# Evolution Series Presents World Strings Guzheng ***New John Debney Testimonial***



## pulse (Nov 5, 2013)

*The next chapter* in our world music journey weighing in at approximately 18 gigs (NI compression) down from 40 Gig (RAW) has arrived!

Evolution Series partnered with world-renowned Guzheng maker Hong Sound (Emilymax), specialising in unique hand-crafted instruments. These instruments are a true gem and used by some of China and Taiwan’s elite musicians.

World Strings Guzheng for kontakt takes world instrument sampling to the next level. The combination of Hong Sound’s most exquisite instrument and our world class scoring stage is pure recording gold.

More information will be revealed leading up to its release. In the meantime here is part 1 of our 3 part video series giving you more insights into this beautiful instrument.

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter to get the latest developments!

*Facebook:*

https://www.facebook.com/evoseries

*Twitter:*

https://www.twitter.com/evoseries

Video 1:



Video 2:



Video 3:

Here is our final installment for our Guzheng video teaser. This video gives you an insight into how these majestic instruments are built.



Video Overview:




Audio Demos:

Soul Found:

[flash width=450 height=110 loop=false]http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F120970913&secret_url=false[/flash] 

Small Creature (All Microphones):

[flash width=450 height=110 loop=false]http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F120970723&secret_url=false[/flash] 

Water (All Microphones):

[flash width=450 height=110 loop=false]http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F120970724&secret_url=false[/flash] 


URL: https://soundcloud.com/evolution-series/sets/world-strings-guzheng

We are very excited to announce that World Strings Guzheng is now available for purchase at an introductory offer of $99 ($119 RRP). This offer will end on 07/12/13.

Kind regards, 
The Evolution Series Team
http://www.evolutionseries.com


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## Consona (Nov 5, 2013)

*Re: Evolution Series Presents World Strings Guzheng (Coming Soon)*



pulse @ Tue Nov 05 said:


> approximately 18 gigs (NI compression) down from 40 Gig (RAW)











pulse @ Tue Nov 05 said:


> is coming soon!








I'm really curious about features of this virtual instrument. Cannot wait for more information and videos.


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## pulse (Nov 5, 2013)

Hey Consona,

We are truely proud of this instrument... can't wait to give out more information 

Kind regards,

Anthony


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## RiffWraith (Nov 5, 2013)

pulse @ Wed Nov 06 said:


> ... can't wait to give out more information



Nobody says you _have to _wait, bro. :D


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## pulse (Nov 5, 2013)

Lol ok you got me there  here is a bit more information... It will work in both kontakt 4 and 5


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## muziksculp (Nov 5, 2013)

*Re: Evolution Series Presents World Strings Guzheng (Coming Soon)*

Hi pulse,

Great to see you are going for other World Instruments than Perc. Hope to see more non-Perc. World instrument releases as well. 

Looking forward to know, and hear your new _Guzheng_ library, also price info. would be helpful. 

Cheers,
Muziksculp


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## RiffWraith (Nov 5, 2013)

pulse @ Wed Nov 06 said:


> Lol ok you got me there  here is a bit more information... It will work in both kontakt 4 and 5



Duh.... :lol:


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## JE Martinsen (Nov 5, 2013)

*Re: Evolution Series Presents World Strings Guzheng (Coming Soon)*

Wow! I've been eyeing up a guzheng from another dev but now I'm glad I waited.


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## Blakus (Nov 5, 2013)

Looking forward to more info! Looks great


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## pulse (Nov 6, 2013)

Hey all! I'll aim to get the manual completed next week... once thats done it shouldn't be long until it is available 

It sure was one epic instrument to make! but well worth the effort 

Kind regards,

Anthony


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## syashdown (Nov 6, 2013)

*Re: Evolution Series Presents World Strings Guzheng (Coming Soon)*

Hoping this will be gooood! Guzheng is such a beautiful sound.


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## pulse (Nov 10, 2013)

Hey syashdown... I'm sure you won't be disapointed. It was hard to get this one wrong as the instrument was so beautiful


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## pulse (Nov 10, 2013)

*Re: Evolution Series Presents World Strings Guzheng (Coming Soon)*

Here is our second video Enjoy!


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## pulse (Nov 15, 2013)

*Re: Evolution Series Presents World Strings Guzheng (Coming Soon)*

Here is our final installment for our Guzheng video teaser. This video gives you an insight into how these majestic instruments are built.


