Voxos: Epic Virtual Choir from Big Fish Audio

Following their R&B Swagga sample set, Big Fish Audio has announced its Epic Virtual Choir sample library.

Not available until the end of September, it’s available for a pre-order price of $799.95.

VOXOS: Epic Virtual Choirs is a remarkable new virtual instrument containing a full epic choir, boys choir, soloists and individual choir legato sections.

Powered by the industry-leading Kontakt Player engine, VOXOS contains world-renowned choirs and soloists with experience in recording for countless Hollywood films, trailers, video games and the concert stage. Recorded at the beautiful Bastyr Chapel, with its gorgeous acoustics, the choirs were captured with multiple microphone positions in 24bit/48k 5.1 surround. The result is a pristine tone that sounds great right out of the box. VOXOS contains over 35,000 samples, at an uncompressed size of 35GB.

VOXOS is split up into three main sections:

Phrase Builder

- 30 Syllable Matrix Editor
- Intuitive, performance-oriented scripting
- Staccatos, Sustains, all MOD XFADE
- Dynamic morphing between dynamics
- 4 Mic positions + Full Mix
- Section contains over 16,000 samples

Legato Sections

- Sopranos
- Altos
- Tenors
- Basses
- Boys Choir
- Solo Boy, Soprano and Alto
- Real transition samples for all intervals
- Each contain 2 vowels at 2 dynamics each
- 4 Mic positions + Full Mix
- Section alone contains 17,000 samples

Choir FX

- Trailer Risers
- Shouts
- Whispers
- Grunts
- Screams
- Tonal Diatonic Clusters
- Atonal Clusters
- 1950?s Sandman Choir (bum bum)
- Contains over 1,700 samples
- 4 Mic positions + Full Mix

Phrase Builder

The Phrase Builder is a powerful way of adding word syllables into a choir performance. VOXOS contains a 30 syllable selector matrix which allows you to quickly assemble multi-syllable phrases onto a grid. Each syllable will intelligently advance to the next syllable, based on your keyboard performance. If it’s a sustain, the Phrase Builder can also connect one syllable over many notes, in a melismatic way.

Legato Sections

The Legato Sections contains true legato performances of Sopranos, Altos, Tenors, Basses, Boys Choir, Solo Boy, Solo Soprano and Solo Alto. Cinesamples has methodically recorded the tens of thousands of intervalic leaps within the ranges of each section. Their custom Legato script instantly analyses the keyboard performance and plays the appropriate interval sample. The result is an instrument that allows you to play smooth and emotional legato lines.

Built into Legato Sections is Cinesamples’ innovative Voice Leading Engine (V.L.E.). The V.L.E. allows you to play a full keyboard patch of S, A, T, B choir with independently moving legato lines. The engine instantly analyses the chord structure and assigns each pitch to its own section of the choir. The result: a patch that is easy to play, with incredibly realistic results.

Choir Effects

VOXOS contains over 500+ Choir Effects suitable for film, tv and game music. There are hundreds of shouts, whispers, grunts, clusters, screams and trailer risers, perfect for any media project.

Kontakt Player 4 Minimum System Requirements:

Mac OS X X 10.5 or higher, Intel Core Duo 1.66 GHz, 1 GB RAM

Windows XP (SP2, 32bit) / Vista® (32/64 Bit), Windows 7 (32/64 Bit), Pentium® or Athlon XP 1.4 GHz, 1 GB RAM

VOXOS requires 19GB HD

Produced Exclusively For Kontakt 4

Kontakt 4 is far and wide the most powerful and popular sampler available. Truly – it is the only way we could possibly produce this product. The included Kontakt Player takes full advantage of the NCW compression – streamlining this product by saving drive space and system performance, while optimizing it for the newest generation of Solid-State D0rives.

Recorded in Seattle:

Seattle has long since become the recording center of the A-list video game/trailer soundtrack world. As it happens, the VOXOS sessions were recorded following Bungee’s Halo Reach sessions and proceeding Blizzard’s monumental World of Warcraft; Cataclysm. The musicians involved in this project are constantly participating in such high profile acts as these. In fact, some of our men sang on the famous Gregorian-style intro to the original Halo videogame for XBOX. Bastyr’s main stage chapel offers one of the highest quality recording venues in the country. Its unique acoustic signature is akin to Symphony Hall in Boston and the retired Paramount Scoring Stage in Los Angeles. An extremely flattering hall for vocalists and instrumentalists – contributing to the familiar Hollywood style reverb bed without the tasteless metallic tinge and never ending ring-out that the majority of cathedral’s give. Combine that with the highest end recording gear available and the table is set for excellence.

