# Soundiron Mercury Symphonic Boychoir -- New In-Depth Walkthrough Video



## kriztofo (Nov 19, 2012)

*UPDATE* - Sascha Knorr has created an extremely in-depth video walkthrough video of his official demo track "A Glimpse at the Stars." The video explores many of the features of Mercury and includes many techniques for composing using the library.



*Mercury* is available now for *$399*.

*Click Here to Buy Now!*

[flash width=550 height=350 loop=false]http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Fplaylists%2F2771511&amp;color=e9c77b&amp;auto_play=false&amp;show_artwork=true&amp;show_playcount=true&amp;show_comments=true[/flash]
Click to listen to Demos.

http://s3.amazonaws.com/soundiron_docs/soundiron_mercury_boychoir_user_manual.pdf (Click here for the full PDF manual.)

Mercury is the biggest, most comprehensive and easy-to-use traditional English Boychoir library ever released. We took our years of experience recording, editing and programming choirs -- including Requiem, Mars and Venus -- and applied them to the task of capturing the pure, angelic sound of a classic English Boychoir and transforming it into a powerful yet easy-to-use playable choir library. In order to capture the unique sound of a traditional English boy's choral ensemble, we spent over 8 days in the same lush hall as Olympus recording the award-winning Pacific Boychoir with the help of Director Kevin Fox and maestro Robert Geary.

*Technical Specs*

*15.5* GB installed
*14,607* Samples
*77* Kontakt 4.2.4 and Kontakt 5.0.3 Presets
24 bit / 48 kHz stereo PCM wave format

Mercury Symphonic Boychoir includes a huge range of content covering all the bases from fluid True Legato to Staccatos and Choral Effects. Below is a list of included features.

*Features*
*Full Chorus*

2 microphone positions (close and far) included and controllable through an integrated mic mixer that allows for easy mixing and resource efficiency.
A chorus of 31 singers from the award-winning Pacific Boychoir (ages 8-13).
*42* Sustaining Marcatos w/ deep round robin and pp/fff dynamic layering
*42* Staccatos with 4x round robin and pp/fff layering on 5 core vowels.
*18* Traditional Latin Polysustains w/ tempo syncing (K5 only), legato and 2x rr releases.
*28* Traditional Short Marcatos.
Whispered Polysustains.
Atonal Droning and Spoken Polysustains.
Dynamic Layered pp/ff True Legato Vowels (Ah, Ee, Eh, Mm, Oh and Oo).
Unique FF Poly-Staccatos with 2x round robin, tempo-syncing and legato.
Wide Collection of Choral FX (clusters, swells, giggling, etc.)
A deep bonus collection of custom ambient soundscapes, drones, pads and atmospheres hand-crafted using the original choral source.

*Soloists*

2 soloists, one young (soprano) and one older (alto).
3 mic positions for all articulations except True Legato (direct, close and far).
Matching set of 10 traditional Latin Polysustains for each soloist with tempo-syncing and legato.
Selection of Core Vowel Staccatos.
One True Legato Vowel for each soloist (Ah for soprano, Oh for Alto).





Mercury features a new iteration of our custom phrase-building system now called the Phrasemaster. The Phrasemaster is a combined Marcato/Staccato sequencer that allows users to create up to 16 custom phrases from our selection of 42 words.





Mercury features a new type of preset called the Wordmaster which puts most of the features at your fingertips. The Wordmaster is a powerful marcato/staccato preset that let’s you choose from 42 different words for two independent, blendable articulation layers and switch them from staccato to sustaining marcato at the push of a button.

Click to listen to Demos.

Mercury requires the full version of Kontakt 4.2.4 or Kontakt 5.0.3 or later (for tempo-syncing and time-stretching presets). The free Kontakt Player does not support this library. Each copy of Mercury is individually watermarked for customers.


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## HDJK (Nov 20, 2012)

*Re: Soundiron 7-Day 30% Off Sale + Mercury Boychoir Pre-Order*

Wow, Mercury sounds really, really good!

You guys are killing me, I was set not to buy anything until next year (apart from Albion), but this is really hard to resist.


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## Peaslee (Nov 20, 2012)

*Re: Soundiron 7-Day 30% Off Sale + Mercury Boychoir Pre-Order*

Check out the Mercury teaser trailer, featuring tracks by Dirk Ehlert and Simon Russell:

[flash width=560 height=315 loop=false]http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/TQobR0wfqtM?version=3&amp;hl=en_US&amp;rel=0&amp;hd=1[/flash]


And here's the first peak at some of our artwork, as seen in the exclusive downloadable betapack we're sending to all pre-order customers. This is the Polysustain interface and you can also see the new modular tab windows for the verb, eq, legato and other systems work:


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## shakuman (Nov 20, 2012)

*Re: Soundiron 7-Day 30% Off Sale + Mercury Boychoir Pre-Order*

Wow! it sound awesome.. 0oD


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## Kralc (Nov 20, 2012)

*Re: Soundiron 7-Day 30% Off Sale + Mercury Boychoir Pre-Order*

Sounds lovely!

Is tuned micro part of the sale?


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## Peaslee (Nov 20, 2012)

*Re: Soundiron 7-Day 30% Off Sale + Mercury Boychoir Pre-Order*

Yeah, everything is part of the sale. Just add any two or more items to your cart and the discount is automatically applied.


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## zvenx (Nov 20, 2012)

Hi, As much as I love the sound of choirs, truthfully I don't use them that much in my work (just don't currently get that type of work).....right now my 'choir library' are omnisphere and what comes with Kontakt.... my question is should I get requiem light or olympus choir bundle? or are they really that miuch different that I would really need both at some point.....

thanks
rsp


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## Maestro77 (Nov 20, 2012)

*Re: Soundiron 7-Day 30% Off Sale + Mercury Boychoir Pre-Order*

I'd recommend the Olympus bundle. Much more bang for your buck. Really Soundiron's flagship products, IMO. Requiem is a carryover from the Tonehammer days. Olympus is newer and has a ton more content and features. And you can't beat the price during this sale. I already have Mars & Venus but time to lighten my wallet on some of their other goodies!


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## playz123 (Nov 20, 2012)

*Re: Soundiron 7-Day 30% Off Sale + Mercury Boychoir Pre-Order*

Yes, I too highly recommend the Venus and Mars bundle....and APE and anything else you can afford. 

Mike, these sale prices are 'unbelievable'. If I didn't already own most of your main libraries, I'd be buying them this week. I'm definitely ordering the boy's choir though, and will be looking forward to its release in January. All the best with your sale; some incredible bargains on some excellent products should prove very successful.


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## zvenx (Nov 20, 2012)

thanks Maestro and Frank.....

