Rating: **** 4/5 Stars.
Vocalise 3 is Heavyocity’s eighth release in their Gravity Pack series, a line of products that are built upon the full Gravity engine (but not requiring the user to own Gravity itself) and with each title focused on a specific instrument/sound group for the sample base. No prizes for guessing the theme is vocal‑based here; Vocalise 3 provides 7GB of vocal‑inspired sample data and runs in a dedicated front‑end within Kontakt 6.7.1 (Player or full version).
In total, nearly 200 presets are supplied. These are split into five categories within Kontakt. The first of these is a collection of vowel‑based, evocative, melodic phrases. These presets are divided into multiple keys, with major, minor and harmonic minor options provided, and each preset also includes keyswitch options for transposing the phrases if you need to match a specific key. While the content doesn’t perhaps break any massively new ground (there are plenty of libraries that provide atmospheric, vowel‑based, melodic vocals), they do sound fantastic. The phrases themselves are sung at slower tempos and many are several bars long so you can easily weave them together to create your own variations.
The second category provides Interval presets. The concept is simple, with a single, simple phrase that moves legato‑style between two pitches. Again, you get multiple key options and, within each preset, there are a range of intervals, transitioning both up and down in pitch and mapped across the keys within each preset. They also sound great and can, for example, be used to complement the more extended melodic phrases.
Category 3 provides a huge collection of Rhythmic Pedals. These are organised into a number of sub‑categories but, in each case, you essentially get a selection of rhythmic vocal chants, each of which stays on a specific root note. Whether used individually, or stacked by playing multiple notes, these can add some interesting rhythmic elements to a Vocalise 3‑based composition. And, as Category 4 then provides you with an impressive collection of vocal‑based Scrapes And Drones, you can also add sustained textures to your project. The final category rounds out the collection with the (compulsory?) selection of vowel presets and includes plenty of mod‑wheel‑based vowel shifting options.
Vocalise 3 can deliver score‑ready textures, rhythms and vocal top‑lines to be the star of the cue.
The Gravity engine offers plenty of additional processing features to spice things up further (the Motion engine is particularly impressive). Media composers might want to blend in a few additional sound elements, but Vocalise 3 can deliver score‑ready textures, rhythms and vocal top‑lines to be the star of the cue. As commented above, while there are other vocal libraries out there that cover similar territory, if you are a composer looking to add the sorts of evocative/ethereal/atmospheric vocal textures (as opposed to the more intense/bombastic vocal elements) you might hear in parts of film scores from Gladiator to Dune (the 2021 version), then Vocalise 3 would make a worthy addition to your vocal library options.
£104
$119