Ample China Traditional Percussion (ACTP) presents a Chinese ethnic percussion ensemble, covering a wide range from bass to treble, including membrane, wood, and brass instruments. It includes 19 instrument slots totaling 49 percussion instruments, such as drum ensemble, solo drum, gongs, cymbals, opera percussion, and vocals. Each instrument features multiple articulations, velocity layers, and sample cycles.
The ACTP adopts a dual-layer mixer design. The first layer is the instrument track, and each instrument track contains multiple microphone tracks. This setup is to adapt to the diverse nature of Chinese percussion, as the miking configuration for drum ensembles and small wood percussion differs. However, every percussion instrument uses the same overhead microphones to ensure tonal consistency.
- Quickly mark articulations and expressions in the built-in piano roll.
- Fully compatible with standard MIDI, with lossless import/export.
- Each preset is accompanied by a riff, presenting a quick overview of the performances and sound characteristics.
- Each instrument slot contains similar types of percussion with consistent design in terms of articulations, velocity layers, and sample cycles. When switching between instruments in the same slot, there is no need to modify the MIDI. Even for drum ensemble vs. solo, simply shifting the MIDI by an octave can achieve the same performance.
Ample Sound's legato technology from Dizi, Xiao, and Erhu is introduced to percussion. Instruments like Gongs, Cymbals, Singing Bowls, Temple Bowls, and Bells feature various legato expression changes, such as striking a Singing Bowl first and then legato into a Sing (the effect of a mallet rubbing continuously around the rim).
Each percussion has an independent ADSR envelope modulation system, allowing for adjustments of parameters like pitch, velocity curve, and more.