I think I will get olympus and rust 3.
rsp


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## Dan Stearn (Nov 20, 2012)

*Re: Soundiron 7-Day 30% Off Sale + Mercury Boychoir Pre-Order*

Mercury sounds great, think I'm going to be tempted by this one! Always loved the sound of the boys choir and soloists, very usable for me! Also looks about time to get that Emotional Piano & Bamboo Ensemble I've been after!


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## Maestro77 (Nov 20, 2012)

*Re: Soundiron 7-Day 30% Off Sale + Mercury Boychoir Pre-Order*

Struck Grand is another really cool and unique library from them. I find myself wanting to use it often.


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## playz123 (Nov 20, 2012)

*Re: Soundiron 7-Day 30% Off Sale + Mercury Boychoir Pre-Order*



Peaslee @ Tue Nov 20 said:


> Check out the Mercury teaser trailer, featuring tracks by Firk Ehlert and Simon Russell:



I think you mean "Dirk" Ehlert. 

BTW, the link above for preorder appears not to be functioning at present. Will try via your web site.

Looks as if link should be:
http://www.soundiron.com/instruments/choirs/mercury/


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## quantum7 (Nov 20, 2012)

*Re: Soundiron 7-Day 30% Off Sale + Mercury Boychoir Pre-Order*

I already own Liberis from 8dio, would Mercury Boychoir give me anything new, different, or improved? I love the sound of a good children's choir library.


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## playz123 (Nov 20, 2012)

*Re: Soundiron 7-Day 30% Off Sale + Mercury Boychoir Pre-Order*



quantum7 @ Tue Nov 20 said:


> I already own Liberis from 8dio, would Mercury Boychoir give me anything new, different, or improved? I love the sound of a good children's choir library.



Just my thinking...
Well, I have Liberis too, but still purchased Mercury SBC. Why? Mainly because I feel the sound and additional features will be a step up. Venus and also Mars are such a step forward from the other choir libraries in many areas, and I suspect that SBC will be as well. "This library represents the single most powerful and detailed children's choral multi-sample product ever released, with unmatched quality, depth, realism and playability."

I certainly can't say for certain how much better than Liberis it will be, but from what I've seen and heard so far, and based on Venus and Mars, I made a decision to go for it. Great price this week as well. Pre-ordering is always a bit of a gamble and I seldom do it anymore, but my trust in Soundiron and their products and service is very high, so I'm willing to take the risk here, especially at the current price. 

In any case, Sean, perhaps Mike et al. can provide you with even more information than is currently at the web site, but my own comparison based on what I know about both libraries convinced me to purchase. Cheers.


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## fido94 (Nov 20, 2012)

Will there be a video walkthrough before the sale is over?


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## eschroder (Nov 20, 2012)

*Re: Soundiron 7-Day 30% Off Sale + Mercury Boychoir Pre-Order*

I'm with quantum... I have Liberis but LOVE everything Sound Iron does so I'm conflicted with what to do...


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## Peaslee (Nov 20, 2012)

*Re: Soundiron 7-Day 30% Off Sale + Mercury Boychoir Pre-Order*



> Check out the Mercury teaser trailer, featuring tracks by Firk Ehlert and Simon Russell:



Yay sleep deprivation! I have to admit this is the second time in a month I've screwed up Dirk's name with a typo, though we do love him dearly. :( 


The biggest fundamental difference is that Mercury is a traditional all-boy's choir (Pacific Boychoir) rather than a girl's choir. Our goal here was to capture that distinct English boychoir sound. Even at a young age, the tone and character of their voices are very different from girls, although both definitely have their own uniquely magical quality. That said, Gregg and I did the micing, engineering, mixing, editing and programming in both and Chris scripted both from the ground up, so we certainly know the evolution in the production process between them personally. And we live and breathe this stuff every day, so we've certainly learned a few new tricks. 

For Mercury, we refined a lot of the methods we use to capture choirs now, based on new tricks we developed through the Mars and Venus projects. We also went with large diaphragm mics all around this time and used a greater number of channels overall, especially up close on the stage in order to better capture an exceptionally close, present and warm sound, most notably in the soft dynamics. We also now exclusively use Sound Devices recording equipment and transformerless Neumann TLM series mics for greater dynamic range, fidelity, tighter channel synch and improved noise profile. 

Mercury was a longer session overall, so we recorded just a ton of content. We decided on a mix of 2 mic positions to match Mars and Venus. With Mercury, we've integrated both positions into the same presets, with smooth mixing for each and optional load/purge. It's something we'll also be adding to Mars/Venus in the next update. We could easily do as many as 5 positions with the source, but I do think there's a point of diminishing return. The goal with a well-manicured quad mix is to make it 5.1 ready and keep it very flexible, without overly taxing system performance. 3 positions can have benefits, but you're basically using 33% more resources to get the same sound. With the close and far pairs, you can toss them into your fronts/center and rears and then run them through an LFE filter and your mix will collapse to stereo easily if needed.

On the content side, we recorded 42 matching marcatos and staccatos (4x rr), which is several times more of both. The round-robin in the marcatos and vowel sustains in Mars/Venus and Mercury are actually even more powerful than any previous choirs we've worked on. The attack, looping sustain and release phase of every note you play will trigger separate physical samples with their own independent round-robin behavior, so you end up with a ton of subtle variety. It also prevents round-robins that stick out in the mix ("clunkers"). Everything comes through as smoothly organic. We also captured poly-staccatos, which are fast rapid-fire multi-syllabic staccatos designed to be tempo-synced and used in more intense passages. 

These are similar to the single-shot Fast Polysustains as they currently exist in Requiem Light, but the poly-staccatos are tighter and faster, so they have a bit more of an aggressive quality to them - perfect for dramatic scoring and trailers. The fast Polysustains as they now exist in Mercury (and Mars/Venus) have the ability to loop infinitely with release syllable samples, so they have the versatility of the standard slow polysustains, while providing higher energy. TM Pro tempo syncing basically means that both the slow and fast polysustains work at just about any bpm, so it's really more about offering rhythmic and dynamic options. 

We also got legato vowels for both our soloists. We decided to focus on two exceptional voices there, with one younger soprano and one older alto. The alto was the eldest in the group. Our goal there was to present a classic younger-older duet ready sound. We also made sure their phrases matched the full ensemble polysustains. We also got a full set of dual layer pp-ff vowel staccatos with dynamic cross-fade control to allow really intense build-ups and stacking as needed. 

I think one of the two biggest leaps forward is the staccato-marcato switchable phrase builder, which is something completely exclusive to our more recent choir projects. Mercury pushes it a bit further, because we've made sure that every marcato has a matching staccato. You can set up 16-step sequences on the fly and flip between the sustaining marcato and staccato version of each word in realtime with your choice of keys-witches or UI automation. You can store 16 of those sequences you've created and use the second set of keys-witches or the UI to change the whole phrase you're playing and skip to any step position within that phrase instantly. 

