World in Gourd

[World in Gourd].

——Chinese Hulusi Virtual Instruments.

Hulusi is a clarinet-like instrument in southern China, and it is especially favored by Dai, Yi, and Miao ethnic minorities. It has a bamboo wind tube and gourd resonance chamber, with two auxiliary wind tubes play two fixed notes for harmonics. Due to the mellifluous and lovely sound of Hulusi, it is massively used to express romantic relationships and accompaniment for lyrical dance.

Samples: 1829.

Samples parameter: 44100 Hz / 24-bit.

Sample size: 1.1GB:

• Adjustable Sound Field.

When samples were recorded, 5 different microphones were used with different positions to capture the spatial and reverb characteristics of Hulusi. All these channels were mixed down to four channels: Yin, Yang and far stereo. The volumes of these four channels were adjustable in software, making it possible to obtain most various tone:

• Performances.

By controlling airflow and finger, Hulusi has a very rich set of performances such as mordent, finger pole popping, trill, flutter, vibrato, staccato and gliss. All these performances can be triggered in World in Gourd software, making it most adjustable Hulusi virtual instrument:

• Realistic Expressions.

World in Gourd has real-recorded expressions that are freely controllable. With the control of MIDI CC, it can express tone changes like a real Hulusi performance:

• Gliss.

With three different speeds of real-recorded gliss samples and sample synthesis technique, World in Gourd can perform gliss at freely adjustable speed:

• Self-developed Vibrato Engine.

Real-sample-based LFO engine making World in Gourd performs vibrato that is both realistic and adjustable:

• Sampling Engine.

Self-developed sampling engine with better sound quality, more powerful disk buffer streaming/sampling compression technology, and brand-new sound fusion technology:

• Legato.

We recorded the sound between legato notes in two speeds, and apply them according to playing speed in software. In addition, we recorded "regular legato", "fast legato" and "popping legato" that are specific in Chinese Hulusi:

• Tune.

User can switch between bass, alto or treble Hulusi to have different tuning, where alto Hulusi sounds from the original samples:

• Harmony.

Sounds from the two harmony tubes were recorded into triggerable samples:

• Self-developed spectrum fusion legato technology.

Real-recorded legato samples can enhance the realism of legato instruments, but the conjugate part by naive cross-fade algorithm of two samples would induce phase-cancellation problems. In order to better cohesive legato performance, we developed the "spectrum fusion legato" technology. When necessary, frequency domain fusion is used instead of time domain cross-fade to create transition part between samples, which improves the smoothness of the connection:

• Convolution reverb.

At the beginning of Chinese Traditional series development, we started to record the convolution reverb samples from spectacular places, famous natural and historical heritages in China. Thus you can simulate World in Gourd being played at the Great Wall or Terracotta Army site:

• Effect Rack.

From the Heavier7Strings' effect rack: Compressor, EQ, Chorus and Ping-Pong delay are included, allowing to create more flexible sounds:

• Pattern Library.

Complete pattern library, allowing to your works and ideas easily, with rich preset of patterns that can be updated in the future. And you could create your own pattern by dragging MIDI clips inside.