It's definitely a real thing, there is a trailer on YouTube and it's on their website - just doesn't have a price yet and no word of a pre-sale.
EastWest Backup Singers coming
- Thread starter Fleer
- Start date
Chungus
Active Member
ChazC
Active Member
Considering they announced this over 6 months ago and it's been out a few weeks now, there's a distinct lack of more info. I can't understand companies that don't have detailed walkthroughs/proper demo's ready to go at launch (unless the product is sub standard).
While not blown away with what little I've heard so far, it's fairly obvious it shouldn't sound as bad as it does initially once it's mixed in behind a lead vocal - in fact I'd say it actually has the potential to sound great - however, having potential and actually seeing that potential in action before parting with $200 (let alone $400) is another matter entirely...
Of course, it could all be a ploy to get people to sign up for a months Composer Cloud to test it out (but that's just the cynic in me I guess)
Having said that, there does seem to be quite a few people who have composer cloud here and on YouTube and they've been silent on this library so far - which does lead one to believe the potential actually isn't there and it does indeed sound as bad as the trailer suggests (or is that just me being cynical again?!).
While not blown away with what little I've heard so far, it's fairly obvious it shouldn't sound as bad as it does initially once it's mixed in behind a lead vocal - in fact I'd say it actually has the potential to sound great - however, having potential and actually seeing that potential in action before parting with $200 (let alone $400) is another matter entirely...
Of course, it could all be a ploy to get people to sign up for a months Composer Cloud to test it out (but that's just the cynic in me I guess)
Having said that, there does seem to be quite a few people who have composer cloud here and on YouTube and they've been silent on this library so far - which does lead one to believe the potential actually isn't there and it does indeed sound as bad as the trailer suggests (or is that just me being cynical again?!).
Mark Schmieder
Senior Member
I think we have a right to be cynical in this case. I would have been all-in, if only for the lack of info and convincing demos. You won't get me onto Composer Cloud as I already have three subscriptions, all with vendors whose products I hardly ever use (Roland, Slate, Plug-in Alliance).
I felt trapped though due to the lack of perpetual license offerings from Roland and the bang-for-buck vs. piecemeal purchases with the other two. But it's a different story with East/West, whose products I almost always regret buying (and can't resell) -- especially the ones I bought twice (originally for NI Kompakt, and then Play) plus a Play upgrade charge with V2 or V3 (I forget which one).
I felt trapped though due to the lack of perpetual license offerings from Roland and the bang-for-buck vs. piecemeal purchases with the other two. But it's a different story with East/West, whose products I almost always regret buying (and can't resell) -- especially the ones I bought twice (originally for NI Kompakt, and then Play) plus a Play upgrade charge with V2 or V3 (I forget which one).
Beermaster
Member
Annoying that they can't even get the name right. Backing Singers is the term not Back Up Singers !
Robert_G
The End is Near
No one in their right mind would spend $400 on any lib from EW with the exception of the entire HW Orchestra Diamond. I wouldnt even spend $200 on most of them.
I think EW is firmly into their composer cloud and with that said they have no plans or desire to ever produce sample libraries at the level of CSS/CSB, Berlin or Vsl woods, choirs like Genesis or Wotan/Freya,.....etc
But when you market crap vocals like Voices of Opera for $300 and 20 year old libs like Goliath for $400, it looks really nice on the composer cloud page when you can say you get $15000 worth of instruments for $20 a month.
Is that truthful? I guess so....maybe
Is it ethical? You be the judge.
StefanoM
Senior Sound Designer & Composer
Alfeus Aditya
Member
I just hope they bring out a new orchestra library, where indeed they are good there. like a new hollywood chamber or a special orchestra package like symphobia or metropolis ark..
Honestly, I feel sorry that I bought it. Okay, I could get the cheapest price online (around 150 EUR), but at the full price, I would have regretted it a lot.
While I do like many EW libraries I own, this one is hard to love (for me), because those parts which sounds great are - of course - pre-recorded phrases and getting the Ahs, Ohs etc. to sound right is quite cumbersome, even impossible in some cases. They often sound unnatural and not a bit better than the Ahs and Ohs you have in synths like Omnisphere etc. (at least to my taste).
