# Looking for Latin Percussion Kontakt libraries...



## Cdnalsi (Aug 12, 2017)

The only ones I found so far don't really sound as good IMO. NI Cuba sounds like a joke really, and I can't seem to find anything great sounding.

I'm looking for anything from congas, bongos, djembes, cajons to shakers, cabassas, triangles and timbales.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!


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## jon wayne (Aug 12, 2017)

Have you looked at Indiginus Brio? Not bad for the $$.


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## Lotias (Aug 12, 2017)

Evolution World Percussion probably contains all of those, but likely they're spread out. For example, the South America package contains a cajon and a couple of shakers, and some congas, and triangles, but no djembe or cabasa. But the South America version probably contains a lot of what you're looking for.


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## chillbot (Aug 12, 2017)

Lotias said:


> Evolution World Percussion


Soon as I read the subject line I was clicking to say Evolution World Percussion. It's really the best, by a mile, in my opinion. Something about it just sits in the mix so well, I find it uber-useful. They have both "loops" but it's also very playable. I say "loops" in quotations because they are always quick to chime in, the loops are not recorded audio loops, but midi loops created from their one-shots. Because of that the "loops" stretch to any tempo (even though you don't actually have control of the midi) and the variations are awesome... from sparse/simple to complex.






I have always been able to create killer latin tracks with the above. Another option I use a lot is just good ol' Stylus RMX. Comes stock with great djembe loops.


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## chillbot (Aug 12, 2017)

Also if you can find it.... really old library... Festa Latina is the best loops I've heard, but it's only loops.


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## g.c. (Aug 12, 2017)

For some of what you're looking for, try Flaying Hand Percussion. Sonokinectic and Wave Factory have Brazilian Batacuda lib packages with Multi Sampled Instruments.
g.c.


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## kgdrum (Aug 12, 2017)

chillbot said:


> Soon as I read the subject line I was clicking to say Evolution World Percussion. It's really the best, by a mile, in my opinion. Something about it just sits in the mix so well, I find it uber-useful. They have both "loops" but it's also very playable. I say "loops" in quotations because they are always quick to chime in, the loops are not recorded audio loops, but midi loops created from their one-shots. Because of that the "loops" stretch to any tempo (even though you don't actually have control of the midi) and the variations are awesome... from sparse/simple to complex.
> 
> 
> 
> ...






As good as the Evolution World Percussion is, to bring to market a South American library that doesn't include cowbell or timbales is a somewhat strange oversight and for me quite disappointing.........
Essential for AfroCuban ,Salsa etc.......


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## Cdnalsi (Aug 13, 2017)

Thanks everyone for your replies! It looks like the Evolution World Percussion sounds the best so far, but yeah, with some glaring omissions...

Damn, I'm going to spend so much on this upgrade, it's not even funny...

Still looking for proper sounding timbales and cowbells then?

Cheers!


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## MChangoM (Aug 13, 2017)

Cdnalsi said:


> Still looking for proper sounding timbales and cowbells then?



Do you have NI Battery 4? There are several timbales and many cowbells, but not sure if they are "proper sounding".


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## sostenuto (Aug 13, 2017)

chillbot said:


> Soon as I read the subject line I was clicking to say Evolution World Percussion. It's really the best, by a mile, in my opinion. Something about it just sits in the mix so well, I find it uber-useful. They have both "loops" but it's also very playable. I say "loops" in quotations because they are always quick to chime in, the loops are not recorded audio loops, but midi loops created from their one-shots. Because of that the "loops" stretch to any tempo (even though you don't actually have control of the midi) and the variations are awesome... from sparse/simple to complex.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



StylusRMX ... and then a few RMX libraries like _Loop Loft _ Celso Alberti - Brazilian Drums & Percussion _


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## Jack Weaver (Aug 13, 2017)

Native Instruments - Cuba
CineSamples - Rio Grooves

Both sound authentic and good.

.


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## Alex Fraser (Aug 13, 2017)

Cdnalsi said:


> The only ones I found so far don't really sound as good IMO. NI Cuba sounds like a joke really, and I can't seem to find anything great sounding.
> 
> I'm looking for anything from congas, bongos, djembes, cajons to shakers, cabassas, triangles and timbales.
> 
> Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!



