Soniccouture Sheng Khaen Sho

ELEGANCE. BALANCE. RHYTHM.

The Chinese Sheng, Laotian Khaen, and Japanese Sho are three very similar instruments with a common ancestor.  They have been traditionally made from bamboo, the aluminium of the east, since the 14th century BC.

Sound is created by both inhaling and exhaling - as with a western mouth-organ.

By controlling his breath the player can keep an almost endless sustained sound, characteristic of Japanese Sho technique, or a quick rhythmic pulsing, typical of Khaen performance.

Dating from the 14th century B.C., the sheng is the most technically developed instrument, with metal keys and a fully chromatic tuning.  Modern Sheng come in various sizes including some very large bass instruments, but for this library we sampled a standard alto instrument with 30 pipes.

Using The Khaen Instrument

How to recreate an authentic Khaen performance with our instrument, using the breath modelling function.

This video shows the different note elements and how to put them together as MIDI.

In this video you hear only the Soniccouture Khaen.

Sheng Khaen Sho | Sound Design

The breathy, sustained timbres of the asian free reed instruments is an interesting palette for sound design.

Sculpt with 22 different filters, LFOs and modulation envelopes, not to mention the custom FX section.

Sheng Khaen Sho includes 30 sound design snapshot presets as inspiration for your own sonic exploration.