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The hegalong (also spelled hegelung or heglung) is a Philippine “boat lute” originating among the Tboli people of Mindanao in the Philippines. It’s a plucked wooden instrument with a bright sound that can be compared in some ways to a western banjo or to a shamisen or sitar.

It features two strings: a melody string with chromatic frets and a slight twang, and an accompanying drone string that is usually tuned to an open pitch and plucked along with the melody string to provide a natural harmony. Traditionally, the hegalong specializes in rapid strumming, but it can be used for much more — from soulful melodic playing to upbeat rhythms.

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The particular hegalong we sampled from artist Diwa de Leon’s personal collection was custom-made with 24 frets on the melody string. For this instrument, we sampled above and beyond our usual obsessive attention to detail, meaning there are enough round robins here to avoid the dreaded machine-gun effect even during the rapid playing the hegalong is known for.

We took great care to capture the intimate details of the instrument without background noise, spending months experimenting to get the perfect setup until we were sure to reproduce every fret, every sound of the pick, and every stroke with a clean, detailed sound.

If you want to write in an authentic way, our Hegalong can easily recreate the natural beauty and virtuosity of the traditional two-stringed performance style utilizing the drone string. However, we recognize that some of you may prefer to explore the sound of the hegalong without being restricted to the limitations of a real-world instrument, so this sample library has been developed with additional options for each string.

Melody String Options

• Monophonic: The traditional playing style.
• Polyphonic: A more keyboard-friendly style.

Drone String Options

• Natural Mode: The traditional use of the drone string. Use the keyboard range to tune your drone string to a particular pitch, and then hit the key to pluck that pitch.
• Basic Mode: Set the drone string to behave more like a keyboard instrument so you can play the note you want directly.

For the most authentic performance, combine a Monophonic melody string with Natural Mode on the drone string.

For maximum versatility (like a workstation mode), combine a Polyphonic melody string with Basic mode on the drone string.

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Diwa de Leon, also known as Lionmight (formerly String Player Gamer), is an award-winning Filipino composer, music producer, recording artist, live musician, and YouTuber. He has studied the hegalong for over 25 years and is on a mission to introduce the world to this instrument and to Filipino musicians. Diwa first learned about the hegalong through his father, who used to travel to remote villages in the Philippines during the early 1970s to record Filipino traditional musicians on cassette. Diwa, who liked to sneak into his father’s cassette collection, discovered these recordings and this beautiful instrument at a young age.

A graduate in Music Composition from the University of the Philippines, Diwa’s work spans video game soundtracks, anime, and film scores, including Survivor Philippines, Netflix’s AMO, and music for Apex Legends. He has produced over 50 albums, with his music streamed more than 60 million times on Spotify. His collaborations include Laura Shigihara, The Game Brass, RichaadEB, Ballet Manila, and directors Brillante Mendoza and Auraeus Solito. His compositions blend symphonic, electronic, and traditional Philippine instruments.