Virtual Chinese Suona Instrument

Suona is the Chinese variant of the surnay, originally coming from Central Asia. It has a tube made from the stem of the bulrush, which gives it its characteristic metallic, high-frequency sound. The suona is very expressive, especially to represent feelings of extreme joy or sadness. For this reason, it is often used in Chinese tradition at both weddings and funerals. Nowadays, it appears more frequently in contemporary works in maestoso or heroic themes. The expressiveness of the suona is also reflected in its ability to reproduce real sounds. It can imitate sounds such as the singing of birds, the screaming of monkeys and the croaking of frogs, all of which are included in this virtual instrument.

To facilitate the creation of harmonic parts, two virtual instruments have been created for Suona: Phoenix Scream, with the most commonly used pitch range, and Phoenix Growl, which represents a bass.

As soon as you have registered Phoenix Scream you will get Phoenix Growl as a gift from TBT.

Features Overview

  • Adjustable Sound Field – During the recording of the samples, 5 microphones were used in different positions to capture the room and reverb characteristics. All channels were mixed down to four which you can adjust in the user interface.
  • Authentic Performance – By controlling the airflow and fingering, the Suona offers a variety of performances such as mordent, finger pole popping, trill, flutter, vibrato, staccato and gliss. All of these performances can be triggered from within the GUI.
  • Realistic Expressions – Phoenix Scream features realistic recorded articulations that can be freely controlled. Using MIDI CC, tone changes can be implemented as in a real Suona performance.
  • Gliss – With three different speeds of real gliss samples and a sample synthesis technique, Phoenix Scream can perform gliss at any adjustable speed.
  • Vibrato Engine – Based on real samples, Phoenix Scream´s LFO engine allows realistic and adjustable vibrato.
  • Sampling Engine – The self-developed sampling engine features the best sound quality, powerful disk buffer streaming/sampling compression technology and sound fusion technology.
Phoenix Scream GUI
  • Legato – The sound between legato notes was recorded in two speeds and is applied in the software according to the playing speed. In addition,”popping legato” and “flutter legato” articulations specific to Chinese Suona have been recorded.
  • Spectrum Fusion Legato Technology – To improve legato performance, the Spectrum Fusion Legato process has been developed where two samples are blended into each other to improve legato performance.
  • Abundant sound effects – TBT summarized and screened 29 techniques of Suona, including traditional performance techniques, film and television soundtracks, and special techniques commonly used in Chinese ancient style songs, just to preserve the natural talent of Suona to the greatest extent.
  • Convolution Reverb – Phoenix Scream contains convolution reverb samples of spectacular locations as well as famous Chinese natural and historical monuments.
  • Effects Rack – Compressor, EQ, Chorus and Ping-Pong Delay for shaping the sound of the Suona to your liking.
  • Pattern Library – Phoenix Scream provides you with a pattern library that allows you to easily realize your works and ideas. You can also create your own patterns by dragging in MIDI clips.

Requirements

Minimum System Requirements:

  • Intel or AMD CPUs with SSE 4.1 instruction set.
  • Mac OS X 10.9 / Windows 7.
  • 4GB RAM and 2GB disk space.

Plugin Formats Provided:

  • Windows: 32-/64-bit VST2, 64-bit AAX
  • Mac: 64-bit VST2, Audio Unit and AAX

Extra Requirements on Specific Hosts:

  • Logic Pro X or higher (Logic 9 is not supported)
  • Only 32-bit VST was supported in Cakewalk Sonar 8.5

Product activation:
An internet connection is required to authorize / activate the product.