Arabic Oud Crossgrade

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***Crossgrade for registered users of Arabic E-Oud / Qanun

You own the Arabic E-Oud / Qanun Library and would like to add the acoustic counterpart to your collection of oriental instruments? In this case the Arabic Oud Crossgrade is the right choice.

Arabic Oud - "The Queen of Instruments"

Awaken the Sound of the Arabian Nights

In Arabic music, the Oud is considered one of the oldest musical instruments; in fact, in the Middle East it plays an important role in musical tradition. Although the origins of this instrument are uncertain, the popularity of the Oud has spread across the Mediterranean, North and East Africa and the Middle East, where it is still very popular to this day. In the Western World, the Oud is probably best known as the forerunner of the European lute.

The Arabic Oud Library was created in close collaboration with the renowned musician and Oud virtuoso Bassam Ayoub. Bassam Ayoub performed and recorded all playing variations with the main emphasis on achieving an authentic sound, both for melodic playing and rhythmic accompaniment.

The Arabic Oud offers breathtaking 39 articulations with velocity layers and up to 8 Round Robins and brings one of the oldest string instruments to life right under your fingertips. The versatile sound spectrum, which extends over a total of 3 recorded instruments, can enrich any kind of music and the integrated microtunings are very appealing to professional Maqam performers! Because of its wide range of playing styles, the Arabic Oud is ideal for both studio and live performances.

The Engine

The Arabic Oud transports the sound of the Middle East into todays DAW-based production environment. The Engine Player's carefully programmed interface makes it really easy to work with the library, allowing you to be inspired by the sound of the Arabic Oud and unleash your creativity.

The Arabic Oud user interface gives you access to the most important and commonly used microtunings of oriental music: Bayati, Rast, Saba and Seka. Each tuning offers two variants (Normal and Syriac Church) as well as free choice of the root key.

The Keyswitches allow you to switch between the different playing techniques to create incredibly realistic performances. There are two types of keyswitches: latch and hold. While Latch Keyswitches remain active after the key is released, Hold Keyswitches remain active only as long as they are pressed and held by the player - after the key is released, the playing mode changes to the last selected Latch Keyswitch.

The green Midi Song Keys above the playing area provide short Midi sequences which showcase the numerous playing possibilities of the Arabic Oud. (See the Info tab for more information about the correct speed and tuning for each midi performance)

Arabic Oud Live Performance

Each of the three instruments of the Arabic Oud is also available as Lite version. These patches contain the very essential articulations to perform the Oud realistically in a live environment.

Syrian-born Bassam Ayoub, musician and singer, has toured with various bands across many Arabic countries and Europe. He has worked with countless artists, as well as with renowned oriental keyboard and expander manufacturers such as Korg, Farfisa and Limex. Arabic Oud is the result of his extensive experience in sampling oriental instruments bringing playability and realism to the next level with Engine 2.

Works with Engine Version 2.6.0.33 or higher!

Rating: **** 4/5 Stars

In terms of tone, the three ouds sit somewhere between classical guitar and zither, although they're not radically different from one another. The quality of the sampling is high, but tailoring a performance to fit a pre-existing composition will require some mastery of the library's many keyswitches. Nevertheless, if you are after the kind of sound that instantly suggests 'Middle East' to Western, this is it.

Full review Arabic Oud at soundonsound.com