The second big addition is the Word Master, which is a simple intuitive graphical interface that let's you visually choose from 42 words and assign your choices to two independent layers. From there, you can switch on the fly between marcato and staccato mode for each layer and switch your choices with keys-witches or UI automation. Like all of the Mercury presets, it will allow mic position mixing right in the interface, so it's basically your one preset to rule them all. We'll have screenshots soon. 

We've got a unified dual-layer true legato vowel sustain preset that lets you assign a different vowel to each layer and then morph between them, with full control over interval transition speed and blending. So basically, you'd have a handful of master presets that give you access to the entire library in a structure that's easy to play, easy to automate and resource efficient. Of course, we'll have lite and single-articulation type presets to allow user freedom and the ability to use it in situations where fewer system resources are available.

The latest GUI and scripting advances will definitely be finding there way back into Mars and Venus in the coming months. Many of them will also be finding their way into Requiem Light as well where the content is already structured right to support it.


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## Peaslee (Nov 20, 2012)

fido94 @ Tue Nov 20 said:


> Will there be a video walkthrough before the sale is over?



The pre-order discount is good till we launch Mercury in January. We'll be releasing detailed walk-through videos of each major element within the library over the coming weeks. The current sale is our Thanksgiving sale, so it ends next Tuesday.


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## eschroder (Nov 20, 2012)

Thanks Mike! Exactly what i needed to hear.


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## Kralc (Nov 20, 2012)

Just picked up Rust3 and Tuned Micro. Thanks for the awesome sale! And the awesome libraries!


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## JT3_Jon (Nov 20, 2012)

*Re: Soundiron 7-Day 30% Off Sale + Mercury Boychoir Pre-Order*



Maestro77 @ Tue Nov 20 said:


> Struck Grand is another really cool and unique library from them. I find myself wanting to use it often.



I was thinking of this one myself. Do you have any demos or pieces that use it that you'd be willing to share? Doesn't have to be the focal point or anything. Would just love to hear it in use.


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## greggg (Nov 20, 2012)

*Re: Soundiron 7-Day 30% Off Sale + Mercury Boychoir Pre-Order*

You probably already know, but I'm just throwing this out there anyway, we have over 20 demos for the Struck Grand, so you can get some idea of how it sounds in action:

[flash width=600 height=159 loop=false]http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Fplaylists%2F2240622&amp;show_comments=true&amp;auto_play=false&amp;show_playcount=true&amp;show_artwork=false&amp;color=0c632f[/flash]

There's also a full walk-through of Brad Halverson's Demo here: http://youtu.be/_DnIe7yacRw?hd=1


And speaking of Brad, check out his latest demo! featuring Mercury Symphonic Boychoir!

[flash width=450 height=100 loop=false]http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F68240209&amp;show_comments=true&amp;auto_play=false&amp;show_playcount=true&amp;show_artwork=false&amp;color=0c632f[/flash]


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## quantum7 (Nov 20, 2012)

Thanks for the info Peaslee! Sounds VERY tempting.


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## Graham Keitch (Nov 21, 2012)

*Re: Soundiron 7-Day 30% Off Sale + Mercury Boychoir Pre-Order*

Very interested - but repeated phrases made up of the words Kyrie and Agnus won't cut it for me - and will sound laughable in any production. Sorry to sound harsh about this but I'm going to need to hear naked demos of proper English words. 

Building on EastWest's innovative work with Word Builder, Virharmonics has attempted something like this with an adult choir - and IMHO has made a good job of it. If Soundiron can do the same with Mercury, I'd be absolutely knocked out - but to repeat, it's got to be more than a couple of random Latin phrases and I will need to hear evidence of it before purchase.

That said, I'm hoping this will deliver and wish Soundiron all the best in pulling this off as such a library is long over due (for me at least).

Graham


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## tabulius (Nov 21, 2012)

*Re: Soundiron 7-Day 30% Off Sale + Mercury Boychoir Pre-Order*

I agree with Graham in some extend, the phrases will stick out because everyone is using those. How many times I have heard "Agnus Dei", "demonus" or similar cliche phrases.

But I still prefer the phrases over wordbuilder-style solutions. First of all I hate editing the words for two hours to get them at least somewhat convincing and they still don't sound right. I'm not impressed with the new wordbuilder libraries either.

So I prefer the recorder phrases, but I wish I had tons of more, because the same phrases gets old really quick. And why not just include some nonsense phrases like diooaafaatoolaa etc, those might blend in with the orchestra but don't stick out like "Demonus" might.

But keeping the discussion in the new boys choir, it sounds really great. Love the legatos and the sound of the library. I am very tempted to get this. My brain tries to convince me not to buy, because I might not use this very much, but still, great sounding library.


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## Graham Keitch (Nov 21, 2012)

*Re: Soundiron 7-Day 30% Off Sale + Mercury Boychoir Pre-Order*



tabulius @ Wed Nov 21 said:


> I agree with Graham in some extend, the phrases will stick out because everyone is using those. How many times I have heard "Agnus Dei", "demonus" or similar cliche phrases.
> 
> But I still prefer the phrases over wordbuilder-style solutions. First of all I hate editing the words for two hours to get them at least somewhat convincing and they still don't sound right. I'm not impressed with the new wordbuilder libraries either.


I think the emphasis on epic isn't helping in terms of refining word building technology. In the case of the boy's choir, it is something of a contradiction in terms anyway. 

From what I can hear so far, Mercury has some excellent vowel legato. What's required now is a set of non-epic, non-aggressive consonants that can be placed at the beginning and end of each vowel to allow us to simulate real words. If these are smooth / gentle recordings, I'm sure a lot of the problems and difficulties associated with blending would go away. But with so much emphasis on marc and stac shorts (largely to satisfy keyboard composers rather than choral composers) we're never going to move beyond chanting or cliche (and largely ridiculous) bits of phrases like Kyrie and Agnus. 

The angelic and pure nature of a boy's choir provides an opportunity to move things forward and as I said previously, I do hope Soundiron is working on this.


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## Peaslee (Nov 21, 2012)

That's actually what the Word Master does. You have a choice of 42 words that sustain until you release the note in Marcato mode or play as a single shot syllable in staccato mode. Having these predefined sounds gives us the ability to ultra-refine and shape each sound so that they actually sound good and realistic. They can be played with polyphonic legato as well when sustained, so words can span over any melody.

You can arrange those 42 sounds in any order (and sequence them if you use the Phrase Builder), and they're basic phonetic syllables mostly, so you aren't locked to a language.You also have smooth realtime dynamic control from piano to forte. You can basically string together any phrasing you like. It's not infinite, but the options are pretty wide open and I think most importantly: they sound good.

