Pipa and Guzheng - Do I need both instruments ?

[Gustar]

Hi,

Does anyone own both the pipa and guzheng plugins ?

I already have the guzheng instrument and since I feel that both instruments sound quite similar, I would be interested to find out if anyone uses both of them.

Are there differences, i.e. in the available playing techniques ?

[Gregjazz]

In my opinion the Pipa and Guzheng are very different instruments. They are similar in that they use a few of the same articulations (the roll/shake, for example). Timbre-wise the Pipa is brighter, whereas the Guzheng has a darker, mellower, fuller tone. They are both beautiful sounding instruments. Also the Pipa is fretted, so when I sequence I take that into account, whereas if you want to change the pitch of a note in the Guzheng, you have to bend the string (Zheng players press down on the string on the other side of the bridge to bend the pitch upwards).

If you want to compare it in terms of Western instruments, the Guzheng is like the harp, whereas the Pipa is like the guitar.

Sosayweall also talked about the differences in this thread (with pictures too, differentiating the manners in which these instruments are played in): http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic ... 11#1942911

[Gustar]

In my opinion the Pipa and Guzheng are very different instruments. They are similar in that they use a few of the same articulations (the roll/shake, for example). Timbre-wise the Pipa is brighter, whereas the Guzheng has a darker, mellower, fuller tone. They are both beautiful sounding instruments. Also the Pipa is fretted, so when I sequence I take that into account, whereas if you want to change the pitch of a note in the Guzheng, you have to bend the string (Zheng players press down on the string on the other side of the bridge to bend the pitch upwards).

If you want to compare it in terms of Western instruments, the Guzheng is like the harp, whereas the Pipa is like the guitar.

Sosayweall also talked about the differences in this thread (with pictures too, differentiating the manners in which these instruments are played in): http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic ... 11#1942911

Thank you for your opinion. However, I think the comparison between harp and guitar is not quite appropriate since the harp offers different playing styles such as glissandi and you can strum a chord with the guitar, which sounds different on the harp. I guess the comparison guitar-zither is more appropiate.

I guess I feel the guzheng and pipa are similar beacuse they both rely heavily on similar playing styles such as the tremolo/rolls and pitchbend.

Anyway, I might just get the pipa as well. The guys from kongaudio make very tempting offers to existing customers and with the nice dollar-euro rate I might just add it to my vst folder.

BTW: Greg, great pipa demo ( I presume it's from you ?)

[sosayweall]

Guzheng is generally often used for an atmospheric mood which simply cannot be done with Pipa, whilst Pipa is a vital Chinese instrument itself.

It's partially my fault I guess. I originally described Guzheng as a "plucked" instrument, but that description is more suitable for Pipa. Actually, there are more than a few plucked string instruments in China, so it may get even harder to distinguish the difference in the future...