Ample Sound releases Ample China Traditional Percussion

Ample Sound has released Ample China Traditional Percussion (ACTP), a new instrument plugin featuring a Chinese ethnic percussion ensemble, covering a wide range from bass to treble, including membrane, wood, and brass instruments.

It includes 19 instrument slots totaling 49 percussion instruments, such as drum ensemble, solo drum, gongs, cymbals, opera percussion, and vocals etc.

Each instrument features multiple articulations, velocity layers, and sample cycles:

• Ensemble: Zheng Yu and Gufeng Percussion Ensemble.
• Lead Soloist: Zheng Yu (Young Percussion Artist).
• Sampled Instruments: Gufeng Percussion.

Sampling:

• ACTP features Drum Ensembles, Solo Drums, Pitched Barrel Drums, Small Barrel Drum, Cymbals, Large Gong, Ethnic Drum, Singing Bowl, Temple Bowl, Bells, Shaking Bells, Opera Drum, Temple Block, Wood Block, Large Opera Gong, Small Opera Gong, Opera Cymbals, Rattle Drum, and vocals — a total of 19 instrument slots with 49 percussion instruments, using 15 GB of samples.
• The drum ensembles and solo drums include articulations such as Center, Stick, Rim, Rimshot, Edge-Center, Edge, muting with Stick, muting with Hand, Slap, Nails, Roll, Rims Roll, and Expressive Roll — up to 13 articulations in total. Other instruments also offer multiple articulations.
• The drum ensemble is recorded with 11 microphones, including Left 1, Left 2, Mid Low, Mid High, Mid Mid, Right 1, Right 2, Overhead, and Room. The drum head and rim were recorded separately, with a total of 22 microphones. Other percussion instruments are recorded with multiple microphones. Even the smallest wood block used 4 microphones.

Main Features:

• Dual-Layer Mixer: ACTP adopts a dual-layer mixer design. The first layer is the instrument track, and each instrument track contains multiple microphone tracks. This setup is to adapt to the diverse nature of Chinese percussion, as the miking configuration for drum ensembles and small wood percussion differs. However, every percussion instrument uses the same overhead microphones to ensure tonal consistency:
• Percussion Version of Riffer:
  • Quickly mark articulations and expressions in the built-in piano roll.
  • Fully compatible with standard MIDI, with lossless import/export.
  • Each preset is accompanied by a riff, presenting a quick overview of the performances and sound characteristics.
  • Each instrument slot contains similar types of percussion with consistent design in terms of articulations, velocity layers, and sample cycles. When switching between instruments in the same slot, there is no need to modify the MIDI. Even for drum ensemble vs. solo, simply shifting the MIDI by an octave can achieve the same performance.
• Legato: Ample Sound's legato technology from Dizi, Xiao, and Erhu is introduced to percussion. Instruments like Gongs, Cymbals, Singing Bowls, Temple Bowls, and Bells feature various legato expression changes, such as striking a Singing Bowl first and then legato into a Sing (the effect of a mallet rubbing continuously around the rim):
• Independent ADSR Modulation System for Each Percussion: Each percussion has an independent ADSR envelope modulation system, allowing for adjustments of parameters like pitch, velocity curve, and more.

System Requirements:

• Windows: Windows 7/8/10/11, 64-bit only.
• Mac: 10.13 or newer versions.
• VST2, VST3, AU, AAX and Standalone host (Rectangles).
• Intel i5 or higher; If using an external hard drive, it must be a solid-state drive (SSD).
• ILok Anti-Piracy system, which requires a free iLok account. The license can be stored on the local machine without an iLok dongle, or on 2nd/3rd generation iLok dongle.

ACTP is available now with an introductory price of $126 (Reg. $169) until November 27, 2024.

Demo Video

Grand and Majestic

HifiMIDI review

Thunder Through the Heavens (Fermata Studio)

Winds of Change (Tiannan Cai Featured Violinist: Xika Huang)

Demo Songs