REQ: 8Dio Legion Series 66 Cellos KONTAKT

The Legion Series includes some of the largest ensembles you will ever hear, with 66 Basses, 66 Tubas, 66 Trombones, 66 Cellos, and 33 Drummers playing in unison. These goliath ensembles are dedicated to the specific needs of modern epic and post-epic cinematic music.

We started with a 66-piece symphonic double bass ensemble, comprised of musicians from 9 countries across Europe, in our favorite modern recording hall, Zlin. In these once-in-a-lifetime sessions, all the players gave it their absolute best, and it shows. Why 66? There were simply no more players on the continent available for the sessions! The Tuba, Cello, and Trombone ensembles followed suit shortly thereafter.

For each Legion, we captured a variety of playing techniques, short notes, tempo-synced ostinato patterns, effects unique to the instrument, and much more. Inspired by the unique sound of the massive ensemble, we even created a suite of synths based on the basses.

The ensembles feature 10 different microphones, including a Trailer Mix for the tubas, cellos, and trombones and a binaural mic for the basses. We also have a more traditional mix, several Hall-Based microphones (Mixed, Decca, Far and Wide), and 5 close, detailed Spot microphones for a more direct sound.

Combining the spirit of Legion with our efforts to push the limit of ensemble percussion sampling, we traveled to Latin America to sample an outstanding Batucada ensemble. Batucada is not only a massive ensemble of 33 drummers playing in unison, but also the ensemble split into sections, summing up to 88 drums. 5 Timbas, 9 Tamborims, 6 Guaches, 11 Chocalhos, 12 Caixas (snares), 12 Repiniques, 12 Surdos (4 Bass Players, 4 mid Players, and 4 high Players), 11 Dobras, and 10 Cowbells were sampled in independent sections along with two solos, making this library the most in-depth dedicated Batucada library you will ever find.

The Batucada is a Brazilian band composed exclusively of percussion instruments, traditionally accompanied by marching in a parade of costumed dancers and floats in the Brazilian Carnivals. The sound of a Batucada is incredibly powerful and could give even the loudest rock bands a run for their money. The discipline required to organize and maintain this style of tight, seamless drumming is astounding and it was an absolute joy to work with these percussive experts.

Every library in the series utilizes the Legion UI, offering a range of front-facing options that give you direct control over the sound. Create your own mix instantly, and easily control the Attack, Release, Pitch, Glide, Sample Offset, Reverse. Stack sounds instantly and utilize the 4-part XY effects engine for even more in-depth sound design options.

Sampling ensembles of this size comes with unique challenges and with these challenges spark endless creativity, not only in recording techniques used, but also with the textures and styles of articulations that can be created with an ensemble of this caliber. We spared no expense in creating the new standard in epic scoring.