EPIC TAIKO ENSEMBLE

PRODUCED BY TROELS FOLMANN

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 EPIC TAIKO ENSEMBLE
8DIO EPIC TAIKO ENSEMBLE

EPIC TAIKO ENSEMBLE

Produced by Troels Folmann. Co-produced by Sean Popejoy.

8DIO Epic Taiko Ensemble is the most comprehensive and deep sampled collection of
Ensemble Taiko on the market. The library was recorded in our signature Cathedral and
comes with two microphone positions (close and mid).

The library features the highly renowned Taiko Ensemble group: Emmeryville Taiko lead by
Susan Holm. The recordings lasted over a week, which allowed us to capture an
unprecedented amount of content. Epic Taiko Ensemble contains three main categories of
samples: Multi-sampled Taiko Ensemble (10 round robin for all articulations), Live Loops of
the Taiko Ensemble and an assortment of other sounds associated to Taiko (ex. ensemble
screams, yells, yell-hits). Epic Taiko Ensemble follows the same principles established in our
other epic percussion libraries in terms of articulations, velocity layering and round robin.
Articulations have up to 8 velocity layers and all sampled at 10 round robin (aka
repetitions). We sampled all the classic Taiko drums from the big sounding, O-Daiko,
Nagado Daiko to the smaller and more snare like, Shime. In addition we also played the
drums with hands and alternative stick types - and we got an insanely comprehensive
collection of clacks made with different type of sticks and by hitting the rims of the larger
Taiko drums.

In addition we also recorded a comprehensive amount of over 3.000 (+2.5GB) ensemble

loops with the Taiko Ensemble. The loops were recorded at 80, 90, 100, 110, 120, 130
and 140 BPM. The loops are intended to be used as stand-alone and/or in combination
with the multi-samples. The loops contain both classic Taiko style rhythms and more
contemporary rhythms for film scoring etc.

Epic Taiko Ensemble features highly renowned, Emeryville Taiko lead by Taiko Master:
Susan Holm.

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8DIO EPIC TAIKO ENSEMBLE

EPIC TAIKO ENSEMBLE & LOOPS

OVERVIEW

70 Kontakt patches
5,200+ Samples
Multi-sampled Instruments and Loops (80-140 BPM)
4.2 GB Installed
Custom Convolution Reverb Impulses
Powerful custom performance control interface

INSTALLATION
When you purchase Epic Taiko Ensemble you will
receive an email with a specific link to 8DIO
download and installation tool. This tool will
automatically download and install the library for
you.

This library is designed for the full retail version of

Kontakt 4 and later. Please note that the Free
Kontakt Player available will only work from
15-30 minutes. We recommend purchasing the full
retail version of Kontakt from Native Instruments.

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About Taiko Drums:

Taiko (太鼓?) means "drum" in Japanese

(etymologically "great" or "wide drum").

Outside Japan, the word is often used to refer to

any of the various Japanese drums (和太鼓, "wa-
daiko", "Japanese drum", in Japanese) and to
the relatively recent art-form of ensemble taiko
drumming (sometimes called more specifically,
"kumi-daiko" (組太鼓)).

The performances can last between 5 and 25

minutes and typically follow a jo-ha-kyū
(beginning, middle, end/rapid, sudden, urgent,
and emergency) structure, which means the
performance will speed up significantly towards
the grand finale. Japanese taiko drums have
been developed into a wide range of percussion
instruments that are used in both Japanese folk
and classical musical traditions.

Taiko, in general, are 3 sticks percussion

instruments. With the exception of the
"kotsuzumi" and "ootsuzumi", all taiko are struck
with bachi. They have heads on both sides of the
drum body, and a sealed resonating cavity. Taiko
are also characterized by a high amount of
tension on the drums heads, with a
correspondingly high pitch relative to body size.
This high tension likely developed in response to
Japan's wet and humid summers when most
festivals take place. Many taiko are not tunable,
and a drum with high head tension would
counteract the slacking effects of humidity.

Taiko are categorized into two types of

construction. "Byou-uchi daiko" (鋲撃ち太鼓,
tacked-struck drum) taiko have heads nailed to
the body.

"Shime-daiko" (締め太鼓, tightened drum), have

heads sewn onto iron rings, which are then laced
to each other around the drum body.made from.

The two drum types can roughly be translated as

the bass- and snare drum in a western world
understanding.

(Courtesy: WIKI)
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System Requirements

Please be aware that many instrument and multi-instrument programs in this library are extremely ram/
cpu and hard disk-streaming resource intensive. We recommend that you have at least 2GB of system
ram, a dual core cpu and at least a 7200 rpm SATA hard disk before purchasing this 8DIO library. Large
sample sets like those found in this library may load slowly and may cause system instability on older
machines.

