Overall Rating: (5/5)
Sound Quality: (5/5)
Usability: (5/5)
Programming & disc layout: (5/5)
Value: (4.5/5)


Symphony of Voices is one of Spectrasonics' current flagship choir and voice sample libraries. An expansive 5 CD-ROM set for AKAI and Emu compatible samplers, Symphony of Voices is probably one of the most extensive, widely accepted and used voice and choir libraries available on the current market today. Each of the five CD-ROMs in this library cover a different style of vocal performance, including an 80 voice London Choir on the first disk, Classical Soloists and various choir effects on the second disk, both Gregorian and Boys Choir on the third with synthetic and processed "Pop Stacks" on the fourth. The fifth disk in Symphony of Voices is simply comprised of "Additional Voices" (basically patches that didn't fit anywhere else) with Choir vibrato, staccato, moving vowels, soloist phrases and some extra Gregorian chants and pop stacks.

Due to the fact that Akai samplers can have a maximum of only 12 characters in their file names, like many other Akai sample libraries Symphony of Voices uses an abbreviation system to allow for the basic description of each patch on each of the CDs. I'll only touch on this briefly as it is documented extensively in the manual, but for what it's worth I found it helpful to be able to memorize the abbreviation and symbol schemes listed in the manual before looking at the patches on the CD and before loading the patches into the sampler. This makes it extremely easy to define what the patch is going to offer, before you take the time to load it up. For example and for the sake of simplicity, male and female performers are indicated with "M" and "F" respectively, and in the case where a patch features both male and female performers, you'll see something like "M+F AHS X2". The "Ahs" indicating the way the performers are singing (they can be Ohs, Mms, Ees and so on), the "X2" indicating that there are two singers, the "M" and "F" indicating that you have both a male and a female singer. This abbreviation system really makes it easy to navigate through the patches and pull up exactly what you want, without having to spend too much time auditioning the samples before you load them in your sampler.

London Choir

The first disk is one of the most impressive disks in the entire library with an extensive collection of samples recorded with an 80 voice choir (as it turns out, The London Chorale and the Hertfordshire Chorus). As anticipated, there are both male and female choir patches: Ahs, Ohs, Oos, Mms and Ees in separate male and female versions (although no recordings of male and female together with the same articulations) as well as some wonderful choir swells (male and female, including male and female together), all performing the aforementioned vowels. There are also several forte male patches that have been recorded with the performers singing in octaves. Last but not least there are the multi-sampled choir swells in both male and female versions which are just fabulous for dynamic effect. These crescendos have been recorded in several versions with crescendo and decrescendo of Ahs, Ohs, and Mms. All of the London Choir patches will work solo, but they also work fabulously behind other instrumental elements when you simply lay them underneath as a "pad". None of the recordings sound overly obtrusive or harsh, nor have they been EQ'd or processed to death thus leaving you with a natural, organic sound that envelops you in a wall of sound that also seems to fit transparently with pretty much everything. The London Choir samples were recorded without vibrato (vibrato is also there on the "Additional Voices" disk, if you should happen to need it for effect).

Classical Soloists & Choir FX

The second disk begins with some absolutely stunning choir FX including sweeping, moaning, whispering, and cluster/cluster swell effects. Perfect for adding spooky undertones to your music, these effects would work very well for horror film scoring with a wide variety of spectacular effects to choose from. As a bonus there have been some "Choir FX Odds & Ends" thrown on to the end of the CD that include several samples featuring laughs a shouts, claps and sighs (all as product of the whole choir of course) which are indeed interesting (as is the choir whistling on the 5th disk, but we'll get to that later).

An abundance of chords, both Major and minor have also been recorded in both piano and forte allowing you to have that big, natural sound of a full bodied chord, without having to decimate polyphony of your sampler in the process. Another notable section is the London Choir Phrases section which features an impressive selection of great sounding "canned" phrases if you will, ranging from 50 bpm to 80 bpm (both male and female choirs). There is a great selection of phrases here such as Miserere Mei, Morte Dabo, O Fortuna and Esto Fidelis (some of the patches also have looped versions however most do not, and some even have reversed versions of the sample that results in a pretty unique sound).

