EastWest Hollywood Fantasy Percussion

Full Description

Percussion lost to time

In fantasy music composition, numerous scenarios exist where standard percussion falls short: blazing metal workshops, royal festivities, or authentic folk celebrations, to name a few. This is where you require drums that not only elevate the scene's drama but also seamlessly blend into the realm for which you're crafting the score. Each instrument in this assortment has been handpicked to cover every possible scenario. Thus, regardless of the scoring challenge, you possess the necessary instruments to not only enhance the on-screen drama but also immerse the audience in an extraordinary, fantastical universe that they must experience audibly to truly appreciate.

Creating the beat of an era

When it comes to composing the soundtrack for the upcoming grand fantasy or historical saga, merely including a handful of period-specific solo instruments won't suffice. To seamlessly blend orchestral and world instruments, each instrument must justify its presence in the mix, contributing to a vast cinematic sound. In response to this need, we've crafted a completely new orchestra that brings together all the required period instruments on a single platform.

Command the Mood

Every instrument is programmed with three moods, on a scale from most authentic to most cinematic: Classic, Soft, and Epic. You can rotate through these different qualities to suit your needs (the choice will typically be a no-brainer) and fill in the exact fantasy percussion sound you hear in your head. The Classic MOOD delivers the signature sound of previous Hollywood libraries, offering a softer sound that's ideal for slower, emotional passages and solo pieces. Turn it up to 11 with the Epic MOOD setting and unlock a more aggressive and punchy sound that could be the remedy for action-packed adventure scenes or high-speed chase scenes.

OPUS Engine control

Bigger and better than ever, each instrument in the Fantasy Percussion collection is performed through the new OPUS Engine. Designed to offer complete control over your instruments, the OPUS Engine is comprehensive but also fast and efficient. CPU-optimised, it allocates computer resources effectively for smooth performance. Capable of loading multiple stacked instruments, you can define octave and key ranges, trigger actions and much more all without overwhelming your CPU.

Customisable key switches can be created, letting you build a personal performance instrument, creating multi-articulation instruments with various options for on-the-fly changes. Additionally, you have full autonomy to adjust the level and pan of four distinct mic positions, including close, mid, main, and surround, giving you complete jurisdiction over the sonic dimension of your compositions. All while being wrapped in a high-resolution and fully scalable interface.

What's included

• Three Bodhrans: This portable drum is played with a double-sided mallet or by hand, creating a gentle pulse that fuels the momentum of your music. It's utilised extensively in traditional Celtic folk music, livening up scores from some of the biggest films of all time, including Braveheart!
• Three Gran Cassas: Extending the low end of your orchestra, three Gran Cassas have been meticulously sampled, adding a signature bass drum sound that's found in many traditional ensembles. Recorded with a variety of hits and tones, this provides much more versatility than traditional rounded and mellow orchestral bass drums.
• Three large Taikos: Recorded in an ensemble to enhance the glorious bassy rumble that these drums are famed for, this tight-knit ensemble delivers the classic, thunderous sound heard in video games and film scores everywhere. Countless soundtracks rely on these drums to produce the ominous low-end bloom and sustain needed to create tension and power.
• One 600LB Nagado ensemble: Not your average drum, this extremely heavy drum was specifically designed for rituals and spiritual ceremonies. A single, haunting impact strike provides the foundation of everything that's built on top of it. Perfect for when the pace slows down, letting its bellowing impact ring true.
• One Ceng Ceng: Splashy and resonant, this Balinese cymbal is softer than their Western counterparts, making them ideal for background ambience without introducing the normal harshness of cymbals.
• Crotales: Tiny chromatic cymbals that fuse the characteristics of a glockenspiel and wind chimes — these instruments are excellent for maintaining a slow, dignified tune and provide an enjoyable divergence when combined with wind and string instruments. The 90s film Sneakers saw composers such as James Horner skillfully employing crotales to enrich soundtracks.
• Cymbal/Gong ensemble: Delivered in all manner of shapes and sizes, this ensemble includes struck, rolled and tapped metals for special effects in your compositions.
• Goatnail Shaker: Gathered by indigenous peoples, this unique instrument uses hoof trimmings for a dry, brittle rattle. In isolation, it may be limited, but when utilised in perfect rhythm with your percussion, it sets the tone for mystical ritual songs and dances.
• Goatnails and Ceng Cengs: A mixture of two instrument types, wherever there's a spiritual dance or ceremony, you'll find yourself coming back to these every time.
• One Krakeb: Castanets hailing from North Africa bear a striking similarity to the ceng ceng in terms of tone, but they carry a rounder sound and are lower on the pitch scale. The unique hollow sound they produce distinguishes them from other cymbals, introducing a gentle, airy touch to the percussion ensemble.
• Metal Shaker: Driving rhythms forward, its dispersed and soft sound provides the airiness and high-end counterpart to a main drum ensemble.
• Nagara Rub FX: A rubbed Indian drum, the Nagara is atonal and sounds like banshees screaming in the night. Found in rituals, festivals and temples, it's evocative and mysterious, making it ideal to let your imagination run wild.
• Nagara and Ashiko: An assortment of various traditional drums that conjure visions of celebrations, street shows, ceremonies, and a host of other imaginative cultural contexts. This collection includes an array of hits, rolls, rim taps, and beyond, allowing you to create your own vibrant drum group. The nagara, frequently used in the well-known dance style Ghoomar, gained popularity from its feature in the 2018 film Padmaavat.
• Orchestral Bell ensemble: A more conventional instrument, chimes have been included to add a sprinkle of magic and mystery to your compositions.
• Orchestral Metallurgy: An assembly of large metals, scraped, hit, and pounded to create a series of intense industrial noises; if you're seeking the echo of a forge or production line from a far-off world, this is precisely the method to achieve it.
• Snare ensemble: Any percussion suite wouldn't be complete without it, a modern snare drum ensemble. Effectively conveying the scale and grandeur of any scene, the snare drum ensemble paints the picture of armies leading into a battle unlike anything else.
• Toms: Add the extra oomph to your percussion layers with modern Toms. Packed full of attack and punch, the toms fill out the space where traditional percussion instruments fail, creating a full-range whack to your percussion.

