Quantum Leap RA Virtual Instrument - PLAY Edition

New version! Now available in PLAY format with a new intelligent performance section including portamento, repetition, legato and improved micro-tuning. "Quite simply, RA is the best collection of world or ethnic sampled instruments I've ever used." - SOUND ON SOUND

Quantum Leap - RA - PLAY Edition, THE DEFINITIVE RARE AND ETHNIC VIRTUAL INSTRUMENT now available with the advanced featuers of PLAY

In addition to PLAY’s intuitive custom interface, Quantum Leap RA - PLAY Edition includes many other features, such as:

64-bit* with 32-bit compatibility for PC (*see system specifications).

Full memory access with MAC (requires 64-bit MAC).

Mac Intel compatibility.

Intelligent performance section including portamento, repetition, legato.

Features round robin reset.

Offers improved articulation window and controls.

State-of-the-art convolution reverb with pre-delay.

Improved micro-tuning.

Improved sound quality with high-resolution audio engine.

Hi-fidelity one pole filter for natural cross-fades.

Stereo image editing is now possible using channel sourcing.

The instruments featured in the PLAY Editions are newly-programmed for PLAY from the original recordings.

Quantum Leap RA - PLAY Edition provides composers with access to a variety of rare and unique instruments from Africa, Europe, India, the Americas and Australia, the Far East, and the Middle East and Turkish Empires. Musicians will find that RA has an amazing sound quality and they’ll marvel at the articulation of each instrument which has a wide range that goes from controlled to expressive. All of the instruments and ensembles featured in the collection were sampled extensively as a means of preserving the true character and expression of each instrument. For the first time with the Quantum Leap RA - PLAY Edition, users will have more control over the sounds offered in the collection along with the ability to load even more instruments than ever before

“With ethnic instruments, the key to authenticity of sound is expression,” says Quantum Leap Producer Nick Phoenix. “Now with the incorporation of our advanced PLAY sample engine, with its built-in sensing technology that monitors a player’s style and adjusts the software and sounds accordingly, users will experience a level of detail that was lacking in other products in the market, making their projects come to life with range and emotion.”

Details:
In ancient Egypt, RA was regarded as the creator of everything, the god of the sun. RA is usually represented with the body of a man and the head of a hawk, holding an ankh & sceptre. The chief location of RA worship was Heliopolis (a Greek word meaning city of the sun). RA is an appropriate name for the largest, and most comprehensive rare and ethnic virtual instrument ever made.

RA was born a few years ago, as a sample library called “Rare Instruments.” All of the sounds from Rare Instruments are included in RA, but this only represents approximately one-tenth of the content. The other ninety percent of RA was recorded at Ocean Way studios in Hollywood. Because of the size and complexity of the project, I brought in two talented producers, Pacemaker and Tony Austin to co-produce RA with me. They have worked on some other Quantum Leap projects and had some great ideas for RA. We spent time hunting down the best ethnic artists on the West Coast. Los Angeles is so ethnically diverse and blessed with excellent institutions like Cal Arts, it is actually the ideal place to record a rare and ethnic collection.

You will find RA has amazing sound quality. This is the famous Ocean Way sound: an amazing collection of vintage mics and a custom API console. RA was captured with a phase accurate 8-mic setup that gives a complete 3 dimensional image of the instrument. It is this type of sound that takes to artificial or sampled reverb extremely well. The sound is clear and broad. Mics used were Neumann U67 (U47s as alternates), Neuman M50, AKG C12 and Shoepps.

Another cool aspect of this virtual instrument is the fact that we recorded ethnic ensembles. This was done with African drums, bagpipes, gamelan and a Middle Eastern string section. The sound of these ensembles cannot be realistically simulated by layering solo instruments.

RA was a very expensive project, but well worth the cost. A lot of thought went into selecting instruments that would appeal to composers of all types, from dance music, to film. You might want to put the middle eastern string section in your next pop tune, or the hardanger fiddle in a sweeping romantic score ala LOTR.

You might also be surprised at how little percussion is included in this giant ethnic collection. The reason is, we already covered much of this in Quantum Leap Stormdrum. Stormdrum is the ideal companion to RA. The percussion in RA compliments Stormdrum perfectly.

You can have a lot of fun with RA. The possibilities are simply endless, especially when you mix the sounds of different cultures together. Load up the middle eastern string section, apply an Indian or Egyptian tuning from the micro-tuning presets and play octaves. Make a really cool groove with the didgeridoo fx and the Vietnamese jaw harp. Take a classical filmscore piece and replace all of the instruments with their ethnic counterparts: strings with middle eastern string section, solo violin or cello with electric baritone violin, hardanger fiddle or erhu, french horn with alpenhorn, flute with dizi, oboe with duduk, percussion with taikos and African percussion, harp with kora, trombones with rag dung etc. etc.... Or perhaps try the hurdy gurdy, hardanger fiddle, washburn guitar, mandolin and the dizi and make an interesting folk ensemble or the gamelan ensemble with the ney flute, duduk and esraj. And don’t forget the reverb!