Children’s Choir/Boy Soloist:

To really get an accurate representation of Los Angeles style soundtrack choirs, we had to include a boys children’s choir and soloist. The 15-piece boys choir covers roughly the range of the Altos transposed up by a major third. Our solo boy was captured from C3 to A4. With an amazingly transforming tambre – the purest sound imaginable in his soprano and a charming inward sound in his lowest third. These children possessed amazingly mature musical discipline, excepting guidance from the booth and their choir master in the same professional manner as the other sections. This was quite an achievement considering that they were all under 12 years of age.

We were amazingly fortunate to have children who have sang on a wide variety of soundtracks themselves, they needed no explanation about wearing headphones or being still while the tape is running. They were true professionals of the scoring stage.

Hand Sculpted Scripted (true) Legato:

As one of our trusted colleagues once stated: ‘There are no shortcuts when it comes to legato.” Our true sectional legato covers the full ranges of the Sopranos, Altos, Tenors, Basses, Boys and Soloists. After much trial and error, we were able to formulate a recipe for recording legatos in the most musical and accurate manner possible. It may not be evident while playing the patches how many samples you are triggering back and forth but it is mind blowing when you stop and look at the audio files involved in one patch, at one microphone position. On the surface things seem simple, but much is going on under-the-hood.

During programming all 35,000 samples and transitions are meticulously tightened by hand. This process takes fresh ears and cannot be rushed or automated. The charming human inaccuracies which give live performances vibe and soul also cause issues when aligning samples during programming. We have, without exaggeration, been tweaking the legatos for over six months – still making final tweaks the moments before delivering to Native Instruments for encoding. It needs to be perfect or its not going out the shop door.

The Voice Leading Legato Engine – Live SATB representations from one midi track:

They call it voice leading for a reason. From day one, composers of all styles are taught the value and importance of proper voicings. It all begins with SATB, the notable 4 part chorale diagrams in music textbooks all over the world. It is the basis of all chorale writing, the foundation of jazz ensemble writing – the glue of all composing. It was something we had to address, and address from the point of view of a composer under the anxiety of an approaching deadline.

The included SATB Voice Leading Engine can take incoming midi data sent from a piano track and assign the proper notes to each section automatically. Resulting in properly voiced chords with full legato from one track. No settings, its all intelligently scripted and prepared. This is a monumental time saver.

Phrase Builder – Intuitive Simplicity – A Defined Approach From Day One

Way back, months before a note was recorded, the entire final product was thought out, sketched and tested. We knew what we wanted as an end result and we backed up from there – we didn’t just roll the dice on the recording sessions and see what we ended up with. We knew we wanted to stay in Kontakt. We knew we wanted to avoid artificial word synthesis – aka Apple Talk or the Steven Hawkings effect. We knew we wanted to have the simplest, most powerful phrase building interface possible. We knew we wanted to enter all word data only once with just a few clicks with no external programs running. We knew we wanted the engine to keep track of the words no matter the articulation – long or short. We knew we wanted it to use the absolute minimum of MIDI CC controllers possible and be processor-friendly to our computer. We knew all of this plus more. It was just a question of finding the right way to make it happen.

Through process of elimination, we were able to create a truly monstrous phrase building engine. Streamlined for simplicity and accuracy. Created for the guys and gals who don’t read instruction books or have time to learn the intricacies of a poorly produced/overly complex library. Watch our “Phrase Builder” video for all you need to know about our industry-first Matrix Phrase Builder.

Fully Scripted Dynamic Control

We tried every single method of dynamic and vowel morphing available via Kontakt including the AET simulation. After double blind listening tests with some of our most trusted audio gurus the decision was unanimous. This method doesn’t use simple envelopes for simulated fading but rather uses powerful scripting to guarantee a 100% accurate and smooth dynamic morph. Just another time consuming detail that we had to have perfect.

Useable Cinematic Effects

As composers, we own tons of soundtrack recordings and we keep up to date with new trends in the soundtrack world. We wanted FX that would integrate and cooperate with other tracks in your template, not dated, crazy, unusable stuff that is only good for that rarely requested track. Aside from our assortment of grunts, shouts, whispers, layers and risers we also went in a tonal direction – recording beautifully layered divisi clusters and female “bum-bums.”

5.1 Ready – Full Mix Option – 4 Mic Positions

VOXOS was recorded in cinematic 5.1 in 4 microphone positions. To save polyphony, take advantage of the pre-mixed Full Mix position, a standard mixture of the spot, tree and ambient mics bounced down to one track. If you prefer to make your own mix you have unprecedented control over 4 microphone positions including the surrounds, which can be placed in the rear speakers on a 5.1 setup. This is in answer to a request for our top tier of users which we are happy to provide.

