I’ve reviewed a couple of Earthtone sample packs before, but here is something I don’t come across very often – a sample pack with lavta as a source instrument. To the uninitiated, a lavta is a plucked string music instrument from Istanbul and has a small body made of many ribs using the carvel bending technique, which looks like a small oud with a longer neck and has more frets that are less evenly spaced in order to produce the quartertone notes of makams in Turkish music. It has only seven nylon strings in four courses and the tuning pegs are violin-shaped, with three on the right side and four on the left side of the open tuning head. The bridge usually has mustache-like ends and the fingerboard is flush with the soundboard, which is often unvarnished. Needless to say, it’s an instrument suitable for a variety of musical genres, such as world, ethnic and organic folk music. Istanbul Lavta weighs in at 506 MB with a total of 180 files (90 dry, 90 wet). All loop files are recorded in 90, 110 and 130 BPM with key and tempo information for flexibility and ease of use. What’s great about this pack is that it can also be used in ethno-tronica, cinematic, ambient and experimental music. I like how the lavta was recorded, and the playing is superb as it as a romantic vibe to it. 

Original Source SoundBytes Magazine