Ha Noi: Sample-Based Vietnamese Instrument Plugin by MNTRA Instruments

The instrument library covers a range of Vietnamese voices and instruments. The Ca Tru Voice sample set captures vocal techniques from the Ca tru tradition, a form of musical storytelling built around a female vocalist. The strings include the Dan Tranh zither, with bends and tremolo, the two-string Dan Nhi, and an electric Dan Bau, a one-string zither played by striking harmonics and bending them with a lever. Wind options include the Sao Meo, Sao Truc and Tieu flutes, and the T'rung bamboo xylophone rounds out the pitched percussion.

Percussion sets include the Trong Ban hand drum, the Chèo Drum and a traditional drum set that the developer describes as a precursor to the modern trap drum kit. Many instruments come with articulations such as bends, flams, double tongues and hand hits, so the performance nuance is built into the sample maps.

Beyond instruments, Ha Noi includes 14 soundscape sample maps in original and processed versions. The recordings were made in Hanoi and Ninh Binh with an LCR microphone array and cover urban birds, a fan, traffic, light and medium rain, and heavy rain over a lotus field. The birds recording was run through an extensive chain of creative processing, so it can serve as a texture source as well as a field recording. Producers working on atmospheres or transitions can layer these sounds with the instrument samples.