KVR Audio

Maestro77 · Post by **Maestro77** » Tue Mar 20, 2012 10:29 pm

+1 for Sitar Nation from Impact Soundworks. They left NOTHING out.

AKJ · Post by **AKJ** » Tue Mar 20, 2012 11:07 pm

judging from their demos, I believe that the Sitar in the Kontakt library is superior (soundwise). Since you need Kontakt for Sitar Nation I thus would not recommend buying it. It was a different matter when it came out, but in the meantime, as it seems to me (since they sound so similar), light versions of the Indian instruments from the North India Kore Pack were added to the Kontakt factory library which are quite good (ca. 250 MB of sitar, 44 MB of tabla, 440 MB of tanpura, 66 MB harmonium, 12 mb od shenai, 93 mb of bansuri > almost 1 GB of Indian instrument samples in the Kontakt factory library).

cheers, akj

ps: just load them side by side. I am not sure, just judging from the demos, but this is my impression. It's especially the higher notes which sound imo better in the Kontakt factory library sitar.

Chester Desmond · Post by **Chester Desmond** » Wed Mar 21, 2012 3:25 am

braj wrote:
Chester Desmond wrote:You might consider this:

http://hgsounds.com/product/site-raid/h ... tar-loops/

I have the loops that are included when you purchase this vsti and they are quite fun to mess with.
How does the hi-fi version sound, because the lofi demo does not inspire confidence

sorry, I don't own the vst, just the loops.

zircon · Post by **zircon** » Wed Mar 21, 2012 6:04 am

AKJ wrote:judging from their demos, I believe that the Sitar in the Kontakt library is superior (soundwise). Since you need Kontakt for Sitar Nation I thus would not recommend buying it. It was a different matter when it came out, but in the meantime, as it seems to me (since they sound so similar), light versions of the Indian instruments from the North India Kore Pack were added to the Kontakt factory library which are quite good (ca. 250 MB of sitar, 44 MB of tabla, 440 MB of tanpura, 66 MB harmonium, 12 mb od shenai, 93 mb of bansuri > almost 1 GB of Indian instrument samples in the Kontakt factory library).

cheers, akj

ps: just load them side by side. I am not sure, just judging from the demos, but this is my impression. It's especially the higher notes which sound imo better in the Kontakt factory library sitar.

I agree that the Kontakt library sitar is pretty well recorded. But it is a different tone than our sitar. Theirs is very bright, almost like what you would expect to find in a ROMpler. It sounds to me like they did a lot of tuning + processing. Ours, I would argue, is more authentic. It has a darker tone with more body, not so much string noise + buzz. We also left in more attack + release noise which I believe adds to the realism of things.

AKJ · Post by **AKJ** » Wed Mar 21, 2012 10:53 am

your instrument sounds good, but not in the high notes. At least this is what can be heard in the demos. The Kontakt sitar does sound good in highs and the lows. I do not think that there was a lot of processing done with the NI sitar, because I have heard quite a few sitar concerts live and many players can achieve such a sound live. Maybe you can redo the high notes recording.

braj · Post by **braj** » Mon Apr 09, 2012 6:20 am

I forgot to mention I did eventually get the Homegrown electric sitar, I like it a lot, not exactly traditional but I have some soundfonts and the sitars in Wusikstation as well. I'm thinking of getting the Manytone Boris Sitar for Wusik in the future.

Melodyshine · Post by **Melodyshine** » Sun Dec 01, 2013 1:38 am

Still no good sitar library available? It's a pity. So many instruments have been sampled in detail, why not the sitar. I tried the demo presets of Sitar Nation, but it's bad. A company like Native Instruments has to make a sitar library!

I don't understand why no one samples it. Nobody knows how to play it maybe?Electric Guitars are sampled all the time, but many people own electric guitars, but not a sitar.

Melodyshine · Post by **Melodyshine** » Tue Jan 21, 2014 2:28 pm

When will there be a high quality sitar library?

It's one of the most interesting instruments. It's really a market niche.
The best sitar library is probably the one from Sonar, but I don't know Kontakt's Sitar. Boris Sitar isn't good, Sitar Nation also seems to be bad.

mellotronaut · Post by **mellotronaut** » Tue Jan 21, 2014 2:37 pm

AKJ wrote:Kore North India resp the one in the Kontakt factory lib (they are more or less the same). These are really the best ones. Absolutely beautiful sound also in the highs where usually most libs fail. I guess they hired a real good player and did not try to do it themselves. In this instrument the player matters for the sound (I used to play sitar).

cheers, akj

this

Integratron · Post by **Integratron** » Tue Jan 21, 2014 5:16 pm

Some nice sitars in Dimension Pro if you don't mind digging through a gazillion presets!! Sometimes on sale for $29.00 btw.

BBFG# · Post by **BBFG#** » Tue Jan 21, 2014 5:25 pm

Matter of opinion I guess, I hate the one in Dimension Pro.

Integratron · Post by **Integratron** » Tue Jan 21, 2014 5:59 pm

Well if BBFG# says he hates it I wouldn't waste your time if I were you!

BBFG# · Post by **BBFG#** » Tue Jan 21, 2014 6:16 pm

Integratron wrote:Well if BBFG# says he hates it I wouldn't waste your time if I were you!

Indeed!

Roland/Sonar has a way of doing things that sometimes works, sometimes doesn't and is further complicated by each of our own subjective preferences. I know of a few who get their desired result out of Dimension. But it has become the very starting point that leads me to search for better sample players.

So now I own Garritan; SampleTank; Kontakt5. And I haven't even opened Dimension in a couple of months. When I think of the samples I liked best in Dimension, my first thought was about their Psaltry, which I do like. But nothing else logs in as being something I would use as my first choice of most of those instruments, (and I do own the DSF for Dimension Ethnic Instruments as well as the Emu Planet Earth sets). They're good, but nothing close to best IMO. My latest purchase in ethnic instruments was the EthnoWorld 5 library for Kontakt and I'm very pleased with it above the others I own for the moment. It doesn't mean I've abandoned any search for better though and TBH, sitar was an instrument I had more interest in ten years ago than I do now. Now days, searching for the best Hurdy Gurdy and Duduk seem to be more at the top of my list, but any mention of any ethnic instrument is something I check out because it can lead to a new developer that gets it right to my ears.

Edit/add: Another thing about Dimension is that the many of their samples/soundsets are NOT 24 bit and when you play the few that are, you can really hear and feel the difference.

vurt · Post by **vurt** » Wed Jan 22, 2014 10:16 am

Melodyshine wrote:When will there be a high quality sitar library?
It's one of the most interesting instruments. It's really a market niche.
The best sitar library is probably the one from Sonar, but I don't know Kontakt's Sitar. Boris Sitar isn't good, Sitar Nation also seems to be bad.

have you thought about buying a sitar?

quantum7 · Post by **quantum7** » Fri Jan 24, 2014 12:17 am

I have Sitar Nation and never liked it much, therefore end up using EW RA Sitar when needed. It's hard to believe that one one has released a truly good Sitar library yet.

Best sitar?