# R.A.W.- Free Online Ethnic Instrument Library



## Herman Witkam (Jan 15, 2005)

R.A.W. - Free Ethnic Instruments Library

http://www.witkamsound.com
Click on the 'RAW' button. 

The instruments are generally in GS2.5 format (Gigastudio), with some GS3 and Kontakt patches as well. GS2.5 is a universal format which can be imported into Kontakt, EXS and others. For more info on that, refer to the manual of the sampler you're using.

Please read the license and instructions carefully before applying for a login. If I receive your login application at the wrong email address it may take longer for you to receive a login. This is because of the large amount of applications for a login.


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## Alan Lastufka (Jan 15, 2005)

Very cool Herman, are others allowed to contribute? I might have some instruments to shoot your way for everyone to use.


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## Herman Witkam (Jan 15, 2005)

Well, sure. We can make it a public posting place if you like.


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## Ned Bouhalassa (Jan 15, 2005)

Is it very demanding to make a GS3 file into a GS2.X file? I'm asking only because quite a few of us who use other formats (EXS, Kontakt, Halion, etc) may not be able to use these sampled instruments. I usually have no problem importing GIGA unless it's GS3.


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## Alan Lastufka (Jan 15, 2005)

Ned,

With enough interest and Hermin's permission I could program Kontakt versions of these instruments. The instruments themselves are very good and although I have GS3 I hate it and will be making Kontakt versions for myself. If he allows me to share you could grab the Kontakt versions from me.


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## Ned Bouhalassa (Jan 15, 2005)

Sounds great, Alan. I use EXS, so I convert most formats using either EXS' built-in converter or CDXtract (work fine with Kontakt files).


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## Herman Witkam (Jan 15, 2005)

Ned, both GS2.5 and Kontakt (by Alan) are coming up soon.


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## Alan Lastufka (Jan 15, 2005)

Hey guys, the Kontakt version is finished for the Percussion FX Vol. 01 and can be found here:

http://www.lastlibs.com/RAW-Perc-FX-NKI.rar

Herman did a fantastic job with these samples!

There are a few things I customized in the Kontakt version so be sure to read the ReadMe file if you've already worked with the GS3 version.

The flute will be as soon as I can.


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## Alan Lastufka (Jan 15, 2005)

Ok, I just finished the Tarka Flute as well in Kontakt keeping all the round robin programming and other advanced GS3 features in tact for this version. For more info read the ReadMe doc.

Enjoy!

http://www.lastlibs.com/RAW-Tarka-NKI.rar


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## Caleb (Jan 15, 2005)

Wow great!

I usually have difficulty saying no to free samples. :D 

It's a good way to test the kontakt and giga import on VSampler3.5.

Caleb


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## Herman Witkam (Jan 16, 2005)

Tarka v1.1 GS3 / GS2.5
------------------------
- Added breath sounds
- Added 14 new performances

http://www.herman-witkam.com/raw/


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## Niah (Jan 16, 2005)

This is a great idea, thank you both Herman and Alan for your work.
Thank you also for the samples in GS2.5 format


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## Ned Bouhalassa (Jan 16, 2005)

I'm too under the weather these days to try them out, but I just want to say thank you so much guys for responding so quickly to my request! Very generous.


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## Alan Lastufka (Jan 16, 2005)

Hope you feel better soon Ned - its nothing serious is it?


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## Ned Bouhalassa (Jan 16, 2005)

I suffer from http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/colitis/ (ulcerative colitis), and I'm in the middle of a particularly bad episode. I'm spending almost all my time on the couch, so I'm very thankful for my new WiFi laptop! :wink: I'm very well taken care of and should be back in top shape within a month or so. Thanks for caring, Alan!


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## Herman Witkam (Jan 16, 2005)

Ned - get well soon!

"Submitting to the Mountain" is a demo I composed to show the abilities of using the phrases and the sustains with "faked legato mode", simply achieved by using slight pitch wheel changes at the ends of notes. Players' breath is also included.
http://www.herman-witkam.com/audio/submitting_to_the_mountain.mp3 (http://www.herman-witkam.com/audio/subm ... untain.mp3)


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## Frederick Russ (Jan 16, 2005)

wow - I had no idea Ned. Hope you start to feeling better man. 

Cool stuff Herman. I had no idea you were into sample lib development - best of fortune to you in this new field.


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## Herman Witkam (Jan 16, 2005)

Thanks, Frederick.