Once mixed very far in the background, they could actually give "something" to existing lead vocals, however I could probably achieve something similar with what I already own. And regarding the complexity of Word Builder and Voxtox, I ask myself who is willing to invest many hours to make a simple 30 second vocal line sound halfway decent? I cannot see myself doing this most of the time, at least not voluntarily.
What is really helpful (in my case): Some kind soul has provided an online translator which tries to transcribe German into Votox. With this at hand, it is much easier to create something with sounds at least partly similar to what the main voice is singing in Word Builder.
While I do like many EW libraries I own, this one is hard to love (for me), because those parts which sounds great are - of course - pre-recorded phrases and getting the Ahs, Ohs etc. to sound right is quite cumbersome, even impossible in some cases. They often sound unnatural and not a bit better than the Ahs and Ohs you have in synths like Omnisphere etc. (at least to my taste).
Once mixed very far in the background, they could actually give "something" to existing lead vocals, however I could probably achieve something similar with what I already own. And regarding the complexity of Word Builder and Voxtox, I ask myself who is willing to invest many hours to make a simple 30 second vocal line sound halfway decent? I cannot see myself doing this most of the time, at least not voluntarily.
What is really helpful (in my case): Some kind soul has provided an online translator which tries to transcribe German into Votox. With this at hand, it is much easier to create something with sounds at least partly similar to what the main voice is singing in Word Builder.
Lionel Schmitt
Senior Member
How about some raw example?
Sharing my advantage of getting it for free via Composer Cloud here.
clyp.it
Randomly playing around with the Wordbuilder patch.
Just some factory phrases thrown together, a bit of modwheel and that's it. Not necessarily always played as reasonable for the word sequence... I just can't understand most of it so I loose track of where I am in the sentence some time down the line...
I'm also getting a lot of dropouts, which may be due to me using a HDD but I don't get so many dropouts with any other library!
Remember - you can also subscribe to the composer cloud for 1 month, try out any EW library you may be interested in (although there are differences whetehr you can access Gold/Diamond etc)
Sharing my advantage of getting it for free via Composer Cloud here.
HollywBackupSingers - Clyp
Listen to HollywBackupSingers | Clyp is the easiest way to record, upload and share audio.
clyp.it
Randomly playing around with the Wordbuilder patch.
Just some factory phrases thrown together, a bit of modwheel and that's it. Not necessarily always played as reasonable for the word sequence... I just can't understand most of it so I loose track of where I am in the sentence some time down the line...
I'm also getting a lot of dropouts, which may be due to me using a HDD but I don't get so many dropouts with any other library!
Remember - you can also subscribe to the composer cloud for 1 month, try out any EW library you may be interested in (although there are differences whetehr you can access Gold/Diamond etc)
ChazC
Active Member
Walkthrough (I use the term loosely) is out:
They didn’t include any other full mix application other than the repeat of the trailer right at the end but overall it does give a little more insight. The 7 note chord examples sound the best IMO. For me, probably not enough to warrant even the discounted cost (& I’m a sucker for any type of vocal library). Composer Cloud demo looks like the only way to be sure (& that’s not going to happen). Shame.
What I find really ironic is he mentions that the library isn’t meant to be heard in isolation but in a full mix and with a lead vocalist - then proceeds to do virtually the whole walkthrough with it in isolation and no lead vocalist!
{edit to add} They’ve extended the intro pricing til 11th Feb so we *may* get some more examples.
They didn’t include any other full mix application other than the repeat of the trailer right at the end but overall it does give a little more insight. The 7 note chord examples sound the best IMO. For me, probably not enough to warrant even the discounted cost (& I’m a sucker for any type of vocal library). Composer Cloud demo looks like the only way to be sure (& that’s not going to happen). Shame.
What I find really ironic is he mentions that the library isn’t meant to be heard in isolation but in a full mix and with a lead vocalist - then proceeds to do virtually the whole walkthrough with it in isolation and no lead vocalist!
{edit to add} They’ve extended the intro pricing til 11th Feb so we *may* get some more examples.
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dman007
Active Member
Using WordBuilder, creating the lyrics takes forever with Votox, and then to get it to fit and get the words to sound correct. The supplied guide doesn't help that much. It needs a lot more presets and far more standard library of words. That would help speed the process up a bit for users. Some decent tutorial videos would really help, too.