Not sure what DAW you're using, but if you're in Logic, the new percussion drummer included in the latest update comes with a bunch of multi-layed percussion EXS presets. All sorts of latin percussion.


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## C.R. Rivera (Aug 14, 2017)

I can't be sure this helps but I put a rough together last year. It uses APE by Soundiron, and World instruments via Aria.


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## X-Bassist (Aug 14, 2017)

Another Latin Percussion Option:
8Dio Aura (I would wait for a sale)
https://8dio.com/instrument/aura-percussion-vst-au-aax-kontakt-instruments/

Also another vote for Brio, very cool for the price.
http://indiginus.com/Brio.html


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## Lode_Runner (Aug 16, 2017)

More options:

Sonokinetic Percussao Do Brasil (note bonus instruments - Berimbau and Cuica) https://www.sonokinetic.net/products/ethnic/percussao-do-brasil/

Wavesfactory Samba Drums https://www.wavesfactory.com/sambadrums/

Indigisounds Laventille Rhythm Section https://www.indigisounds.com/product/percussion-samples/

Muletone Audio http://muletoneaudio.com/

And I'm guessing G.C. meant Flying Hand Percussion http://www.handheldsound.com/instruments/fhp/#* (flaying hand sounds scary )


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## mc_deli (Aug 16, 2017)

Toontrack


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## Virtual Virgin (Aug 16, 2017)

Why do so many of these ethnic sets have glaring omissions in their collection?
Waves Factory Samba? No cuica, ganza, cabasa, pandeiro, caixa. Can't they do a few minutes of research? Can't they obtain these relatively inexpensive instruments?


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## Fleer (Aug 16, 2017)

AudioThing latin percussion plugin is on sale: https://www.audiothing.net/instruments/latin-percussion/


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## Boricua (Nov 11, 2018)

Cdnalsi said:


> The only ones I found so far don't really sound as good IMO. NI Cuba sounds like a joke really, and I can't seem to find anything great sounding.
> 
> I'm looking for anything from congas, bongos, djembes, cajons to shakers, cabassas, triangles and timbales.
> 
> Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!


I hope you found what you was looking for. If not let me know. I can send you a little sample of what mine sounds like. Take care


Cdnalsi said:


> The only ones I found so far don't really sound as good IMO. NI Cuba sounds like a joke really, and I can't seem to find anything great sounding.
> 
> I'm looking for anything from congas, bongos, djembes, cajons to shakers, cabassas, triangles and timbales.
> 
> Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!


I hope you found was you was looking for. If not hit me up and I’ll send you a little sample of what I have for salsa music


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## kgdrum (Nov 11, 2018)

Boricua said:


> I hope you found what you was looking for. If not let me know. I can send you a little sample of what mine sounds like. Take care
> 
> I hope you found was you was looking for. If not hit me up and I’ll send you a little sample of what I have for salsa music


 


Do you links to your site?


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## Boricua (Nov 11, 2018)

kgdrum said:


> Do you links to your site?


I don’t have a site but if you send me your email I’ll send you a track that I’ve done with my Latin percussion


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## Digivolt (Jul 8, 2019)

Hi guys sorry to perform threadromancy on this but it was the first thing that came up in Google, I'm looking for some good Latin Perc sample libs or a VI (preferable) and maybe some midi so I can figure out how to get the right groove/timings going on them. Can any one recommend some stuff ? I was thinking of getting Loops de la Creme Timbales but then I'd still need the other instruments, I've got Komplete although I haven't checked to see if that contains anything useful/usable, I was kind of hoping there'd be a complete library similar to something like Drum Fury ?


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## DSmolken (Jul 8, 2019)

For the typical grooves for each style, the appendix of the Latin Real Book is where I'd look.


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## Calabraccio (Jul 8, 2019)

Digivolt said:


> Hi guys sorry to perform threadromancy on this but it was the first thing that came up in Google, I'm looking for some good Latin Perc sample libs or a VI (preferable) and maybe some midi so I can figure out how to get the right groove/timings going on them. Can any one recommend some stuff ? I was thinking of getting Loops de la Creme Timbales but then I'd still need the other instruments, I've got Komplete although I haven't checked to see if that contains anything useful/usable, I was kind of hoping there'd be a complete library similar to something like Drum Fury ?