Something to note about the polysustain part of the library (things like "kyria"): You can use the offset, attack, release and layer controls to rearrange, blend, combine and hack them up on the fly. They are far less limiting than you might expect. They also allow polyphonic legato, so you can play any melody or harmony you like. It's a very different and vastly more flexible a concept than pre-defined phrases.

Also a word about "epic": Mercury is a full range choir that can go from soft to powerful
easily, with a comprehensive array of content, so it's for any style of music that might call for a children's choir.


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## playz123 (Nov 21, 2012)

*Re: Soundiron 7-Day 30% Off Sale + Mercury Boychoir Pre-Order*

Totally agree with what Mike has said, and I also think it's a bit unfair to assume certain things before a library is released and we've learned how to use it properly. I don't know if you guys have Venus and Mars, but what Mike is describing in his last paragraph is just one of the ways of using Poly sustains more effectively. Listen to the demos and hear how those composers have used all the features of the libraries. You can do a LOT; it's a matter of learning how to do it.

With regards to any company offering libraries right now where all the words one wishes the choir to sing can be created and are clear to the listener isn't something we can expect yet. Some of the brightest minds have been working on this for years, yet we still can't do it properly. So yes, there still are compromises with choir libraries, but I suggest we also have to give credit to companies like Soundiron for not only advancing towards that goal, but also leading the way with advancements in each new library...and then also going back and bringing other recent releases up to date.

I, for one, am excited about this release, and personally I don't plan to post concerns (if I have any in the future) or speculate before I've actually worked with the library for awhile and know more about it.


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## Graham Keitch (Nov 21, 2012)

*Re: Soundiron 7-Day 30% Off Sale + Mercury Boychoir Pre-Order*

Frank, I'm certainly not posting concerns. I really want this library to succeed - but I'm also wanting to hear demos that go beyond pre-recorded phrases masked by other instruments. It's early days yet I know. 

If anything, my expectations are probably lower than you think. It is rare for any real choir to articulate so strongly that you can actually make out all the words. And if they did, it would sound very choppy and exaggerated. From Mike's reply above, it sounds as if Mercury will have the ability to add consonants to vowels, thus giving a passable representation of real words - and that's what I would like to hear demo'd in due course. It is unrealistic to expect perfect clarity and it would be a mistake to set that as a goal. It would also be unreal because choirs don't generally sound like that. If I'm concerned about anything, it's the demos which to my mind are a dis-service (mostly oohs and aahs and meaningless pre-recorded phrases) - but I'm hoping that will be corrected before the special deal runs out! 

These chaps are absolutely pushing the bar - and have my total admiration and respect. Despite the limitations of the technology, great progress is being made - and will continue to be made. It will only take a half decent naked demo of some proper choral music with emulated words for me to purchase immediately. However, posting such a demo will be a brave move on behalf of the producers because people will say 'I can't make out a word!' But I won't be one of them because most of the time you can't hear the words so that would never be raised by me as a concern. I'd be more concerned if you COULD hear all the words. So back to Soundiron - go for it, and when you're ready I'd love to hear more. This is top of my requirements list and I'm thrilled you guys have taken it on.


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## soundshigh (Nov 23, 2012)

*Re: Soundiron 7-Day 30% Off Sale + Mercury Boychoir Pre-Order*

Hi, 
Big fan of Soundiron stuff here.....I'm considering getting the Olympus Choir Bundle but would really like to listen to some sustained and legato vowels and the different dynamic options - most of the demos illustrate word phrases which is cool and needed but I was wandering what type of sustains there are - for example, what about drier soft close up Ahs and Ohs .... ??

Can someone point to demos that omit the phrases  ?? 

BTW, the demo of the Mercury sounds incredible..... 

Cheers!


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## soundshigh (Nov 23, 2012)

*Re: Soundiron 7-Day 30% Off Sale + Mercury Boychoir Pre-Order*

I'm going through the demos again..... the sound is unbelievable.....


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## Graham Keitch (Nov 25, 2012)

*Re: Soundiron 7-Day 30% Off Sale + Mercury Boychoir Pre-Order*



soundshigh @ Fri Nov 23 said:


> I'm going through the demos again..... the sound is unbelievable.....



Yes and no. Lovely oohs and aahs and the odd pre-recorded phrase, mostly masked by orchestra and other effects. I would like to hear more please. Maybe a short English phrase - just a couple of bars of naked samples using Word Master. And before anyone says that's an unreasonable request, please see my earlier post where I have already explained that I'm not looking for absolute clarity. Unless singing in an highly exagerated and unmusical way, choirs don't sound like that in real life! By all means add plenty of cathedral reverb - it is afterall an English boy choir and that is an acceptable treatment in my books. 

If the above isn't possible, is there a list of the 42 'words' that can be shaped to approximate real words? That would help.

Graham


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## Peaslee (Nov 28, 2012)

*Re: Soundiron 7-Day 30% Off Sale + Mercury Boychoir Pre-Order*

We'll absolutely be rolling out a full word list, along with plenty of naked demos in the next two weeks, along with a look at the GUI artwork and Word Master interface. We'll have a full suite of naked and full demos, video walkthroughs, documentation and screenshots available well before the end of the pre-order period so you'll have plenty time to evaluate it as we get closer to the big day.


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## quantum7 (Nov 29, 2012)

Looking forward to some naked demos. I so wanted to order it during the killer sale they just had, but have to hear it naked first.


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## Graham Keitch (Nov 29, 2012)

quantum7 @ Thu Nov 29 said:


> Looking forward to some naked demos. I so wanted to order it during the killer sale they just had, but have to hear it naked first.



Likewise, despite the massive potential saving. But I'd be quite happy to pay the full asking price later to Soundiron or to any other publisher that is able to provide us with a top notch 'English' boy choir that allows us to simulate / approximate real English words.

Graham


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## Peaslee (Dec 31, 2012)

*Re: Soundiron Mercury Symphonic Boychoir Pre-Order*

We've just released the first pre-release content pack to all of our pre-order customers. All new pre-orders also get this download automatically, so now's a great time to jump on it. The price goes to $399 after January 15th, 2013. Click here for more info.

This first Mercury pre-order betapack focuses on some of the super-flexible Poly-sustain content and gives a first sneak preview of the new user interface artwork and design. 







For those new to our choirs, "Polysustains" are basically multi-syllable words that hold a sustaining vowel and then play the final syllable when the note is released. You can play polyphonic legato passages with them, with syllable progression maintained through the sustain as you play a melody, or you can restart the word with each new note you play. For example, instead of just singing an "Ah" vowel, a polysustain could be something like "Ha-lle-lu-jaah" where that last syllable "ahh" will continue to hold a long as you continue holding the note down. You can play chords and with legato just as you would a traditional vowel sustain, but it brings more life to the performance.

