MOTU’s Ethno Instrument ($295) is a cross-platform virtual instrument offering an 8GB library of world/ethnic instruments, loops and phrases. Ethno’s multi-column preset browser organizes both instruments and loops by region/styles of the world, including Africa, Asia, Australia, Celtic, Eastern Europe, India, Middle East, Mediterranean, West Indies, Occidental and others. Instrument sounds may also be browsed by instrument categories, including woodwind, stringed, bell/metal/gong, key, voice, percussion and others.
Musicians who specialize in each instrument were recorded in world-class studios with pristine audio fidelity and careful attention to detail. Many of the included instruments do not conform to Western tonality, so two different Ethno presets are provided: one preset with original, unmodified tuning and a second preset with each note tuned to conform to a Western 12-tone chromatic scale. Users can then play the instrument in its truly authentic form or incorporate it into music with conventional Western tonality.
Ethno Instrument can be used as a plug-in with any compatible host application (VST, DXi, MAS, Audio Units and RTAS) or as a stand-alone application where users can load up to 64 different instruments per instance (triggered independently via 64 MIDI channels) to create ensembles of any size and scope, sub-mixed to as many as 17 independent stereo outputs under stand-alone operation or under hosts that support multiple outputs.
For more information, visit www.motu.com.
