Quantum Leap RA world and ethnic virtual instrument review

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.