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## quantum7 (Nov 15, 2013)

Really looking forward to eventual walk-through videos. Very exciting!


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## pulse (Nov 15, 2013)

Hey Sean thanks mate 

I promise the next I post will be a walkthrough! 

Big Thanks!

Anthony


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## feck (Nov 15, 2013)

*Re: Evolution Series Presents World Strings Guzheng (Video 3 Posted)*

Hey Anthony, any ETA on the release? Really looking forward to playing around with this.


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## pulse (Nov 16, 2013)

Hey Scott

We are hoping to release it by the end of next week... I still have to finish the video overview and demos plus get everything watermarked.

I'll do my best mate 

Big Thanks!
Anthony


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## pulse (Nov 18, 2013)

Guzheng overview video coming tomorrow


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## pulse (Nov 18, 2013)

*Re: Evolution Series Presents World Strings Guzheng ***Video Overview Posted****

Here we go I finally managed to finish the video overview:



Enjoy!

Anthony


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## feck (Nov 19, 2013)

*Re: Evolution Series Presents World Strings Guzheng ***Video Overview Posted****

Sounds great as expected Anthony! On the tremolos with various attacks it sounded a bit phasey in the video - is that due to the playing style (moving the pick possibly?). Also, I assume the bends up/down (and trems for that matter)are fixed in pitch and speed because they are actually performances and aren't using any scripting to achieve the bends and trems - is that correct? Looking forward to getting this when it's out. Any ETA for release? As a heads up the resolution maxes out at 480 - maybe it isn't done encoding the higher res versions since you just put it up.


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## pulse (Nov 19, 2013)

*Re: Evolution Series Presents World Strings Guzheng ***Video Overview Posted****

Hey Scott thanks mate 

Yeah youtube is not the best thing for audio. Regarding the tremolo techniques, as it is played live (i.e. recorded tremolo performances) you are always going to get that natural flammy sound. That is just the nature of the beast and how the instrument sounds played on a scoring stage 

All bends and trems are actual performances and limited to the speed they were recorded at. We experimented with scripting these things... but unfortunately it did not sound real. The big issue is that we wanted to record in a scoring stage with natural reverb. With natural reverb it makes it difficult to pull off artifical pitch bends etc... It would have been great it the artifical scripting worked... would have saved us a huge amount of recording time  

Regarding the video resolution... I was using a new piece of software. There is a chance I didn't record it in HD :( eitherway I think it should be fine to give a wee insight into the Guzheng.

We are hoping for a Friday release. Just have to wait for watermarking to finish.

Not far to go!

Big Thanks

Anthony


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## feck (Nov 19, 2013)

*Re: Evolution Series Presents World Strings Guzheng ***Video Overview Posted****



pulse @ Tue Nov 19 said:


> Hey Scott thanks mate
> 
> Yeah youtube is not the best thing for audio. Regarding the tremolo techniques, as it is played live (i.e. recorded tremolo performances) you are always going to get that natural flammy sound. That is just the nature of the beast and how the instrument sounds played on a scoring stage
> 
> ...



Great - with an instrument like this, having real performances is definitely the way to go over scripting. And that stage sounds so good, keeping all of the ambiences natural makes sense. Looking forward to it! o-[][]-o


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## pulse (Nov 19, 2013)

Thanks Scott can't wait for you to check out the instrument when we release it... I'm sure you'll have fun


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## pulse (Nov 20, 2013)

*Re: Evolution Series Presents World Strings Guzheng ***Video Overview and Audio Demos Posted****

Here are some audio demos 

Soul Found:

[flash width=450 height=110 loop=false]http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F120970913&secret_url=false[/flash] 

Small Creature (All Microphones):

[flash width=450 height=110 loop=false]http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F120970723&secret_url=false[/flash] 

Water (All Microphones):

[flash width=450 height=110 loop=false]http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F120970724&secret_url=false[/flash] 


URL: https://soundcloud.com/evolution-series/sets/world-strings-guzheng


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## MA-Simon (Nov 20, 2013)

*Re: Evolution Series Presents World Strings Guzheng ***Video Overview and Audio Demos Posted****

Looking forward to your release!

Has there been a mention on the price yet?



> Requires Kontakt 5 (Full Version)


You mentioned K4, but on you website it states Kontakt 5 only?