You might find this article by emusician interesting to go over:

https://www.emusician.com/gear/the-ultimate-latin-pop-world-percussion-library

I would personally vouch for Spectrasonics' Supreme Beats, ancient (and expensive) as it may be. It's very well-recorded and characteristic sounding. A more contemporary library that's probably way more affordable is Percussao do Brasil by Sonokinetic. I think there's a lot of Latin Percussion covered by different Kontakt Hub libraries for similarly affordable prices.


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## VSTBuzz (Jul 8, 2019)

Some of our freebies might be suitable for you too:

https://vstbuzz.com/freebies/brazilian-series-pandeiro/

https://vstbuzz.com/freebies/brazilian-series-tamborim/

https://vstbuzz.com/freebies/brazilian-series-cuica/


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## DSmolken (Jul 8, 2019)

The Pulpo Audio instruments were very nice for free, but it seems the site's gone now?


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## Digivolt (Jul 8, 2019)

Thanks for the replies



DSmolken said:


> The Pulpo Audio instruments were very nice for free, but it seems the site's gone now?



It's back, on their blog they had this message



> It's been a long time.... To all of you who tried to get in touch with PulpoAudio in the last year (or so) ...apologies  My old website got hacked; besides developing Tentacle, creating new instruments and private duties ... no time to set up a new website.



Will give their freebies a try though

Searching a little more Wavesfactory have a Samba lib currently on sale I'm looking at and Cinesamples Rio Grooves is on sale too, does anybody have either and can recommend ?


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## Reid Rosefelt (Jul 8, 2019)

This is the percussion agent in Groove Agent 4, but it's the same as the one in Groove Agent 5:



The programming is similar to Realidrums, with complexity sliders. You can see this around 7:30.


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## stixman (Jul 8, 2019)

I have just listed NI Discovery series Cuba in the V.I.Control Music gear classifieds section might be what your looking for


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## Digivolt (Jul 8, 2019)

I'm planning on upgrading to Ultimate at some point so buying the series would be a little redundant, thanks for the offer though. As for Groove Agent I'd rather not sacrifice another USB slot for the dongle as I've got one taken up with iLok already


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## Ryan Fultz (Jul 9, 2019)

If you have composer cloud EW stormdrum 3 has a ton of really good latin percussion as well as African, middle eastern, etc. At the very least it'd be a very cheap demo for a month. 

I don't use it's more standard stuff much, but all of those still get a lot of use and frequently beat out other options I have.


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## chillbot (Jul 9, 2019)

https://www.botdogsamples.com/shop/frog-guiros/

[NOTE: I am 100% shillbot.]


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## Leslie Fuller (Jul 9, 2019)

As someone who has a regular client (an Afro-Cuban Latin Percussionist), I know the frustration with not being able to find the “perfect” Latin Percussion library, and my client is especially fussy when it comes to Afro-Cuban music and Latin Jazz!

As mentioned at the start of this thread with NI Cuba, this was his initial go-to library which I suggested, but he really wasn’t that impressed by it and was disillusioned with libraries in general.

Since then, I have to continually hunt around for other libraries to fit into his style of music, which is mostly Argentine Tangoes. 

This thread is a great help!


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## Digivolt (Jul 9, 2019)

chillbot said:


> https://www.botdogsamples.com/shop/frog-guiros/
> 
> [NOTE: I am 100% shillbot.]



I already got these but +1 for anyone who doesn't :D



Ryan Fultz said:


> If you have composer cloud EW stormdrum 3 has a ton of really good latin percussion as well as African, middle eastern, etc. At the very least it'd be a very cheap demo for a month.
> 
> I don't use it's more standard stuff much, but all of those still get a lot of use and frequently beat out other options I have.



