SYNCHRON CYMBALS & GONGS II

Tam-Tam, Burma Gongs and China Gongs

Synchron Cymbals & Gongs II is a decoupling from the Synchron Percussion II collection and contains a tam-tam, Burma gongs and China gongs.

Tam-tams have been around in China for over 2000 years. They were originally used for rituals and ceremonies, often to make room or to assess the importance of the master of ceremonies. The sound of tam-tams is very noisy and broadband. Soft hits are more bass-heavy. The harder tam-tams are struck, the richer the sound becomes. The larger the instrument, the more sluggish it is - both in terms of sounding and fading away.

The tam-tam of the Synchron Percussion II is the smallest of the series, with a diameter of 70 cm. In contrast to the two tam-tams from Synchron Percussion I, it has a flat edge. It was sampled with up to 10 dynamic levels and 12 single-hit repetitions, with both hard and soft mallets. For effect playing styles, the tam-tam was struck or scratched with triangle mallets, hit or wiped with large brushes, made to sing with a superball, made to scratch or squeak with sticks, and drawn with a bow to bring out the overtones.

With “Tam-tams All” there is also a preset available that combines all patches from Synchron Cymbals & Gongs I and II and allows easy switching between all three tam-tams. If Synchron Percussion I is not installed, the use of the “Tam-tam flat 70cm” preset is recommended.

Burma gongs are characterized by the distinctive hump in the middle, which is why they are also called humpback gongs. They sound in specific pitches and are common in various Southeast Asian countries such as Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, and Indonesia. There they are often used as melody instruments in traditional music. Big, deep gongs sound very powerful, almost awesome. This is a good way to set accents, but they also need the appropriate space in the orchestration and time to develop the sound. Smaller gongs can also be used as melody instruments.

The Burma gongs from Synchron Percussion II are available in an exceptionally large range of four octaves (C2 - C6). They were sampled in up to 12 dynamic levels and 4 single hit repetitions. In addition to single hits with hard and soft mallets and pegs, there are a variety of effect sounds. There are ways to play with rods, brushes, rubbing sticks, hit and scratched with triangle mallets, and made to sing with superball.

China gongs or Peking Opera gongs or glissando gongs have their origins in traditional Chinese opera. There are gongs with ascending glissando and gongs with descending glissando. In Chinese opera, the ascending gongs herald a powerful person, while the descending gongs herald less powerful people or highlight funny situations.

Scope of the library

• Standard Library: Samples 39,772 | Download size 13.7 GB | Installed file size 42.2 GB
• Full Library: Samples 69,601 | Download size 29.7 GB | Installed file size 84.5 GB