Greece seems to be such a breathtaking place, doesn't it? With a grand culture stemming from antiquity, their current culture dominates the gastric world with their phyllo-based pastries, moussaka, and gyros. Of course, the country itself is beautiful, too, with such amazing locations ranging from scenic Santorini to party spots like Mykonos. It's no wonder that the music of Greece will catch your attention as well, with their culture having made major contributions to the history of music. Among the well-known representatives of the Greek musical tradition is a lute named the Bouzouki, and one developer brings it to life on your DAW with Akki Labs Virtual Bouzouki.

The Virtual Bouzouki is a sample-based Kontakt Player virtual instrument. One of the highlights of the Virtual Bouzouki is its reproduction of realistic playing; the Virtual Bouzouki allows you to control the way the notes pass as well as determine which string is being used via the modulation wheel in your MIDI keyboard controller (or the one in Kontakt Player). The modulation wheel can also be used to select and control all kinds of tremolos utilized in Bouzouki playing. You can also make use of keyswitches to select between polyphonic and monophonic playing. While polyphonic playing allows chordal passages, monophonic playing on the other hand allows simulation of hammer-ons and pull-offs of up to a major third interval. The Virtual Bouzouki also eliminates the "machine gun" effect by simulating upstrokes and downstrokes; this instrument is programmed to play only downstrokes on slow passages but will simulate an alternating downstroke-upstroke picking pattern when playing faster. Other effects can be accessed via the "Perform" menu where things such as hand position as well as plectrum thickness can be modified.

Interestingly enough, the Virtual Bouzouki has been developed by a Swedish Group, Akki Labs, and you can purchase a copy of the Virtual Bouzouki for 299 Euros (approximately $423 USD). If you still have enough cash to burn after getting your copy, you should also buy some flat bread, hummus, a Greek salad, roast lamb, a bottle of Ouzo, and have a dance-off as you play maximis and rebetikos all throughout the night with your friends jumping around like Zorba. Oopa!