# Soft choir shootout! (Dominus Pro, 8dio Silka, Eric Whitacre Choir)



## bfreepro

A couple months ago I did an epic choir shootout, so to follow up, I wanted to do a soft choir shootout, focusing on a smooth, flowing sound, the ability to say syllables or words, and a bonus if it has polyphonic legato. Featuring Fluffyaudio Dominus Pro (the winner IMO), 8dio Silka, and Spitfire Audio Eric Whitacre Choir 🙂.

PS: if you own Insolidus from 8dio I think it is an even better choice than Silka I think, almost identical sound but a bit more content and articulations.


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## Cory Pelizzari

Mystica belongs on this list. It's also $200.


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## Wunderhorn

bfreepro said:


> PS: if you own Insolidus from 8dio I think it is an even better choice than Silka I think, almost identical sound but a bit more content and articulations.



Silka has 5 syllable arcs vs 4 syllable in Insolidus.


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## Technostica

You always know where you are with 8Dio, down confusion alley.


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## bfreepro

Cory Pelizzari said:


> Mystica belongs on this list. It's also $200.


Don't own it unfortunately


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## bfreepro

Wunderhorn said:


> Silka has 5 syllable arcs vs 4 syllable in Insolidus.


Correct, but it also has less of the "standard" type articulations, like no sustains, no vowels like "ah, oh, uh", stuff like that. Basically my point is Silka is essentially an expansion of Insolidus, where Insolidus covers the basic articulations you'd expect with a choir, and Silka just as "additional content" and kind of insane to charge $600 bucks for an expansion.


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## Wunderhorn

bfreepro said:


> Correct, but it also has less of the "standard" type articulations, like no sustains, no vowels like "ah, oh, uh", stuff like that. Basically my point is Silka is essentially an expansion of Insolidus, where Insolidus covers the basic articulations you'd expect with a choir, and Silka just as "additional content" and kind of insane to charge $600 bucks for an expansion.



You always need to wait for a sale. I got Silka for $240. Totally worth it and I use the sustains etc from other libraries though there are some additional articulations present in Silka (some shorts, triplets etc.)


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## bfreepro

Cory Pelizzari said:


> Mystica belongs on this list. It's also $200.


I would have also included Genesis but wanted to make them all SATB or Male/Female choirs instead of children or women exclusively


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## bfreepro

Wunderhorn said:


> You always need to wait for a sale. I got Silka for $240. Totally worth it and I use the sustains etc from other libraries though there are some additional articulations present in Silka (some shorts, triplets etc.)


Yep, I always wait for sales, especially with 8dio, we all know it will go on sale for like 200 bucks eventually.  Again, this is just my opinion, and I provide very detailed explanations on where each one shines and where each one needs improvements. They're all good products, I mention this numerous times in the video, but Dominus Pro is easily the most versatile and provides the most useful content for me.


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## Wunderhorn

bfreepro said:


> They're all good products, I mention this numerous times in the video, but Dominus Pro is easily the most versatile and provides the most useful content for me.



I agree - for pure versatility Dominus is probably the best. We might have to wait a while to see a significant sale price for that. I am patient...


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## bfreepro

Wunderhorn said:


> I agree - for pure versatility Dominus is probably the best. We might have to wait a while to see a significant sale price for that. I am patient...


I kept waiting for AudioBro to do a SATB choir with the same features/quality of Genesis, but until then Dominus Pro is my new go-to choir for this style. Genesis is my favorite choir ever, even when I never thought I'd need a childrens choir haha


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## Richard Bowling

Thanks for the video - very helpful. Does fluffy audio have sales often?


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## bfreepro

Richard Bowling said:


> Thanks for the video - very helpful. Does fluffy audio have sales often?


My pleasure! As far as sales- Not nearly as often as some other developers, but they do every now and then.


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## Jack Mills

Not to be overly negative but 8Dio's choir library in the video seems useless because you can't have full control over it... I'm not hating it, I'm confused with the thought process behind it because you'd rather have control over the sustains and phrases.

