The story
This has been laying around my studio for a while. A friend loaned it to me. Now I have an iso-booth and iZotope RX8, I have at last found the time to sample it. It has 3 octaves of 4 sustained round robins, with the C3 being stretched down to C2 (cause it sounds awesome). The samples are quite clean due to recording in my iso-booth (stereo condensers) and then noise reduction and repair using RX8. It features the standard reverb and delay knobs, with control over some of the parameters for each. Overall it’s another fairly simple instrument, due in part to my limited Kontakt experience but also because I just love the rich harpsichord-type sound of it. I didn’t want to overshadow it with lots of crazy effects etc.
Introducing Hugh's Bouzouki
Hugh's Bouzouki Demo
Interface
Reviews for Hugh’s Bouzouki
- Sound
- Character
- Playability
- Inspiration
- GUI
Leave a review to let others know what you thought of the instrument!
Really nice dulcimer-like instrument
This is a very cleanly recorded and accessible instrument. Despite the fact that there is only one velocity layer, you do get four cyclical round robins which allows for plenty of musicality.
The decision to stretch down a lower octave was a great idea and I have to agree that register sounds really quite good and it gets my favorite tone out of the instrument.
The addition of reverb and delay is quite nice if you're looking to quickly get some different timbres or musical ideas out of the box.
Personally I would love to see more articulations and sonic options, but I can't find any fault in this instrument. Very well put-together and you'll definitely get some good use out of it.
Lovely bouzouki sounds
Scott was kind enough to hunt down an old Kontakt 5 save of the instrument for me when I told him my OS wouldn't support Kontakt 6.7. I'm really glad he did! This is a really nice bouzouki sound, which captures the nice bright 'shimmer' of the Greek bouzouki which is often what I find lacking in string libraries. The samples are pristine and even mashing the keyboard just sounds like someone sat on a harpsichord, with no hiss / noise apparent. The UI art is also quite lovely with the rainbow colours in the bouzouki inlay.
I would've loved some extra velocity layers to give the instrument even more character, and maybe a little bit more range at the top end, but it's already the nicest bouzouki sound in my library and will be my go-to in future! Thanks Scott!A Great way to add some ethnic flavor!
This is a great Bouzouki sample. it's perfect for those moments when you want something like a mandolin, but a bit brighter, or something like a harpsichord, but with a little more twang. The samples are well recorded and there's very little noise. I really appreciate that the samples were recorded dry so I can add effects to taste. Speaking of effects, a basic reverb and delay are provided, which is nice for demoing samples (although I prefer to add my own using other plugs and pedals when actually composing).
There is a little bit of inconsistency in some of the round robins, however. One of the A3's is missing the upper octave string, for example. I also noticed that there's some phasing that happens as you continue to play, as though not all of the samples are in phase. These are all really minor complaints, however. This is a really fun and useful library, and I'm sure everyone who downloads it will find it inspiring!
A nice "open" bouzouki
I'm very biased when it comes to Bouzouki instruments, since I used to play a lot during highschool and it's consider our national folk instrument. With that said, this is a nicely sampled one that comes with some extra FX if you are into that. The best thing about it is that the lower notes are sampled with the upper double strings correctly, which does great justice to the instrument.
The weird part for a long-time player, is that the bouzouki is strictly a solo instrument, heavily based on legato playing, with tons of "hammer-on" like articulations. Without that programmed, you don't really get the authentic experience, and makes it sound very similar to a dulcimer playstyle. In any way though, it's a great sampled instrument that will probably be perfectly fine for most!