I'll take a look at them as I have CC thanks


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## Mark Schmieder (Jul 10, 2019)

Muletone Audio is tops, for Brasilian stuff, which is barely covered by other vendors anyway. If you're looking for congas, nothing comes close to HandHeld Sound's Flying Hand Percussion as it models actual hand movement and articulation nuances. Most latin libraries are only good as placeholders for the real instruments, but this oversight is slowly being addressed by various vendors. I'm too tired to look up sources at the moment as I am sleep-deprived from traveling halfway across the globe. Plenty of other recent topics touched upon this, but I guess this older topic was revived in order to talk mostly about loops and patterns? I'll try to review this in more depth when I'm more caught-up.


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## Ashermusic (Jul 10, 2019)

If you are a Logic user, Drummer has a pretty decent Latin percussionist. I also like Flying Hand.


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## Digivolt (Jul 10, 2019)

Does anybody have any experience with Evolution Series South America ?

https://www.evolutionseries.com/portfolio/world-percussion-southamerica-2/

Seems pretty good value for $59.40 putting it in the very affordable bracket and also offers option to upgrade to their Core later on ?


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## storyteller (Jul 10, 2019)

Personal opinion, but I'd say that for anyone serious about doing music, Evolution Series World Percussion is one of those "must have" libraries. It seems to be uniformly loved by the community here and I haven't personally read a negative comment about it (with the exception of people saying they wish it had more instruments). I purchased it years ago and am very thankful I made that decision. If I ever had to start over from scratch with my sample libraries, this library would be one of my first purchases and certainly the first purchase for world percussion. Of course I'd add other percussion libraries too, but this would be first on the list to fill this "core" part of my template.


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## kgdrum (Jul 10, 2019)

I love Salsa,Afro Cuban,Reggae etc.........
Evolution SA is very good as the entire Evolution Series is (great price!) but what's irked me for awhile is IMO the omission of having no timbales in a South America bundle.
But it's not just the Evolution Series,for some odd reason I been looking but have not been able to find timbale samples from any developer I actually want to use.
Getting samples that capture the attack & dynamic range of a great timbale player appears to be elusive in the sample library world.
In any case $59? Wow! thats a great price.


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## chillbot (Jul 10, 2019)

storyteller said:


> Evolution Series World Percussion


+1 best of the bunch.


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## Digivolt (Jul 10, 2019)

kgdrum said:


> But it's not just the Evolution Series,for some odd reason I been looking but have not been able to find timbale samples from any developer I actually want to use.



Curious if you've tried Loops de la Creme, they certainly seem well sampled with over 5,000 samples, no clue if they sound as they're supposed to sound though ?



I guess for starters though I'll grab the evo series while it's on sale as everyone seems to unanimously love it


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## kgdrum (Jul 10, 2019)

Hi I haven't tried the Loops de la Creme offering specifically because it doesn't have the sense of attack,slam or bite that I'm looking for in the demos.
see this thread: 
https://vi-control.net/community/threads/out-now-timbales-deluxe.77269/#post-4314134


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## Mark Schmieder (Jul 11, 2019)

I am constantly surprised by how highly recommended the Evolution Series is for Latin Percussion. To me, this is by far their weakest offering, and an area where there are several specialty vendors that do a tremendous job at affordable prices.

Having said that, the Surdos are probably the best currently available, along with the Timba and the non-orchestral Triangle. The Bongos are also the best outside of EZ Drummer Latin land (much to my annoyance, as I'd rather not use that product for this sort of stuff). Also, some of the shakers.

The rest of the South America material is fairly good, but just not as authentic overall in brand choice and the player's articulateness, as well as the tunings/voicings, along with the across-the-suite standardized miking choices not allowing the kind of mix that many of us go for with these instruments (which generally are treated a bit more like drum kit pieces vs. ambient percussion or shakers and the like). Also, too many missing instruments for a "comprehensive" collection.

To my ears, by far the strongest offerings of the regional libraries (ignoring the Taiko etc. for now), are the Middle East and Africa libraries, which are almost always at top-of-list in my book. The Asia library is almost as strong but has a bit more competition here and there, and the Europe library is mixed as well as being an unexpected set of choices.

I already listed my recommendations for Latin Percussion, and in each case the top choice is miles above the next one, for the most part. But you can always add these later and start with a more general collection. For Congas, FlyingHand Percussion is miraculous. For anything that they have so far sampled, Muletone Audio is the boss. Best players and instrument choice, as well as most authentic articulations.

