuning
• Recorded with master world instrument musicians at the top of their craft, includes full ensemble performances
• Now included in OPUS, along with individual instrument downloads, custom keyswitches, and dozens of MIDI Tools and Mixer Effects

Everything from Spaces I and more

The original Spaces was lauded for offering a plethora of reverb options, from creative to highly surgical. By adding Spaces II to your mixes, you get hundreds more reverbs recorded in churches, concert halls, opera houses, catacombs, train stations, recording studios, and warehouses. The new streamlined UI and control features enable you to access every reverb and make edits rapidly, with minimal delay between searching for the most suitable reverb and finalizing your settings. And because it includes all reverbs from Spaces I, Spaces II is the most powerful and versatile convolution reverb on the market.

An extensive collection of reverbs from around the world

If you’re looking for a comprehensive collection of impulse responses from every location imaginable, Spaces II is a Swiss army knife of creative and technical reverbs to suit any genre. From a large orchestra down to or a 5-piece ensemble or solo performance, Spaces II makes it easy to select a contextually appropriate and believable reverb for nearly any stage or environment you like, while offering clear detail that would normally get washed away in other convolution reverbs.

Brand-new spaces

From stunning concert venues like Abravanel Hall in Salt Lake City, Reynolds Hall in Las Vegas, and the War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco, to exquisite sounding churches like St. Patrick’s and St. Dominic’s, to unique and extraordinary sounding locations like catacombs and Union Station in Los Angeles and many more, the reverbs from these brand-new spaces will inspire you and help bring your compositions to life with incredible realism. These are some of the best locations EastWest has recorded in and they will all perfectly compliment the locations from SPACES I.

Venues (churches, concert halls, opera house)

The ideal choice for choirs and orchestras, these reverbs have a long tail and present a lot of detail. With so many to choose from, you’re certain to find one with the exact density and tail you’re looking for.

Outdoor (caves, courtyard, forests)

Perfect for sound designers who need to recreate a physical space with strikingly different acoustics from anything you’d normally find in a reverb collection. Excellent for open spaces and unconventional settings.

Large indoor (the catacombs, parking garages, swimming hall, train stations, warehouses)

Sound designers will find these reverbs valuable for foley work and adding to ambiences, and composers will love the opportunity to place their musicians in an environment far removed from a typical performance hall. The incredibly long tails in this collection are unlike any other spaces you have at your disposal.

Classic (plates, rock rooms, studios)

If you’re writing classic rock or want to emulate a session recording, these reverbs are the way to do it. We captured the impulse responses of a plethora of classic plates and studios perfect for creating just the right amount of ambience–not too much, but you would miss it if taken out of the mix.

Effects (digital, tanks)

A sound designer’s paradise: this is an excellent way to force your sounds through unrealistic and eerie metals and digital environments and heavily morph the final result. The result can be a bit unpredictable–but sometimes it pays to take a chance.

Individual (instrument specific tour, solo vocal)

A collection of reverbs tailored specially to some of the most common instruments available, including pianos, strings, vocals, and synths. When you want a quick way to create the perfect ambience for a specific instrument, try looking here first!

Same revolutionary recording techniques

The same revolutionary impulse recording techniques that made SPACES I so popular have been replicated in this new collection. The best gear from Fairchild, Manley, Meitner, Neumann, Neve, Sennheiser, Sony, Telefunken, and TG were used in each recording. ATC Monitors were used in each space to emulate the real-world sound projection properties of various instruments. Spaces II includes a very hi-resolution, True Stereo engine that focuses on delivering the very best sound at a very low CPU load. Most impulses are in 8 channel format, so surround mixes can be created.

What will you create?

If you have any holes in your collection of impulse responses, Spaces II will obliterate nearly all of them. This level of power and extensive range of options will be difficult to find anywhere else on the market, and regardless of your unique needs, it’s a given that you’ll quickly find a reverb for nearly any physical space you need to replicate.

What’s one space you’ve been desperate to model? Because changes are, you’ll find it in Spaces II.

Powerhouse of Rock

Legato bass and guitar samples with round robin staccato, both clean and distorted. Drum kits that pop and can be effortlessly shaped into larger than life grooves. If you need your music to rock, plain and simple, this library will give you everything you need. With a few keyswitches, you can seamlessly construct realistic performances without a complicated UI. Aside from a simple effects control interface with utilities like envelope, reverb and delay controls, there’s no extra editing needed to maximize the character and impact of each performance.