You can layer two different words, each with their own offset, attack, dynamic swell, pan, release time and release sample volume controls. You can stack or crossfade between the layers with the Blend control. You can set the syllable to start the word on with the Offset knob, or simply turn it all the way to the right and turn up the Attack knob to get pure smooth vowel sustains.

Layer word selection is done with the drop-down menus, but you can also automate word selection with key-switches and midi CC or host automation for each layer in real-time independently. You'll also notice Close and Far mix mixers in the top left corner. You can unload either mic position whenever you wish to save memory and voices by clicking the radio button under each mix slider. You'll find pop-out EQ, convolution reverb and legato windows that let you fine tune your sound and performance. All controls allow full CC and host automation.

This pack includes both tempo-synching (K5) and DFD (K4) version of this preset and the following words:

Agnus Dei
Eleison
Kyria
Maria
Spiritu
Agnus Dei (soprano solo)
Spiritu (alto solo)

This is just a sneak peek. The full version of the library includes many more Latin elements, along with all of the standard universal syllables and vowels. Polysustains are the more linguistically complex multi-syllabic part of the library, based on classic Latin words commonly found in liturgical choral music. They allow a life-like and natural performance with fluid syllable progression. They are a distinct section of the library, quite different from the true legato vowel sustains and 42 marcato and staccato single syllable words that you'll also find in this library. We'll have examples of those other sections of the library soon. Click here for more info.

We'll also have tutorial videos coming in the next couple of days.


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## quantum7 (Dec 31, 2012)

Very excited! Downloading now and cannot wait for the 15th...and the tutorial video coming soon.


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## playz123 (Dec 31, 2012)

*Re: Soundiron Mercury Symphonic Boychoir Pre-Order*

Okay...this is amazing, even if it is just a pre-release bonus.

First the sound quality is superb and the ambiance of the room is gentle enough that one should easily be able to add their own additional reverb to suit if required.

Once cathedral reverberation, for example, is added the sound can only be described as gorgeous. That Cathedral M IR is the one I've used most often so far.

I love the soloists (finally I can say that), and being able to blend two "chants", and sliding from one to the other using MIDI is so useful.

The mics offered allow one to easily set up numerous locations from which the choir seems to originate, and I can understand how they will allow one to basically place the choir on 'a stage' where ever they wish. Even the pan controls can be used to separate a soloist from the choir or place him in the choir...whatever one chooses.
I'm sure the keyswitch system for changing chants will be adequate, but I'm also hoping that eventually they will perhaps respond to CC changes.

CC1 is currently used to control swell, which is extremely important. Using this control produces some lovely subtleties in the performance. I'm also wondering though if there will be a way to start a Poly Sustain part way through the word for example.

A wonderful introduction to Mercury, and now I can't wait to have the final product released. Thanks so much Mike, Gregg and Chris for this little bonus offering. I'm enjoying it immensely. Cheers!.........frank


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## Peaslee (Dec 31, 2012)

*Re: Soundiron Mercury Symphonic Boychoir Pre-Order*



playz123 @ Mon Dec 31 said:


> I'm sure the keyswitch system for changing chants will be adequate, but I'm also hoping that eventually they will perhaps respond to CC changes.



It actually does now. Simply right-click (PC) or command-click (Mac) on the Chant 1 and Chant 2 labels above the layer selection drop-down menus and you can assign chant selection for each layer to any CCs you like. 




> I'm also wondering though if there will be a way to start a Poly Sustain part way through the word for example.



Yup, try changing the *Offset *knob. For example, an offset value of 100 starts you right at the last syllable before the vowel sustain. A value of 127 gives you just the pure vowel sustain all by itself. If you also roll the *Attack *knob up to about 80 or so, that gives you a nice smooth pure sustaining vowel pad to work with.

The real beauty of polysustains is that you can quickly change from Latin chant to vowel and back again, morph between chants to create new hybrids, use the legato functionality to create complex and lifelike melodies and track tempo changes seamlessly - all from within a single instrument preset. 

If you just need standard sustaining vowels, our classic vowel sustain preset has all of the same features, with a few major differences. Each attack, sustain and release phase has it's own independent round-robin variability, you have multi-dynamic layering with smooth crescendo swelling and access to a variety of true legato vowels. You can morph between vowels or create custom layering. The simulated legato we include in our polysustains, word master and general vowel sustain presets has come a long way and can sound great, but the true legato stands above anything we've done before, with smoother transitions and fluid transition speed and blend control to quickly go from a long portamento to a tight angular legato. We'll have an example of it in the next betapack.


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## playz123 (Jan 1, 2013)

*Re: Soundiron Mercury Symphonic Boychoir Pre-Order*



Peaslee @ Mon Dec 31 said:


> It actually does now. Simply right-click (PC) or command-click (Mac) on the Chant 1 and Chant 2 labels above the layer selection drop-down menus and you can assign chant selection for each layer to any CCs you like.



Ah-ha! Thanks for that, Mike. I actually did "right click" ( I can do that with the keyboard I use for my Mac) in that area of the interface, but obviously in the wrong place. I needed to click on "Chant 1" or "Chant 2".

Re. the Offset knob...of course. Should have spent a little more time than I did during the first test.  For some reason I kept thinking "Mod Wheel" for selecting the last syllable, but the offset knob makes perfect sense and is consistent with other Soundiron products. This is what happens when one has way to many libraries for which one must remember various functions.  In any case I'm sure I'll have more to post in the days ahead. For example, I'm also looking forward to combining Mercury with Venus....but may hold off on more in-depth testing until after Mercury is released. Cheers.


PS: Forgot to mention something you referenced. I do like the new interface and artwork very much, and suggest the color scheme is also very appropriate for a library of this type. Very tasteful as well, and the controls are easy to see and use...unlike some from another other well respected company who shall remain nameless for now.


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## quantum7 (Jan 1, 2013)

Played with it tonight.......can I have more?????? :lol:


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## playz123 (Jan 9, 2013)

*Re: Soundiron Mercury Symphonic Boychoir - exclusive instant preview pack download available now with all pre-orders.*

Many thanks for new IRs, guys. There really were bonuses for those of us who pre-ordered.  Much appreciated.


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## playz123 (Jan 18, 2013)

*Re: Soundiron Mercury Symphonic Boychoir - exclusive instant preview pack download available now with all pre-orders.*

Once again, thank you...this time for the second beta pack. Mercury is advancing quite nicely. Please don't be concerned about the slight delay for the full release either. I'm confident you guys are doing your best and want the release to be solid, and if extra time is required, I for one have no problems with that. Cheers.


