Soundiron has introduced Mercury Symphonic Boychoir, described as ‘the single most comprehensive, playable and powerfully sampled children’s choir ever released.’
Here’s what they have to say about it:
There is a special sound to a traditional English boy’s choral ensemble — solemn lows, angelic highs and an overwhelming innocence that harkens back to the days of youth and purity. With Mercury, we managed to capture this unique quality as we painstakingly sampled a full boy’s choral ensemble (ages 8-13) in the same large hall in which we recorded our Olympus choirs.
Mercury will feature 42 staccatos & 42 sustaining marcatos both with 4x round-robin, 18 tempo-syncing Latin poly-syllabic sustains with phrase-synchronus polyphonic legato, unique poly-staccatos, dynamic true legato vowels with real-time speed control from fluid portamento to tight, drone and whispering chants, trills, sweeps, swells and other choral effects. You’ll also find two exquisite soloists (soprano/younger and alto/older), each with a wide range of poly-syllabic phrases, staccatos and fluid true legato vowel sustain.
Here’s a preview of Mercury Symphonic Boychoir in action:
Mercury Symphonic Boychoir is scheduled to be released January 15, 2013. It is available for pre-order now for the introductory price of $349. The price returns to $399 after release. See the Soundiron site for details.
Damn, that’s gorgeous and trimmed to perfection. The problem, if any, is that to use this for much beyond group clusters, you’ll have to be pretty intimate with a choir’s tableture. Its also a case of “where’s the line where it becomes a case of diminishing returns?” Anything even remotely classical requires that you all but sleep with a thing like Vienna Instruments to draw out the vital nuances. I only fake a few guitar parts for color. I love ’em, but it’d be easy to see the zipper’s on the monster suit if I tried to solo that way very often. You must be exacting, because you are doubly “exposed” musically. It requires woodshedding times 50. (And we think editing a 5-piece band’s live playing is a big job!) So oddly, this hugely organic resource’s merits will depend on how clever you are at sitting and editing in the box. Its a Zimmer-level labor-of-love tool not to be taken casually.
Soundiron’s libraries always sound fantastic, and this is no exception.
But can it do “you can’t always get what you want?”
” but it’d be easy to see the zippers on the monster suit if I tried to solo that way very often”
i agree and have to say that you description is brilliant. i’m going to use that from time to time.
The idea fits because there is always this lingering notion that electronic music involves fakery, but the line begins to blur when you hear amazing things that could only result from a great deal of work, period. I don’t know quite how I would compare the work it takes for a cellist to develop good intonation with the sweat I exude, laboring over a DAW for hours, building and polishing, but they’re not opposites or enemies; they’re cousins. So making this choir work well will mainly depend on how you ride the line between blatant fakery and the gains of slotting it in with some heart & craft.
What i wouldn’t do for a cluster of choir boys at my disposal! What exactly would the interface be, for squeezing out some of the higher notes, of these boys?
I think the interface would be 12 years in the slammer for even saying that, heh heh…