Navigation:

This library includes a total of 70 instrument programs, so we definitely recommend using the left and
right arrow keys located to the right of the instrument name to quickly cycle from one preset to the
next within each folder. (See example above)

The main “Instruments” directory contains sub-folders for each instrument group.

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Instrument Program Types

This library features many sub-types of instrument programming to allow greater flexibility. The “Master”
patches are heavy-duty combo programs that include all of the different articulations for the entire ensemble or
each divis group. Please be warned that they each require a significant amount of ram to load and draw a large
number of voices if multiple articulations are struck at once.

Most programs feature key tracking. “Tuned” pitches the notes over half-step intervals and spans the majority
of the keyboard. They also include special key-switches in the lower range of the keyboard, which allow instant
re-tuning of the whole instrument.

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 Front Panel Controls:
8DIO EPIC TAIKO ENSEMBLE

Stepping Knob

All of the programs in this library feature the front-panel

“Stepping” knob. This control allows you to adjust the
root pitch of the entire instrument up or down in half-step
intervals, by +/- 24 semitones.

Tuning Key-switches

Most of the “Natural” programs feature special key-

switches in the lower range of the keyboard, which allow
instant re-tuning of the whole instrument, in half-step
intervals. Most of the natural programs arrange the key-
switches from C-2 (-12 semitones) to C1 (+12 semitones).
Use the key-switch at C0 to reset the instrument tuning to
its original setting.You can deactivate the key-switches by
pressing the Key Switch On/Off button.

The “Stepping” knob will still function when the Key

Switches are disabled. The “Stepping” knob and Tuning Key-
Switches will always stay in synch with each other, so you
can use either one of these two pitch-control methods
interchangeably.

Attack Knob

Most of the programs in this library feature the front panel

“Attack” control knob. This will allow you to reshape the
attack of most notes, from sharp to very slow.You can use
this to subtly soften the feel of the drums, create automatic
crescendos on the longer sustaining effects and even create
some rather dramatic tonal pad-like sounds when playing
the solo rim articulations.

Release Knob

Most of the programs in this library feature the front panel

“Release” control knob. This will allow you to reshape
the natural reverberant tail for most notes, from a full epic
wash to a very tightly muted fairly close-mic'd room
sound. Use the knob to set the sustain time before playing
a note, or use the Modwheel (CC1) to shape note
sustaining/damping on the fly in real-time.

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8DIO EPIC TAIKO ENSEMBLE
Please note: Just as it's impossible to truly simulate an
authentic wet sound with a dry recording, it's also
impossible to completely dry out a wet recording by using
release gating. This control can go a long way to reshape
the perceived “wetness” of the sound, but it can't entirely
remove the early hall reflections and increase overall
presence.

Custom Convolution Reverb Controls:

Each instrument program allows you to add one of our

custom-captured convolution reverb impulses and control
overall wetness. By default, each instrument program loads
with the convolution effect fully bypassed, so that you only
hear the original naturally wet sound of the drums in the
hall they were recorded in. When you click the front panel
drop-down menu on the far right side of the interface,
you'll see 8 unique impulse options you can choose from.

You can either use this effect to make the sound even
wetter and bigger, or you can artificially dampen the
original natural reverb tail with the modwheel or front-
panel “release” control knob and then essentially replace
the original reverb with a new reverb. Obviously, because of
natural coloration and positional differences between the
sample source and the impulse source, it won't sound
completely natural. However it can be a very useful feature
that can produce rather interesting results.

Impulse Types

Hall:
This setting is a true convolution capture of the classic
stone and tile epic scoring hall we used for our Epic Tom,
Epic Dhol, and Small Epic Percussion libraries.

Bunker:
This pair of settings are captures of an abandoned
underground WWI artillery bunker.

Church:
These two were captured in a large A-frame chapel.
“Garage” was recorded in a brick parking garage.

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8DIO EPIC TAIKO ENSEMBLE

Stairwell:
This was captured in a 7-story tall concrete and brick
stairwell.

Mystery:
This setting is just a cool little surprise.

Bypass:
You can bypass the reverb at any time by selecting
“Bypass” at the top of the drop-down list again.

Wetness Knob

You can also set the amount of reverb being applied, by

using the “Wetness” knob. A value of 0 means the
signal is fully dry. Because of the dynamic nature of the
convolution impulses, turning the knob up more than
half-way can often lead to clipping when playing loud
notes. This can be compensated for by lowering the main
output level slider for the instrument.

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 Instruments:
8DIO EPIC TAIKO ENSEMBLE

Master Patches

The master nki (instrument) programs include all of the

library's articulations in a single combined package.
Therefore, be very careful loading them. They can require a
large number of voices if multiple articulations are struck at
once and free system memory to load.

