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I'd like to add some world instruments to my rig & wondered if Ethno was worth it or if there is something else better for under $300? thanks

Under 300$ Ethno will get you a long way.

I really wish there was a thorough instrument list for Ethno 2.

I owned Ethno version 1 but sold it due to frustration over the inconsistent level of depth on the instruments and the lack of key-mapping information on percussion elements (something along the lines of what Vienna Instruments provides would be helpful). Time is money, and I didn't have the time to manually "intuit" articulation key-maps for every percussion item.

Ethno 2 is much larger and broadens the coverage such that, even more than before, Ethno covers a LOT of instruments that STILL remain elusive in the computer sample library world (even though many of these instruments are easy to find on a Yamaha ROMpler workstation).

This is why a list would be helpful. I'm not sure MOTU realizes that there is now more competition in world instrument libraries and that all of the other products list fairly complete details of what is included.

The micro-tuning capabilities should help a lot. Even version one did have at-the-time unique capability of using an instrument in its natural tuning or in a Western scale.

It would be nice to know whether the content was sampled at every note, whether it extends natural key ranges, etc. The other libraries don't tend to divulge much of this information up front either, but it is at least generally in the user manuals.

I suppose the assumption is that people aren't looking for anything in particular but just want a palette to spice up soundtrack work. Those of us who know exactly what they need and are using such instruments primarily in their traditional context, are probably not a large part of sales. So I keep hoping for more single-instrument dedicated libraries.

MOTU allows license transfer (with written permission required up-front), so it's generally low-risk to try any of their VI's, as resale is fairly easy (though there's an iLok transfer fee). This definitely gives Ethno 2 a leg-up on Ethno World 4, Ra, Silk, Gypsy, Vir2 World Impact, etc.

In terms of bang-for-buck, it's hard to go wrong with Ethno 2, as even a small handful of instruments that are high quality and what you need, can justify the cost. My recollection from version one is that some of the strengths include Middle Eastern instruments and historical European folk instruments. Also African percussion (including chromatic percussion). I've never seen so many mbiras/kalimbas/sanzas in one library!

Ethno World 5 was announced last week and has audio demos, though I haven't booted my home machine in several days so haven't heard them yet. Hopefully they aren't as annoying as the EW4 demos, which were primarily voice-over marketing hype that made it impossible to hear the actual audio clips.

EW5 adds a lot of ethnic choirs, and a few random instruments from each region of the world. None of the new material seems to overlap EWQL RA or MOTU Ethno, so it might well serve as a complementary library to fdill in the gaps.

EW5 requires Kontakt 4 and an Intel Mac, and takes advantage of advanced K4 scripting. Although earlier versions of EW did not impress, this one might up the game... if only we could hear realistic audio-only demos!

MOTU Ethno still seems the broadest of any ethnic instrument offering in the industry. It might also be the only one that supports extensive micro-tuning on a per-slot basis.