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Christmas carol concert: ten tips for preparing pianists

So, you’ve been asked to accompany the carol singing at your local school, church, social club, in the community, or even on the streets?

Here are ten tips to ensure you’re prepared and confident for the big day.

1. Be prepared

Most people like to know well in advance exactly what’s expected of them, so find out as soon as you can what you’re being asked to do, what format the carol concert will take, what rehearsals are planned, and how the whole thing will run.

Your stress levels will be lower if you have enough time to prepare for the event.

2. Know your skill and commitment levels

Be honest about your level of proficiency. Presumably, you’ve been asked because someone thinks you’re good enough to play, but don’t be afraid to keep things simple if you’re not confident playing more complicated pieces / arrangements, or if you don’t have a lot of preparation time.

If you’re provided with sheet music, and you know it’s too complicated, ask if there are simpler arrangements available.

Conversely, if you’re provided with chord sheets and lyrics, but you work better from manuscript, ask if you can have that instead.

3. Become friends with the organiser

You need to develop a good working relationship with the organiser of the event so that you can discuss how the event will run, flag any problems, and be kept “in the loop” if there are any new developments.

Particularly for more formal services, such as in a high church where there may be readings, liturgy, etc., the service organiser should be able to offer strong leadership so you’re not worried about when and how you should be performing.

4. Playing, singing, leading?

Are you going to accompany a choir or congregation by simply playing piano/keyboard, or are you expected to sing and play at the same time?

Are you “leading” others through your singing and playing, or is someone else directing from the front, or simply leaving it to the group’s knowledge of the music to carry it through?

Don’t be afraid to say if you’re not comfortable / able to play and sing at the same time. You may be able to work with a vocalist who can lead the rest of the group, leaving you to concentrate on playing the right notes.

5. Solo or group?

Are you going to be playing on your own, or with other instrumentalists? This will affect how and when you practice, what arrangements you use, and may require some diplomacy and group-building skills.

If you’re asked to play in a group and are prepared to either lead, or participate in that, be ready to work at honing musical arrangements and performance, dealing with possible creative conflicts, helping less confident musicians, and ensuring everyone knows what they’re doing on the day.

From my experience, many guitarists find all but the simplest carols (and hymns, too) quite difficult to play and make sound good, not because they’re poor musicians, but because many were composed on and for keyboard instruments. Don’t be surprised if guitarists wish to take more of a back seat when it comes to providing volume/body to carols. Solo instruments (cellos, violins, bass guitar) are often easier to work in, and can sound very good.

6. Singing from the same song sheet

Find out from the organiser exactly which carols are to be sung, obtain all the words, and ensure the same tune is being used (some carols have more than one version, particularly British and American variations).

If you have sourced your own music and/or words, ensure that it fits with what’s printed on the programme/hymnbook. Find out if certain verses are to be missed out, or repeated.

7. Practice! Practice! Practice!

If playing/singing solo, find enough time so you’re confident to accompany/lead the singers.

If working with other musicians, schedule in at least two rehearsals, or as many as required so everyone is confident, plus your own solo practices.

Find out whether you will be able to practice in the venue before the event — this can help to familiarise yourself with how you and/or a group of musicians will sound, particularly if you’ve never played there before.

8. Practicalities

Find out whether you will need to provide your own keyboard/digital piano, or whether an acoustic/digital piano will be provided for you.

If playing and singing outside, ensure there’s protection from the elements for you and your equipment, and a safe way to provide electricity for any amplification.

Ensure you’re able to get yourself and any equipment to the venue in plenty of time to set up, particularly if you’re working with a group, and if you will be using a PA system.

If using PA, find out who is setting it up and ask if there will be time to “sound check” everything, even if briefly.

Ensure that you can hear yourself playing and singing in the venue. See if the volume levels of any audio monitors (speakers) can be set at a slightly higher volume than is necessary, when practising, particularly when a large number of choir/congregation is expected — their singing will drown out or soak up your own sound and you may find it hard to hear what you’re playing.

Ensure you have enough light to be able to read the music/words comfortably.

9. Confidence

Be confident! You’ve been asked to do this, so someone believes in you.

Now you’ve accepted, trust in your abilities. If you’re nervous, don’t over-stretch yourself — play within your comfort zone.

With the right amount of preparation and practice, there’s no reason why the carol concert won’t be a great success.

10. Learn and Grow

After the event (maybe not right away) assess how you thought it went as a musician.

Did everything work as it should have? Were you happy with how you performed? What went well? What could have been better?

Make some notes so that, if you do another event, you’ll be even better prepared.

Have fun!

What tips would you add? Share in the comments below.