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## pulse (Nov 20, 2013)

Hey MA-Simon,

Thanks for pointing that out... it was a mistake on our site... should be fixed now 

So yes it will work with Kontakt 4 (latest version) and 5.

Regarding price. We will offer a short promo discount of $99 ($119 RRP).

All going to plan I will make an official announcement tomorrow with all the fine details.

Big Thanks!

Anthony


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## pulse (Nov 22, 2013)

*Re: Evolution Series Presents World Strings Guzheng ***Video Overview and Audio Demos Posted****

We are very excited to announce that World Strings Guzheng is now available for purchase at an introductory offer of $99 ($119 RRP). This offer will end on 07/12/13.


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## feck (Nov 22, 2013)

*Re: Evolution Series Presents World Strings Guzheng ***NOW AVAILABLE - INTRO OFFER $99 ($119RRP)****

Congrats guys! Downloading now... o-[][]-o


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## quantum7 (Nov 22, 2013)

NICE!!! Best sampled Guzheng ever......no competition. Great price also, btw. Another library to put on my never-ending "to buy" list.

*PLEASE PLEASE* do a Sitar, Koto, Oud, & Santoor with the same meticulous attention to detail that you did with the Guzheng and I will buy all of them eventually also. IMO the weakest link by far in the sampling world are ethnic instruments. No offense to EWQL RA, Kong Audio, and Ethno World 5, but none of these have really impressed me. The best I've ever owned was from EWQL Silk, but it is limited in it's instruments.


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## JE Martinsen (Nov 22, 2013)

quantum7 @ Fri Nov 22 said:


> NICE!!! Best sampled Guzheng ever......no competition. Great price also, btw. Another library to put on my never-ending "to buy" list.
> 
> *PLEASE PLEASE* do a Sitar, Koto, Oud, & Santoor with the same meticulous attention to detail that you did with the Guzheng and I will buy all of them eventually also. IMO the weakest link by far in the sampling world are ethnic instruments. No offense to EWQL RA, Kong Audio, and Ethno World 5, but none of these have really impressed me. The best I've ever owned was from EWQL Silk, but it is limited in it's instruments.



The price of this monster Guzheng is very reasonable indeed!  

+1 for the Sitar, Koto, Oud and Santoor! ESPECIALLY the latter two instruments.


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## jtenney (Nov 22, 2013)

OUD! OUD!! OUD!!! OUD!!!! May the chant resound...


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## pulse (Nov 22, 2013)

*Re: Evolution Series Presents World Strings Guzheng ***NOW AVAILABLE - INTRO OFFER $99 ($119RRP)****

Hey All,

Thanks for your kind words. We really love doing ethnic/world instruments... so as long as there is demand we will keep making detailed virtual instruments 

We have some wonderful projects planned for next year... I can't wait to start!

Big Thanks!

Anthony


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## pulse (Dec 2, 2013)

5 Day's till the end of our promo


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## pulse (Dec 12, 2013)

Here is a wonderful testimonial for World Strings Guzheng!!

Clinton Shorter (District 9, Pompeii, 2 Guns)

"As a regular user of World Percussion 2.0 I was eager to get my hands on Evolution Series latest World Strings Guzheng, and needless to say I was not disappointed. The attention to detail is second to none and the playability is extremely impressive. With a beautiful interface and intuitive controls, it inspires you with every note."


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## pulse (Dec 15, 2013)

Promo price ending soon! grab it before it increases to $119.

Kind regards,

Anthony


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## pulse (Feb 7, 2014)

Here is another wonderful testimonial for World Strings Guzheng!!

John Debney (Iron Man 2, Sin City, Predators)

"The World Strings Guzheng is a fantastic addition to my sonic palette. The playing styles are all captured with great authenticity and easy to use. It's just such a fun instrument to get in there and experiment with."


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## chillbot (Dec 9, 2015)

Just picked this up.... any one have any idea how to change the release on this? The strings ring out for eternity.... and changing the release under modulation doesn't affect it? Otherwise a beautiful sounding instrument...


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## chillbot (Dec 9, 2015)

Nermind... sort of... I figured out I have to change the release on every sample which is a lot given all the mics and round robins. Is it possible to consider maybe a global setting to change the release of the strings? It would make the instrument that much more useful and flexible in my mind.


