Deidre Rodriguez Posted January 5 Share Posted January 5 Hi all, I’m brand new to music production and recently started working (read, slowly learning) with Cakewalk. I’m looking to finish a few demos I’ve written that are in the style of Ofra Haza, Lorena McKennitt, Dead Can Dance, etc. I was wondering if anyone had opinions or experience in using this plug-in called UVI World Suite 3. It appears to have everything I want, sound-wise, but I’m not sure about the tech aspects. Does it work well with Cakewalk? Do any of you have experience using this program? If it isn’t a good fit, is there something similar out there that works better with Cakewalk? I’m trying to be thorough before dropping $200 on a plug-in lol. I appreciate any feedback and advice! And, feel free to explain things to me like I’m 5…like I said, I’m brand new to production. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amberwolf Posted January 5 Share Posted January 5 (edited) What plugins (synths) have you already used, and what tech issues did you run across with them? (this may give us a level of experience to start the help with) FWIW, I use audio phrases and loops in my projects on http://amberwolf.bandcamp.com (some of the most recent of which have some similarity to the styles of the artists you mention) to give me the "world" sounds I'm after, since these also give me the playing style and expertise of those instrument-players (whcih I don't have and will certainly never have time to learn for all of these :lol: ). Most of mine have been the free packs from various places like Ghosthack, Cymatics, Black Octopus, etc., but I've bought a few on the holiday sales for very cheap (90%+ off!) that have enough more to be worth it, many variations, and of course I can cut, chop, stretch, squish, retune, etc., any of them. I do this partly to save frustrations with "tech issues" (including authorization and licensing-server failures, and all that stuff), and though it does place limits on what I can do with the stuff I have that would be lessened if they were the instruments instead, that has made me learn some other things and make some stuff I wouldnt' have otherwise even tried. It also gives me access to vocals, since even if I could sing (see Back to the World for an example of that problem), I don't have the right kind of voice to make any of the sounds I want. Edited January 5 by Amberwolf 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AB9 Posted January 5 Share Posted January 5 The VI forum is a great place to check on these "world" libraries. I have tried quite a few and never had a problem with Cakewalk/Sonar for many years and variations of the program. So, first I would choose based on the sound selection and sample quality that you want. https://vi-control.net/community/forums/sample-talk.32/ All the best on your endeavors! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deidre Rodriguez Posted January 5 Author Share Posted January 5 4 hours ago, Amberwolf said: What plugins (synths) have you already used, and what tech issues did you run across with them? (this may give us a level of experience to start the help with) FWIW, I use audio phrases and loops in my projects on http://amberwolf.bandcamp.com (some of the most recent of which have some similarity to the styles of the artists you mention) to give me the "world" sounds I'm after, since these also give me the playing style and expertise of those instrument-players (whcih I don't have and will certainly never have time to learn for all of these :lol: ). Most of mine have been the free packs from various places like Ghosthack, Cymatics, Black Octopus, etc., but I've bought a few on the holiday sales for very cheap (90%+ off!) that have enough more to be worth it, many variations, and of course I can cut, chop, stretch, squish, retune, etc., any of them. I do this partly to save frustrations with "tech issues" (including authorization and licensing-server failures, and all that stuff), and though it does place limits on what I can do with the stuff I have that would be lessened if they were the instruments instead, that has made me learn some other things and make some stuff I wouldnt' have otherwise even tried. It also gives me access to vocals, since even if I could sing (see Back to the World for an example of that problem), I don't have the right kind of voice to make any of the sounds I want. I haven't used anything yet, really. I was just concerned with the fact that the World Suite 3 required a UVI workstation and a iLok account (assuming this is an Apple thing?). I didn't want to download it and then run into issues. My band mate who produces all of our music on Cakewalk mentioned looking for things that are VST3 and PC native, which World Suite doesn't seem to be. While I do sing, I hear you on not having the time or ability to play all the cool instruments we want to use on these songs lol! I'll definitely check out the places you mentioned and see if I find anything that sounds like what I'm wanting. Thanks so much! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canopus Posted January 5 Share Posted January 5 (edited) 15 minutes ago, Deidre Rodriguez said: I was just concerned with the fact that the World Suite 3 required a UVI workstation and a iLok account (assuming this is an Apple thing?). I didn't want to download it and then run into issues. My band mate who produces all of our music on Cakewalk mentioned looking for things that are VST3 and PC native, which World Suite doesn't seem to be. UVI Workstation has a very long history and is a well-established VST3 plugin. World Suite 3 is a library that runs inside the free UVI Workstation, much like Native Instruments Kontakt is a VST3 plugin where Kontakt libraries can be loaded and run. Indeed, UVI Workstation requires iLok, just as all commercial plugins have some sort of copy protection, but iLok nowadays doesn’t require a USB dongle. I’ve personally used both UVI Workstation and iLok for ten years without ever running into any sort of trouble. Also, iLok is in no way specifically related to Apple; it works on both PC and Mac computers. Edited January 5 by Canopus 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AB9 Posted January 5 Share Posted January 5 Almost anything by Eduardo Tarilonte is top notch and works with Cakewalk/Sonar. Sometimes you can find a sound or several in libraries from East West that also did a great job with some world instruments (even going back to Gypsy and Ra - though some of the instruments are not all that great.) https://www.bestservice.com/en/ancient_era_persia.html 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deidre Rodriguez Posted January 5 Author Share Posted January 5 1 hour ago, Canopus said: UVI Workstation has a very long history and is a well-established VST3 plugin. World Suite 3 is a library that runs inside the free UVI Workstation, much like Native Instruments Kontakt is a VST3 plugin where Kontakt libraries can be loaded and run. Indeed, UVI Workstation requires iLok, just as all commercial plugins have some sort of copy protection, but iLok nowadays doesn’t require a USB dongle. I’ve personally used both UVI Workstation and iLok for ten years without ever running into any sort of trouble. Also, iLok is in no way specifically related to Apple; it works on both PC and Mac computers. Good to know about iLok, thanks! So, I could run World Suite 3 in Cakewalk or do I need to run it in the UVI workstation and then transfer it to Cakewalk? Or is there a way to open the WS3 library within Cakewalk? Thanks for the help! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Promidi Posted January 5 Share Posted January 5 (edited) 3 hours ago, Deidre Rodriguez said: Good to know about iLok, thanks! So, I could run World Suite 3 in Cakewalk or do I need to run it in the UVI workstation and then transfer it to Cakewalk? Or is there a way to open the WS3 library within Cakewalk? World Suite 3 runs inside UVI workstation (which is free), which itself is run as a multitimbral synth plugin in your DAW (in your case, Cakewalk). Once thing to observe is that, as UVI workstation only runs on a single core, each instance of UVI workstation should only contain up to 4 instruments for best performance. For each group of 4 UVI instruments, create a new instance of UVI workstation. It should be noted that World Suite 3 can also run inside UVI Falcon (However, this is a paid product - for good reason..... it’s excellent). Edited January 6 by Promidi 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amberwolf Posted January 5 Share Posted January 5 (edited) 1 hour ago, AB9 said: Almost anything by Eduardo Tarilonte is top notch and works with Cakewalk/Sonar. Sometimes you can find a sound or several in libraries from East West that also did a great job with some world instruments (even going back to Gypsy and Ra - though some of the instruments are not all that great.) I'll second the Tarilonte recommendation--they're all out of my budget but if I had the money I'd get most of what he makes. I have a multi-cd (dvd?) East West Sampler set from many years ago, which includes reduced-sample-set versions of a number of world instruments in Gigastudio format, and they sound nice enough, but not knowing how to actually play the instruments precludes me being able to use them realistically (though not from using them at all; my results just sound "different" ) . It does have some instruction on how to setup and use some of the instruments, like the HurdyGurdy. But the Tarilonte stuff *sounds* pretty far beyond the EW stuff I have. 2 hours ago, Deidre Rodriguez said: While I do sing, I hear you on not having the time or ability to play all the cool instruments we want to use on these songs lol! I'll definitely check out the places you mentioned and see if I find anything that sounds like what I'm wanting. I recommend looking at these; I have them (but have barely begun to explore their potential). Some have stems for each loop or phrase, so that you can use just the specific instrument you want, or be able to use parts of one loop separately or cut in/out some of it (like having the bass percussion not start until after the tops have been going a bit during an intro, etc). : https://blackoctopus-sound.com/product/deep-india/ https://blackoctopus-sound.com/product/deep-india-vol-2/ https://blackoctopus-sound.com/product/kv-balakrishnan-mystical-indian-percussion/ https://blackoctopus-sound.com/product/funky-indian-rhythms-by-kv-balakrishnan/ https://blackoctopus-sound.com/product/cinematic-indian-loops/ https://blackoctopus-sound.com/product/divine-vocal-mantras-spiritual-indian-chants/ (some came in this bundle, IIRC https://blackoctopus-sound.com/product/indian-south-east-asian-holiday-bundle-10-packs-for-25/ ) This one is also useful https://www.ghosthack.de/ultimate-indian-percussions and this is good for much more than the haunting vocals in it https://www.ghosthack.de/shymer To hear what an amateur can do with them (meaning a real musician could do much better) with a few hours' work, you can check out these tracks: This one uses bits from Ghosthack's Shymer set, along with bits from assorted other Ghosthack (mostly their free ones, but some stuff out of the Ultimate Cinematic Bundle) and Cymatics libraries (mostly their free ones) and some percussion hits from older stuff that I don't recall the names of. It has three separate short segments which each share some sounds, but showcase others: https://amberwolf.bandcamp.com/track/if-i-should-wake This one uses some of the various free Cymatics percussion, vocal, and instrument pieces, along with other stuff I built out of various things. https://amberwolf.bandcamp.com/track/a-peek-over-the-wall This uses primarily vocals from BlackOctopus' Divine Vocal Mantras,, plus various percussion, vocals, and instrument snippets from Ghosthack, Cymatics, and BlackOctopus, along with Z3TA2+ and SI Strings, and other bits from olde assorted libraries. https://amberwolf.bandcamp.com/track/less-like-a-whisper This one uses some of those EastWest sounds, mostly wind and string, here and there as accents. The main instruments are Z3TA2+ and SessionDrummer3, though the Taiko rolls are from the EW sounds. https://amberwolf.bandcamp.com/track/the-skaergaard-intrusion This also uses some of the EW sounds, mostly the taiko rolls; I don't recall which other bits were, background accents though. Main instruments were Z3TA2+, SD3, SI Strings, Rapture. https://amberwolf.bandcamp.com/track/ookami-no-kari-no-yume-wolfs-dream-of-the-hunt Edited January 5 by Amberwolf 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canopus Posted January 5 Share Posted January 5 1 hour ago, Deidre Rodriguez said: Good to know about iLok, thanks! So, I could run World Suite 3 in Cakewalk or do I need to run it in the UVI workstation and then transfer it to Cakewalk? Or is there a way to open the WS3 library within Cakewalk? The first thing for you to do, would be to install the UVI Portal from here. That’s the software that manages the installation of all UVI plugins and libraries. You can read more in the pdf document here. Skip everything that’s said about about SonicPass, as that’s UVI’s all-encompassing subscription program. Instead, look at the parts that talks about permanent licenses, as I assume that would be the route for you to go in order to get World Suite 3. As you haven’t got UVI Workstation already installed, you need to install that one on your PC first. Once UVI Portal is installed and started, you can download and install UVI Workstation from there. If you’re using Cakewalk by BandLab, you might choose to install UVI Workstation to C:\Program Files\Cakewalk\VST Plugins\UVI. Read more about UVI Worktation in this pdf. As you don’t have an iLok account, you can create that as well from inside UVI Portal. Look at the instructions on page 6 in the UVI Portal pdf. If you then would like to buy, say, UVI World Suite 3, you do that at https://www.uvi.net/en/world/world-suite-3.html, or possibly some third-party vendor. Of course, you would need to create your own account at UVI, as this would be the first time. Once purchased, you would then refresh UVI Portal, and that library would turn up, ready to be installed. Once everything is installed, when you start Cakewalk by BandLab (CbB) the next time, it would by default scan your specified plugin paths. If you have chosen my recommended path above, everything should work automatically and UVI Workstation would turn up among your installed plugins. Then you can simply create a new instrument track inside a new Cakewalk project, select UVI Workstation as your instrument, and UVI World Suite 3 would be available among your soundbanks inside. Double-click your library/soundbank and the GUI would open. And, hey presto. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AB9 Posted January 10 Share Posted January 10 East West having a bundle sale here: https://www.jrrshop.com/eastwest-world-instruments-bundle Gypsy, Silk and Ra. Older libraries, but they work great with Sonar and there are some great sounds. At this special price, it is worth having. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Promidi Posted January 11 Share Posted January 11 On 1/10/2025 at 11:19 AM, AB9 said: East West having a bundle sale here: https://www.jrrshop.com/eastwest-world-instruments-bundle And don't forget to add FORUM Discount Code at checkout. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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