Review: Oceania II by Performance Samples

With 100 singers and 12 syllables, Oceania is back and bigger than ever. Performance Samples’ no-frills approach means you can get up and running with a fantastic cinematic choir quickly and with little effort.

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Review: Oceania II by Performance Samples

Performance Samples Oceania choir has become a go-to library in the composing community for epic, cinematic choirs. With Oceania II, Performance Samples are back with more than twice the singers, more syllables, and more intelligent programming that offers two release speeds to allow you to move gently or quickly through fast phrases. True to the Performance Samples ethos, these samples were taken from phrased-based connected performances and feel alive. Top it all off with 2 mic positions, and Oceania II will send your epic tracks to the next level.

Oceania II sells for $219.00 from Performance Samples

Thoughts

When Performance Samples Oceania choir was released it quickly became a go-to for many composers looking to add a cinematic choir to their toolkit. Performance Samples have a knack for creating sample libraries with deep programming and simple Kontakt interfaces that allow you to simply open the instrument and immediately go to work.

With Oceania II, Performance Samples have continued this tradition, but this time the choir is bigger, there are more syllables, and there are two release speeds to allow you to better play faster phrases. Performance Samples have a unique way of extracting the samples for their libraries from connected performances, meaning the samples have an extra sense of life and authenticity – they breathe and just sound real.

Oceania II has six .nki patches: three each for women and men (recorded separately). There is a main choir patch, a whispers patch, and a risers patch for women and men respectively. I especially love the whispers patch, which also includes the same 12 syllables as the main choir patch. The whispers patch sounds like it is begging to be placed into a Gladiator-esque movie with pounding drums, driving strings, and blasting brass. Each patch offers both close and decca mics that can be combined or soloed.

As someone who works full-time, has a family, and creates scores and library music, I love libraries where the developer has already done much of the work in getting the instrument to sound good out of the box so I can just focus on creating music instead of tweaking knobs and dials. I heartily recommend Oceania II for any composer looking for an epic cinematic choir.

Facts

Oceania II runs in the full version of Kontakt 5.8.1 or higher. It downloads as 3.58 GB and was recorded with both close and decca mic positions. There are 100 singers (50 women and 50 men, recorded separately), and 12 syllables that can be controlled via keyswitch or via auto-rotation. Oceania II is available from Performance Samples for $219 but is currently available for the introductory price of $149, or $99 if you own the original Oceania through October 9.

Oceania II sells for $219.00 from Performance Samples

Demos of Oceania II by Performance Samples

Videos of Oceania II by Performance Samples

Contributor Raborn Johnson reviews Oceania II by Performance Samples
“With 100 singers and 12 syllables, Oceania is back and bigger than ever. Performance Sample’s no-frills approach means you can get up and running with a fantastic cinematic choir quickly and with little effort.”