Introduction

The Bawu-Bawu by Suonopuro is a very expressive and realistic virtual instrument emulating a traditional Chinese wind instrument called Bawu. It has a clarinet-like timbre and its playing technique incorporates the use of much ornamentation. Its sound is emitted thanks to a single free reed of bronze or copper.

The bawu likely originated in the Yunnan province of southwest China, it has become a standard instrument throughout China, used in modern Chinese compositions for traditional instrument ensembles. It is typically used as a solo instrument, and is often featured in film scores.

The Bawu-Bawu by Suonopuro, using the most advanced technological solutions, allows emulating the sounds of this kind of instruments, even in legato, staccato and in the tonal variations that are obtained at different dynamic.

The Bawu-Bawu also has a wide range of effects, which transform its sound: distortion, chorus, wha-wha, etc. Moreover, its numerous functions make it very versatile and playable live. It can be used both in monophonic mode, for greater realism, and in polyphonic mode. It can also perform up to two parallel secondary voices simultaneously, in the style of the great EWI player Michael Brecker.

It does not require complicated settings or intricate ways of playing: just play normally on your MIDI instrument to get legato and staccato, crescendo and diminuendo, piano and forte, vibrato, glissando, etc.

The Bawu-Bawu is designed to get the best, in terms of expression and control, from any kind of MIDI instrument:

 • Electronic Wind Instruments (Akai EWI, Yamaha WX5, YDS150, Casio Zanzithophone, Roland Ae10g, Morrison Digital Trumpet, etc.);

 • MIDI strings (Cantini MIDI violin, Zeta MIDI violin, etc.);

 • MIDI converters, like the Sonuus i2M;

 • MIDI keyboards (NI Komplete control, M-Audio Oxygen, etc.);

 • MIDI controllers (TEC breath controller, MIDI expression pedal, Yamaha BC3, etc.).

 

Audio demos

Under the trees of hope - Bawu-Bawu solo DEMO

N.B. Just a melody without accompaniment repeated in two different octaves: first with the reverb effect only and then with chorus and distortion.

Interface Images

Features

 • Perfect Crossfade: transition from piano to forte and vice versa on 2 levels, without hear overlapping notes.
 • Editable Dynamic Controller and Range.
 • Two monophonic modes with real time automatic recognizing of legato and staccato: by dynamic controller and by keys.
 • Play on release mode: when you release a note, the software plays the previous note still pressed.
 • Configurable legato time and start, also automatic, and real time controlled portamento.
 • Four round robin staccato attacks with multiple and gradual gradients from soft to marcato.
 • Two parallel voices at configurable intervals, as used by Michael Brecker.
 • Polyphonic mode for polyphonic instruments and sustain or hold 1st note modes for monophonic instruments.
 • Bending technique.
 • Musette fx, an additional level of samples, slightly out of tune, that changes the bawu timbre.
 • Simulation of the internal resonance of the Bawu tube.
 • Automatic vibrato and flutter-tonguing both configurable and controllable live.
 • Chorus, Stereo, Compressor, Three-band equalizer, Convolution reverb, easy to use Distortion and Delay effects.
 • Keyswitches that can be disabled; live options activator.
 • 4 octaves of range, obtained by sampling 3 different bawus tuned to 3 different keys.
 • Splitter by Suonopuro, to split and layer many sounds across your keyboard or your MIDI instrument.

 

Requirments  

• NI KONTAKT 5.8.1 or higher FULL retail version. It is NOT compatible with Kontakt Player. You can open and run the Bawu-Bawu in Kontakt player just for 15 minutes. After that the demo period of the player times out and you have to re-start and reload the library.

• A COMPUTER: Windows or Mac or a Maschine+ by Native Instruments.

• A MIDI CONTROLLER: an Electronic Wind Instrument or a Keyboard or any kind of MIDI Instrument.

Controllers  

The Bawu-Bawu is highly customizable and allows you to use any MIDI controller, not only to manage the dynamic, from pp to ff, but also to control all the other characteristics of the sound.

Here are some examples of classic MIDI keyboard controllers:

It is also possible to use the Bawu-Bawu without any MIDI controller, with any common MIDI keyboard.

  

How to obtain "SUONOPURO BAWU-BAWU"

The Bawu-Bawu is part of a private collection that I'm going to give to everyone who supports my site www.suonopuro.net with a donation of at least € 50,00.

To use it you need a FULL retail version of NI Kontakt 5.8.1 or higher.

 

Instructions:

1. Make a donation of at least 50,00 euros using Paypal (payment is automatically converted to your desired currency):
   
   
   

2. Send an E-MAIL with your name, your e-mail and details of the payment made, to:

            

Within 24 hours you will receive an e-mail notification, containing the download link and the instructions.

If you want a different method of payment, or are having problems with the Paypal link, you can write an email to the address above.

 

How to use

Download the instruction manual

 

Versione Italiana