The Classical Soloist patches are also superb, beginning with several samples of a solo female vocalist singing in 5ths, in both mono and stereo versions. Additional soprano patches are also featured with the performer singing "Ohs" (four patches), "Eh-Oh" and three patches featuring two Sopranos singing at once (Ohs). Last but not least there two staccato soprano patches (all of the aforementioned samples featured in both mono and stereo versions which is wonderful to see). The Tenor multisamples cover similar territory as the Soprano multisamples, this time allowing for both forte and pianissimo versions of the patches. There are four different variations of the forte Tenor samples and three different variations of the pianissimo Tenor samples, each slightly different from the other for the sake of variation. It would have been great to have the pianissimo and forte samples combined into one multi-velocity patch, but this is something that you can do on your own if needed anyway. The Tenor patches wrap up with several octave and arpeggio slide performances, again like all of the Soprano and Tenor samples, featured in both stereo and mono.

An observation that I made that you will likely make when using some of the sustained soloist samples (not the phrases) is how "real" the limitations of sampling technology allows them to sound. Certainly one can't expect an instant Pavorotti from a sampler as re-creating the human voice like this would be extremely complex, if not impossible with sampling technology. While the sampled nature of the soloist samples is very apparent when triggering the samples quickly (as in a quick melody line, for instance), the samples tend to lend themselves better to more legato playing and for effect. Additionally none of the Classical Soloist patches feature looped samples, so they will not sustain indefinitely.

Boys Choir & Gregorian Choir

One of the most surprising finds in this library would have to be the Boys Choir samples. Here we have a selection of sustained group "Ahs", "Ees", "Oos" and "Mms" (the first three variations feature pianissimo and forte samples, the "Mms" recorded with one velocity only). Curiously there are no "Ohs" to be found. All are just as suitable to be used to create big, full chords as they are for "solo" lines (when I say "solo", I don't mean it in the literal sense, but rather the whole choir singing the same note at once) which makes all of these exceptionally special. We must also not forget the solo boy patches which include sustained "Ahs" and "Ohs" as well as "Ahs" sung by two boys in unison (one panned left, the other right). The "Ohs" sound slightly flatter than the "Ahs" and sound more like "Oos" to my ear (when compared with the other "Ohs" samples in the other choir samples). Unfortunately there are also no "Ees" or "Mms" that have been included for the solo boys samples, nor are there any moving vowels by the soloists as there are in the Classical Soloist samples on the second disk. I should also note that all of the sustained boys choir samples (both solo and choir) are looped and sustain indefinitely. Regardless of what hasn't been included, the sustained Boys Choir patches are marvelous throughout on the whole. The producers of Symphony of Voices intentionally recorded different sets of vowels and effects for each set of performers (this applies to all of the performers, not just the Boys Choir). To make room for the special samples like the multisampled phrases, moving vowels, FX, swells or the intervals, similar or not so common vowels were sometimes dropped in favor.

In addition to the sustained boys choir samples, there are also several multisampled phrases that are a must-have including Agnus Dei, Kyrie, Allelujah and Amen phrases in Major and minor as well as moving vowels that include Ah-Eh-Ee-Oo and Oh-Eh-Ah. There are also several interval patches, with the whole choir singing up 4ths and down 5ths. Like the sustained patches, all of these samples are looped (after the phrase, which is non-repeating). Again the performances of all of the phrases are marvelous sounding, and are actually very workable when put into your own original composition. This third disc ends with the Gregorian choir samples, which include short phrases, sustained multisamples and chants. The short phrases consist of two principal patches, the first features 5 different short phrases in forte and pianissimo versions while another patch has seven differing variations of Amen. The sustained "Ohs" and "Mms" are also excellent with the "Ohs" recorded in pianissimo and forte versions, the "Mms" at only one velocity. The Gregorian 5ths in pianissmo and forte are very effective (the performers singing at the same time, one group singing a 5th up from the other), while the whole step up and down and half step up and down samples are very unique and work well when triggered as solo samples or as a group of samples (the vocalists singing a short succession of the two notes). There are also eight different traditional Gregorian chants that have been recorded that include Agnus Dei, Allelujah, Gloria, Hosanna, Jesu Christe, Kyrie Eleison and Amen. Each of the chants also has a mono version for those with limited sample RAM.