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## kriztofo (Jan 23, 2013)

*Re: Soundiron Mercury Symphonic Boychoir -- Release Imminent -- Last Chance to Save*

Just a quick update with some awesome news: Mercury Symphonic Boychoir will be released sometime within the next 12 hours. People who have pre-ordered will receive their download e-mails within the next 24 hours and it will go on sale to the public immediately thereafter. The pre-order price is still good until we release so if you are the fence now is your last chance.

I've updated the first post in this thread with more detailed descriptions of the features and technical specification of Mercury, including screenshots of our custom user interface.

Enjoy.


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## Graham Keitch (Jan 23, 2013)

*Re: Soundiron Mercury Symphonic Boychoir -- Release Imminent -- Last Chance to Save*



kriztofo @ Wed Jan 23 said:


> Just a quick update with some awesome news: Mercury Symphonic Boychoir will be released sometime within the next 12 hours. People who have pre-ordered will receive their download e-mails within the next 24 hours and it will go on sale to the public immediately thereafter. The pre-order price is still good until we release so if you are the fence now is your last chance.
> 
> I've updated the first post in this thread with more detailed descriptions of the features and technical specification of Mercury, including screenshots of our custom user interface.
> 
> Enjoy.



>8o 

I'm sorry - much that I'd give my right arm for a good boy's choir, your demos are a complete joke! Come on guys, I know you can do much better than this. 'Agnus Kyrie Agnus Maria Spiritus Agnus' is complete nonsense! :roll: Are you telling me this library can only string together a series of random words that make no sense whatsoever? Well that's all I'm getting from the demos. 

Putting the credit card away for now!

Graham


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## Peaslee (Jan 23, 2013)

*Re: Soundiron Mercury Symphonic Boychoir -- Release Imminent -- Last Chance to Save*

Hi Graham,

All of the current demos were created over a month or more ago using nothing more than the original pre-release Betapacks we sent out to customers (around 1.5 GB of content). Those demos have been posted for awhile. Most are the same that have been up since around Thanksgiving. The library is 15.5 GB. 

We're waiting on the final wave of official demos now that we've gotten the full version in the hands of our beta team. However, our first priority was getting the finished library in the hands of our pre-order customers first, rather than simply trying to build more hype. 

You might want to wait for the complete official demo collection to roll out before writing the whole thing off based on demos done with a tiny fraction of the whole library. 

Mike


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## playz123 (Jan 23, 2013)

*Re: Soundiron Mercury Symphonic Boychoir -- Release Imminent -- Last Chance to Save*



Graham Keitch @ Wed Jan 23 said:


> kriztofo @ Wed Jan 23 said:
> 
> 
> > Just a quick update with some awesome news: Mercury Symphonic Boychoir will be released sometime within the next 12 hours. People who have pre-ordered will receive their download e-mails within the next 24 hours and it will go on sale to the public immediately thereafter. The pre-order price is still good until we release so if you are the fence now is your last chance.
> ...



Graham, with respect, are you certain you listened to all 10 demos via the link on page 1 of this thread? If so, I'm sorry, but I simply can't agree with your assessment. For me, they demonstrate clearly the versatility of the library and, based on the beta packs I've already received and explored, I'm definitely looking forward to receiving Mercury. The demos seem to me to show how versatile even the lite beta pack releases were, as well as clearly suggest that Mercury provides much more than just the ability to repeat a few words over and over. Sound quality is lovely...and 'hats off' to the composers of the demos; I very much enjoyed listening to their compositions. In any case, if you feel you've done a fair and complete assessment and feel that this library is not for you, then definitely avoid it, but personally I'm looking forward to working with it. As well, I have yet to be disappointed with any Soundiron purchase I've made. Cheers.


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## 667 (Jan 23, 2013)

*Re: Soundiron Mercury Symphonic Boychoir -- Release Imminent -- Last Chance to Save*

Is there any bundle pricing for existing Olympus owners or is Mercury standalone for now?


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## Graham Keitch (Jan 23, 2013)

*Re: Soundiron Mercury Symphonic Boychoir -- Release Imminent -- Last Chance to Save*



playz123 @ Wed Jan 23 said:


> Graham Keitch @ Wed Jan 23 said:
> 
> 
> > kriztofo @ Wed Jan 23 said:
> ...



Well, Mike does seem to be agreeing with me. The demos are old and only represent a fraction of what the library is capable of. I'm sure that is the case - but I can hardly do a fair assessment on that basis? I totally agree Frank - the sound is lovely and I'm sure the library will deliver in due course. 

Graham (being impatient  )


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## Gusfmm (Jan 23, 2013)

Graham,

I think you also need to revisit your personal expectations and make sure you don't reach any (quick) conclusion without carefully looking at each library's strenghts and capabilities. 

The other recent choral library that I know you acquired, and BTW so did I, focuses its core value around its word-builder capabilities. Soundiron's recent choir libraries don't. The do have those recorded phrases that you can use as building blocks. Two fairly different animals, and approaches. I also own both Mars and Venus, along with a few other competitor products, and do appreciate the streghts Mars and Venus bring to the table- amongst them: very nice and differentiating choir tone, much more contemporary and flexible scripting that allows you to do things you couldn't before, very simple to use, tone... did I mention that??? Pretty good stuff.

I have two other children libraries, and do believe Mercury would be far superior to those, for the above. But make sure your expectations properly put these factors in perspective. From what you commented in that other thread, you concentrate in choral music, which for you may definitely benefit from a word-builder approach, which would not be one of the factors why I believe Mercury seems to be a great library, just as Mars and Venus.


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## quantum7 (Jan 23, 2013)

I own Liberis, which is the only other children's lib that could even come close to competing with Mercury, and from the beta demos that I have received and compared to Liberis, I can say without a doubt that Mercury will be THE children's library to get. I will still use Liberis, of course, because no library is perfect and will cover anything, but man it sounds good to my ears. I tested simple "ohs" legato lines in a mix with both Mercury and Liberis and my wife and I both thought Mercury won hands down. Mercury is going to be all over my upcoming CD.


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## playz123 (Jan 23, 2013)

quantum7 @ Wed Jan 23 said:


> I own Liberis, which is the only other children's lib that could even come close to competing with Mercury, and from the beta demos that I have received and compared to Liberis, I can say without a doubt that Mercury will be THE children's library to get. I will still use Liberis, of course, because no library is perfect and will cover anything, but man it sounds good to my ears. I tested simple "ohs" legato lines in a mix with both Mercury and Liberis and my wife and I both thought Mercury won hands down. Mercury is going to be all over my upcoming CD.



