Basso Profondo

Introduction

Welcome to the Vienna Symphonic Library’s series of Synchron Instruments! This collection expands our series of vocal libraries by a truly magnificent choir of 6 contrabass voices.

Basso profondo, an Italian term meaning “deep bass”, refers to the lowest range of the bass voice type in classical music. These voices are distinguished by their rich, resonant, and profoundly deep vocal quality. They stand out for their ability to reach the lower limits of the human vocal range, typically encompassing notes as low as two octaves below middle C (C2) or even lower.

The experience of hearing six contrabass singers fill Vienna Synchron Stage’s vast hall with the robust sound of a low C is undeniably mesmerizing. Basso Profondo singers, also called oktavists, sometimes sing an octave below the bass part as soloists, and to capture an entire ensemble of these exceptionally gifted vocalists was a special treat for everybody on the Vienna team!

The enthusiasm of the artists is palpable in the recordings of this library. It was a completely new experience not only for the Vienna team, but also for the singers to be able to explore the depths of their voices together as an ensemble. The pitch range of this unique ensemble spans from a very low A1 to A#3.

Standard and Extended Library

The microphone setup was subdivided into 7 recording positions. The Standard Library includes 4 of these positions (as well as a RAM-friendly Room Mix composed of merged samples from the individual positions), allowing you to integrate instruments recorded with a stereo Decca tree into your projects with our Synchron Player software that was designed exactly for that purpose. Adding the Extended Library and thus getting the Full Library expands your possibilities to 5.1 surround and more.

Microphone positions:

Standard Library
- 1. Room Mix – Stereo
- 1. Main/Room Mic – Decca Tree Stereo (L/R)
- 1. Main C/Room Mic – Decca Tree Mono (Center)
- 1. Mid – Stereo (L/R)
- 1. Close – Mono
Extended Library
- 1. Main Surround – Stereo (L/R)
- 1. High Stereo (3D) – Stereo (L/R)
- 1. High Surround (3D) – Stereo (L/R)

Presets

Synchron libraries generally offer different Presets according to how velocity is handled, arranged in separate folders.

“VelXF sus”: velocity crossfading is only activated for long notes, while the dynamics of short notes are controlled by keystroke velocity, thus facilitating phrasing. “VelXF”: all articulations have velocity crossfading activated so that you can control dynamics with MIDI controller CC1, the modwheel. “Velocity”: note volume is controlled by keystroke velocity just like a piano.

Apart from that, velocity crossfading can always be enabled or disabled by clicking its on/off symbol in the Synchron Player's Perform tab.

Presets are subdivided into different articulation categories. The basic category here is called “Vowel”. Each of its entries again contains different articulation categories such as short and long notes, from which you can select the desired articulation (e.g., short notes on “Ka”). If you happen to be short of RAM, you can deactivate Articulations you do not need, and activate them again if necessary.

Switching between playing styles and articulations is generally done via dedicated keys on the keyboard and aptly called “keyswitches”. By default the keyswitches for the basic category are mapped starting from C1.

Mixer Presets

In the Synchron Player’s browser window, you will find a tab named “Mixerpreset”. It contains a number of Mixer Presets for Room-Mix, stereo, surround to stereo downmix, and surround that depict different recording situations. The basic Mixer Presets for the Basso Profondo Choir are Close, Classic, Wide, Distant, Ambience, The Church, Ear Massage, and Synced CresDim. In the Player’s “Mix” tab, you can of course create Mixer Presets of your own.

Articulations

Articulations
- short notes
- long notes
- legato
- marcato on “AA” and “UU”
- “MM” notes (humming)
- effects
Vowel selection
- C1–F1 (white keys)