# Chinese Erhu sample library?



## quantum7 (Nov 25, 2015)

I'm featuring Tina Guo on cello for my next album, but wanted to do one piece with her playing the Erhu, thus would like to buy a quality Erhu library for composing. Can anyone recommend me a quality Erhu sample lib for Kontak (or any other format)? 

Thanks!


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## MA-Simon (Nov 25, 2015)

http://www.embertone.com/instruments/changerhu.php

Embertone Erhu maybe?


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## JohnG (Nov 25, 2015)

My favourite is from East West SILK, one of their best-ever libraries.

[note: I have received free products from East West]


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## CHIgirl (Nov 25, 2015)

Soundiron also has one but it's mostly phrases I think.


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## quantum7 (Nov 25, 2015)

Thanks everyone! The Embertone looks like a possibility, but I almost forgot that I owned Silk. The dozen or so titles I own from EW have just been sitting in the closet collecting dust....for reasons I'd rather not get into. Perhaps I shall try and install Silk again and see what happens. Too bad Soundiron didn't do a playable Erhu, as I detest phrase libraries. IMO they take the composition out of composing. :(


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## Guffy (Nov 25, 2015)

The embertone one is great.


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## X-Bassist (Nov 25, 2015)

quantum7 said:


> Thanks everyone! The Embertone looks like a possibility, but I almost forgot that I owned Silk. The dozen or so titles I own from EW have just been sitting in the closet collecting dust....for reasons I'd rather not get into. Perhaps I shall try and install Silk again and see what happens. Too bad Soundiron didn't do a playable Erhu, as I detest phrase libraries. IMO they take the composition out of composing. :(



To me the Embertone is a bit too nasal, but I suppose it will cut through a mix better  I also don't like phrase libraries, which is why I stayed away from Cinesamples Tina Guo Patches (except the Cello Legato patch, which is great). I really wish they had made a traditional library out of her sounds (cello, erhu, electric erhu) with shorts and longs and swells, instead of a phrase library. Takes all the composing out of it and I become an editor scanning through performances and 'manipulating them'. Can't imagine it's selling well.

So Silk at this point may be your best bet. I've heard it sounds great, but buying all of silk just for the Erhu seems a little silly, considering I have almost every other instrument in there.

Some people have mentioned the Sound Magic Erhu, but I haven't tried it myself. VST and AU, and recorded at 96k.

http://www.supremepiano.com/product/erhu.html

Also Kong Audio has an Erhu 1 and 2, plus a free mini Erhu (there wbebpage has been up and down today), but again, I haven't tried it. VST only and lists Windows 7 and Vista, so I'm not sure it's comparable with Mac or Windows 8.

http://www.chineekong.com/chineeerhu.htm

I have yet to find one that plays the sweet tones I hear from live players like Tina. Hopefully Cinesamples will rectify this soon with amazing samples from their sessions with her.


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## GULL (Nov 25, 2015)

quantum7 said:


> Too bad Soundiron didn't do a playable Erhu, as I detest phrase libraries. :(



Not only Erhu. That is where Soundiron needs improvement IMO.


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## quantum7 (Nov 25, 2015)

X-Bassist said:


> To me the Embertone is a bit too nasal, but I suppose it will cut through a mix better  I also don't like phrase libraries, which is why I stayed away from Cinesamples Tina Guo Patches (except the Cello Legato patch, which is great). I really wish they had made a traditional library out of her sounds (cello, erhu, electric erhu) with shorts and longs and swells, instead of a phrase library. Takes all the composing out of it and I become an editor scanning through performances and 'manipulating them'. Can't imagine it's selling well.
> 
> So Silk at this point may be your best bet. I've heard it sounds great, but buying all of silk just for the Erhu seems a little silly, considering I have almost every other instrument in there.
> 
> ...



Thanks! Man, I've never heard of Sound Magic before. They don't seem to have anything up on YouTube either. Perhaps they should advertise more.  Their Erhu sounds pretty darn authentic from what I'm hearing so far....definitely better than the Embertone one. It does say Kontakt, so am I missing something?


