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Vocal
Planet
Sound on Sound Review
5 Stars
"The last major work from Spectrasonics was
Symphony Of Voices, a tour de force of choral multisamples and vocal
phrases. It was a hard act to follow, but Vocal Planet (which perfectly
compliments SOV) is, if anything, an even grander project, covering
every vocal style from Tibetan throat singing to doo-wop....an impressive
collection...including a very good black gospel choir...The blues
sounds absolutely authentic and hails from genuineMississippi delta
blues men. There are enough atmospheric phrases to create complete
blues songs, if you so wish. This is real "front porch"
stuff, and goes far beyond "I woke up this morning"! The
World disc contains some real gems, in particular a Himalayan girl
singer...the Tuvan throat singers sound not unlike people who've
swallowed didgeridoos...This is no ordinary set of samples. The
amount of work that has gone into its creation is enormous, and
meticulous standards have been maintained throughout. The '50s doo-wop
vocal ensembles are wonderful, the ethnic examples haunting, and
the blues so down and dirty that you can almost smell the sawdust.
The sheer amount of material is breathtaking. Having said that,
the price for so much material, is surprisingly modest. This has
to be the Encyclopedia Britannica of vocal samples!"
REMIX Magazine Review
"Vocal Planet is the hip urban cousin to Spectrasonics' acclaimed
Symphony of Voices...an extremely thorough representation of the
earth's vast vocal talent. The over 12,000 samples of blues, jazz,
R&B, soul, gospel, hip-hop, spoken word, and unusual ethnic
vocal sounds immediately catapult Vocal Planet into a category of
it's own. That's more than eight hours worth of material, an impressive
amount for any sample collection....Vocal Planet's ethnic elements
should be well received. Beginning with the rare Tuvan throat singer's
growling multiple-tone chants, and ending with a good old-fashioned
country yodel, the "World Voices" disc packs in the exotic
as well as beautiful performances perfect for creating exotic-sounding
melodies or pads.....the recordings are noise-free and perfectly
intonated... rhythmic loops in the form of beatbox and vocal sound
grooves are a welcome addition, complete with Groove Control...One
extra cool inclusion is the Vocal Planet Mod for Rebirth 2.0 software.
The addition of this new mod with human beatbox and vocal drum sounds
is a unique idea. Astute producers will find plenty in the breadth
of Vocal Planet to run with, both in terms of recording quality
and the time, money and hassle saved by grabbing a quick "Ohh
Baby!" or "Can I get a witness?" With the increasing
union restrictions and escalating costs of hiring vocalists for
commercial sessions, the value of Vocal Planet becomes even more
concrete. While it's no fun to spend valuable session time coaching
a singer, it's getting even harder to pay them. Vocal Planet offers,
quite literally, a world of alternatives."
EQ Magazine Review
"Spectrasonics has done it again! An amazing collection. Exquisitely
recorded...Stunning audio quality...Tremendous variety and selection...The
attention to detail is impressive with some sections making use
of "Chromazones™" and "Groove Control™,"
two Spectrasonics innovations designed to help samples sound and
feel more musical. The R&B disc makes great use of Chromazones™
to avoid the usual "munchkin" effect...the Jazz and African
sections are powerful and sonically inspiring. Almost all samples
are presented without effects or reverb, making it easy to add whatever
special sauce you might need...the European section includes some
lovely Celtic, Gaelic, Welsh, and Scandinavian phrases with both
male and female vocalists. The vocal percussion loops and effects
are ripe for dance tracks and would make great additions to any
basic rhythm track the Jazz samples are out of this world, moving
from haunting, free-form phrasing and scats to group multi-samples
that swing and sway with such class they just beg you to use them.
The Gospel samples are so full of passion they made me wish I'd
gone to a church like this when I was growing up. The Combo Grooves
section bops and bounces so hard that it has "play me now"
burned into each and every one of them. Add in the included lyric
and musical reference guides, Groove Control quick tips, and full
manuals for each sampler, and I'd say you've got one of the most
all-inclusive vocal libraries on the market. The five discs are
just bursting at the seams with creative ideas, and when coupled
with Spectrasonics Symphony Of Voices, you'll have access to just
about any earth-based vocal style imaginable, all from the ease
and comfort of your favorite sampler....a great value."
