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Fluffy Audio Simple Opera Singer

Fluffy Audio

Rating: 4/5 Stars ****

Fluffy Audio instruments tend to be vibrant and highly musical, and Simple Opera Singer is no exception. Working in Kontakt (full version required), users encounter three patches. The first, ‘fast legato’, gives users a keyswitch option between ‘oohs’, ‘ahs’ and random word legatos. These first two options present a clean legato with tasteful portamento between leaps, easily the equal of similar options in far more expensive packages. And yet the highlight of this patch is definitely the ‘Words Legato’. There are no word‑builder options here, nor are there even round‑robin syllable changes.

At one word per note, the designers have rather created a highly refined series of connections which sound natural at a variety of legato speeds: I was able to immediately drop this instrument into a thicker documentary score setting with highly convincing results. It’s a simple tool for simple jobs, as the name suggests, but it does these jobs very well indeed. The second patch in the collection is ‘MW Legato Speed’, which, as you might expect, allows the user to toggle between a fast and normal legato speed using the mod wheel. The final patch is ‘Normal Legato’, which does what you would expect in this context.

Each patch allows the user to toggle an onboard reverb, along with mixing between three microphone settings: spot, close, and far. There is also a toggle for the release volume of individual notes: not bad for such an affordable package!

The voice is vibrant and full through its range, and the vibrato is present and tasteful without becoming overbearing.

In terms of singer quality, Fluffy Audio gives us more than a simple soprano: they sample down into the alto range, beginning with G below Middle C and rising to a soaring C above staff. The voice is vibrant and full through its range, and the vibrato is present and tasteful without becoming overbearing.

In terms of critiques, there are a few questionable acoustic artefacts in certain legato passages (such as F to C in ‘MW Legato’), which hopefully this early release will iron out in an update. These are more audible when the patch is exposed, and not at all in a busier mix.

One final word: I always like to comment about whether the Internet‑based samples of the product are true to the product’s actual quality. While most companies oversell their sample sets, I actually think the samples here somewhat undersell the product’s quality: I was able to get better results than the samples quite quickly.

At €49 $49, Fluffy Audio’s Simple Opera Singer may provide a compelling alto and soprano solution for your next musical needs, all at a price that won’t leave you in regret. Strongly recommended.

€49

www.fluffyaudio.com

$49

www.fluffyaudio.com