 I did exactly the same thing, Sean, and came to the same conclusions. The sound and recording of each library is very different, so each will serve a purpose, but overall I much prefer Mercury. Nothing yet has even come close to matching the soloists in Mercury either, and even based on just the first beta pack, I can see myself using them a lot when the time is right. Also, programming and scripting has come a _long_ way since the days of Liberis, and I suspect that Mike is as aware as anyone of the improvements that have been made since then ....and the differences in the two choirs as well. I'm also very much looking forward to seeing how Mercury will blend with other choirs, especially with Venus....and perhaps even another wonderful choir from a different developer.  Way too early yet for me to offer any really solid opinions on every aspect of Mercury, but like you I'm looking forward to receiving it, and am confident now that I won't be disappointed. The beta packs did indeed serve a very useful purpose, and I thank Soundiron for letting us have a glimpse of Mercury even before it was released.


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## Graham Keitch (Jan 23, 2013)

Gusfmm @ Wed Jan 23 said:


> Graham,
> 
> I think you also need to revisit your personal expectations and make sure you don't reach any (quick) conclusion without carefully looking at each library's strenghts and capabilities.
> 
> ...



No, I have not prejudged the library at all. 

Mike confirms above; the demos DO NOT do justice to its capabilities. 

If a library can only sing repeated Agnus and Kyrie, no one in their right minds would purchase it! So let's hear what it can do. No expectations at all - just a straight forward request to hear what it can do from a potential purchaser.

Graham


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## Peaslee (Jan 23, 2013)

*Re: Soundiron Mercury Symphonic Boychoir -- Release Imminent -- Last Chance to Save*

One of the main differences in our approach from a generic wordbuilder concept is that we've designed this library to sound as good as possible with everything that it can sing, rather than being "able" to "sing" everything you throw at it. Keep in mind that when you record a choir - any choir - in any kind of non-dry environment, certain syllable and vowel-consontant blends become basically impossible to achieve without sounding disjointed, robotic and simply fake. You can type "I want a slice of delicious cake" all you want into any current word-builder, but good luck getting anything close to that to actually come out of your speakers. 

Providing for every possible combination also means stripping out a huge chunk of really critical control features and much of the ability to actually shape a realistic performance in realtime. You give up a lot just for the sake of being able to approximate an arbitrary set of sounds that may or may not ever be mistaken by anyone for actual intelligible lyrics. Let's be honest. They won't be. 

Certain phonetic combinations simply work and certain combinations simply don't, especially when dealing with a hall. Recording a 30+ person symphonic choral ensemble completely dry isn't really an option either. If you've ever heard it even attempted, you'll know why nobody does it. It also doesn't completely solve the blending problem. 

What does solve the problem is recording a huge basket of carefully selected raw material and then hand blending each element into smoothly textured, real-sounding words that sound good right out of the box. The Polysustains are designed to allow realtime blending, morphing, legato playing, chopping and splicing on the fly while preserving the natural fluidity of real poly-syllabic performance phrasing. It can't be faked, so we give you the real thing but then give you the tools to shape and bend it to your will. There are 3 kinds: Slow, Fast and Polystaccato. The slow (piano/100bpm) and fast (forte/140bpm) end in sustaining loops and you can skip straight to them if you like, so you can weave together vowel sustains and lyrical passages easily. The Polystaccatos (forte-fortissimo/140 bpm) are basically what they sound like: short poweful multi-syllabic staccato runs. All three types can be tempo-synced over a very wide BPM range with TM Pro in Kontakt 5. 

A large part of the library is our Wordmaster word selection system, which lets you choose any of 42 words and flip between infinite marcato sustains (with release triggers of course) and staccatos. You can switch between them on the fly using the GUI or keyswitches and shape every aspect of the sound as you go. Everything can be automated via host or midi. You can play two different words at a time, morph between them, stack them, blend them and more. The Phrasemaster takes it farther and lets you sequence them in a 16-step sequencer that you can chain up to cycle through any order of 16 phrase presets you create and store. Again, you can flip between staccato and sustain for each step as you play. Everything is dynamic, so you can change your mind on the fly and flip a staccato to a marcato or vice versa, change the sequence order, hold on a note or phrase and so forth. The two tools absolutely give you the power of custom word and phrase building. You don't have the ability to type it in per se, but it sounds infinitely better and more realistic because each part has been hand shaped to sound as good as it can. Word-builders are basically just spray and pray. 

We started down this road with our earlier choir libraries, but Mercury is where it all clicks together. This library absolutely can do things that the current generation Olympus (Mars/Venus) programming can't... yet. We're already working on the update that will bring it all together. The core concept and functionality also allows us to expand the word selection over time for all of these libraries, so these 42 syllable root chunks are just where it all begins for now.


I'll also mention the dual-dynamic true-legato vowel sustains: ah, eh, ee, oh and oo. We've also included an "Mmm" humming legato and a special whistling legato for this library. Both of those are awesome. You really need to hear them. You can blend smoothly between any two vowels in realtime, manipulate transition speed and intensity and automate everything to craft really remarkably real performances.


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## quantum7 (Jan 23, 2013)

Thanks for the info, Mike.  I'm busy recording violins for the next few days for my project, but when I'm done I am excited to dig into Mercury.


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## Peaslee (Jan 23, 2013)

*Re: Soundiron Mercury Symphonic Boychoir -- Release Imminent -- Last Chance to Save*

Awesome, I think you'll really enjoy it. 

We've just sent out the download emails now to our pre-order customers and it's live on the site!


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## 667 (Jan 23, 2013)

*Re: Soundiron Mercury Symphonic Boychoir -- Release Imminent -- Last Chance to Save*



Peaslee @ Wed Jan 23 said:


> We started down this road with our earlier choir libraries, but Mercury is where it all clicks together. This library absolutely can do things that the current generation Olympus (Mars/Venus) programming can't... yet. We're already working on the update that will bring it all together.


Snagged Mercury at the last minute. Can't wait for the updates to Mars and Venus to unify the whole thing!


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## Blake Ewing (Jan 23, 2013)

*Re: Soundiron Mercury Symphonic Boychoir -- Release Imminent -- Last Chance to Save*



Peaslee @ Wed Jan 23 said:


> You can type "I want a slice of delicious cake" all you want into any current word-builder, but good luck getting anything close to that to actually come out of your speakers.



I think my chamber choir in college sang that one. Mmmm, cake.

:D


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## playz123 (Jan 27, 2013)

*Re: Soundiron Mercury Symphonic Boychoir -- Available Now!*

Fabulous, guys. I've now been through the manual and most of the patches, and while I haven't written anything with the choir yet, I'm very impressed overall. There certainly have been advances in the scripting lately and the layout and design are excellent. I'm using more controllers than previously, but that also means more control. And of course, as Iwrote above, sonically this choir is wonderful. Really looking forward to the updates for Venus and Mars, and I know my first project will involve combining Venus and Mercury. Initial results show that they will work well together.


