Hi guys, I'm hoping someone can point me in the right direction here. I'm wanting to create backing tracks for live use, and create a very large sounding chorus of singers. It's for use in church, so the vocals will be very straight forward, but obviously need to be the words of the song, not just vowel sounds. My questions:
 
- will I be able to achieve a believable large chorus using sample libraries? Remember it's for live use, and won't be as unforgiving as listening to a recording at home. I was thinking of layering a real small ensemble of 20ish singers over the top to add realism - necessary?
- if this is achievable, which sample libraries am I going to want to try? They are all so vague as to what they actually offer
- how hard is this going to be to sequence?! Basically, I'm an audio guy and avoid MIDI wherever possible, so I'm hoping this won't make me want to kill myself! 
 
Here is an example of what we're going for: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6MzgVsP2uE
 
Thanks in advance!

From your example video.....
 
no, not really.  but....sort of....
 
East West Symphonic Choirs has a word builder that allows you to type in text and have the sample library play back.  you could get classical choir singing lyrics.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aI5Gg2-mhmU
 
but popish background harmony chioris vocals, not really no sample pack will give you what your looking for.  you might hit on one pack that has a song, or sample to use and need another pack that has a different song or part.  kinda hard to do with samples.

Someone recently mentioned a software program called "TheLadies"....I gave it a listen and it's perfect for backup pop vox.

jamescollins
Hi guys, I'm hoping someone can point me in the right direction here. I'm wanting to create backing tracks for live use, and create a very large sounding chorus of singers. It's for use in church, so the vocals will be very straight forward, but obviously need to be the words of the song, not just vowel sounds. My questions:
 
- will I be able to achieve a believable large chorus using sample libraries? Remember it's for live use, and won't be as unforgiving as listening to a recording at home. I was thinking of layering a real small ensemble of 20ish singers over the top to add realism - necessary?
- if this is achievable, which sample libraries am I going to want to try? They are all so vague as to what they actually offer
- how hard is this going to be to sequence?! Basically, I'm an audio guy and avoid MIDI wherever possible, so I'm hoping this won't make me want to kill myself! 
 
Here is an example of what we're going for: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6MzgVsP2uE
 
Thanks in advance!

There is no library available yet that will realistically do what you want. Any library that claims to be able to sing phrases you program are a) tedious to program (it is done phonetically), and b) sound very artificial. You may be able to find some sampled gospel choirs with the requisite "Amens" and "Hallelujahs", but you won't have all of the words to make a song.
 
You would be better off going to a local church and asking the choir to let you record them.
 
Regards,
Dan
 

Thanks for the responses, guys - bummer there's nothing that will do the job...

Sorry I missed the part about church.I guess the program I mentioned might not fit there.

http://www.tc-helicon.com/products/voiceworksplus/#videos
 
I found one of these in the pre-owned rack at Sam Ash, for $350-$400. It sounded pretty good in initial testing, but phantom power on the pre was dead, so SA sent it to a local repair shop and I didn't get much time to test it.
 
Check the videos and see what you think. If my impressions are correct, these are middle of the road solutions, the next step up is Eventide and they can get expensive.

FYI, I have this tc-helicon VoiceWorksPlus and there are 2 things to be concerned about if using it live, which only trial and error will show.
 
Nothing in the manual shows these 2 things, but my email reply from tc-helicon confirmed that this is really best suited for studio use, which is only how I'm able to use it now.
 
They do have other ones they recommend for live use instead.
 
The 2 issues are:
1. The Bypass light is so 'effen' small and dim that you can only see it in the dark.
So if in daylight, or in a well-lit church, you'll struggle greatly to see this teeny tiny poorly designed little red led. Bit of a shame, since the bypass button is self is plenty large enough.
 
2. When the bypass mode is activated, (harmonies off, which would be most of the time), the harmonies signal doesn't mute, but instead goes to the same stereo out as the main voice.
What that means is that for some strange reason, the main vocal gets doubled, with no other options to eliminate it - not ideal, especially for intimate songs or quiet song parts.
 
 
Voice doubling, [at least for me], is only really desired in a mid to up tempo pop song to fatten it up a bit through the chorus and maybe the last go-round as well.
 
But any & every time the harmonies are not engaged - no thanks.
That's a little too much for me.
There is only one stereo pair LR out put - not 2 separate ones for the main & harmonies.
 
So I told the guy at the other end of the email, "We'll thanks for your prompt reply & for confirming these things, but I wish I knew that $700 ago, because now that makes it only worth $350, since I can only use it 1 of the 2 ways I had planned".
 
Just a heads up, in case you're thinking of buying.
A few design flaws there -  for live use, anyway. Otherwise a fine unit.