Quick-Start Usage Guide

Here are a few tips for the syllables patch based on my own preferences.

1. My biggest suggestion is to make use of the same-note sustain repetitions which were recorded sostenuto repetitions on the same note, between syllables. Hold down the sustain pedal and repeat notes.
2. I usually keep melisma mode on. You have a little keyswitch block for that. Make sure the higher note is engaged. This “carries over” vowels (obfuscating the consonant a bit) if you are holding down multiple notes at the same time.
3. You can change the root position for both the melisma and the syllable selection keyswitch blocks, via the GUI. I like to octave-shift my MIDI keyboard and then drag down both blocks so they’re below the playing range. Save the patch with your preferred settings.
4. You can trigger alt “-s” releases and reps by playing in certain velocity ranges. By default it’s very high velocity, but you can change it on the GUI.
5. I recorded these 14 syllables in a pattern. You can see it cycle through with the syllable keyswitch block. You can hit specific syllables during that cycle both for creative phrasing purposes (I highly suggest this) and also to just reset the syllables so you can the same syllables each time you export.
6. My approach: first pass is usually left hand on modwheel, foot on sus. pedal, and playing in the parts. Second pass is doing syllable overrides (not for each note, but for certain uninterrupted phrases etc) and using the “-s” releases and reps as applicable to gel between different phrases and draw out or emphasize certain releases a bit.

FAQs

How does this library fit with Vista II?

It’s recorded in the same room as Vista II with the same general mic setup and positioning. It could essentially be considered “Vista II – Choir.” A colleague actually suggested I call it that, but at that point I had already been calling it Marshland Lite for quite some time so I stuck with that.

Why the “Lite” in the name?

I originally started it as a proof-of-concept project. I wanted to do a filmic, more neutral (rather straight tone) choir that was different than the Oceania libraries. I decided to do it as an 8va library (men and women in octaves), with the idea that if it was well-received I would consider a larger, dedicated choir with separate women and men sections, etc. Will that happen? I don’t know. Perhaps it will if Marshland Lite does very well. I’m certainly interested in doing more choral sampling and I learned a lot doing this library.

How does this library fit with the Oceania libraries.

The Oceania libraries were also recorded in this same room. So Marshland Lite, Vista II, and the Oceania libraries were all recorded in the same space.

Marshland Lite should blend particularly well with Oceania III.

