"Ancient" Instrument sounds.

[Dabrenn]

Hey guys, I'm working on a project and I really need to get sounds that create a fairly generic "ancient" sound; like early string instruments, early winds, and percussion elements.

Sounds like these http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8yWpQfN-V8

If you know of anywhere I can get these sounds I would be eternally in your debt! Thanks!

[Dabrenn]

i hear pan pipes

and maybe a dulcimer?

not sure

I was just wondering if ya'll knew where I could find these sounds to use inside of DAW

[Lying Pink]

^ That. And try Freesound. Found this sample pack there: http://www.freesound.org/people/timohanes/packs/4159/ which may or may not be of any use to you. Look for a list of some percussion instruments that are less common in the west, have a listen to samples of them, and search freesound for the ones you like the sound of.
As well as pan pipes, it might be worth looking at irish flutes/penny whistles. The sound's not bang on, but it's similar.
You could probably get some of the way by using regular oboe/low-register flute samples and tuning them to something other than equal temperament (if you have the patience).
DSK's world instruments VSTs (World Stringz, Indian Dreamz and Asian Dreamz might be worth a look at too)

[Dabrenn]

Thanks! I will look into those although I can't at the moment.

[Lavender_Harmony]

Thanks! I will look into those although I can't at the moment.

This is a helpful post. -_-

Sample libraries like Ra have a lot of this stuff. The key words are World Music sample libraries, that combine sounds from different cultures, such as middle east, far east, africa and european. Though using these in your music would also require some research, theory and practice, to get them to sound fitting.

[topitmunkeydog]

I can actually play the Irish pennywhistle ok. If you want me to record something I can totally do that and just send it your way. PM me.
BTW, it's in the key of D major and it has a 2 octave range. So (in case you don't know) it can play the notes D, E, F#, G, A, B, C#.
Pennywhistles are very cheap to obtain and very easy to learn, too.

Man, I wish I bought that dulcimer from craigslist. I was seriously considering buying one lol.

Remember, nothing beats authentic performances. If you can find some people to play the instruments I'd suggest that over like samples. Especially with these ancient things that have so much personality.

[Dabrenn]

This is a helpful post. -_-

I wasn't at my computer then and I wanted to say thanks. However, now I am.

^ That. And try Freesound. Found this sample pack there: http://www.freesound.org/people/timohanes/packs/4159/ which may or may not be of any use to you. Look for a list of some percussion instruments that are less common in the west, have a listen to samples of them, and search freesound for the ones you like the sound of.

I really liked that website, found some really nice sounds there. Thanks a ton, that site is permanently in my resources now. I searched for some instruments like you said and got some great material.

Though using these in your music would also require some research, theory and practice, to get them to sound fitting.

For sure, but luckily I don't necessarily need them for anything too intricate.

Remember, nothing beats authentic performances. If you can find some people to play the instruments I'd suggest that over like samples. Especially with these ancient things that have so much personality.

I agree and thank you a ton for that offer! I don't think I'll really need an authentic performance since I'm not really making an entire song out of said sounds, but I'll make sure to keep that in mind in case I do.

[the4thImpulse]

I can't speak for much about this but its worth noting that some ethnic and ancient instruments work on different 'scale intervals' than modern western music. Like the way modern western music has 12 semitones per octave, each 100 cents apart from the other. Some stringed instruments were tuned to other scales (each string is 25 cents apart from the other).

I can't go deep for fear of saying something wrong (sorry if I have already), but if you want certain world sound you need the right tuning for the particular instrument.

If someone more knowledgeable can help me out here it would be great.

[Alycs]

(going from what 4th started to say) A lot of the more ancient songs weren't based on majors and minors like we have today. Much of the very early music was based in Pentatonic (black notes, used for Asian/African/ [some]Middle Eastern Music) or using modal sequences (Particular major scales starting on various intervals).

It doesn't matter how good of a soundbank you have if when you write the song it ends up sounding like some group of Ancient Babylonians playing Deadmau5; I'd recommend looking up various other scale types and chord progressions, especially Pentatonic, Modal, Blues, Gypsy, and Abrahamic. That will give you a background to Asia/Africa, Europe, Slavic Europe, and Middle Eastern music respectively.

[bartekko]

(going from what 4th started to say) A lot of the more ancient songs weren't based on majors and minors like we have today. Much of the very early music was based in Pentatonic (black notes, used for Asian/African/ [some]Middle Eastern Music) or using modal sequences (Particular major scales starting on various intervals).

It doesn't matter how good of a soundbank you have if when you write the song it ends up sounding like some group of Ancient Babylonians playing Deadmau5; I'd recommend looking up various other scale types and chord progressions, especially Pentatonic, Modal, Blues, Gypsy, and Abrahamic. That will give you a background to Asia/Africa, Europe, Slavic Europe, and Middle Eastern music respectively.

youre confusing scales and tunings. the pythagorean tuning is probably what you want for old western music, and unequal 19/24 note/octave for middle east.

[JSynth]

youre confusing scales and tunings. the pythagorean tuning is probably what you want for old western music, and unequal 19/24 note/octave for middle east.

It's still a good idea to learn different scales. Like phrygian, locrian, lydian and so on.

[Lying Pink]

If you're up for messing about with some tunings outside of 12-tone equal temperament, you could try using Tobybear MicroTuner with a .tun file (a file that basically re-tunes all your midi notes) -- a link to a big set of them here, including several variations on the pythagorean scale, which as Bartekko said would be a good place to start -- alongside your VSTi of choice. It isn't something I've tried (although I want to - microtonality looks like a fun rabbit hole) but from the forum posts that popped up in results when I was trying to dig this stuff up just now, it's a pretty clunky setup that might take a bit of work to get running smoothly. Which from your previous posts sounds like more trouble than you're after, but it's there if you want it Alternatively tune the individual notes by hand, or see if you can send different-pitched notes to different channels, and then run each channel through a pitch-altering plugin or something? -- there are lots of pitch charts for different tunings floating around Google, in cents, hertz, whatever.
Anyway this topic was about instruments not tunings, so sorry for derailing

[PonE-Sharp]

There's Era Medieval Legends, if money is not a big issue.
http://www.soundsonline.com/ERA-Medieval-Legends

Best 'olden' instruments vst I've been able to find. Still doesn't have a Nyckelharpa, though...

[Dabrenn]

so sorry for derailing

No worries man! You're helping out a lot. You've given me really good resources and the rest of the thread has further educated me on theory. Its win-win!

Thanks again to everyone.