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## Herman Witkam (Jan 19, 2005)

R.A.W.Tarka v1.2 update
------------------------
*6 Overblown FX have been added
http://www.herman-witkam.com/raw/

Sounding like this:
http://www.herman-witkam.com/raw/files/example_ovrbln.mp3 (http://www.herman-witkam.com/raw/files/ ... ovrbln.mp3)


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## Caleb (Jan 19, 2005)

Oooh thanks.

I'm looking forward to using the Tarka flute in something. It's a rather inspiring instrument I think.

How about a chinese bamboo flute. :D 

Actually just out of curiosity - have you got a list of instruments you're thinking of sampling.

I'm rather interested in seeing what's coming up.

Caleb


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## Herman Witkam (Jan 21, 2005)

A chinese bamboo flute would be cool to sample, although Ethno World 2 already features one. As with most instruments, it just depends whether I get my hands on one.


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## Ned Bouhalassa (Jan 26, 2005)

Hi guys,

Just a little update to tell you that I'm back home after having spent 9 days in the hospital. Turns out my colitis bout was/is quite serious. It was a bit tough there, and I've lost 26 pounds in 3 weeks, but I'm better now, and can at least rest at home instead of in that crazy place full of screams and needles! :lol: :wink: 

PS: Alan, if you're reading this, best of luck with your own health after that accident of yours!


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## Hans Adamson (Jan 26, 2005)

Ned,

I was wondering how you were doing. Please take care of yourself and get better! I can't imagine what it would be like to go through an ordeal like that. At least you are back home, so you must be doing better! 

Rent videos with Laurel and Hardy, laugh a little bit and get better. It's a developer's orders!


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## Ned Bouhalassa (Jan 26, 2005)

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: 

Thanks Hans! I think I'll follow your orders, but will go with Chaplin instead. I read his autobiography while in the hospital - what a guy!!! He used to produce, direct, edit(!), act, negotiate... everything! Mind-blowing compared to today's specialized world. Oh, and I'm having a blast catching up on all the audio news I missed while I was out... :wink:


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## chimuelo (Jul 5, 2007)

*Re: R.A.W.- A new website hosting free GS3 instruments*

Dear Sir,
I am ready to demo and donate, but your log in bounces me out w/ a 404 authorization erroe. Ishould register but where? Please send me a link.


Chimuelo


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## david robinson (Jul 5, 2007)

*Re: R.A.W.- A new website hosting free GS3 instruments*

hi herman,
i have a CD project using your wonderful tarka patch, russian zither, etc.
very expressive.
i'm at the pointy end of the production now.
up until it is released i can't release demos.
will let you know more closer to release.
best,
david robinson.


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## chimuelo (Jul 16, 2008)

*Re: R.A.W.- A new website hosting free GS3 instruments*

Dead Links :( 

I have emailed for permission to demo the inmstruments and make a donation, after all, we are not communists...............Don Bartzizni..Godfather I.


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## Herman Witkam (Jul 17, 2008)

The link has been updated.


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## chimuelo (Jul 17, 2008)

Cool.

I'll try again. :wink:


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## chimuelo (Jul 17, 2008)

This is proof that less is more IMHO.

2nd try w/ the log in worked fine.

Thanks Again,


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## Niah (Jul 17, 2008)

Thank you for your constributions Herman, I still love playing and using your instruments especially the Russian Zither =o


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## Hardy Heern (Jul 17, 2008)

Alan Lastufka @ Sat Jan 15 said:


> Very cool Herman, are others allowed to contribute? I might have some instruments to shoot your way for everyone to use.



Good to see you around Alan. It seems a long time since you turned out some brilliant interfaces in the very early days of GPO. Glad you're Kontaktifyng Herman's exciting Ethnic library.

Cheers

Frank


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## Hardy Heern (Jul 17, 2008)

Ned Bouhalassa @ Sun Jan 16 said:


> I'm too under the weather these days to try them out, but I just want to say thank you so much guys for responding so quickly to my request! Very generous.



Ned, 

I'm so sorry to hear that you're not 100% at the moment but hope that you get over this bad spell sooner than later! 

I've just come out of hospital myself, but at 63 you expect the odd bit of rust!  Not so fair at your age........

Regards

Frank


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## Hardy Heern (Jul 17, 2008)

Herman,

I haven't had a chance to listen to your exciting, and keenly priced! library but thanks very much indeed for sharing. Great to hear that Alan (the allrounder) is onboard! 

I look forward to finding out more but everyone seems very impressed so far.

Keep up the good work.

Frank


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## Hardy Heern (Jul 19, 2008)

Ooops! :oops: 

How embarrassing......make mental note...._*must *_look at posting dates in future.......Gulp!!! :oops: :oops: :oops: 

Frank
Gulp!