Not going to lie Dominus sounds pretty good, nearly as good as Voxus from Cinesamples, quite more organic (realism) sounding  I like it when libraries go to ppp and higher, but Spitfire's is very soft and quiet which I can see that being a benefit for some people who prefer the quieter/softer sounds, not going to lie I would try it out.


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## ProfoundSilence

bfreepro said:


> My pleasure! As far as sales- Not nearly as often as some other developers, but they do every now and then.


Paolo has kind of disliked the vstbuzz/8dio/(now cinesamples) random massive sales on products. 

causes people to buy things impulsively that they dont need and that often times contributes to buyers remorse. 

He also had expressed some opinions from a developer side about feelings of guilt/uneasiness by running sales knowing it takes advantage of impulse. He's warmed up to occasional sales but i wouldn't hold your breath for a mega blowout weekend sale


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## bfreepro

Jack Mills said:


> Not to be overly negative but 8Dio's choir library in the video seems useless because you can't have full control over it... I'm not hating it, I'm confused with the thought process behind it because you'd rather have control over the sustains and phrases.
> 
> Not going to lie Dominus sounds pretty good, nearly as good as Voxus from Cinesamples, quite more organic (realism) sounding  I like it when libraries go to ppp and higher, but Spitfire's is very soft and quiet which I can see that being a benefit for some people who prefer the quieter/softer sounds, not going to lie I would try it out.


It's definitely not useless, just much more limited than it first seems. It's the most natural sounding right out of the gate, but lacks that extra control, so you have to write the song to fit around Silka, instead of using Silka to fit in the song. It works really well for slower songs with a lot of breathing room, where you can let the notes linger for a long time and you're not worried about a steady rhythm or quantizing everything.


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## Owen Smith

Richard Bowling said:


> Thanks for the video - very helpful. Does fluffy audio have sales often?



If you have purchased from Fluffy Audio in the past, they have a 25% discount code that they sent out today for Pasquetta. I don't think I'll be able to purchase anything else at this time, so I'd be happy to share the code I got if you're interested. It says it is for single use, but can be used for more than one item in your cart. Sometimes these kinds of codes are linked to your account, so its possible that it wouldn't work, but if you are interested you could try. Valid for 10 days. Cheers


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## Richard Bowling

Thanks Owen - I am exploring this library (with others as well) so I am not in a hurry. I do appreciate the offer.


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## Owen Smith

Richard Bowling said:


> Thanks Owen - I am exploring this library (with others as well) so I am not in a hurry. I do appreciate the offer.


You're very welcome Richard! I hope you find the library that best fits your needs and budget. I have Insolidus and really enjoy it but I think Dominus Pro and some of the other newer libraries have even more options and sound awesome. Cheers


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## ism

Jack Mills said:


> Not to be overly negative but 8Dio's choir library in the video seems useless because you can't have full control over it...



Yes, there's a lot it can't do. And 8dio marketing, naturally doesn't exactly go out of it's way to hilight these limitations. 

But this also missies the point of the sheer expressiveness of these arcs. There is nothing else that can get remotely close to the expressive effects of these arcs. 

The legatos are ok, but you need to understand that as legatos that argument and expand the spectacularly expressive space of the arcs.


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## bfreepro

I agree!


ism said:


> Yes, there's a lot it can't do. And 8dio marketing, naturally doesn't exactly go out of it's way to hilight these limitations.
> 
> But this also missies the point of the sheer expressiveness of these arcs. There is nothing else that can get remotely close to the expressive effects of these arcs.
> 
> The legatos are ok, but you need to understand that as legatos that argument and expand the spectacularly expressive space of the arcs.


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## jbuhler

I’ll add that the arcs are also more flexible in use than it might seem. I’ve found Insolidus very convenient for playing and sketching. I use the Insolidus arcs to sketch out a framework and then rework that with Dominus to add words and details if needed. With Insolidus I find I just have to work with the arcs and then you can mold them much more than you might think. I will often sketch just using one of the longer arcs and it has great playability and plonkability. Dominus does too but I don’t find it quite as easy to mold the arcs in playing as I can with Insolidus.


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## Robert_G

You build your piece around Silka....not the other way around. Insolidus is a bit more flexable than Silka for as a support lib.


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