Winter NAMM Show: EASTWEST introduced six new virtual instrument collections, as well as a new 64-bit, fully networked, advanced sample engine, PLAY.

PLAY Advanced Sample Engine

At the heart of EASTWEST’s new virtual instruments is PLAY. The PLAY system is a professional, fully integrated solution for those with the most demanding production requirements. The PLAY sample engine software is included with all new EASTWEST/QUANTUM LEAP virtual instruments.

PLAY’s 64-bit support allows the user to load many more instruments and voices, limited only by the host system’s RAM. The advanced sample storage (using lossless compression) and streaming technology in PLAY’s high-quality resampling engine saves RAM, speeds up load times, reduces disk load, and saves hard drive space without reducing sample quality. Samples can be played back at 24-bit or 16-bit.

• Quantum Leap Gypsy is a collection of detailed virtual instruments capable of playing completely realistic performances. Primarily aimed at film, TV and game composers, Gypsy captures an intimate European sound with an unprecedented detail that will amaze listeners. $395
• Quantum Leap Ministry of Rock is a huge collection of rock drums, basses and guitars recorded in the world-famous EASTWEST Studio 2. A modern-day rock toolkit that covers a myriad of styles, Ministry of Rock provides a true all-in-one solution for rock productions and a sound quality superior to anything else available. Songwriters, film, TV and game composers, as well as all rock musicians, will love this outstanding library. $495
• Quantum Leap Pianos, the most detailed collection of the world’s finest grand pianos, offers more than one-half million dollars’ worth of pianos, all meticulously recorded. These include a $225,000 Bechstein D-280 Concert Grand—the same kind of piano engineer/producer Ken Scott used to record Elton John, David Bowie, and Supertramp—as well as a Steinway D Concert Grand, a Bösendorfer 290 Concert Grand, and a Yamaha C7 Grand. Scott engineered the Bechstein’s close-mic’d recordings to provide users with a cutting, dynamic pop/rock piano sound, in addition to the variety of other piano sounds included in the collection. $495
• Quantum Leap SD2 – The Next Generation is the sequel to Quantum Leap Stormdrum. The original Stormdrum was the most successful acoustic percussion library ever released. SD2 – The Next Generation, is a completely new and improved concept, eclipses the original and then some, and is destined to become the new standard for years to come. SD2 – The Next Generation offers some of the most amazing multi-sampled percussion imaginable. $495
• Quantum Leap Voices of Passion is a virtual instrument of female vocalists from Wales, Syria, India, Bulgaria and America. Songwriters and film, TV and game composers as well as New Age artists will be amazed at the ethereal, passionate, flowing, mysterious, wailing and whispering alto and soprano voices featured on Voices of Passion. The first virtual instrument or sample library created specifically for use in the film/TV/game genre, Voices of Passion is also the first created specifically for use in the ambient and New Age genres, and the first to feature true legato intervals. $495

All recordings for the six new virtual instrument collections were made in EASTWEST’s historic Hollywood, Calif. studios, formerly the revered United-Western Studios, awarded more RIAA Gold and Platinum records than any other studios, and a featured “Temple of Sound” in the book of the same name.