Ample Sound Releases Ample China 4 and Ample China Xun with a Special Launch Sale

By sampler  On  

Ample Sound has announced the releases Ample China 4 and Ample China Xun along with a Special Launch Sale.

Ample China 4

Ample China 4 introduces the all-new Riffer 4 across the entire Chinese instrument series, with dedicated designs tailored to the unique playing characteristics of wind, plucked string, bowed string, and percussion instruments.

Ample China 4 also brings major performance improvements and a range of new features, further enhancing workflow efficiency and expressive control.

Riffer 4 – A MIDI Editor Tailored to Different Instrument Types

  • Wind Instruments (Qudi, Dongxiao, Dadi, Xun): Designed around the monophonic and legato characteristics of wind instruments, with an intuitive visual workflow that automatically prevents unnatural polyphony and helps MIDI performances behave more like real instrumental playing.
  • Plucked String Instruments (Pipa, Guqin, Guzheng, Konghou): Introduces the concept of strings into the Piano Roll to reproduce the playing logic of real string instruments, automatically preventing multiple notes from being played on the same string while intelligently assigning fingerings. The Piano Roll and Tab views are fully compatible, allowing the same performance to be reviewed and edited from different perspectives. For Pipa strumming, multiple sub-notes within a chord can be edited as a single unit, with unified control over strum speed, velocity progression, legato, and other parameters. Combined with realistic fingering settings, this makes creating strumming patterns more intuitive and efficient.
  • Bowed String Instruments (Erhu): Combines the monophonic, legato, expression, and vibrato controls of wind instruments with the string and fingering logic of string instruments. Riffer can handle legato and dynamic changes according to musical context while visually representing the string and playing position of each note, with appropriate string changes and fingerings, making complex bowed-string performance logic easier to visualize and edit.
  • Percussion (Traditional Percussion): Designed around the way percussion performances combine multiple instruments within a single arrangement. Different percussion instruments and their articulations are integrated into one Riffer while retaining the individual playing logic of each instrument. Single hits, rolls, velocity and dynamic changes, as well as instrument-specific editing and controls, make complex percussion programming more intuitive and efficient.
  • One-Click Auto Expression and Auto Vibrato: Once a phrase is complete, natural Expression and Vibrato curves can be generated with a single click. Riffer analyzes note length, articulation, and musical context to determine whether Expression should be applied, then automatically selects an appropriate curve type and amount of variation, avoiding mechanical or excessive dynamic processing.
  • Easy Articulation Editing: Easily edit fingerings, articulations, legato, expression changes, and other performance details, reducing the need for cumbersome Keyswitch and MIDI CC programming.
  • MIDI CC and Velocity Editors: Display multiple MIDI CC curves simultaneously using different colors and opacity levels. Curve presets allow the corresponding CC curves to be generated instantly with a single click.
  • Full MIDI Input and Output Compatibility: Whether importing external MIDI or exporting Riffer content to MIDI or instrument tracks in the host DAW, playback can remain fully consistent.
  • Riffer 4 also provides a range of MIDI editing tools, including Quantize, Swing, Legato, and Monophonic processing.

Ample Sound 4.1 Sampling Engine:

  • The sampling engine has been extensively optimized for improved stability and performance, with enhancements to voice management and audio processing, along with fixes for a number of issues that could affect normal playback.
  • The sample library structure has also been redesigned, consolidating large numbers of individual sample files into more efficient data files. This significantly improves sample loading and streaming efficiency while reducing disk access overhead. Due to the redesigned sample library structure, users upgrading from an earlier version to v4.1 will need to reinstall the new sample libraries.
  • The user interface has been completely redrawn with support for 5K high-resolution displays, providing sharper and more detailed visuals on high-resolution screens.
  • Multiple new presets have been added, each accompanied by a demo phrase, allowing users to quickly explore the playing characteristics and tonal qualities of each instrument.
  • Rectangles has been updated to VST3.

Instrument – Specific Upgrades

In addition to the new Riffer and sampling engine improvements across the entire series, individual instruments have received a number of features tailored to their specific playing characteristics and workflows:

  • Traditional Percussion: Adds Multi-Output support. Individual percussion instruments can now be assigned to separate audio outputs and routed to independent mixer channels in the DAW, enabling individual third-party effects processing, mixing and automation, as well as multitrack recording and stem export. A new Small China Gong sound has also been added.
  • Qudi, Dadi, Dongxiao, and Erhu: A new Extra Expression Gain Reduction control extends the dynamic range of Expression, allowing the minimum gain to be reduced all the way to complete silence. This provides better support for wind controllers and other continuous-expression controllers. Added Repeated-Note Legato, allowing slide articulations to be triggered consecutively and legato transitions into sustain articulations, further expanding legato possibilities and phrase transitions.
  • Pipa: New Hammer On Pull Off and Strum articulations have been added, with corresponding changes to the Keyswitch layout.

The Ample China 4 upgrade is free for all existing users. Existing users can log in to MyAmpleSound to download the new plugins and sample libraries.

Ample China Xun

Ample China Xun is a new virtual instrument featuring over 20 articulations, and 4.5 GB samples. The Xun is one of the oldest Chinese musical instruments, with a history dating back more than 7,000 years to the Neolithic period. Ample China Xun uses modern sampling technology to recreate the deep, resonant, and distinctive sound of this ancient instrument.

Sampling:

  • Head Group Includes 9 articulations: Sustain, Tonguing, Grace Up, Grace Down, Arpeggio Up, Arpeggio Down, Mordent, Pre-Trill, and Impulse. The Head Group is primarily designed for note attacks and ornaments.
  • Body Group Includes 13 articulations: Sforzando, Espressivo, Vibrato, 2nd/3rd Vibrato, 5th/7th Vibrato, Mid-Trill Down, Mid-Trill Up, Slide Up, Slide Down, Slide Turn, Slide Out Upwards, Slide Out Downwards, and Repeated-Note Legato. The Body Group articulations can be used both as note ornaments and as transitions between notes through articulation legato, allowing more varied phrase transitions.
  • Samples were recorded with 5 microphones, including Front, Mid, Rear, and a stereo pair of distant microphones. 3 microphone modes are provided for different tonal and spatial characteristics in the mix.
  • Individual samples average approximately 8 seconds in length, allowing most notes to be played naturally without looping. Sample looping can also be enabled when longer sustained notes are required.
  • Intelligent Legato System: Automatically determines and triggers the appropriate legato based on the timing between adjacent notes. Legato samples feature up to 5 velocity layers, providing natural transitions across different playing dynamics.

System Requirements:

  • macOS: macOS 10.15 or later.
  • Windows: Windows 7 through Windows 11, 64-bit.
  • Plugin Formats: VST2, VST3, AU, and AAX, plus the standalone application (Rectangles VST3).
  • Storage: 10 GB or more. An internal SSD is recommended, or an external SSD connected through a high-speed USB interface.
  • CPU: Intel Core i5, AMD Ryzen 5, Apple Silicon M1, or higher.
  • Activation: Activation through the free iLok License Manager software (no hardware dongle required), or with an iLok USB dongle.

Demo Song – The Emerald Wonderland

Ample China Sale

The Ample China Sale runs through October 25:

  • Ample China Bundle (10 plugins) – 44% off.
  • Single Products – 25% off.

Existing users can enjoy additional loyalty discounts on top of the promotional prices.

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