Kong Audio has announced the release of the 12th installment in the Chinee Series product line - ChineeHuluSi: "The Riveting Bottle Gourds from the South of Clouds".

HuluSi is a free-reed wind instrument from China. "Hulu" is the Chinese name for bottle gourd; "Si", silk, is used here to describe the unrelenting characteristic of HuluSi's vibrating tail tone.

The history of HuluSi is not well documented other than that it may have been used by the ethnic minorities in the nowadays Yunnan (literally means "South of Clouds") province for a very, very long time, maybe as long as a thousand years. Today, HuluSi is the most representative instrument of Yunnan and in recent years it has been improved, spread and promoted, both at the domestic and international levels, and received good recognition.

HuluSi is especially known for its unrelenting, yet soft, tone.

ChineeHuluSi contains the sampling of two HuluSi's, with various types of playing techniques delicately woven within:

• A Big HuluSi in G (note range: B3-E5).
• A Small HuluSi in C (note range: G4-A5).

ChineeHuluSi also features Kong Audio's new Intelligent Legato and improved key-switching mechanism.

Pricing & Availability

Priced at $60, ChineeHuluSi is available for Windows as a VST instrument plug-in. Existing Kong Audio customers get an introductory 50% discount until October 5th, 2009.