Nevertheless, I couldn't find any other catch-all library that outdoes Evolution Series South America, so I still recommend it, but not as a final sound source for critical stuff like Congas. At a good price, it's a no-brainer to add it alongside the others in their collection. But keep an eye on Muletone Audio as well, and FlyingHand when on sale.

There's plenty of Latin Percussion that NONE of those cover, but you'd have to do a few one-offs here and there, or some mini-collections that have a bit of overlap, to be fully covered. As an example, Timbales aren't covered well by ANYONE yet, but EZ Drummer Latin is the best at the moment (alongside Addictive Drums, which I sold because I don't like how their stuff is recorded in general).

I share kgdrum's misgivings about the audio demos for the Loops de la Creme Timbales, but am open to being convinced otherwise, and they are affordable.

I bought some real Timbales from Gon Bops recently, as I used to play them years ago anyway and can't wait forever for someone to deliver the goods in sample land.


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## DSmolken (Jul 11, 2019)

Mark Schmieder said:


> I bought some real Timbales from Gon Bops recently, as I used to play them years ago anyway and can't wait forever for someone to deliver the goods in sample land.


Noted. I know a South American guy here who has nice timbales and some very high-end congas.


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## Mark Schmieder (Oct 5, 2019)

I had somehow overlooked NI's Cuba library when it came out, thinking of it primarily as a source for rarely sampled stuff like the Tres.

Last weekend, I was quite surprised to discover how delicious its bongos and timbales are -- there are five choices for each, different mic positions and blends, and other flexibility in shaping the sound.

This is now my go-to library for bongos and timbales, after years of suffering inadequate offerings (congas are well-covered by Flying Hand Percussion, but are also good here).

I am wondering if those who didn't like this library's percussion, used the presets, which I strongly dislike (I always grow my own)? I had to study the manual, and try things out, but then I learned how to master this awesome collection.


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## Mark Schmieder (Dec 12, 2019)

My ranking of Evolution Series has been going up a bit of late, mostly due to how well-documented it is vs. the somewhat better recorded Muletone libraries that have literally zero documentation and require one to use their ears alone as a guide to guessing which notes trigger which articulations. Such a shame! I've had to move away from many of them recently as a result, as I am pulling in a lot more articulations now that my understanding of each instrument has grown a lot this past year.

Similarly, I finally got around to thoroughly delving into the various NI Discovery Series packages over the past few months, and am astounded by their quality, correct recording and playing techniques, mostly good instrument choices (but unfortunately some western brands for Latin Percussion where local brands would have been preferred), lots of articulations and clearly marked.

This is just a general statement as I'm at the office and can't check specific notes, but as Evolution Series is on sale for $59 each (better still in packages) at Best Service starting today, it's a good time to think about grabbing these for those who haven't done so already. I might even complete my collection with the Oud!

I still despise the user interface, as it's messy, hard to get precise mic levels or recall them exactly, and unnecessarily throws things onto other tabs that could easily fit on the main page if not for the pretentious graphics that waste almost all of the screen real estate.

As for the NI Discovery stuff, be aware that the more recent ones in the series, have a not-so-well documented set of features that don't get exposed until you click on the visuals for the instruments in the GUI, even though there is absolutely nothing that would lead you to believe that there is any mouse sensitivity to clicking any specific place in the overall graphics. Took me half an hour to find some features!

Both series are rare in providing both left hand and right hand articulations, which is so important towards realistic phrasing, as it goes way beyond chaotic and random/arbitrary round robin approaches. I take the time to rephrase all of my performances to maximize the ability to match a more realistic playing style.

I'm still shocked that there are no Timbales in the Evolution Series, but I have now grown to love the ones in NI Discovery Series. I think when I first casually played around with that stuff, I may not have realized that each library has up to five unique choices for almost every instrument, so there's a wide range of tonalities available, and of course this means different models/brands were sampled as well.

I'll try to find time to post more specific rankings and annotations for individual instruments, in a few days, as I am now wrapping up my umpteenth yet confidently final renderings and editing of my MIDI parts for Latin Percussion. My next step is to replace as many as possible with live instruments, but this additional work with multiple articulations is helping to prepare me for the ideal phrasing to use.


