Folk Noir Qanun

Add the rich, beautiful tones of the Armenian Qanun to your music

The Qanun goes as far back as music itself. Played in the courts of Assyria and written about by ancient Greek historians, it’s still in play today across the Middle East and beyond. As it’s one of the first instruments in play today to emerge in history, it’s only natural that Triple A Audio picked it as their first instrument to release.

What Triple A Audio sampled and present you here is the Armenian Qanun in its truest digital form and was hand-made in a small village in Armenia in the Southern Caucasus. Made of wood with an animal skin-covered base, it has metal levers and wooden tuning pegs to alter the pitch of the note and can play a range of up to 3 and a half octaves. The player wears a silver thimble and a pick made of bull horns on both index fingers.

The Armenian Qanun has an entirely different structure and sound than the other variants of the instrument. It is the only instrument sharing the name to have two diatonic levers, with reference mandals placed at equidistant half-tones (Arabic Qanuns, on the other hand, use quarter-tones, and Turkish models going further). This gives the Armenian Qanun an equal temperament that extends the musical range of the instrument beyond the mughams of the Middle East onto Western-style concertos, symphonies and even jazz.

Besides its exotic merits, the Qanun can serve as a replacement for piano and harp in traditional arrangements. Bring a touch of uniqueness and mystery to your cinematic arrangements or indulge in Middle Eastern flavors with the Qanun at the front.

About The Artist

The talented Mayranush Rubenyan broke onto the world scene when she first played for the Age of Empires IV soundtrack. The Qanun and her playing were featured to add authentic flair to the Ottomans and Arab cultures. She got her start over 17 years ago at the early age of 6, when she first saw her mother playing it and fell in love with the instrument.

Maryanush mastered the instrument at the Artemi Ayvazyan Music School in Ashtarak and later in the Arno Babajanyan Music College in Yerevan. Still residing in her native Oshakan, she’s continuing her musical education at Yerevan State Conservatory.

A Delicate Touch

This Qanun was deeply sampled using 2 mics, catching every pristine pluck by Mayranush with her bullhorn pick in delicate perfection. With up to 5 round robins and 5 velocity layers on each of the 8 articulations. There is no instrument like the qanun, and no qanun like this one. From its birth, the maker spent loving care on its creation, passing it on to Mayranush for extraordinary care and nourishing by her delicate style of play.

What's included

• Articulations: Long, Short, Tremolo Short, Tremolo Long, Vibrato Long, Trills, Clusters Long & Clusters Short:

• Software Information: 6708 Samples, 3GB 5.84GB (Uncompressed)

Requires Kontakt 6 Full Retail – Latest Version (Does not work in the Free Kontakt Player)