Features

• 18 instruments and five ensembles designed specifically for film, TV or game scoring
• Includes individual instruments and ensemble recordings to create grandeur that isn't possible with solo instruments
• Perfect for bringing to life fiery iron ages, royal celebrations and traditional folk festivals through traditional percussion instruments
• Wide range of beaters, striking materials and articulations to ensure you have access to the full range of tones available from each instrument
• Recorded in the famed EastWest studios and produced by industry veterans Nick Phoenix and Doug Rogers
• Includes unique ensembles of world instruments mixed with modern percussion instruments
• Played back through EastWest's powerful OPUS sample engine
• Revolutionary OPUS software engine is more powerful and flexible than before, letting you download instruments and preview before downloading directly from the software
• Fast and efficient performance to properly utilise all resources available on your computer - compatible with M1 Apple processors and Intel-based computers
• Recorded in a world-class studio with premium equipment, performed by seasoned session musicians
• Individual control over the level and pan of four microphone channels to precisely adjust the dimension of your sound
• Three Moods (Classic, Soft and Epic) lets you instantly adjust parameters such as microphone mix, reverb and MIDI parameters

Specifications

• Operating system:
  • Mac: macOS 10.13 (or later)
  • Windows: Windows 10 with ASIO sound drivers
• CPU: Quad-core (four cores), running at 2.7 GHz (or above)
• RAM: 16GB
• HDD: HDD (7200 rpm, non-energy saving)
• Compatible programs:
  • Mac: EW Play 6 Stand-Alone 6.0+, EW Opus Stand-Alone 1.0+, Ableton Live 10.0+, Apple Logic Pro 10.0+, Apple Garageband 10.3+, Avid Pro Tools 2018.1+, Bitwig Studio 3.0+, Cockos Reaper 6.0+, Image-Line FL Studio 20+, Motu Digital Performer 9.0+, Steinberg Cubase(1) 9.0+, Steinberg Nuendo(1) 8.0+, Presonus Studio One 4.0+, VSL Vienna Ensemble Pro 6.0+, Avid Sibelius 2018.1+, MakeMusic Finale 25.0+, Steinberg Dorico 3.0+
  • Windows: EW Play 6 Stand-Alone 6.0+, EW Opus Stand-Alone 1.0+, Ableton Live 10.0+, Avid Pro Tools 2018.1+, Bitwig Studio 3.0+, Cockos Reaper 6.0+, Image-Line FL Studio 20+, Motu Digital Performer 9.0+, Steinberg Cubase(1) 9.0+, Steinberg Nuendo(1) 8.0+, Presonus Studio One 4.0+, VSL Vienna Ensemble Pro 6.0+, Avid Sibelius 2018.1+, MakeMusic Finale 25.0+, Steinberg Dorico 3.0+
• Product code: 1181-119