Hey there, back at you again with another instrument from East West/Quantum Leap.

This time we’re getting a little bit diverse and checking out some ethnic/world instruments.

Today I’m going to be reviewing their monster ethnic instrument RA.

What is Quantum Leap RA?

RA is perhaps the most definitive rare, world, and ethnic virtual instrument available on the market.

It covers the globe from Africa to Asia, Middle East to Australia, India, Turkey, and even the Americas.

It’s not just a library of loops and grooves, though you can find some pretty authentic ones in here.

It is a full library of your very own ethnic and rare instruments, playable as a standalone or in your favorite daw.

The PLAY engine takes the sounds and expression to a new level.

I’m really a fan of how the PLAY engine interacts with the individual player.

Quick Specs

• Content: 14gb of ethnic and rare instruments
• Format: PLAY engine (standalone, vst, au, rtas)
• Price: $355

How does it sound?

Amazing!

The sound quality and authenticity is by far some of the best I’ve heard when it comes to ethnic samples.

I love ethnic sounds, especially middle eastern/asian and indian.

What I really liked about the way this library was recorded is that it not only captures the authentic sound of each instrument, but it also captures some of the natural imperfections, making it sound that much more realistic.

In addition to the high quality recordings of the playable instruments, there are also tons of riffs, loops, and grooves that you can play across the keyboard.

But, the one thing that I feel sets this sound apart compared to other libraries, is the micro tuning.

Basically this allows you to change the note/tuning of your controller from traditional western tuning to African, Indian, Egyptian, or whatever!

This allows you to play much more realistic sounding parts in your music.

In addition to the solo instruments, they also recorded ensembles…so it captures the real feel of a true ethnic ensemble and not a bunch of solo instruments layered on top of each other.

Some of these like the Indian string ensembles are fantastic.

I think my favorite type of ethnic sounds are always flutes or winds, and the collection in this instrument will please even the toughest critic.

The drums could have been in their own library, they are that good, and the plucked instruments sound like they are straight out of a movie score.

So what is the bottom line, what are your final thoughts on RA?

If you think instruments like these are strictly for movie scoring professionals you would be sadly mistaken.  I don’t know one genre of music that couldn’t benefit from the addition of these authentic tones.

The layout of the instruments allow you to choose by region or type, making it easy to find exactly what you need.

The ease with which you can dial up authentic tuning to go along with the instruments truly takes this to the next level.

If I had to pick one instrument or point to improve in the vast library, it would be the guitar section.

Granted, there weren’t very many of them, but the few that were there weren’t all that amazing, especially compared to the rest of the library.

But that’s fine, you wouldn’t buy a world/ethnic instrument strictly for guitars anyway, especially when they produce such amazing guitar libraries like Fab Four and Ministry of Rock.

When it comes down to it, you just can’t find a better collection of ethnic instruments all in one spot….period.

I give this a 4.5 out of 5 subs, it’s really a great library, easy to use, loads fast, and sounds incredible.

Make sure you go over and checkout the demos, and if you’re looking for an all around instrument that covers all the ethnic sounds you need…look no further.

Head on over to soundsonline.com and checkout Quantum Leap RA

Leave a comment below, let me know what you think about it.

Let’s be honest here…

Most musicians, no matter what style of music you play or create, have a little bit of rock in them.

Maybe it’s the idea of letting it all go on stage, or maybe it’s that lead guitar solo we all wish we could play, whatever it is, rock’s influence is pretty evident, no matter how subtle it may be.

But what if you’re like me and you’re not a rock musician?  How do you get a convincing guitar riff without hiring a guitarist?  Maybe you just want to add some rock drum elements to your electronic composition.

You could be in love with the signature bass sounds you hear in many classic rock tunes.

Whatever your reason, from adding a little bit of rock flavor to producing full on rock anthems, Quantum Leap aims to provide you the toolkit for your next sonic masterpiece.