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## Niah (Jul 19, 2008)

:lol:


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## Ed (Oct 7, 2008)

Ned Bouhalassa @ Wed Jan 26 said:


> Turns out my *coitus *bout



Are you okay? Wish I could have a coitus bout.


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## Synesthesia (Oct 7, 2008)

Thanks Herman, have just registered.

Extremely generous of you - this is a fantastic resource!

And of course, for anyone who has not yet discovered it, the Cinematic Duduk is great too.

Cheers,

Paul o-[][]-o


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## bryla (Oct 19, 2008)

I get constant unzipping errors. Which program do you use to extract the files?


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## Herman Witkam (Mar 21, 2009)

bryla @ Sun Oct 19 said:


> I get constant unzipping errors. Which program do you use to extract the files?



I'm hoping you've fixed this by now, but if not: You use MacRAR or WinRAR www.rarlabs.com



Musictronics @ Thu Feb 19 said:


> Hi Herman,
> 
> I just found out about your R.A.W. community, and have registered online. Hope to be approved soon
> 
> ...



It's good to know that people are still discovering these sounds. It makes me want to grab an instrument again soon to sample it :D


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## TheoKrueger (Mar 21, 2009)

Thanks a lot Herman! This is very generous of you. I've been waiting to try these out for a long time, thanks again. Nice to see you around by the way.

Cheers,
Theo.


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## Fernando Warez (Mar 21, 2009)

TheoKrueger @ Sat Mar 21 said:


> Thanks a lot Herman! This is very generous of you. I've been waiting to try these out for a long time, thanks again. Nice to see you around by the way.
> 
> Cheers,
> Theo.



Did you managed to get anything? Cause it never worked for me.

And is Ned dead yet? :mrgreen:


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## Fernando Warez (Mar 21, 2009)

I managed to get in this time.

I wonder how those will translate in Kontakt?

Cheers Herman!


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## Stevie (Mar 21, 2009)

This really sounds great, I just applied.
Looking forward to be part of it !


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## _taylor (Jul 10, 2009)

Can't seem to get the site to load. 

Anyone experience similar problems?


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## Seb (Jul 10, 2009)

spitt @ Fri Jul 10 said:


> Can't seem to get the site to load.
> 
> Anyone experience similar problems?



Si, it doesn´t work for me either.


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## _taylor (Jul 14, 2009)

Bummer.

Herman?


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## netguyjoel (Feb 24, 2010)

dead domain...


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## wst3 (Apr 27, 2010)

A dead domain... indeed! So I discovered today when I caught this thread.

Does anyone know if the original authors/programmers are allowing this library to be distributed freely? If so, are there any folks here that have it that would be willing to share? It sounds like it's a pretty good tool to have in one's arsenal.

Thanks,

Bill


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## Herman Witkam (Jul 25, 2010)

Yep. I was unhappy with my hosting company, and when they didn't even try to solve my problem I refused to pay. Hence they stole my domain. 

The actual problem in the first place was that Chinese hackers took over my Drupal database, which was running excellently, and there was hours of work in the whole username / forum system I had set up.

I'm currently full time scoring for film, and haven't found the time yet to set up something similar again. I'm also afraid that the whole thing will just get hacked again, but I want to be able to know who registers for downloads


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## Ben H (Jan 26, 2017)

I really wish that these could be reposted some day. I _had _all the originals backed up too, until I lost my disc. :(


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## Brobdingnagian (Jan 26, 2017)

Wow...this takes me back a fair ways. 

Almost as far as seeing the handle PapaChalk...


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## Ben H (Jan 26, 2017)

Brobdingnagian said:


> Wow...this takes me back a fair ways.
> 
> Almost as far as seeing the handle PapaChalk...



Yeah, it was a while ago.


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## Fab (Jan 30, 2017)

makes me fee l like such a noob to see there are people here that have stuck with vi control for 10+ years (aside from Frederick Russ of course)


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## chimuelo (Jan 30, 2017)

There's lot of pros and beginners at VI which makes it special.
Lots of quality advice you don't see everywhere.
Comrades in audio.


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## José Herring (Jan 20, 2020)

Going back over this thread, what ever happened to Herman and Theo?


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## Robo Rivard (Jan 20, 2020)

I still have some of the instruments.


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## ChrisPerucchi (Feb 25, 2020)

Man I lost these


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## Mike Greene (Mar 9, 2020)

FYI - This is really old, so I'm going to un-stick this thread.


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