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## kgdrum (Dec 12, 2019)

Mark Schmieder said:


> My ranking of Evolution Series has been going up a bit of late, mostly due to how well-documented it is vs. the somewhat better recorded Muletone libraries that have literally zero documentation and require one to use their ears alone as a guide to guessing which notes trigger which articulations. Such a shame! I've had to move away from many of them recently as a result, as I am pulling in a lot more articulations now that my understanding of each instrument has grown a lot this past year.
> 
> Similarly, I finally got around to thoroughly delving into the various NI Discovery Series packages over the past few months, and am astounded by their quality, correct recording and playing techniques, mostly good instrument choices (but unfortunately some western brands for Latin Percussion where local brands would have been preferred), lots of articulations and clearly marked.
> 
> ...



Hi Mark,
I actually discussed in a thread with one of the Evolutions developers about not having timbales in a Latin Percussion library,somehow he didn’t think it was a big omission and brushed over it.
I have the entire series and not having timbales still pisses me off.Try playing Salsa,Afro-Cuban or even Reggae without timbales.IMO still no timbales that’s LAME.


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## Mark Schmieder (Dec 12, 2019)

Even Soniccouture's MoonKits has Timbales, but in the context of a Drum Set, in place of Tom-Toms.

Technically, Timbales are a Caribbean instrument and not Brasilian, but as you know, the North Atlantic Coast countries have equal influences from the Andes, Europe, and the Caribbean (plus Central America), so Timables do get used in Venezuela, Colombia, Trinidad & Tobago, Panama, maybe Ecuador, and certainly at least on a small scale everywhere else including Brasil.

It is labeled South American and not Latin American, and I think their focus is meant to be fairly specifically Brasil, which is welcome on its own as most libraries until recently had ignored that country altogether, and yet there are at least five major distinct schools (each with sub-genres) that all have their own instrumentation or variants of standard instruments.

Perhaps NI will do a Brasil library for its Discovery Series at some point, as good as its Cuba library?


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## Mike Marino (Dec 12, 2019)

Doesn't 8dio have three new salsa libraries out along with a new Batucada library???


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## Mark Schmieder (Dec 12, 2019)

Different purpose to the first two volumes; loop-oriented, and seemingly for a flavour of salsa in a soundtrack (e.g.) or pop/dance tune vs. authentic genre material. Maybe the third volume will address that, as I believe it is going to be single hits.

It's all personal taste of course, but I did not like the demos for the first two volumes at all, even if they were single hit based, but over the past few years I have moved much more towards authenticity based on my travels to the region and listening to the music more. I've become quite picky about choice of manufacturers and materials, playing styles, and suitability for newer styles and genres from that region, as it is probably the area of the world where music is changing the fastest.

New instruments are being invented constantly; old ones are being significantly altered in construction, size, materials, etc. and playing styles are changing. It's all very exciting and inspirational.


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## jaketanner (Dec 12, 2019)

Check out 8DIO Bible of Salsa series. Not that I think it's good (I actually recorded some of the biggest Salsa acts so I am biased here), but you might find what you are looking for there.


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## Mark Schmieder (Dec 12, 2019)

That's the one Mike mentioned above.


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## Yury Tikhomirov (Dec 12, 2019)

Straight Ahead Bongo&Congos are great and super playable (+cheap). Shimmer, Shaker and Strikes are good choice as well. I am using and liking both. Also was looking at Timbales by Loops De La Creme, but have never tried it. 
I think you might be very well covered by these 3 library already.


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## pulse (Dec 12, 2019)

kgdrum said:


> Hi Mark,
> I actually discussed in a thread with one of the Evolutions developers about not having timbales in a Latin Percussion library,somehow he didn’t think it was a big omission and brushed over it.
> I have the entire series and not having timbales still pisses me off.Try playing Salsa,Afro-Cuban or even Reggae without timbales.IMO still no timbales that’s LAME.


