I am always interested in listening, understanding and learning music from different countries and cultures. Music has so many colors and I believe it is important for a music producer to be able to experiment with all these colors so he/she can create unique and new sounds, a producer's "trademark" lets say.

Recently, I had the privilege to use the "I love Tibet" sound library from Discovery sound. The Cd-Rom comes in different formats, ACID, Wav, REX2, Kontakt, Battery and it also contains a marvelous movie that shows the Tibetan music and culture. The quality of the recording is amazing! The sound is very clean and very "detailed". (You can even hear the harmonics on the percussion instruments!)

The sound library is divided into different categories. Percussions, String instruments, wind instruments, temple sounds and vocal sounds. Each one of these categories is separated into various instruments and loops (different keys and tempos).

I first tried the Stringed instruments. The Dranyen is categorized into 4 sections, starting from the lower register and ending at the higher register of the instrument. I can truly say that the sound is wonderful! The samples are extremely detailed and have much clarity. For instance, it starts off with single notes, then goes to double, then to different ways of plucking the strings and so on. The Piwang has such a remarkable sound and color. The samples are so sophisticated that you can even notice the different bowing and fingering techniques.

I have always been looking for a great flute sound to use. Usually flute samples sound "thin" and fake. Finally, I have found a flute sound which is complete and is called Tibetan flute (in the wind instruments category). Although the samples are only in the keys of C, F Eb and Bb you can transpose easily using a good sampler. As I have mentioned repeatedly, the sample quality is very high so even if you do transpose, the color and/or the sound will not be distorted.

Tibetan music is very complex (If you listen to the samples in the "Temple ensemble" category you can realize how compound this type of music is).

It is performed without metrical timing and the pitch is based on microtones (Notice that the pentatonic scale is used a lot).

The quality of the recordings is very high and authentic. The listener feels like they are right in Tibet experiencing the native culture. Also the samples are well organized with a good range of instruments and vocal sounds. A must have for worldbeat and soundtrack producers.

I especially liked the vocal chants and stringed instruments. I want to use the samples for worldbeat, electronica, ambient and soundtracks. I'll definitely use the samples on my next album!