Strezov Jade Ethnic Orchestra

[Larry Shelby]

https://www.strezov-sampling.com/article/jade.html

[Reid Rosefelt]

It's now available for pre-order for 349€   (excl. VAT)  until April 27th, after which it will be 479 euros.

Additional Crossgrade discounts from BALKAN Ethnic Orchestra and Rhodope 2 Ethnic Bulgarian Choir are available upon login.  I have BEO and my price is 300 euros.

More info, including a full instrument list is HERE

The biggest collection of Chinese and Mongolian virtual instruments out there. A unique and breathtaking collection featuring some of the best Chinese musicians recorded in their country with state of the art equipment and and a deep sampling approach with up to 4 dynamic layers. An Ethnic Chinese Orchestra, Percussion Section, two Choirs and more all in one package.

Note: I don't see anything on the site about Kontakt, but Balkan Ethnic Orchestra runs in the Player and has NKS, so it seems likely that this will as well.

Their copy:

After the journey of a lifetime we are proud to present our biggest collection of virtual instruments to date: JADE Ethnic Orchestra.

We learned so much about ethnic instruments when we sampled Balkan Ethnic Orchestra in 2017. After spending three years refining our sampling process Strezov Sampling finally brings to you the next product in our Ethnic series. Being inspired by the special sound of Chinese instruments and Mongolian singers we decided it's hightime to create an inspiring instrument in that area filling a huge gap in today's virtual instrument landscape.

Comprised of over 50 instruments spread across more than 100 instrument patches, Jade Ethnic Orchestra gives you the option to choose between multiple categories, such as Bowed Strings Ensembles, Bowed Strings Solo, Plucked Strings, Voices, Woodwinds, Percussion (based on our X3M engine) and stemmed out sound-designed pads created especially for the library by Lyubomir Goshev. The library was co-produced by composer and multiinstrumentalists Seth Tsui, who conducted and recorded the sessions in Beijing, China.

JADE Ethnic Orchestra is a huge collection of Asian ethnic instruments. Most of the sampled instruments originate from China, but along with them we have included others, like the Hoomai men choir, the Mongolian Longsong Quartet, Moorin-Khuur, the Shakuhachi and many others Asia is to be proud of. A detailed list of the library's content, a thorough description of the instruments and other technical info can be found at the end of this manual.

OVERVIEW

approx. 220 GB uncompressed content (compressed content size is TBA!)

Instant Ethnic sound inspired by Chinese film soundtrack classics

Over 50 instruments in the biggest collection of sampled Chinese and Mongolian instruments

All content recorded with multiple Round-Robins and within multiple dynamic layers

3 mic positions – Close & Decca (Tweak Tone Labs), Hall (a “chamber” reverb, tracked in Sofia Session Studio) + custom convolution reverb

True legato sampling for all instruments

The powerful Syllabuilder engine with CONNECT and MORPH modes that allow you to create your own sample content within Kontakt, along with never-before sampled sounds like the Mongolian Hoomai singers and the Longsong Quartet

Ability to Load and Save your lyrics, built-in preset manager

The X3M Engine powering the percussion section for maximum flexibility and customization options

Integrated Help

Additional functions like “Velocity Dynamic Influencer”, polyphonic true-legato known from Strezov Sampling's acclaimed choirs and Afflatus Serie

 

Edited March 11, 2020 by Reid Rosefelt

[Reid Rosefelt]

I was expecting a more wide-ranging Asian library, but this is mainly Chinese, with a secondary accent on Mongolian instruments.

There is a Shakuhachi and a Vietnamese instrument, the Đàn nhị

The main idea of this seems to have been to have the most Chinese instruments ever, and there definitely are some rarities for virtual instruments.  But even so, there's no Bawu, my favorite Chinese bamboo flute.

I want it, but it's a lot of money...

[antler]

2 hours ago, Reid Rosefelt said:

approx. 220 GB uncompressed content (compressed content size is TBA!)

?

 

1 hour ago, Reid Rosefelt said:

I want it, but it's a lot of money...

and probably a lot of drive space... but then again, so is Superior 3

[Reid Rosefelt]

Hopefully there will be a lot of demos before the intro price ends.   Strezov does awesome stuff, but I'd still like to hear it before buying.  Particularly as the price ends before there are reviews from outsiders. 

[TerraSin]

I'm sure there will be. Looking forward to this one.

[Fleer]

Me tew

[Reid Rosefelt]

They have finally come out with the walkthroughs for the heart of the library--the bowed and plucked strings.  These are so great I don't have to hear the bamboo flutes walkthrough.  Anyway, their Xiao freebie is amazing. 

As some of you may know, I love world music.  There are a lot of great solo libraries out there, but very few truly great theme libraries.  Before this I would say Tarilonte's   Ancient ERA Persia (which includes Desert Winds)  is probably the best, with his Celtic ERA a good second.  Strezov Sampling's Balkan Ethnic Orchestra would be in that top group in my book too.  I also like the NI Middle Eastern library, particularly the percussion. 

Based on listening to these walkthroughs, I think this may very well be the best group world library ever released. 

I can't wait to play it.  The pre-buy ends on Monday, April 27th.  I assume the library will come out the next day or soon after.  So if you want the lowest price you have to jump on it soon.

Then there all the other videos that have been out for a while....  

For those of you who have a Strezov Percussion library, this will not disaappoint.

The pads were a surprise to me.   I didn't expect them to be so good. 

I don't think I will get much use out of the choirs though...