Hey there I just thought to clarify that originally World Percussion was not meant to be split up into seperate regions... it was just due to so many requests from people to buy individual regions that we decided to offer this  When we recorded world percussion we could have been recording for a century... so many wonderful options. So no one single region was meant to be the definitive collection of drums. Our thought was over time we will grow and expand on these sections as we wanted to focus more on quality than quantity (Lots of round robin and articulations). World Percussions future is still well and truely alive... lots of exciting things happening


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## Mark Schmieder (Dec 12, 2019)

That's great to hear! And I actually like how you combined it all into one Kontakt Player library, as it speeds up my workflow to only have to go to one basic location to grab anything from the bag.


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## paulmatthew (Dec 12, 2019)

Evolution World Percussion is great. Another top notch kontakt instrument I didn't see mentioned here yet is Indiginus Brio Percussion Ensemble which is more on the latin side.


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## kgdrum (Dec 12, 2019)

pulse said:


> Hey there I just thought to clarify that originally World Percussion was not meant to be split up into seperate regions... Our thought was over time we will grow and expand on these sections as we wanted to focus more on quality than quantity (Lots of round robin and articulations). World Percussions future is still well and truely alive... lots of exciting things happening




While I appreciate the premise IMO as someone who purchased the entire Evolution World Percussion Series in 2014 it doesn’t feel like it’s truly alive & growing. 
Offering a dedicated Latin Section that still doesn’t have timbales feels like It hasn’t been addressed and probably never will be.
Timbales are not a seldom used fringe instrument in the Latin or Caribbean percussion world.
For me trying to create Afro-Cuban,Salsa & Reggae tracks that don’t have a basic like timbales is a shame.


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## Mark Schmieder (Dec 12, 2019)

I'm so fond of Timbales that I'm even starting to use them instead of Tom-Toms in material I've done that isn't specifically Latin in nature. I feel like vintage drum machines kind of killed the "traditional" tom roll and made it sound cliche (usually), so I tend to prefer accent sounds and something a bit heftier now when I augment the primary drums.

Back in the naive pre-internet 80's, I was told that Timbales were meant to serve the role of Snare Drum, which really is only partially true when doing rim shots, but really these are a variant of Toms, for the most part. Although there isn't always a direct 1:1 analog between a western Drum Set and the drum sections common to most Latin cultures (all of which differ and are constantly evolving as well). The art of making them has also improved significantly, and they are trending to higher pitches than back in the 50's/60's when Ludwig and Slingerland were two of the better known brands.


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## kgdrum (Dec 12, 2019)

I kick myself I used to have Humberto Morales timbales from the late 50’s or early 60’s (Leedy-solid brass)and like a moron I sold them when I needed $$.
Good timbales sound amazing and just add a color and energy to music that I just love and for some weird reason finding samples of timbales that sound good is just so elusive.


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## pulse (Dec 13, 2019)

kgdrum said:


> While I appreciate the premise IMO as someone who purchased the entire Evolution World Percussion Series in 2014 it doesn’t feel like it’s truly alive & growing.
> Offering a dedicated Latin Section that still doesn’t have timbales feels like It hasn’t been addressed and probably never will be.
> Timbales are not a seldom used fringe instrument in the Latin or Caribbean percussion world.
> For me trying to create Afro-Cuban,Salsa & Reggae tracks that don’t have a basic like timbales is a shame.


Trust me I hear you  I'm not a big fan of pre announcing anything as I don't want to disappoint. Our team is very small and slowly trying to get through a back log of projects. I'm going to try and see if there is any way to speed up the process for 2020. For what ever it is worth I do greatly appreciate everyones support over the years... World Percussion is very special to me and I have big plans for it


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## Mark Schmieder (Dec 13, 2019)

The new third volume of 8DIO's Salsa "Bible" does include single hits, and though there are some useful playing techniques and articulations in there, the held notes don't sound realistic to my ears at all, nor even many of the shorts, but I am referring to the brass and winds (especially saxes), as I haven't heard percussion-only demos yet.

From what I can tell in the existing demos, the percussion may be a bit distorted (perhaps on person). I can't tell enough in the context of the mix overall though, other than that the tunings may not fit everyone's purposes, and I don't see an indication that multiple pitches are available. But certainly if you click on the third volume for content, you'll see that the articulations list is quite extensive.

