Topic: The Koto voice in Genos?

[Toril S]

Hello friends!
I remember listening to some very fine Japanese music with th Koto. I remember borrowing an LP called "Greetings from Japan with Koto." So I called up the Koto on my Genos, and it doesen't sound at all as the instrument I remember, but rather dead and flat. Is it me, or is it not a good sample? Or do i have to do something with the voice to get it more authentic?

[andyg]

IIRC, the Koto voice is an old, old one. Not in the same league as a S.Art or Cool! voice.

One of the exam pieces used to call for oriental sounds, including Koto. It's a been a year or two since I last taught it to anyone and I think that, even on the E series keyboards, you could layer the Koto with one of the other oriental stringed instruments. Shamisen was one of them.

You could also experiment with adding a touch of chorus to the voice or voices used. Not much, just enough to give the impression of an instrument that's not perfectly in tune.

[jwyvern]

Toril,
CMS have a Koto in the A. GUITAR section of their free downloads. When I tried it, it seemed a much more comprehensive and convincing sound than the Yamaha one, although I am not an expert in Koto's!

Try
http://www.cms-sounddesign.de/page101.html

And select the A.Guitar page. If you only want one voice it won't take long to install it via YEM with wireless transfer, but be careful you might be hooked into trying a load of others.   
John

[Toril S]

Thanks a lot Andyg, John and Francesco!!😀

[panos]

Hi Toril,
don't forget to add some portamento and vibrato and to use the pitch bend wheel if you can(pitch bend range +1) in order your playing to sound more oriental.
You really don't want a perfect Western Classical music pitch in all notes.

I agree with Andy to add a second oriental voice in a lower volume.
It's like playing a Harp on the keyboard.You cannot play just some notes for chords with your left hand and a melody with the right hand.
You need to play harp arpeggios all the time to really sound like a harp.
An example:
Go to 22:33 time for Harp arpeggios.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmQETKtz1Ws

And some nice Koto playing just listened to.
She started playing Harmonies with right and left hand,then moved to a more like a mandolin kind of playing and at the end like a Harp kind of playing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImvrPNHVTl8

At 3:59 I though she was going to play the James Bond theme 

[Toril S]

Thanks Panos! There is a learning curve here. I will try to give myself some Koto lessons. This is a perfect example why music schools need to have arranger keyboard lessons on their programs. But in Norway keyboard lessons just mean piano!!

[andyg]

It's like playing a Harp on the keyboard.You cannot play just some notes for chords with your left hand and a melody with the right hand. You need to play harp arpeggios all the time to really sound like a harp.

I know what you mean, but I think all the harpists will be gnashing their teeth at that comment! There are plenty of times when a harp will play a simple melody line on its own, sometimes with some simple 'strummed' chords (more grace notes than arpeggios) and sometimes just single notes or octaves.