Pop Stacks

Pop Stacks is a unique blend of layered vocal "pads", covering the same relative territory as the London Choir patches on the first disc, with a blend of Male and Female performers (although male voices are featured only in combination male and female patches, not by themselves as the female voices are). Ahs, Ees, Ohs, Mms,Vvs, Zzs as well as some wonderful multi-vowel patches with moving vowels and vowel washes are delightful to work with, not to mention delightful to listen to. These vocal stacks and pads remind me a lot of those employed by Enya, or most recently by James Horner as the principal synthetic choir section in parts of his Titanic score. While all of the patches are stereo, a number of the female and combination choir stacks are also available in mono. However, only the female combination stacks are provided in both mono and stereo, while the male and female combination stacks are available only in stereo.

So how did they achieve such a nice sound with the pop stacks? Producer Eric Persing gives some insight on some of the tricks used: "This is simply the pop recording technique of overdubbing one singer singing the same thing on a multi-track. We used a mix of 24 tracks of performances on analog tape to achieve this sound." Also according to Symphony of Voices producer Eric Persing, the mono versions on the Pop Stacks disc have been included specifically for users who do not have the luxury of large amounts of sample RAM. Admittedly, the mono versions certainly do not sound as good as the stereo versions as you might expect, but it is good to see that the thought has been put into making sure those who have little sample RAM can also use these great sounding samples. "The combo male and female patches are intended as the "Big" versions in terms of sound and size. If a monaural effect is desired, summing the audio channels in mono at your mixer is an easy solution. We also had some limitations in terms of S-1000 keygroup limits" Eric explained.

Additional Voices

The Additional voices disc contains a selection of additional patches that for one reason or another do not fit on any of the other CD-ROMs. Additional Voices contains mostly traditional Soprano and Tenor phrases as well as various "Choir technique" samples such as vibrato, staccato, moving vowels and whistling (the entire choir, the result is a very interesting and airy effect!). There are also additional Gregorian chants (instead of short snippets, the full chants have been included here) and a selection of extra pop stacks. The Soprano phrases are quite good as are the Tenor phrases with patches dedicated to traditional phrases as well as operatic, lamenting, serene, ethereal, light opera legato/staccato Soprano phrases and lyrical, with triumphant and falsetto Tenor phrases. The full Gregorian Mens choir chants include chants such as Pange Lingua, Greek Allelujah (including drones, also broken up into the smaller solo peices), and Veni Creato. The additional pop stacks feature male stacks, additional "Ahs", "Oos", "Ohs" and "Mms" with scoops, very suitable for background synth vocals.

A lot of the time when you get an "Additional" or "bonus" disc thrown into the pack, you can tend to get very little in the way of quality material that you can put to use. Fortunately this is not the case with this Additional Voices disc, which I should note is not advertised on the Spectrasonics site nor is it in their brochures listed as being part of the Symphony of Voices library (this is a fifth disk of the advertised four disk set). But there is a reason for this bonus disc, and as it turns out it is not a bonus disc at all, but rather an integral part of the library. To explain, I should first note that Symphony of Voices is also available for Roland, Kurzweil and SampleCell on which is is four disks and not five as is the Akai version. The reason for the fifth disk is perhaps best explained by Symphony of Voices producer Eric Persing who mentions, "We develop on the Roland platform which has over 600 megabytes and the samples can be shared amongst various patches. Akai has the horrible partitioning system, and a limit of 500meg per disc. The Roland, Kurzweil and SampleCell versions of SOV all fit on Four discs. So the Additional Voices on the Akai version is simply there to fit what wouldn't fit on the other four. It's incredibly frustrating for us that the Akai format is the industry standard, when it has so many limitations like these. So almost all of our Akai products have an additional "unadvertised" disc. It's just so that we can fit the complete library."

