Searching for a dramatic/epic sounding choir library (with examples).

[ThomasN]

Hi there, as the title says, I’m searching for a rather dramatic/epic sounding (=heavy vibrato) choir library, especially in the higher register, which sounds similar to the examples below. Maybe someone of you does even know which exact library has been use here.

Thanks in advance for your recommendations!

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[ThomasN]

Aw, come on... There must be a handful of people here who own choir libraries that sound similar to the examples.

[Mr Arkadin]

Budget? Do you have Kontakt?

If you have Kontakt, maybe start cheap with something like:
https://soundiron.com/collections/best- ... s-elements
You can upgrade to the higher versions during sales etc. That's what I did.

Or maybe something like:
https://www.spitfireaudio.com/originals/#epic-choir
Which comes with its own player. However it may not be 'epic' enough for you, the product name is slightly misleading for some I guess.

8dio have lots of choirs but I don't own them. Pricey, so watch out for the sales.

[ThomasN]

Thanks for your answer.

Budget? Do you have Kontakt?

Well, I'm willing to spend some money, as long as the library does the job. Yes, I have Kontakt.

So, based on your own experience, would you say Olympus can achieve results similar to the examples? I'm really interested in first-hand experience only, because in the past, I so often got burnt by purchasing sample libraries, by just listening to sound demos.

[mixyguy2]

Well you said first-hand experience only, so feel free to ignore this, but as they weren't mentioned and I have heard good things from reliable people, I would check Strezov's Wotan, Freyja, and Storm Choir Ultimate, as well as Performance Samples' Oceania. Storm Choir sounds right up your alley, but it's pricey as hell FYI.

[Tj Shredder]

It does not sound very special. Could even be coming from a arranger keyboard. The epicness is in the arrangement… This kind of choir I would try with free sample libraries and look for epic drums…

[Googly Smythe]

https://soundiron.com/collections/choirs
https://www.soundsonline.com/vocals/hollywood-choirs
https://www.soundsonline.com/vocals/symphonic-choirs

[ThomasN]

Well you said first-hand experience only...

Nonetheless, I appreciate your input.

It does not sound very special. Could even be coming from a arranger keyboard. The epicness is in the arrangement… This kind of choir I would try with free sample libraries and look for epic drums…

Sure, the overall "epicness" comes from the whole arrangement and sound choice. (E.g. the last example relies heavily on Damage for the drums.) Still, it makes a huge difference in timbre and emotional vibe, if a choir sings quite and lyrically, or loud and expressively. To this day I use Spectrasonics' old Symphony Of Voices library which still sounds gorgeous, technically and musically, but the overall sound is rather on the quiet/lyrical side.

[Liquid lino]

Ark 1 choirs a la carte from orchestral tools.

[robint]

I too have come up against this black hole in the market while looking for something in the ca <$50 region to replicate a classical SATB ensemble (rather than a huge orchestral epic choir - but the principle is the same). Notice a lot of personal comments fail to mention the price tag of preferences ie $400 - 800. I can understand this when mustering 60 singers in a hall cw multiple mics and several hours of Oohs and Aahs. Do you want a Ford Ka or an F1 Ferrari?
In my humble area of interest I find that my search for human chorist vocals is frustrated by the offerings which IMHO are deliberated crippled. If I want a Male Tenor I am presented with multiple singers with chords, ambience bg effects, reverb, stereo etc. Once clutter has been added to a voice, its impossible to remove.
But then the whole DAW (DUH) market is populated by NOMAN consumers (No musical ability needed). One is plastered with comic book clickbait graphics claiming ultimate supremacy for yet another EQ reverb gear vst etc Above all, said gear must fill your screen with knobs and sliders most of which are pointless redundant BS
In dee phynal analysis its a pandemic of GAS (gear acquisition syndrome)

A casual rant from a humble musician who feels like a bull in an auction ring dragged around by its nose ring whilst suffering the frantic callings of the mob of DAW plugin hucksters - worse than a rat pack of press hounds.

All the more galling when a Commenter crowed how he snapped up an eminent choir vst (rrp $300) for a mere $30 in a black Friday sale from a well known retailer here. Holy Schwepps Batman! Head for the hills of Co to an off grid cabin pursing the beauty of Canteloupe
Yet even in Walmart there are nuggets to be found. A poster recounted his confrontation with a mormon-esque shelf filler . Our friend was testing the timbral qualities of kitchen utensils hanging temptingly on display. He set about them with his drum sticks, causing a log jam of trolley mamas entranced by his primal rhythms. With his trusty Tascam he scooped up a trove of natural sound clips for FREE
Pop in to my local cathedral on choir practice nights and scoop some real sound (ones persistent attendance might be misinterpreted by the patrolling Sextants) - a sound lifter stealing bytes.

