Plectra Series 1
8-string Acoustic Bouzouki
A mainstay of modern and traditional Greek music captured exquisitely with deep sampling and scripting.
US$59
Hear Plectra Series 1: 8-string Acoustic Bouzouki In Action
- Traditional Solo Dimitris Plagiannis 0:45
- Ela Na Me Telioseis George Theofanous (arr. Dimitris Plagiannis) 0:46
- Zorba the Greek Mikis Theodorakis (arr. Dimitris Plagiannis) 2:00
- Stalia-Stalia Giorgos Zampetas (arr. Dimitris Plagiannis) 0:22
- Bouzouki Waltz Dirk Ehlert 0:53
Reviews
Simon Franglen
Titanic, Skyfall, Spectre, Avatar, Avatar: The Way of Water
Impact Soundworks make detailed, emotive instruments. I’ve happily bought over two dozen of their libraries which should say everything. They get used every day.
Mark Portmann
Ariana Grande, Luis Fonsi, Celine Dion, Quincy Jones
"[ISW]'s instruments consistently deliver the sound, feel, and reliability I need to do my best work. Thank you for raising the bar and making tools that inspire."
Neal Acree
World of WarCraft, Diablo III, StarCraft II, Overwatch
"Impact Soundworks has some of the most creative and innovative libraries out there. From world instruments to the insanely deep sampled Shreddage guitar series the Impact catalog is full of must-haves and unexpected and inspiring surprises. Highly recommended!
Stewart Winter
Co-founder, VideoHelper
"I'm a keyboard player -- I can't even make a REAL guitar sound convincing. But Telos and Rosette are my go-to guitars because they sound incredible, sit well in a mix and are so easy to configure to my personal playing habits. I'm constantly discovering new ways to play them and they've saved my ass more times than I can count. And the pedal Steel is still my favorite library of its kind for Country, Folk and organic layering behind synths."
Brian Pickett
PAW Patrol, Lucas the Spider, Daniel Tiger
"I never would have thought that sampled guitars could sound as good as ISW's do. The fact that I can use them to lay down a realistic solo is unprecedented. They’ve pushed the boundaries of realism."
Rosette Mandolin – Sound on Sound
Rosette Mandolin review
"The sound of the library is very pleasing...the more I used the library the more I felt I was learning how to write idiomatically for the instrument." "Rosette Mandolin provides a good sound that could have many applications, with versatile input options that cater to writing realistic mandolin lines, impossible 5+ note chords and everything in between." Thomas Field, September 2024
Richard Jacques
Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy, Mass Effect, Overwatch 2, James Bond 007: Blood Stone
"I'm a huge fan of the Ventus Winds series. They feature rare instruments deep-sampled to an incredibly high level of detail. It's so liberating to have such a wide range of articulations & phrases that perfectly capture the nuances and performance style of these instruments... from beautiful to haunting, celebratory to sorrowful. Each is expertly recorded and the sound quality is superb, sitting in the mix with ease. If you want to add authentic world winds to your palette, then look no further."
Kevin Manthei
Angry Birds Mystery Island, Marvel’s Spider-Man, Villainous, Neverwinter, Star Trek Online
"ISW creates some of the most inspiring & realistic guitar sample libraries. I had to write a bunch of really gritty, angry heavy metal & sports action rock cues. I used Shreddage 3 Serpent for leads and was blown away by its onboard processing, programming, and amazing live-sounding leads. I also created a signature sound based on the lead guitar in David Lynch's Twin Peaks series, originally played on baritone guitar. [Serpent] built a convincing replica of that sound just using on-board FX. It was so fun and easy to do!"
Audio Demos
- Traditional Solo Dimitris Plagiannis 0:45
- Ela Na Me Telioseis George Theofanous (arr. Dimitris Plagiannis) 0:46
- Zorba the Greek Mikis Theodorakis (arr. Dimitris Plagiannis) 2:00
- Stalia-Stalia Giorgos Zampetas (arr. Dimitris Plagiannis) 0:22
- Bouzouki Waltz Dirk Ehlert 0:53
Overview
Enter the 8-string Acoustic Bouzouki, a mainstay of modern and traditional Greek music captured exquisitely with deep sampling and scripting!
Product Info
All 8 strings sampled
Multiple dynamics and strokes
Hammer-on, pull-off and legato slides
Tremolo and pitchbends
Sampled chord strums
Features
Intelligent scripted engine and interface
Easy to load and play!
Requirements
3GB of disk space
7200 RPM hard drive or solid state drive recommended.
Kontakt 4.2.4+ Full Version
This library is NOT compatible with the free Kontakt Player.