Quantum Leap Ministry of Rock

What exactly IS Ministry of Rock or MOR as it’s often referred to?  Well I will tell you what it is NOT.

It’s NOT another collection of rock guitar loops and riffs, it’s NOT another dvd full of rock style drum loops and fills, and it’s NOT a library full of basslines “in the style of” _______ (insert popular rock group).

No, this is an actual instrument…that means it’s something you can play.

It’s made up of high quality samples of the very same drums, bass, and guitar setups that you would hear on your favorite records and films.

MOR aims to be your one stop toolbox when it’s time to rock out in the virtual domain.

Quick Specs

• Content: 20gb of rock drums, bass, and guitars
• Format: PLAY instrument (both 32 and 64 bit compatible)
• Price: $355

How does Ministry of Rock sound?

If I had to choose one word to describe this instrument, it would be REAL.

Seriously, I had heard about Quantum Leap products, but never had an opportunity to check them out for myself.  Sure they had demo songs online, but you know, those aren’t always an accurate representation of a product.

The sounds in this library have me totally convinced that they actually shipped a microscopic rock band (some poor band that was reduced to nano sized slashers by an advanced algorithm only known to east west, quantum leap, and NASA) on the dual layers of the dvds that somehow get transplanted permanently onto my hard drive during the install.

From there, this microscopic rock band is ready and willing to play anything my creative mind can conjure up.

Everything is recorded with the same mic and amp techniques that are used to record platinum and gold selling rock bands.

I won’t even pretend to know what all the amps, drum kits, basses, and guitars are….I just know they sound good.  For the musicians that know, you’ll definitely recognize some of these names:

Drumkits include the Octaplus, Ayotte, Ludwig, and Gretch.  Basses include a custom Fender P-Bass, Fender 5 string, Specter, Kubiki and a Musicman. The guitars are a Fender Telecaster, Fender Stratocaster, Gibson Les Paul Standard and Deluxe, Ibanez Univers 7, and a PRS.

Like I said…I know of a few of these, but I’m not a guitarist, bassist, or a drummer…so all that matters is they sound great!

The guitars can be loud and distorted, or have a little clean and elctric tone.  None of the guitar notes are looped, and they will scream and whine their way out to the end of the note if you hold it out to the end.

The distorted guitars are mean, and the drums have an “air” about them that just screams ROCK OUT and beat me!   These sounds are seriously fun to play, no doubt about it. I spent an hour just going through and jamming with the various sounds in this instrument. Each one is expressive, and thanks the the PLAY engine, reacts to how I play, letting me express myself with real rock instruments…something I thought I’d never be able to do.  They way they respond to velocity, chords, and legato keep things very interesting.

It also helps that everything was recorded in East West Studio 2, a studio very famous for it’s years of producing hit recordings, specifically in the genre of rock!

So what do I really think about Ministry of Rock?

I think this is an amazing product and you really have to play it to appreciate it.  I’ve listened to the demos online over and over, and while they definitely show the quality of the library, the ease of which you can play the instruments is superb.

Not to mention they don’t take very long to load at all, I was expecting long wait times when loading sounds but that’s not the case. Most sounds loaded for me in less than 10 seconds, with the drum kits usually taking the longest.

The authenticity of this instrument as an all around rock library is unmatched. The drums, bass, and guitars all fit together perfectly.   The ability to tweak the amp settings, eq, and everything else about the sounds via the easy interface is another plus.  Just messing with the amp setups yields very different results within the same instrument.

This is without question a 5 out of 5 subs.  The realism, and I can’t say this enough, it’s just simply incredible.  The way you can actually play the sounds and not just “playback” samples is a testament to the hard work and detail that went into both the sampling and programing of this instrument.

If you haven’t heard the demos please go check them out.  And if you’re looking for a great collection of real guitars, drums, and bass that were recorded specifically for making the next hit rock record, there’s  no other complete option around in my opinion.

Great job, I’m definitely looking forward to checking out more instruments from Quantum Leap and East West.

let me know what you think, leave a comment below.