An Entire Rock Band in One

Between basses, drums and guitars, Ministry of Rock lets you build out an entire band that can execute every lick, effect and fill you can ask of it. If you find yourself without any live musicians but need to rival the sound of live players in the box, you’ll get every tool you could need in your arsenal. This is monumental for film and game composers who aren’t able to add live performers to their scores, helping to bridge the gap between idea and execution. Every articulation and program was reverse-engineered from actual performances, giving you an easy framework to build authentic-sounding performances in your DAW.

Basses

When you need to support an entire rhythm section with a strong tonal foundation (and throw in a few licks for good measure), this collection conjures up the heaviest bass sounds in all of rock. Keyswitches allow you to jump between muted plucks, slides, and smoothly connected open notes, making this a fully featured collection capable of standing up to a live performance.

Fender 5 String: Round and punchy, this classic unmodified 5 string Fender Jazz bass makes itself heard without stealing much room in the mix. A great choice when you need something a bit tamer that still knows how to show its colors.

Fender P Bass: With a classic bite and sharp attack, this hot-rodded Fender P-Bass lends you a vintage color that’s perfect for solo features and heavy attitude.

Kubicki: This is the famous rock metal bass from the 80’s with a nice crunch in the high mids and a subtle attack. Ideal when you need a bit of dirt without such a hard-hitting punch.

Musicman HCB Demo: With a sharp falloff on each attack, this bass is all about hefty punch with little sustain, making it the best fit staccato, accented passages.

Spector: Fantastically well-made, this Spector Bass is an easy choice when you want a long sustain with a lot of character, and perfect for a bass drone when you need to stay out of the way of the drums.

Drums

A versatile collection of meaty toms, thumping kicks, crisp snares and cymbals that have a healthy dose of sizzle. When you’re laying down drum tracks for rock, you need them to be tight, articulate and aggressive, all things that Ministry of Rock will immediately prove itself to be. Beyond traditional rock songs, this collection is also perfectly suited to hybrid orchestral music, making it a no-brainer choice for media composers.

Ayotte: Intimate and dry, the Ayotte kit is a reliable choice for acoustic or folk rock. It doesn’t overstate its presence, but its quick attacks punch through a mix with ease.

Gretsch Black: Used to make Metallica’s “Black” record, this Gretsch kit is excellent for metal. The attacks are strong, the body is tight, and the releases get out of the way before the next strike comes in.

Ludwig: Roomy with a crisp attack, this Ludwig kit is a great balance of power and ambience, and will fit in easily with a larger ensemble.

Octaplus: Featuring a total of 9 toms, these 70’s Octaplus drums are big and boast a healthy sustain. A wild fat kit with a little more room.

Guitars

There are countless ways to use this collection, but one of the best ways is to layer muted notes and chords with a heavily compressed drum kit, allowing it to punch through and create a massive wall of sound almost impossible to distinguish from a live performance. You can easily use keyswitches to alternate between muted chunking and open power chords, or switch over to lead guitars and solo through a combo of pinch harmonics, slides and dramatic vibratos.

7 String Ibanez: The ultimate death metal guitar, the 7 string Ibanez is as dirty and crunchy as you could ask for and is perfect for ultra-coarse attacks and commanding sustains.

Gibson J-160: An old acoustic favorite used by many famous rock bands from the 70’s, this classic works wonders for mellow ballads and folk.

Les Paul Deluxe: The king of overdriven glory. This Les Paul Deluxe loves to be punished, and is always a reliable choice for hanging on open chords.

Les Paul Standard: A great complement to its Deluxe counterpart, with an added bit of fuzz and grit.

Strat: This guitar has a bandpassed tone ideal for classic rock and is a great way to create contrast and tension during intros and interludes.

Telecaster: Clean electric, with just the right amount of dirt, the Telecaster is great for softer songs that don’t quite roll over into full acoustic.

Features

• 20 GB collection of rock drums, basses and guitars recorded in the famous EASTWEST Studio Two
• Created by award-winning sounds producers Doug Rogers and Nick Phoenix, a comprehensive production kit for creating a full rock band
• The world famous EASTWEST Studio Two rock drum sound featured on countless gold and platinum records
• Guitars and basses recorded with dual amps so you can easily adjust tone color
• Includes round robin kicks, snares, toms, and hi-hats
• Now included in OPUS with individual downloads, custom keyswitches, and dozens of MIDI Tools and Mixer Effects

 

Ethereal voices from around the world

Whenever you need solo vocals as an effect rather than a traditional singer, Voices of Passion gathers the uniquely beautiful voices of female singers from around the world and makes them available to you in a single library. As a media composer tasked with depicting a sprawling landscape, a single note from one of these singers will throw it into sharp relief. You can produce an incredibly expressive performance with ornaments, vibrato, and all the subtleties you need to produce the exact soundscape for the job.