Patch List

• 01 Tutti
  • 01 Syllables
    • ML – Tutti – Syllables.nki
    • ML – Tutti – Syllables (lighter RAM).nki
  • 02 Sustains
    • ML – Tutti – Ghostly Sus – Ah.nki
    • ML – Tutti – Ghostly Sus – Eeh.nki
    • ML – Tutti – Ghostly Sus – Eh.nki
    • ML – Tutti – Ghostly Sus – Mm.nki
    • ML – Tutti – Ghostly Sus – Oh.nki
    • ML – Tutti – Ghostly Sus – Ooh.nki
    • ML – Tutti – Gothic Sus – Ah (bonus).nki
    • ML – Tutti – Gothic Sus – Ah.nki
    • ML – Tutti – Gothic Sus – Oh.nki
    • ML – Tutti – Noise Sus – Grr.nki
    • ML – Tutti – Noise Sus – Zzz.nki
    • ML – Tutti – Phr Sus – Ah.nki
    • ML – Tutti – Phr Sus – Eeh.nki
    • ML – Tutti – Phr Sus – Eh.nki
    • ML – Tutti – Phr Sus – Mm.nki
    • ML – Tutti – Phr Sus – Oh (less vib).nki
    • ML – Tutti – Phr Sus – Oh (more vib).nki
    • ML – Tutti – Phr Sus – Ooh.nki
    • ML – Tutti – Tonal Rep Sus – Chi.nki
    • ML – Tutti – Tonal Rep Sus – Lah (bonus).nki
    • ML – Tutti – Tonal Rep Sus – Lah.nki
    • ML – Tutti – Tonal Rep Sus – Loh (bonus).nki
    • ML – Tutti – Tonal Rep Sus – Loh.nki
    • ML – Tutti – Tonal Rep Sus – Soh.nki
    • ML – Tutti – Tonal Rep Sus – Tee (bonus).nki
    • ML – Tutti – Tonal Rep Sus – Tee.nki
    • ML – Tutti – Tonal Rep Sus – Teh (bonus).nki
    • ML – Tutti – Tonal Rep Sus – Teh.nki
    • ML – Tutti – Tonal Rep Sus Octaves – Ah.nki
    • ML – Tutti – Trad Sus – Ah (less vib).nki
    • ML – Tutti – Trad Sus – Ah (more vib – bonus).nki
    • ML – Tutti – Trad Sus – Ah (more vib).nki
    • ML – Tutti – Trad Sus – Eeh.nki
    • ML – Tutti – Trad Sus – Eh.nki
    • ML – Tutti – Trad Sus – Mm.nki
    • ML – Tutti – Trad Sus – Oh (less vib).nki
    • ML – Tutti – Trad Sus – Oh (more vib – bonus).nki
    • ML – Tutti – Trad Sus – Oh (more vib).nki
    • ML – Tutti – Trad Sus – Ooh.nki
  • 03 FX
    • ML – Tutti – Atonal Rep Sus – Clusters.nki
    • ML – Tutti – Atonal Rep Sus – Whispers.nki
    • ML – Tutti – Choir Percussion FX.nki
    • ML – Tutti – Crossing FX – Ah.nki
    • ML – Tutti – Crossing FX – Oh.nki
    • ML – Tutti – Downer FX – Ah.nki
    • ML – Tutti – Downer FX – Oh.nki
    • ML – Tutti – Riser FX – Ah.nki
    • ML – Tutti – Riser FX – Oh.nki
    • ML – Tutti – Short FX – Atonal Clusters Fast (bonus).nki
    • ML – Tutti – Short FX – Atonal Clusters Slow (bonus).nki
    • ML – Tutti – Short FX – Atonal Clusters.nki
    • ML – Tutti – Short FX – Whispers Fast (bonus).nki
    • ML – Tutti – Short FX – Whispers Slow (bonus).nki
    • ML – Tutti – Short FX – Whispers.nki
• 02 Solo Soprano
  • 01 Tonal
    • ML – Sl Sop – Staccato – Ah.nki
    • ML – Sl Sop – Staccato – Eeh.nki
    • ML – Sl Sop – Staccato – Hah V1.nki
    • ML – Sl Sop – Staccato – Hah V2.nki
    • ML – Sl Sop – Staccato – Lah.nki
    • ML – Sl Sop – Staccato – Teeh.nki
    • ML – Sl Sop – Staccato – Toh.nki
    • ML – Sl Sop – Tonal Rep Sus – Lah.nki
    • ML – Sl Sop – Tonal Rep Sus – Leeh.nki
    • ML – Sl Sop – Tonal Rep Sus – Loh.nki
    • ML – Sl Sop – Tonal Rep Sus – Sah.nki
    • ML – Sl Sop – Tonal Rep Sus – Teeh.nki
    • ML – Sl Sop – Tonal Rep Sus – Teh.nki
  • 02 FX
    • ML – Sl Sop – Short FX – Atonal Clusters Fast.nki
    • ML – Sl Sop – Short FX – Atonal Clusters Slow.nki
    • ML – Sl Sop – Short FX – Whispers Fast.nki
    • ML – Sl Sop – Short FX – Whispers Slow.nki
• 03 Solo Bass
  • 01 Tonal
    • ML – Sl Bass – Staccato – Ah.nki
    • ML – Sl Bass – Staccato – Eeh.nki
    • ML – Sl Bass – Staccato – Hah V1.nki
    • ML – Sl Bass – Staccato – Hah V2.nki
    • ML – Sl Bass – Staccato – Lah.nki
    • ML – Sl Bass – Staccato – Teeh.nki
    • ML – Sl Bass – Staccato – Toh.nki
    • ML – Sl Bass – Tonal Rep Sus – Lah.nki
    • ML – Sl Bass – Tonal Rep Sus – Leeh.nki
    • ML – Sl Bass – Tonal Rep Sus – Loh.nki
    • ML – Sl Bass – Tonal Rep Sus – Sah.nki
    • ML – Sl Bass – Tonal Rep Sus – Teeh.nki
    • ML – Sl Bass – Tonal Rep Sus – Teh.nki
  • 02 FX
    • ML – Sl Bass – Short FX – Atonal Clusters Fast.nki
    • ML – Sl Bass – Short FX – Atonal Clusters Slow.nki
    • ML – Sl Bass – Short FX – Atonal Clusters Slow.nki
    • ML – Sl Bass – Short FX – Whispers Fast.nki
    • ML – Sl Bass – Short FX – Whispers Slow.nki

Syllable List

The pattern was recored in the following order:

• Soh
• Meeh
• Tooh
• Leh
• Voh
• Sah
• Leeh
• Toh
• Suh
• Teh
• Nooh
• Fah
• Reh
• Luh

Library Limitations

Here are some aspects of the library that might affect your purchasing decision. Putting together this list is always very subjective when I’m in the final stages of production, and just because something appears here doesn’t mean it isn’t an “issue” in other PS libraries where I didn’t mention it. Here are a few things, in no particular order.

System Performance: General

This is the elephant in the room with Marshland Lite. Primarily the main Tutti Syllables patch.