Kontakt Requirements - Mac OSX
Intel Macs (i5 or higher): macOS 10.14, 10.15, 11 or 12 (latest update).
Apple Silicon Macs (via Rosetta 2 & natively on ARM in Standalone or in hosts that support it): macOS 11 or 12 (latest update)
Kontakt Requirements - Windows
Windows 7, Windows 8, or Windows 10 (latest Service Pack, 32/64-bit). Intel Core i5 or equivalent CPU. Graphics hardware support for OpenGL 2.1 or higher. Windows 10 strongly recommended.
Tutorials
Overview & MIDI Performances
Patch & Interface Walkthrough
Featured Artists & Composers
Simon Franglen
Titanic, Skyfall, Spectre, Avatar, Avatar: The Way of Water
Impact Soundworks make detailed, emotive instruments. I’ve happily bought over two dozen of their libraries which should say everything. They get used every day.
Jeff Broadbent
Assassin’s Creed Identity, Call of Duty Mobile, Resident Evil, Diablo Immortal, Transformers: Dark of the Moon
“ISW creates amazing, creative, and intuitive virtual instruments! I’ve enjoyed using them for over a decade, and they have found their way into many of my music scores. Their wonderfully realistic world instruments showed up in a recent Nexon video game, Shreddage 3 Stratus on the score for Grid, and Super Audio Boy is a favorite for retro sounds, effects, and fun nostalgia. Highly recommended!”
Mike Reagan
Invincible Fight Girl, Powerpuff Girls, Trials Evolution, God of War, Twisted Metal
“A big thanks to the team at Impact Soundworks for putting inspiration at my fingertips! Your sample libraries are in heavy use in my Orchestral, Rock and Pop templates, and always visible in my top-tier Cue-specific Kontakt. Layering your Shreddage libraries on top of my live guitar tracks creates so much depth, and I get so much out of so many of your other libraries – too many to name. A+ programming and sonic goodness gang!”
The first entry in our Plectra Series of picked, plucked and strummed stringed instruments! This exquisite instrument for KONTAKT 4 is a joy to play right out of the box. Featuring all important articulations, intelligent string switching, true legato playing, multiple mics and advanced scripting, this is the most deeply-sampled bouzouki library yet. A perfect tool for film, TV and game composers, as well as rock and pop producers looking to add a new unique tone to their tracks.
Designed, recorded and produced by Dimitris Plagiannis, our first entry into the Plectra Series of virtual instruments is a classic instrument of Greek music. Reminiscent of the European mandolin but with a deeper, richer tone, the bouzouki has its roots as one of the oldest musical instruments. No sample libraries existed that truly captured this beautiful instrument in great depth and detail, until now!
Our 8-string acoustic bouzouki has been thoroughly sampled and produced with all the love and care you would expect from a next-generation virtual instrument. Extensive, custom scripting by Dimitris has been created to simulate real playing as accurately as possible. From dynamic changes to up and down strokes, string selection, note speed, legato slides, hammer-ons, pull-offs and more, every facet of bouzouki performance has been painstakingly recreated.
Stylistically, the bright strings and warm, resonant body enable this instrument to be used for lead, rhythm or harmony purposes. As a solo instrument, it’s incredibly expressive and can cut through the mix easily. On the other hand, the sampled chords and softer dynamics can be used as accompaniment in any number of genres.
We hope that will enjoy Plectra Series 1: 8-string Acoustic Bouzouki and utilize in it everything from film and TV productions to pop, rock, jazz and everything in between!
Of course, it would not be an Impact Soundworks library if it were hard to play, and the 8-string acoustic bouzouki is quite readily playable and intuitive as well. Despite the wealth of articulations, string selection options, settings and keyswitches, the user need only load the patch and start playing to immediately achieve an excellent sound. Performances can certainly be fine tuned and tweaked with these additional options, but they are not necessarily to create a very realistic and usable sound. In fact, after loading the library for the first time you may find yourself simply jamming away – it’s that easy.
Reviews
Plectra Series 1: 8-string Acoustic Bouzouki – Film and Game Composers
“One of the things I love about Impact Soundworks is very good prices on very fantastic instruments, even if it’s just single instruments or two or three instruments per collection. Fantastic price. Fantastic bang for the buck. […] I don’t know what you’re still doing watching this review; just go out and get it. Seriously. Now. Press buy. Add to cart right now. I’m really loving it. And I can’t wait to see what other kinds of similar instruments [Impact Soundworks] may sample in the future – which I’ll definitely be getting.”
Meena Shamaly (Film and Game Composers)