NICK PHOENIX - Producer.

Africa: African Dual Wooden Shakers (Ewe) African Metal Shakers (Ewe) Atsimevu Axatse Batas Berkete Dejembe Ensemble Ekpiri Ewe Drum Ensemble Ewe Large Bombshell Ewe Medium Bombshell 3ft FromTonFrom 5ft FromTonFrom Gankokwe Large Gyil Kalimbas Kidi Kora Log Drums Ngoni Udu Americas and Australia: 1890 Washburn Guitar American Jaw Harp Banjo Berimbau Cuban Percussion Didjeridoo Dobro First Nations Cedar Flute Mandolin Pan Flute Ukelele

Europe: Alpenhorn Bag Pipe Ensemble Bass Recorder Frame Drum Gadulka Hardanger Fiddle Highland Pipes Hurdy Gurdy Irish Low Whistle Launeddas Uilleann Pipes Far East: Dizi Erhu Gamelan Ensemble Gongs Koto Rag Dung Shakuhachi Shamisen Taiko Drums Vietnamese Jawharp

India: Bansuri Baritone Violin (Electric) Esraj Sarangi Sitar Tablas Tambura Middle East and Turkish Empire: Armenian Duduk Bulgarian Duduk Mid East Fiddle Mid East String Section Ney Flute Oud Qandahar Dumbek Santoor Turkish Duduk Yalli Tambur Zourna

POWERED BY EASTWEST'S PLAY 64-bit Advanced Sample Engine (plug-in or standalone)

This VIRTUAL INSTRUMENT combines intuitive handling with excellent sound quality, and functions as a plug-in instrument, without the need for a sampler.

PLAY is a 64-bit** (with 32-bit compatibility) Advanced Sample Engine with built-in Network Control* (plug-in or standalone). PLAY is Included with all new EASTWEST/QUANTUM LEAP Virtual (software) Instruments.

FEATURES



*This feature will be available after release as a free download for all registered users.

**MAC 64-bit support will be announced after the release of MAC OS X (10.5 Leopard)

14 GB Free Hard Disc Space

DVD Drive

iLok Security Key, not included (a free soundsonline.com account is required for retrieving and managing iLok licenses)

If you do not own an iLok Security Key you can purchase one at your local authorized EASTWEST retailers, or here.

More details about the new iLok copy protection for our PLAY SYSTEM powered products is available HERE

Minimum Requirements for Mac

• G5 1.6GHz, 2GB RAM, Mac OS 10.4 or newer

Recommended Mac System

• Mac Pro Quad-Core Xeon 2.5GHz, 4GB RAM

Minimum Requirements for PC

• Pentium 4 3.0GHz, 2GB RAM, Windows XP SP2 or Vista, sound card with ASIO drivers

Recommended PC System

• Intel or AMD Quad Core 2.0GHz, 8GB RAM, 64-bit OS and host

All Systems

• iLok required (not included), internet connection required for one-time product activation

Included for both PC and Mac:

• 32-bit standalone and plug-in versions included.
• 64-bit PC VST (host must support 64-bit VST plugins) and standalone versions included.
• Check the following compatibility chart for availability of other 64-bit versions and updates.

Supported Interfaces

• PC: VST™, ASIO™, RTAS™
• Mac: VST™, Audio Units™, Core Audio™, RTAS™
  

EASTWEST PLAY Host/Sequencer Compatibility Matrix

Supported Host	Mac OS X (Intel/PPC)	Windows XP (32-bit)	Windows XP (64-bit)	Windows Vista (32-bit)	Windows Vista (64-bit)	Required Version
Standalone	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES
Ableton Live1	YES	YES		YES		6.07 or higher
Cubase/Nuendo	YES	YES	YES2	YES	YES2	4 or higher
FL Studio1	n/a	YES	YES	YES	YES	7 or higher
GarageBand	YES	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	3 or higher
Logic	YES	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	7.2 or higher
Performer	YES3	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Pro Tools	YES	YES	n/a	YES	n/a	7.4 or higher
Sibelius	YES4	YES		YES		6.0 or higher
Sonar	n/a	YES	YES	YES	YES	6.2 or higher

1 Ableton Live and FL Studio do not support volume automation via polyphonic aftertouch, which is required by WordBuilder for Symphonic Choirs.

2 Cubase/Nuendo 4.1 or later are required as 64-bit hosts.

3 DAE (RTAS in Digital Performer) is not supported at this time.

4 Sibelius 6.0.3 or higher is required to run in Snow Leopard. Sibelius' Snow Leopard compatibility page

All other hosts and versions are untested and unsupported at this time.

All included instruments, information and specifications are subject to change without notice.

There are a number of sizes in each .zip file for both standard and widescreen monitors including (800x600, 1024x768, 1280x960, 1600x1200, 1280x800, 1440x900, 1680x1050, 1920x1200).

Mac files (JPEG)

Windows files (BMP)