Strezov Sampling Storm Choir Ultimate [KONTAKT]

Our most popular product ever got even more refined! A 20-piece chamber choir recorded with three microphone positions in Sofia Session Studio (the same hall where we recorded our Afflatus and Next Gen choir series). Completely new recordings ported within the powerful Syllabuilder engine, giving you the highest control possible on syllables, morphing, creating new words and polyphonic true legato.

WHY STORM CHOIR ULTIMATE?

It was inevitable that after the success of our Next Gen choir series (Wotan, Freyja, Arva, Rhodope 2) we had to upgrade Storm Choir (our most popular choir library) to be up to date with the rest of our choral libraries and to have the same features. Therefore we re-recorded everything, but this time with slightly bigger ensembles – 10 singers per section (men/women) for the syllables and 6 singers per section for the legatos. Again, we kept the same idea in mind – singing with exaggerated vibrato, over the top and generally – very loud. We re-recorded all 24 syllables of Storm Choir 2 in three dynamic layers, controllable with mod wheel (CC#1).

THE PERFORMANCE PATCH – EPIC SOUNDING RESULTS WITHIN SECONDS!

Something the original Storm Choir excelled at was accessibility and getting epic sounding choir lines within seconds. For Storm Choir Ultimate we took the original concept and pushed it to new limits with the Performance patch. This patch allows you to perform your choir lines on the fly due to custom edits of the recordings to make them extremely playable, while maintaining their organic and raw tone.

Choose between different mappings of the men and women section to increase the playability even further and fit the outcome to the needs of your track. We built this patch, so it allows you to choose between playing the choir pre-arranged in octaves, divided into separate sections or with the natural overlapping ranges in mind.

Our Velocity Dynamic Influencer allows you to determine the loudness of single chord notes by velocity, which makes highlighting certain notes within a chord easier than ever, while Modwheel CC1 still controls crossfading between the natural dynamic layers. The combination of both greatly enhances the expression you can get out of a regular keyboard performance.

If you ever looked for a “go-to” epic choir patch. This is it!

SYLLABUILDER ENGINE 3.5

When it comes to virtual choirs, there are basically two approaches: Phrasebulding (Storm Choir legacy series) and Wordbuilding (Rhodope legacy series). Storm Choir Ultimate combines the simplicity and sample recording of phrasebuilding with the advanced editing functions of wordbuilding, the same our Next Gen choir libraries do. This allows you to have amazing sounding results within seconds, but also to build and create new sample content with only a few mouse-clicks (combine multiple syllables together, save them as presets, morph between vowels, combine staccato and sustain together, etc.).

All samples have their natural attacks included. However, if you want to tighten them up, the Syllabuilder Engine allows you to set custom attack, release, volume and offset values for each field independently. Something completely new and greatly missed in all phrasebuilding choir libraries.

You can also create complete choral patterns inside the GUI or connect different syllables and morph them to add motion to your choir arrangements. Save and Load complete lyric presets to quickly get yourself into the actual composition or enhance your setup with predefined quick words.

THE MOST FLUID POLYPHONIC TRUE LEGATO

Like our other libraries, Storm Choir Ultimate also has true legato patches that can be played polyphonically without issues and without complicated extra requirements – you just play the music you have in your head and you don’t need to worry about anything else. Also, our Syllabuilder engine has the Agile legato that gives you the option to cut off beginning consonants of syllables and to perform them as legato, again polyphonically. Our intelligent voice leading enables polyphonic writing within just one patch. In other words: Hold down a chord with your left hand, play a melody with your right hand and have it all connected with legato transitions. This powerful feature is controllable by the most common of all midi cc controllers, the sustain pedal.

BREATHTAKING SOLOISTS

After we released Storm Choir 2, a lot of our users requested to have key singers available as soloist patches – this is why we have picked the ones with the most unique timbres and included them in the library – a total of 8 soloists with limited amount of syllables (12 instead of 24) that you can use either on their own, or as an “overdub” of the library – think of it as a “first chair” library for singers.

THUNDEROUS EFFECTS, WHISPERS AND SHOUTS

The library also has a dedicated FX section, featuring whispers (in two dynamics – soft whisper and “theatric” whisper), shouts, clusters (multiple dynamics, ranges and vowels) and the traditional risers and falls. The whispers and shouts are included in a Syllabuilder patch that gives you the possibility to morph between syllables, to connect them and to create new words, patterns and effects really quickly.

INCLUDES CHOIR MIDI FILES AND PRESETS FOR THE LORD OF THE RINGS THE PROPHECY MOCKUP

In the past we were often asked whether our choirs can deliver the feeling of The Lord of the Rings soundtrack. Being huge fans of the series, the original score inspired us to create choir libraries in the past and it’s the same with this one. Therefore we decided to include the choir midi files for a mockup of The Prophecy from the Fellowship of the Ring movie. The presets are included in the download of the library.

PATCH LIST

– 20-piece chamber choir (Syllabuilder patches), 12-piece chamber choir (legato)

– Slavonic molto vibrato tone, over-the-top dynamics and performance

– Three mic positions (Close, Decca and Hall) – recorded in Sofia Session Studio

– True Polyphonic Legato samples for both women and men

– 24 different syllables accessible through an intuitive phrasebuilder

– Recorded with ribbon close-mic array (Coles x3 and Royer x2) for a “darker” sound, Neumann M150 for Decca tree, DPA4006 for wide outriggers