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## quantum7 (Jan 27, 2013)

WOW!!! I finally got to mess with Mercury and quickly inserted some oos & ahs real legato patches into a song I am working on- OMG I've never heard sampled choir legatos sound that good...so real..... with so little effort! I have absolutely no doubt that one could do a Hollywood movie soundtrack with Mercury. Hands down, the best children's choir lib ever!!!


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## kriztofo (Jan 29, 2013)

*Re: Soundiron Mercury Symphonic Boychoir -- Available Now!*

Hi all. We are back from a successful and interesting NAMM. We are incredibly happy to hear the extremely positive response we've had to Mercury since it was released last week. We'll be posting some new demos throughout the day to show what some of our composers have done with the finished library.

Here's one using some of our p dynamic legato by James Semple:

[flash width=550 height=150 loop=false]http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F77013827&amp;color=e9c77b&amp;auto_play=false&amp;show_artwork=true&amp;show_playcount=true&amp;show_comments=true[/flash]


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## clockwiser (Jan 30, 2013)

*Re: Soundiron Mercury Symphonic Boychoir -- Available Now! -- $50 Off Choir Sale*

The new demos sound absolutely FANTASTIC! The best boy choir available hands down.


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## synthetic (Feb 7, 2013)

Mercury reviewed: http://voxcaliber.com/review-soundiron- ... r-kontakt/


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## Graham Keitch (Feb 8, 2013)

*Re: Soundiron Mercury Symphonic Boychoir Pre-Order*



Peaslee @ Mon Dec 31 said:


> For those new to our choirs, "Polysustains" are basically multi-syllable words that hold a sustaining vowel and then play the final syllable when the note is released. You can play polyphonic legato passages with them, with syllable progression maintained through the sustain as you play a melody, or you can restart the word with each new note you play. For example, instead of just singing an "Ah" vowel, a polysustain could be something like "Ha-lle-lu-jaah" where that last syllable "ahh" will continue to hold a long as you continue holding the note down. You can play chords and with legato just as you would a traditional vowel sustain, but it brings more life to the performance.
> 
> We'll also have tutorial videos coming in the next couple of days.




Mike (or anyone else), any chance of a naked demo / vid to demonstrate this please? 'Hallelujah' would do nicely as it is has a lot of vowel presence - but it would also be good to hear something particularly English like 'My soul doth magnify the Lord' as often sung by trebles to introduce the Magnificat during Choral Evensong. OK, that IS nasty BUT once you're some distance from the choir, it's rare you can actually hear the words distinctly, especially with 10secs of English cathedral reverb trail! So, I really am NOT being difficult and asking for the impossible. If it's a glorious sound that roughly sounds like something meaningful is being sung, this library will definitely have a place in my arsenal. 

Thanks, Graham


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## Peaslee (Feb 14, 2013)

*Re: Soundiron Mercury Symphonic Boychoir -- Available Now! -- $50 Off Choir Sale*

We've got Eanan Patterson and Ryan Scully are wrapping up a detailed walk-through this week and we've also got more videos on the way from Sascha Knorr and Brad Halverson showing different sides of the library. In the meantime, here's a new fully orchestrated piece by Sascha with Mercury that's definitely worth checking out. 


[flash width=580 height=100 loop=false]http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F79240945&amp;show_comments=true&amp;auto_play=false&amp;show_playcount=false&amp;show_artwork=true&amp;color=b99a43[/flash]


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## Graham Keitch (Feb 15, 2013)

*Re: Soundiron Mercury Symphonic Boychoir -- Available Now! -- $50 Off Choir Sale*



Peaslee @ Fri Feb 15 said:


> We've got Eanan Patterson and Ryan Scully are wrapping up a detailed walk-through this week and we've also got more videos on the way from Sascha Knorr and Brad Halverson showing different sides of the library. In the meantime, here's a new fully orchestrated piece by Sascha with Mercury that's definitely worth checking out.
> 
> 
> [flash width=580 height=100 loop=false]http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F79240945&amp;show_comments=true&amp;auto_play=false&amp;show_playcount=false&amp;show_artwork=true&amp;color=b99a43[/flash]



Thanks Mike,

That's a nice track by Sascha in which I really can hear something other than Kyrie and Agnus Dei (or obvious derivitives of those phrases). From reading the manual, I grasp the concepts behind your approach (and I do own Requiem Lite) but a vid to help demonstrate this with Mercury would be helpful. I'm pleased you've got this in hand.

Thanks again, Graham


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## Peaslee (Feb 16, 2013)

*Re: Soundiron Mercury Symphonic Boychoir -- Available Now! -- $50 Off Choir Sale*

A number of the demos go pretty well beyond the Latin polysustains and delve more into the true legato and other content. A great example would be Ryan Scully's piece, "The Way Home":


[flash width=580 height=100 loop=false]http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F77013825&amp;show_comments=true&amp;auto_play=false&amp;show_playcount=false&amp;show_artwork=true&amp;color=b99a43[/flash]

You can see a full list of the linguistic content of the library here, although keep in mind that with the dual-layer blending, phrase building and polysustain offset and legato features, you can create an enormous variety of other combinations pretty easily. this is just what it comes with ready to play out of the box by default in the core presets:




(Click to expand)

There are also a range of whispers & drones (w/ staccatos, marcatos, sustains and polysustains), tonal and atonal clusters, half and wholetone trills over the full interval and lots of other choral effects included in Mercury that aren't listed here.


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## Peaslee (Feb 21, 2013)

Here's a very detailed walk-through video exploring the content and features in Mercury with Sascha Knorr, using his awesome demo as an example to show some of the techniques and tricks that you can use to get the most out of the library:


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## playz123 (Feb 21, 2013)

Just watched Sacha's video and it's superb. I suggest that anyone who has Mercury will find it extremely relevant and beneficial, and anyone who is thinking of buying Mercury can obtain an in-depth understanding of some of the features of the library and how to use them....as demonstrated by a 'master craftsman'.

One reminder that I found useful was the one concerning embedding keyswitch notes in Cubase's Key Editor to call up the desired syllable in a PhraseMaster sequence, especially when composing, and not having to restart the sequence from the beginning again every time one pauses or moves to a different note. If I recall correctly, Sascha mentioned assigning the notes, but in my PhraseMaster patch, the keys have already been assigned correctly by Soundiron (C#5>)

I didn't quite catch the name of the Soundiron library that was used for the sub notes that were mentioned, and I was also wondering what strings Sascha used (they sound lovely). The metallic sounds from Soundiron that were selected also fit in perfectly and enhanced the overall feel of the piece. And Emotional Piano was, of course, a perfect choice. Finally, as I've also discovered, Mercury blended beautifully with Mars in that piece (as it also does with Venus).

Thanks so much to Sascha and Soundiron for sharing this walkthrough with us. It was treat to watch.


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## playz123 (Feb 21, 2013)

Thank _you_, Sascha; much appreciated! Cheers!


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