Soundiron has announced the release of the newly updated Bamblong – version 2.0. Similar to a marimba, this hand-crafted Southeast Asian bamboo idiophone has a smooth, mellow, tight musical tone. Soundiron has added a full-featured custom user interface with powerful new performance controls, intelligent arpeggiation and FX.

Soundiron are also holding a fresh demo-writing contest for the Bamblong! The person who submits the best composition by May 2nd, using only the content and features included in Bamblong, will win the actual authentic 18-piece Polynesian Angklung that Soundiron recorded for their massive Angklung library. The two runners-up will receive a free download of the Angklung library. Soundiron will select the winners and announce the results on May 9th, 2013.

Here's details of the Bamblong in Soundiron's own words...

The Bamblong is made of tuned bamboo logs resonance chambers, up to 2" inches in diameter and up to 14" in length, with sound holes carved into each one. The playing surface for each key is a thin suspended bamboo plank over each hole. Played with old bicycle tire mallets, the instrument has a smooth and mellow, yet crisp and clear musical note, with a tight decay.

First, we sampled it in a close, intimate dry setting to capture the full warmth and tonality of the instrument to give it a rich, strong presence. This also allows our Bamblong to work extremely well with any reverb or spatial effect you like. We deep-sampled it exhaustively, with an average of 20 velocities and 10 round-robins per note. We also recorded extra articulations with nylon jazz brushes for a unique raspy effect.

Next, we recorded note strikes in a large bright hall for those who want a truly natural live sound that can blend easily with traditional concert percussion and other symphonic instruments. Finally, we created an array of multi-layered ambient pads and soundscapes with the raw sonic source to provide additional texture and accompaniment. Along with a full GUI packed full of performance and tone shaping features, the new version 2.0 brings in our expanded Uberpeggiator system with the new EZ-Roll system to help you create realistic sustains and adaptive melodic arpeggiations. We've also included a wide selection of environmental and FX reverb impulses, built right into the GUI.

The Bamblong v2.0 is 1.56 GB installed and includes 2519 Samples, with 17 nki presets. It's a standard open-format library with fully accessible wavs, so it requires the full version of Kontakt. The free Kontakt Player and Libraries tab aren't designed to support the open format.


Pricing and Availability:

On sale for  $39 through May 1st, 2013. The price goes to $49 after the intro period ends.

More information:

• Soundiron

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