Sonic Control Review
5 Stars
"After working with Symphony of Voices, I had extremely high
hopes for the quality of the samples contained in Vocal Planet.
It was not surprising to me then, to discover everything on Vocal
Planet to be absolutely first rate. >From the quality of the
recorded material to the performances by all of the vocalists; to
the tuning that feels spot on and to the way everything performs
and works with whatever I was trying to pull off - simply superb.
The Gospel CD is worth writing home about...gorgeous sounding sustained
(and very playable) choir "pads": very vibrant and lively...great
sounding Hallelujah's...excellent for creating your own Gospel rhythm
tracks - add any of the phrases or vocal pads over top and you've
got yourself a pretty convincing Gospel choir...I was quite fond
of some of the Soul phrases here, most specifically the "Mmms"
since they seem to work nicely when used to add just a slight human
presence if you will to a track...There are some outstanding a cappella
loops that respond to Groove Control...The Groove Control enabled
loops here are wonderful to work with. You can basically have your
percussion loops or rhythmic Gospel choir loops follow along with
whatever tempo you are using in your sequencer, without that all-to-common
"chipmunk" effect when the speed of the loop is changed
to match the tempo of your sequencer...stellar 8-way velocity split
Jazz Combo doo-wop a cappella multisamples...These are probably
the nicest doo-wop single "hit" samples I've ever come
across in a sample library or in a hardware sound module - quite
impressive, and depending on how you play them you can get some
strikingly real sounding results....an extensive collection of mouth
percussion samples, both male and female (in a massive kit form
or available individually - they've covered pretty much everything
here)...great breath and vocal wind noises and fx, some of which
serve as great background pads or as creepy atmospherics....The
phrases are abundant enough to build your own vocal track...Some
of the bassy catch phrases could even could give Barry White a run
for his money. Vocal Planet certainly does have a global feel to
it...The Tuvan throat singer samples have a very unique sound (and
are quite long as well)....really great drones giviing you a really
guttural and bassy "growling" noise, a super cool effect!...beautiful
Celtic, Gaelic, Welsh and Scandinavian phrases that sound absolutely
great...an abundance of Native American phrases...There are even
some Yodeling samples (both male and female), with both fast and
slow performances and one patch in particular that made me think
"Whoa, now there's something I haven't heard before":
Yodeling Elvis....the sung phrases and FX are excellent and are
completely usable for a variety of chores...some of these samples
work superbly as textural sounds buried underneath music, percussion
and so on. Some of the types of vocals that are here may strike
you as being quite new and unique sounding....the documentation
is quite extensive, continuing in the tradition of Symphony of Voices
covering everything from tuning and intonation to techniques and
tricks...a handy musical reference guide, which acts as a detailed
index for the recorded phrases on Vocal Planet....this is what I
call extensive documentation. Without this essential information,
scouring through the weighty collection of samples on Vocal Planet
would be like searching for pins in a haystack...Many of the patches
throughout Vocal Planet are activated with Spectrasonic's "Groove
Control" as briefly mentioned earlier, which opens up new dimensions
for many of the grooves and loops in the library. I feel it necessary
to elaborate on how cool these loops really are just a bit more,
and how well they worked for me. For instance, you can have your
gospel choir clapping behind your sequence - with Groove Control
enabled the choir will follow your tempo as set by your sequencer.
The vocal percussion loops are slick and I loved the fact that you
aren't stuck with vocal loops locked at one tempo, destined to succumb
to the chipmunk effect as soon as you change the tempo.
Vocal Planet is packed with some gorgeous sounding and performing
samples - it covers almost everything that I could have hoped for
in a library that attempts to squash a worldwide representation
of vocal performances and styles onto six CDs. I found the vast
amount of material in this library to be stunning to say the least,
although in the three months that I've had the opportunity to put
Vocal Planet to work I doubt that I have discovered the musical
uses for more than half of what I'll likely discover with it in
the future....There's something here for everyone...the craftsmanship
and quality of the material presented here should be applauded as
a worthy sequel to compliment (but not replace) Symphony of Voices."
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