The combined voices of India, Bulgaria, America, Wales, and Syria

You can add these voices to any song in rich, full stereo without any risk of imaging issues. Add in the built-in chorus and convolution reverb effects, and you’ll get a haunting solo performance perfect for film and video game scores as well as New Age artists who want to push the boundaries of Western music. There are two primary ways to use this library, which can be combined at will: loading up any of over 1,000 pre-recorded phrases and allowing the original performances of the singers to carry the nuances, or using it for its true legato and weaving a melody of your choosing, in which you have as much fine control as you like.

America: When you want purity and a simple, transparent performance, this collection will quickly become your weapon of choice. Rather than unrestrained expression, the voices of America focus on an eerily clear tone that feels as though it could stop the progression of time.

Bulgaria: Gentle vibrato and a smooth and mellow performance. Play around with different keyswitches, and you’ll find that some notes contain phrases with a gentle rhythmic cadence perfect for adding a chant-like effect to your music.

India: This is where you’ll find some of the most dramatic performances and full phrases that stand on their own. This collection excels when played against a minimal orchestral or ambient bed with few moving parts, in order to emphasize the distinct characteristics of this voice.

Syria: The perfect way to create a haunting, microtonal performance that embodies the rich history of the Middle East. Holding down a single note produces an extended phrase rich in vibrato and dramatic pitch inflections that are perfect for film and game scores, especially with a soft orchestra or synth pad background.

Wales: If you’re someone who enjoys getting extremely granular when massaging your mockups, this instrument is an excellent resource to have at your fingertips. You have complete control over individual vowels and words, and you can construct ethereal vocal performances from the ground up.

What will you create?

If you want to imbue your music with haunting vocals from around the world, there’s no better way to do so than with Voices of Passion. Each of the 5 voices comes from a different nation, giving you the ability to call upon a wide variety of traditional singers and styles, whichever best suits the atmosphere you need to create–making this essential if you compose for film or video games. Which one will you use first?

Features:

• Female Vocalists from Wales, Syria, India, Bulgaria and America
• Over 7 GB of 1,000 recorded phrases
• Created by award-winning sounds producers Doug Rogers and Nick Phoenix
• Staccato, swell and New Age-style performances
• Oo, oh and ah true legato intervals (America and Wales)
• Phrase generator (Wales)
• Now included in OPUS, along with individual downloads, custom keyswitches, and dozens of MIDI Tools and Mixer Effects

Up Your Drum Game

EastWest ProDrummer Volume 1 fortifies your drum arsenal with 60GB of killer drum kits and MIDI drum grooves played by Steven Sidelnyk of Madonna, Massive Attack, and Seal fame. Produced by Grammy-winning engineer/producer Mark “Spike” Stent and EastWest’s own Doug Rogers, ProDrummer Volume 1 was recorded in five different, great-sounding rooms with select equipment from Ludwig, Slingerland, Gretsch, Yamaha, Orange County, Zildjian, and more, using top-quality mics and recording gear. The plug-in gives you numerous sound-shaping options. Each drum sports its own channel with complete processing and routing. There are also ready-to-deploy drum kits pre-mixed by the experts. Take it from Sweetwater – EastWest ProDrummer Volume 1 will kick your tracks into high gear.

EastWest ProDrummer Volume 1 Features:

• 60GB of killer drum kits for immediate deployment
• Includes more than 14,000 MIDI drum grooves in a variety of styles
• Produced by Grammy-winning engineer/producer Mark “Spike” Stent and EastWest’s Doug Rogers
• Groove Search Engine helps you find the right grooves fast
• Built-in Velocity Processor lets you control the dynamic power of your drums
• Onboard effects include:
• Solid State Logic EQ, Dynamics, and Stereo Bus Compressor
• Ohmicide multiband distortion, compression, EQ, and filter
• Transient Shaper
• Amp Simulator with 80 presets
• Expanded Convolution Reverb
• Free iLok account required (hardware dongle not required)