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## EvilDragon (Dec 10, 2015)

That's not how a Guzheng behaves, though. It always rings out fully (much like other zither-like instruments: koto, kantele, etc.) unless you mute the strings with the palm - and you can also use the sustain pedal to mute things that way.


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## chillbot (Dec 10, 2015)

EvilDragon said:


> That's not how a Guzheng behaves, though. It always rings out fully (much like other zither-like instruments: koto, kantele, etc.) unless you mute the strings with the palm - and you can also use the sustain pedal to mute things that way



I get that... and it's a beautiful instrument as is.... but why limit yourself by instrument limitations in the sample world when you don't need to? Having shorter string resonations may not wind up sounding like a true guzheng but now you've got something you can use in different ways... call it sound design if you want.


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## chillbot (Dec 10, 2015)

With full string resonation you are really limited to 3 or 4 notes max at a time or it just becomes muddy. The way I have it set now, I trimmed all the release on all the groups from 25k down to about 1k and it is very playable and useful to me. And when I want to hear the full release holding down the sustain will do that. So it's fine... I just think it would be a useful value to be able to tweak globally on the main page along with all the round robin and velocity settings.

Also, on the "memory" tab on the instrument you can choose what to load and unload from memory.. there is a "releases" option but unloading this doesn't do anything for me. Am I missing something here?


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## ysnyvz (Dec 10, 2015)

We discussed that "keyboard vs natural mode" before. I agree sometimes you need to control releases. Anthony said he will consider an update but he is very busy with new stuff


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## pulse (Dec 10, 2015)

Hey chillbot sorry for the delayed response... my wife gave birth yesterday so I've been busy in baby land 

We are very happy that you like the Guzheng and plan at some stage to do a script update. All comments are appreciated and we will discuss the feedback amongst the team 

Big Thanks!

Anthony


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## chillbot (Dec 10, 2015)

Congrats! First or another number?


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## pulse (Dec 12, 2015)

chillbot said:


> Congrats! First or another number?


Baby number 2... preparing for a few sleepless nights


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## tokatila (Dec 12, 2015)

pulse said:


> Baby number 2... preparing for a few sleepless nights



Don't worry, it has been scientifically studied that for women a baby's cry is a number one for waking up; for men it's car Alarm. Baby's cry was somewhere like 10th of the list. 

I can concur to this study empirically too. 

But; can you spill any beans what instruments are you going to tackle the next? Still ethnic?


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## pulse (Dec 13, 2015)

tokatila said:


> Don't worry, it has been scientifically studied that for women a baby's cry is a number one for waking up; for men it's car Alarm. Baby's cry was somewhere like 10th of the list.
> 
> I can concur to this study empirically too.
> 
> But; can you spill any beans what instruments are you going to tackle the next? Still ethnic?



lol Good to know mate 

As for spilling the beans... we are working hard on a few new libraries some ethnic and one not  We are a little slow with releases but I promise we are dedicated to making great libraries. Stay tuned for 2016


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## quantum7 (Dec 14, 2015)

pulse said:


> lol Good to know mate
> 
> As for spilling the beans... we are working hard on a few new libraries some ethnic and one not  We are a little slow with releases but I promise we are dedicated to making great libraries. Stay tuned for 2016



I've been enjoying your Guzheng and am really looking forward to your 2016 releases. Congratulations on baby # 2!


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## LamaRose (Dec 14, 2015)

The Guzheng sounds/plays great. Inspiring to play. I really appreciate the velocity controls too.

It would be cool, and very useful, to be able to assign the vibrato to CC11/pedal for two-handed playing, and to assign the bends to CC1. Whaddya think?


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## pulse (Dec 15, 2015)

quantum7 said:


> I've been enjoying your Guzheng and am really looking forward to your 2016 releases. Congratulations on baby # 2!



Thanks mate


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## pulse (Dec 15, 2015)

LamaRose said:


> The Guzheng sounds/plays great. Inspiring to play. I really appreciate the velocity controls too.
> 
> It would be cool, and very useful, to be able to assign the vibrato to CC11/pedal for two-handed playing, and to assign the bends to CC1. Whaddya think?



Great to hear! I'll take note of your suggestions and speak to the team 

Big Thanks!

Anthony


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## EvilDragon (Dec 15, 2015)

@LamaRose You can easily change this by a simple multiscript that will reroute CC11 to CC1, and CC1 to pitch bend events. In fact, you would need two CCs - one for pitch bend up, one for pitch bend down.


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