If you have less than 3GB of system ram, we advise you

NOT to try loading this program. Due to it's large sample
pool and complex programming, this full-sized program can
cause system instability, crashing and potential data loss in
most standard computers. Use the Master patch at your
own risk and ONLY if you have a very powerful machine!
You've been warned.

taiko ensemble huge a close.nki

taiko ensemble huge a far.nki

taiko ensemble huge b close.nki

taiko ensemble huge b far.nki

taiko ensemble huge edge close.nki

taiko ensemble huge edge far.nki

taiko ensemble master close.nki

taiko ensemble master hiRAM far.nki

taiko ensemble medium a close.nki

taiko ensemble medium a far.nki

taiko ensemble medium a rim close.nki

taiko ensemble medium a rim far.nki

taiko ensemble medium b close.nki

taiko ensemble medium b far.nki

taiko ensemble medium b rim close.nki

taiko ensemble medium b rim far.nki

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8DIO EPIC TAIKO ENSEMBLE

taiko ensemble odaiko dbl close.nki

taiko ensemble odaiko dbl far.nki

taiko ensemble shimes close.nki

taiko ensemble shimes far.nki

taiko ensemble shouts a close.nki

taiko ensemble shouts a far.nki

taiko ensemble shouts b close.nki

taiko ensemble shouts b far.nki

taiko ensemble sticks high close.nki

taiko ensemble sticks high far.nki

taiko ensemble sticks low close.nki

taiko ensemble sticks low far.nki

taiko loops (80 - 140 bpm)

The “hiRAM” master patches are designed for

more extreme performances. Please note these
patches load directly into ram and does not use
the DFD functionality in Kontakt. You need at
least 0.8GB of system RAM available to utilize
these patches.

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8DIO EPIC TAIKO ENSEMBLE
GENERAL LICENSING AGREEMENT
LICENSE AGREEMENT
By installing the product you accept the following
product license agreement:
LICENSE GRANT
The license for this product is granted only to a
single user. All sounds and samples in this product
are licensed, but not sold, to you by 8DIO, Inc. for
commercial and non-commercial use in music,
sound-effect, audio/video post-production,
performance, broadcast or similar finished content-
creation and production use.
8DIO allows you to use any of the sounds and
samples in the library(s) you've purchased for
commercial recordings without paying any
additional license fees or providing source
attribution to 8DIO, Inc. This license expressly
forbids any unauthorized inclusion of content
contained within this library, or any any 8DIO
library, into any other sample instrument or library
of any kind, without our express written consent.
This license also forbids any re-distribution method
of this product, or its sounds, through any means,
including but not limited to, re-sampling, mixing,
processing, isolating, or embedding into software
or hardware of any kind, for the purpose of re-
recording or reproduction as part of any free or
commercial library of musical and/or sound effect
samples and/or articulations, or any form of
musical sample or sound effect sample playback
system or device. Licenses cannot be transferred
to another entity, without written consent of
8DIO, Inc.
RIGHTS
8DIO retains full copyright privileges and complete
ownership of all recorded sounds, instrument
programming, documentation and musical
performances included in this product.
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REFUNDS
Downloaded libraries can't be returned, so we
can't provide refunds. We may choose do so at our
own discretion,but please be aware that as soon as
you've downloaded it, you can't return it.
RESPONSIBILITY
Using this product and any supplied software is at
the licensee’s own risk. 8DIO holds no
responsibility for any direct or indirect loss arising
from any form of use of this product.
TERMS
This license agreement is effective from the
moment the product is installed by any means. The
license will remain in full effect until termination.
The license is terminated if you break any of the
terms or conditions of this agreement, or request a
refund for any reason. Upon termination you agree
to destroy all copies and contents of the product
at your own expense.
VIOLATION
We don't use any form of DRM software, dongles,
license keys or other cumbersome anti-piracy
technology in this product We do this because we
love you and trust you. That's also one of the
reasons our prices are so low, even though it takes
a long time to make these libraries. The other
reason is because we love music almost as much as
we love you. If you've done any “deep sampling”
and the labor-intensive programming that comes
with it, you know that it is very hard work.
Remember, the more you support us, the more
awesome libraries we can afford to make for you.
 THANK YOU.
8DIO EPIC TAIKO ENSEMBLE

We wanna thank you for buying the 8DIO EPIC

TAIKO ENSEMBLE.

If you have any questions, concerns, love-letters or

hate mail feel free to send it to:

support@8dio.com

or check our site at www.8dio.com

Love,

Troels Folmann & Sean Popejoy

All programming, samples, images and text © 8DIO 2006 - 2011. All Rights Reserved.
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8DIO is a registered trademark of 8DIO, LLC.