This particular patch is especially heavy because of the number of dynamic layers and elements in the patch (14 syllables, sus reps with -s and without, releases with -s and without, etc). Another aspect is that I did pitch-shifting externally for the most part, so that I could do formant-follow (critical for choir, in my opinion). So the zone count is pushing Kontakt’s limits. It’s the nature of the beast with this patch.

In terms of numbers, if I open the main ML – Tutti – Syllables patch and play a single note with all mic positions on, there are 104 voices playing, which changes to 52 voices after a couple seconds. If I just have the decca mic loaded, it is 26 voices which changes to 13 voices after a couple seconds.

A couple general suggestions:

• Ensure that the Kontakt max voice count is set to at least 2000 (the library defaults to this).
• Running this library with a high-speed SSD is extremely important.
• Another idea (which I use in some cases) is not having all mic positions active at once. I start with the decca and maybe add the OR or CL.
• Adjust the preload buffer size to taste.

There is a “lighter on CPU” alternative patch for the syllables that has five dynamics. It’s not as good, in my opinion, because of the more limited dynamics. But multiple testers were fine with it.

System Performance: Kontakt 6

In beta testing, I noticed an issue that appears to be specific to Kontakt 6. Exporting from DAW with all mics loaded bugs out the sound. Some devs may feel that this would be a reason to release for Kontakt 7, but I use v6 primarily so I still wanted to release for v6. I don’t see a “fix” in sight for this in particular, considering the patch is pushing Kontakt’s zone limit and thus inherently resource-heavy.

Noise Floor

The level of noise in this library may be more noticeable at lower dynamics than what some people prefer. The AM (ambient) mics are noisier than the other mic positions. Just keep them lower.

The library (especially the main syllables patch) gets extremely soft, so that is very much worth keeping in mind as well as it will obviously sound noisier at those super low dynamics.

The soloists have a fairly evident noise floor too.

Extended Register

The range is artificially stretched at the top and bottom of the keyboard for those who want some register extension without needing to go into the wrench settings of the instruments. But because it is artificial, it can sound slightly unusual in isolation. However, it’s available for those who want it.

Mic Consistency

On the close mic, the stereo image can shift a little bit across the range. Each dynamic of the main 13-dynamic syllables patch had its own recording session, so there’s some natural variation from 13 different session in the close mic.

Performance-Related / Misc

Soloists – I consider this bonus material, it is very limited (no dyn) and meant more for FX/experimental work. Whatever expectations you have for these patches, lower them.

Tonal Rep Sus – some of these have very loose attacks and performances, particularly the bonus patches.

Some noise and artifacts from the sampling approach are present in the attacks, particularly on the syllable patches (it was an early take on “phrased sustains”) and the phrased sustain patches. There is also some pre-note ambience, but it’s not that audible in context. As an alternative for the phrased sustain patches, you can use the traditional sustain patches.

The syllables patch pre-roll is 180 ms and not adjustable.

* * *

All details and/or pricing subject to change, at any time, for any reason, in Performance Samples LLC’s sole discretion, in each instance. Qualification for loyalty pricing subject to verification by Performance Samples LLC, in each instance.

* * *

Loyalty

There are different intro pricing schemes, depending on whether you own certain other PS products. The intro price period will last through October 29th, 2026.

Loyalty discounts are not applicable for NFRs/free copies, per the FAQs.

The screenshot examples in these guides are USD & California-based. Your totals may differ depending on currency and territory, which FastSpring handles.

GUIDE: Special Loyalty Intro Pricing

$199 – Special Loyalty Intro Pricing for owners of Pacific – Ensemble Strings, Pacific – Brass, Pacific – Percussion, Pacific – Solo Strings, Pacific – Woodwinds, Vista II – Small String Ensembles Lite, Vista II – Solo Cello Legato, and any other Vista II module released during this product’s intro period.

Search through your emails for your applicable loyalty code. The email subject should look something like this:

Your loyalty code for [product]

Grab the code at the bottom of that email. It should look something like (not this specifically — this is just an example):

VIISSEL3KL108D5

During checkout you will come to this page.

Take the code from your email and paste it into the box on the lower-left. Then suffix your specific code with this exact phrase:

-ML

So the entire code should look something like this (for example):

VIISSEL3KL108D5-ML

It won’t work without the hyphen. Now hit “Update Coupon.” It should update the price:

GUIDE: Regular Loyalty Intro Pricing

$349 – Normal Loyalty Intro Pricing for owners of Oceania I/II, Vista (original), Caspian, or any paid Con Moto modules.

During checkout you will come to this page.

Paste this code into the box on the lower-left:

MARSHLANDLITELOYALTYINTRO

Hit “Update Coupon.” It should update the price.

Qualification for loyalty pricing subject to verification by Performance Samples LLC, in each instance.