Listed as "Timbal (Low and High)", this is most certainly a pair of Timbales. Terminology gets a bit tricky for this instrument, as the Brasilians have a complete unrelated instrument called the Timbal, but sometimes spelled Timbau or just Timba, which is more akin to a Conga but closer to an older traditional African hand drum. Based on the articulations, the ones in this library appear to be Timbales though.


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## rrichard63 (Dec 14, 2019)

Sonokinetic's Percussao Do Brasil, discussed above, is on sale for 19 euros until 5pm Central European Time on Monday, December 16.


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## Mark Schmieder (Dec 14, 2019)

It's worth it for that price, even for people who have other libraries, as it covers some stuff the others don't. I'll list its weaknesses just so no one is surprised if they are going after a SPECIFIC need:

Ago Ago Bells are too low-pitched, though this might work in some genres and contexts
Caxixi is a woven model (labeled as Cax) but only has one (high) pitch/articulation; two are needed at a minimum, and even Vir2 World Impact Global Percussion's is better, but Muletone Audio's dedicated library is best
Claves also too high, but on par with Evolution Series, which is also too high (prefer Spitfire Percussion)
Cowbell is generally useless when only one pitch or articulation available; use NI Discovery Series Cuba (in Timbales patches), UVI World Suite or UVI Percussion Store
Cuica is strange and more for sound design context, but includes both bass and treble models, yet it's only beat by loops-only Cinesamples Rio Grooves, VSL';s Percussion library (at top), and Muletone Audio's dedicated library (which includes both a high-pitched and medium-pitched model)
Tamborim is too low-pitched but is at least a wood model vs. plastic

And here are its unique strengths (some more than others):

Apito (Tri-Tone Samba Whistle) is strongest on market (alongside Wavesfactory Samba Drums), but is the LP Brass model (just so you know)
Berimbau is right up there with the dedicated library from Muletone Audio
Caixa de Guerra (Brasilian snare, listed as Caxia), is about the only single-hit in latin libraries, but is pitched fairly low
Ganza is quite good (listed as Rio Shaker) and on par with Brazilian Shaker in Evolution Series
Guiro is Brasilian style and thus the only one on the market that is
Malacacheta (deep-bodied Caixa, listed as Caisse) is only one on market; makes you wonder why their regular Caixa is so low-pitched
Pandeiro is the best until Muletone Audio's dedicated library (which has four low-pitched models)
Repinique is the best until Muletone Audio's dedicated library (which samples 12" model w/ goatskin head)
Rocar is next-best behind Wavesfactory Samba Drums, but is lower pitched so sometimes is needed
Surdo is interesting as the Bass Surdo is wood but the other is Aluminum; Evolution Series reigns supreme here and has three pitches/sizes
Timbal (aka Timbau or Timba) is a mixed blessing as it's the only aluminum one (usually preferred), but just doesn't mix as well as three wood models above it (Evolution Series, Muletone Audio, then Wavesfactory Samba Drums)
It should be immediately obvious that $19 is a bargain for this library.


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## latinbass (Apr 19, 2020)

Hi, thanks for this thread, lots of good info. Just wanted to throw out there that HHS is having a sale on Flying Hand for $59 US, coupon code FHP4U70. 

I think I'll get it, though I already own the Cuba Discovery series, and I don't yet have the full version of Kontakt that it requires (I plan on it, eventually).

One thing about Cuba Discovery, I didn't realize how much you could alter the various patterns! I like the editor, too, it's intuitive. I'm still not sure whether or not you can alter the chord changes for the melodic/harmonic instruments, though. I suppose I have EZKeys for that.


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## Mark Schmieder (Apr 19, 2020)

Hah, I never noticed it has patterns, since it is extremely rare that I don't build my own from scratch!

Cuba is great; much better than I realized when it first came out, at which point my review was so cursory that I hadn't even noticed the five variants for each instrument (in most cases, this means five different models and/or tunings). The articulation mapping is very extensive and intuitive as well.

As a reminder, Flying Hand's Congas are unique in how they handle the nuances of hand-based articulations vs. single-strike stick-based stuff. It's more akin to proper handling of brush work. NOBODY else does that, and it makes such a difference!

I just wish they had a larger set (four voicings) and that they had bothered to do Bongos (Bongo Cajon is a Cajon shaped like a Bongo and sounds nothing like Bongos).


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