The story
Pianobook, from its beginning, has been about capturing sounds with stories. Here, we capture the vocal performances of Marie, the grandmother-in-law of Micah Christian (Micah’s Choir). Marie sang professionally for many years–in churches and in big bands and night clubs, on the radio and at St. Peter’s in Rome, at weddings and at funerals. With her now being in her late 80s, there is much “story” in her voice.
The approach we took with this library was not to capture perfect and pristine performances, but honest and human history. Her voice will break and waver from time to time. It breaks and wavers from the load of a beautiful lifetime of use and experience.
Dynamics.
By default it is assigned to midi CC 1. To change it, right-click on Marie’s image.
Legato.
You can toggle on/off the legato by clicking on the text that says “alone – together.” You can also use the keyswitches A1 (alone) and B1(together). The legato is scripted. If you play below a velocity of 50, you get increasingly longer portamento transitions.
Breath.
Rather than set the breathing samples to a release trigger this time around, you can simply trigger them yourself by playing Bb1. Different velocities trigger different breath samples.
Reverb.
A reverb is supplied. However, many users may want to use their own. To deactivate the built in reverb, simply click on the Pneuma logo beneath Marie’s signature.
Final Notes.
I would very much like to create these kind of instruments in Decent Sampler. However, DS isn’t currently equipped with features that allow for scripted/simulated legato. There is a sort of hack for this that I’m working on, but it won’t allow for the same ease of use, and early tests of it result in strange clicking sounds. But it is something I want to figure out!
In fact, I’m thinking of making a series out of these sort of vocal packs. If this is something you all would be interested in, maybe consider leaving a tip?
Contributors
Cordaro Rodriguez
Interface
Reviews for Marie (Pneuma)
- Sound
- Character
- Playability
- Inspiration
- GUI
Leave a review to let others know what you thought of the instrument!
Captures the beauty of age perfectly .
Thank god it is available for Kontakt Player . Has a Usable amount of options which will not bore you and will make you think about your input . Really unique and surreal . Simple to use and tons of character . Still a little that the previous one for kontakt player .I am really excited to see its upcoming series .Thank Cordaro
Very realistic if played just right
If played just right, you get a vocal part that I find superior in realism to any of my other vocal instruments (including high end paid ones from Native Instruments). That being said, it is easy to make a mistake (hitting a key too softly) and trigger an excessively long portamento. (which then ruins the effect - it sounds extremely unrealistic) - Would be a fantastic enhancement to provide a setting to tune this. I tried to get into the script and edit myself, but its password protected. :) I know you can disable the effect, but the mild portamento is really what sells the realism - I just want to limit the effect.
Characterful and musical
There’s some gravel of age in this. Not too much, but enough to give it some character whilst remaining totally musical. It has its own soul and fits well with other vocal instruments. I can see myself using this with some jazz and Mediterranean music, but it’s suitable for a much broader church of styles. It has its own unique character and beauty.
Cordaro Rodriguez has produced some outstanding vocal work, including both versions of the hauntingly beautiful Micah’s Choir, and the Pneuma demo. I look forward to more.