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## playz123 (Nov 25, 2015)

I like the one in Silk, but the one I used the most was the one from Chinee Kong. I have the Embertone one, but still prefer the sound of the other two...no offense to Embertone.


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## quantum7 (Nov 25, 2015)

Hmm....I read on the Internet that the Erhu demos that Sound Magic has up are not of the sampled Erhu library, but of a real Erhu instead....which would explain why it sounds so realistic. Can anyone confirm this? Sound Magic or supremepiano.com is such a quiet company and there really is so little written about many of their products. I don't think I'll take a chance on them if they don't have legitimate demos up. They don't even post any videos showing it in action. Very strange! I guess I'll just have to wait one day until the guys at http://evolutionseries.com do a real good Erhu....because they sure did one hell of a Guzheng.


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## X-Bassist (Nov 25, 2015)

Actually the later demos seem to be the instrument and they do mark the real recordings as real recordings ( I guess to show you how far they still have to go ). The instrument has a decent tone and the clarity in the 96k samples comes across, but the transitions sound synthetic, which I assumes means no real legato. Halfway through this demo you can hear it clearly, some of the notes seem to go a little flat on sustains.



Kontakt means it will play for me and I love the idea of 96k samples on something with such high end. But perhaps your right. I'm hoping Evolution and Cinesamples will blow all these suggestions out of the water someday soon.


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## quantum7 (Nov 25, 2015)

X-Bassist said:


> I might still give it a chance if there is a sale- Kontakt means it will play and I love the idea of 96k samples on something with such high end. But perhaps your right, I assume this will have zero interface and website stating it's for Kontakt 2 is not a confidence builder. I'm hoping Evolution and Cinesamples will blow all these suggestions out of the water someday soon.



Ya, hopefully someone at Synth Magic will actually answer my e-mail....in English hopefully, and get me some more info. After chatting with Evolution earlier this year, I'd be shocked if they didn't release a killer Erhu library sometime next year.


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## dhlkid (Nov 25, 2015)

I am looking for Chinese instruments too. Anyone using Ilya Efimov chinese winds or Sound Magic Erhu & Pipa?

I have the EW silk, and wanna see if something else could be better. The tremelo of Pipa in Silk is a bit short.

PS: I don't have PC


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## X-Bassist (Nov 25, 2015)

quantum7 said:


> Ya, hopefully someone at Synth Magic will actually answer my e-mail....in English hopefully, and get me some more info. After chatting with Evolution earlier this year, I'd be shocked if they didn't release a killer Erhu library sometime next year.



Let us know what they say (if anything). Why do I get the feeling that by this time next year there will be a flood of good Erhu's, like the drums and drones of this year. Seems Embertone's the only one ahead of the trends... (cough, cough.. solo strings)


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## quantum7 (Nov 25, 2015)

The Guzheng is on sale for $70 so I just picked that up at http://evolutionseries.com I have a buddy who owns it, so I got to play it a couple months ago, and no other sampled Guzheng comes close IMO. It's 18gb though (compressed from 40gb), but worth the disk space on my SSD's. Their World Percussion libraries are also some of the best I've ever heard.


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## X-Bassist (Nov 25, 2015)

dhlkid said:


> I am looking for Chinese instruments too. Anyone using Ilya Efimov chinese winds or Sound Magic Erhu & Pipa?
> 
> I have the EW silk, and wanna see if something else could be better. The tremelo of Pipa in Silk is a bit short.
> 
> PS: I don't have PC



I have Ilya Efimov chinese winds and others. The Bawu, Duduk, and Accordian are some of their best instruments (Guitars are great too), but the Bawu is a little nasal. Silk seems to be what most prefer, but I'd love to see a new line of Asian instruments emerge. Evolution does seem to be heading in that direction, and they are having that sale...

http://evolutionseries.com/?page_id=1717


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## Jdiggity1 (Nov 25, 2015)

I found Embertone's Chang Erhu offered the best balance between playability and control, particularly for short notes and portamento. I also have SILK and KongAudio.
You can here Chang Erhu in action from 1:22


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## quantum7 (Nov 25, 2015)

Great piece Jdiggity!


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