Spitfire Audio announces Epic Choir as its latest Originals sample library

Spitfire Audio has confirmed its Epic Choir release as the 17th sample library in its Originals series, designed to make rare and classic instruments accessible and affordable to all in authentic detail.

Epic Choir assembles a 50-piece large-scale ensemble of London’s finest vocalists in the hallowed Lyndhurst Hall at London’s legendary AIR Studios, split into two sections and presented in Spitfire’s in-house (AAX-, AU-, VST2-, and VST3- compatible, NKS-supporting) plugin, with three signals and 12 articulations designed to inspire and ease the scoring journey.

Epic Choir features a familiar, easy-to-use GUI with 12 presets: Sopranos & Altos: Long Ahh; Sopranos & Altos: Long Mmm; Sopranos & Altos: Episodic Combo 1; Sopranos & Altos: Episodic Combo 2; Sopranos & Altos: Short Staccato Syllables; Sopranos & Altos: Short Staccato Syllables; plus Tenors & Basses: Long Ahh; Tenors & Basses: Long Mmm; Tenors & Basses: Episodic Combo 1; Tenors & Basses: Episodic Combo 2; Tenors & Basses: Short Staccato Syllables; and Tenors & Basses: Short Staccato Syllables.

All 12 presets are available across three signals: Close (all spot mics summed together for a clear and transparent sound); Tree (a Decca Tree spaced microphone array, giving a spacious and enveloping sound); and Ethereal (adds texture, brightness, and width to the vocals for a glistening and shimmering sound, while still retaining an organic feel, thanks to a treated signal of saturation, reverb, and EQ).

Further flexibility for sound control comes courtesy of Reverb — a realistic hall-style impulse response, Release — a release trigger that only applies to long patches, and Tightness — which cuts further into the note to make it tighter, and only applies to short patches.

“Originals Epic Choir features 50 singers, which is the biggest ensemble of voices that we’ve recorded yet,” said Spitfire Audio in-house composer Homay Schmitz. “It’s been recorded at AIR Studios’ Lyndhurst Hall, so you get those beautiful acoustics; with it also being a former church, you get the singers in a traditional habitat as well. I think voices are an incredibly human — if not the most human — element you can add to music, so I’m really excited about this one.

“I love it that when you trigger notes at different times they just interweave nicely with one another,” continued Schmitz. “Potentially my favourite patch is Sopranos & Altos: Short Staccato Syllables... the syllables cycle around, but it has also been programmed so that if you play multiple notes at the same time, they each play the same syllable; it also gives me Carl Orff vibes, and I think it has a pretty good dynamic range — pretty good, as the title suggests, for some epic-type stuff.”

Schmitz concluded: “I’m really happy about Epic Choir being part of the Originals series. Having sung in a large choir myself as a kid, I always thought that there was something quite powerful, emotive, and sort of ancient about so many people singing together in the same room. And it’s also the only form of making music where you don’t need any equipment or tools.”

Spitfire Audio Originals Epic Choir is available as an AAX-, AU-, VST2-, and VST3-compatible plugin supporting Native Instruments’ NKS (Native Kontrol Standard) for Mac (OS X 10.13 - macOS 12) and Windows (7, 8, 10, and II — latest Service Pack) that loads directly into any compatible DAW for an RRP of £29.00 GBP (inc. VAT)/$29.00 USD/€29.00 EUR (inc. VAT).

Get yours here.