The Crow Hill Company has announced Children's Choir, a sample-based software instrument designed for media composers working on film, television and computer games. The library draws on recordings of a school-age troupe of boys, with a selection of singing styles and timbres.
The Edinburgh-based company's co-founder and media composer Christian Henson describes a collection intended for unsettling textures as well as choral passages. The team curated singing styles around the available recording time rather than building another conventional vowel-based choir library.
An expression control moves through singing styles, including changing vowel and consonant sounds. The library also includes wavering pitches, rises, falls and short singing styles. Separate key switches provide access to different short consonant and vowel sounds, which can also be selected from a Singing Style menu.
The instrument leaves controller configuration to users rather than requiring a particular digital audio workstation setup. An inner expression control also applies a slight low-pass filter, while an outer control can introduce an atonal, shout-like layer for added intensity.
The sample set is organized into different Partials, presenting alternative recorded and processed material. A pitched layer adds a time-stretched, octave-down sound that can be mixed with the other signals. The company positions Children's Choir as a collection of ingredients for composers to combine in their own arrangements.
For more information, visit thecrowhillcompany.com.