Sound Quality

Without a doubt the sound quality throughout Symphony of Voices could be described with one word and one word only: flawless. The choir has been captured with a masterful touch of perfection, with lush vocal pads, phrases and effects that are truly inspiring to work with. There are still certain "ambient" noises in some of the recordings, as expected due to the size of the choirs that were recorded but nothing to be at all concerned about since these noises are unavoidable when working with large numbers of human performers. The performances delivered by all of the vocalists that have been sampled are also first rate and the samples lend themselves well to external processing with reverbs and other effects. Whether in the forefront of your composition or buried within your mix to add subtle texture, one of the most important things that I took note of with this collection is that the samples actually WORK within your music. They're not too obtrusive, they're not too weak and it appears that the producers and engineers who worked on Symphony of Voices have made a very conscious effort to strike that delicate balance between great sounding samples and musical usability and feasibility. All of the dynamics in all of the patches (except a select few) are also velocity switched. The patches that do not feature velocity switched dynamics were designed specifically with this omission to allow the samples to perform and play better (for example, the Tenor patches on the Classical Soloists disc).

Samples that sound great are one thing. Samples that sound great and that you can actually use are a whole other ballgame. Symphony of Voices is one of those rare collections of masterfully created samples that not only sounds great with patches that perform as you would want them to perform, but envelops you in a wall of rich, unique and dynamically inspiring sound. It has a soul all its own. Something else that is worthy of mention certainly has to be the booklets, instructions and liner notes that accompany Symphony of Voices. The booklets are extremely detailed and well laid out, making it a snap to find exactly what you're looking for. There are two booklets (approximately 50 pages each) that effectively describe and represent everything in the entire library, from terminology and abbreviations used in the physical patch names to detailed quick reference guides that let you quickly look up the written representation of what each sample does when triggered, including BPMs and physical sizes of the samples in megabytes. There are also detailed sections on techniques, tips and tricks that you can use to get the most out of the samples, explanations of how the human voice works, tuning and pitch ranges of the male and female voice and English translations of some of the more commonly used Latin words and phrases in Choral music. These probably have to be the most detailed and helpful liner notes I've seen that accompany a sample library, so hats off to the producers of this library for taking the time and putting the effort into creating liner notes that actually help and educate the user/composer using the samples. This makes the library accessible to everyone, regardless of your knowledge or experience in working with choral music. There is enough information here to make sure you aren't left in the dark when it comes to learning about how you can get the most out of these samples. After all, the joy of reading pages and pages of credits does tend to wear off after a while, and if you're going to read through a hundred pages of liner notes, why not learn something in the process?

Originally released in 1997, Symphony of Voices still remains one of the landmark vocal sample libraries released to date, showing no sign of its relatively youthful age. The producers of Symphony of Voices have actually taken the time to chisel away any redundancies and useless tidbits, making every sample on this library incredibly useful and inspiring to work with. An additional note: According to the producer of Symphony of Voices, the multi-disc sequel to Symphony of Voices has been in the making for four years and is entitled "Vocal Planet", scheduled to start shipping within the next few months. Vocal Planet will focus mainly on Gospel, Jazz, Dance and Ethnic Vocals whereas Symphony of Voices has focussed mainly on Choirs, Classical Soloist, Gregorian Chant and Pop Vocal stacks. Whether you're doing film, television, album work or otherwise, Symphony of Voices is a masterfully created library of sampled voices that no composer that uses samples should be without.