Has anyone made their own live library of singers' oohs and aahs with a dictaphone with a dollar in the offertory plate for each phoneme?

[nachenko]

This thread is a bit old, but in case anyone cares, I got a 8DIO library during sale (Insolidus, under 100$), and boy, for that price you get a lot of bang for buck. It sounds gorgeous.

It requires Kontakt Full, though.

[mixyguy2]

These sound good IMO and are just $80/ea for male and female voices. https://www.orchestraltools.com/store/c ... ns/tallinn

[enroe]

...
In my humble area of interest I find that my search for human chorist vocals is frustrated by the offerings which IMHO are deliberated crippled.

If I want a Male Tenor I am presented with multiple singers with chords, ambience bg effects, reverb, stereo etc. Once clutter has been added to a voice, its impossible to remove.

But then the whole DAW (DUH) market is populated by NOMAN consumers (No musical ability needed). One is plastered with comic book clickbait graphics claiming ultimate supremacy for yet another EQ reverb gear vst etc Above all, said gear must fill your screen with knobs and sliders most of which are pointless redundant BS.

In dee phynal analysis its a pandemic of GAS (gear acquisition syndrome). A casual rant from a humble musician who feels like a bull in an auction ring dragged around by its nose ring whilst suffering the frantic callings of the mob of DAW plugin hucksters - worse than a rat pack of press hounds.

Haha, you describe very clearly what it's like when a newbie is looking
for something on the internet. This doesn't only apply to choir samples
or samples in general. What you describe actually applies to everything:

When you're looking for something, you always have to fight your way
through a tangle of opaque and half-baked offers, vanities and commercially
inflated absurdities. It takes time to get a feel for how to search, what
to ignore, and how more sophisticated search terms can get you closer
to your goal. And so it is with the search for musical sample libraries.

It is striking to me that many newcomers are pouring in here and want
to invest a lot of money right away - without knowing which libraries are
available - and without any experience. Once upon a time - around the
end of the 90s, beginning of the noughties - the sf2 format for sound
cards appeared, and everyone sampled and constructed their own
libraries at home and made them available to others - completely
free(!) - on the net. During this time, numerous good and musically
usable multisamples were created. And some lucky musicians have
put together their own library from it during this time. The format most
commonly used today for searching free libraries is the SFZ format
(see the other threads on KVR on the SFZ format).

Probably the best library for orchestral sounds today is the Vienna Symphony Library - also including Choir ensembles and Solo voices.
In particular, you're probably looking for something like this or this.

This library is mostly used by film makers today, and there are many
audio samples on their site. The storage space requirements - many
gigabytes (!) - are high. And you need an iLok account including the
whole iLok environment.

But I would recommend something else to start with. Because there is
also the really great library by Paul Battersby, it's called "Virtual Playing
Orchestra" and basically contains everything there is in a classical
orchestra, and it is even constantly being improved: Click here .

And it's free (mostly Creative Common License).

[mixyguy2]

This thread is a bit old, but in case anyone cares, I got a 8DIO library during sale (Insolidus, under 100$), and boy, for that price you get a lot of bang for buck. It sounds gorgeous.

It requires Kontakt Full, though.

Nice, but I recently found and recommend 8Dio's Lacrimosa. It is custom built for that big, "epic" sound. (With 200 singers, ya think?) And a mere $98.
https://8dio.com/products/lacrimosa-epi ... vst-au-aax

[Mr Arkadin]

This thread is a bit old, but in case anyone cares, I got a 8DIO library during sale (Insolidus, under 100$), and boy, for that price you get a lot of bang for buck. It sounds gorgeous.

It requires Kontakt Full, though.

Nice, but I recently found and recommend 8Dio's Lacrimosa. It is custom built for that big, "epic" sound. (With 200 singers, ya think?) And a mere $98.
https://8dio.com/products/lacrimosa-epi ... vst-au-aax

I just got a mail for a bundle of ALL their choirs for $120. I'm not even needing any choirs, but holy cow! May have to go for it.

https://8dio.com/products/all-choirs

(It says $299, put it in basket, discount applied)