Shakuhachi
A Japanese bamboo flute
The story
Shakuhachi Demo
Reviews
...and then I was standing in a forest, in the mist...
Beautiful sound and as with Eamon's other instruments the breathiness and organic feel to the instrument is perfectly judged. Creates an amazing atmosphere as soon as you start to play. Has the same scripting options for Legato and Vibrato as on his other instruments which is great as they're super customisable. If you're into wind instruments this is another "must have" from Eamon.
An excellent wind
This is a wonderful little sakuhachi that has been sampled very well and also programmed nicely. It sounds awesome, with the minor exception that some might notice the sample looping once you let a single note ring for a while, especially after the "breathy" part ends.
The highlight on this instrument is the legato patch, which is an amazing feature to have. It's very well programmed to, and it comes with a bunch of options, which might be overwhelming and confusing to some, but in my opinion, options are always good.
The same thing goes to the Vibrato setting. It works really well and it's ridiculously customizable. I recommend binding the "Vibrato Amount" knob to a CC/Fader of your choice. Introducing vibrato at the right moment also seems to fix the looping issue in a very natural and creative way.
In case you want to have a polyphonic option, there is a separate patch for that, although I'd very much prefer a keyswitch, or just a simple button that disables legato instead. There is a "Bypass Legato", but it seems to bypass the settings instead of the actual articulation. Unfortunately the vibrato doesn't seem to be available there, so the looping issue might seem a little more noticeable.
All in all, it's a fantastic instrument that I highly recommend. It's very well done and if you program it well, it can do wonders!
Really useful instrument with some minor issues
The actual sound of this instrument is really great. It's breathy, sometimes squeaky and bursting with character. Like Eamon's other instruments you get so many controls in the GUI. You get all your basic controls along with the ability to effect the legato, vibrato and the sound of the breath. So much controllability for a free instrument. It sounds amazing drenched in reverb too. With the good stuff out of the way, here are my issues. Firstly, as mentioned by others, the looping of the samples is really obvious, especially cause the instrument is so characterful, so you hear the same little pitch flutter or squeak every few seconds. Maybe playing longer sustained notes would help with this. Secondly, maybe this is just an issue I'm having because i don't see it mentioned by anyone else but the legato seems to have an abrupt start and stop when going into the next note. I messed with some of the parameters and it helped a little but it still feels like its starting and stopping abruptly instead of smoothy transitioning into the next note. Also although the GUI has amazing control, it could be a little more intuitive or pleasing to look at. With all that said, this is still an amazing free instrument.
By Eamon
Composer and Musician from Melbourne, Australia, specialising in folk / world music and instruments. I compose mainly for video games, and for my band projects...