KA Mini PaiXiao

What it does

A sampled PaiXiao, the Chinese pan pipes, in its own standalone and AUv3 app. The sound is hollow and breathy where the transverse flutes are bright, and it plays a single note at a time. The controls are the same four the range shares: volume, a tone tilt, reverb and pitch bend depth, with a switch between an onscreen keyboard and an electronic wind instrument.

In the demo

Jade plays it with the other instances disconnected, notes how hollow it sits next to the bamboo flutes, and pulls up the instrument photo, a bound row of pipes. She uses the moment to point out how many wind instruments from different parts of the world end up looking alike.

Worth knowing

Like the rest of the range it starts on wind instrument input, so a keyboard produces nothing until you switch modes. There is no modulation or vibrato to work with, and the sound suits pads and texture as much as melody. Bought on its own, or in the App Store bundle covering all nine.