'ah' sound used in Trance tracks

Discussion in 'how to make "that" sound' started by au38wzh, Jun 18, 2025 at 5:08 PM.

  1. au38wzh

    au38wzh Platinum Record

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    As I mentioned in my opening post:
    I'm looking for the original source of this sound used in early trance.

    @Swatch Thanks for the link! Will check it later.
     
  2. Axvap

    Axvap Kapellmeister

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    I didn't say ALL Trance producers uses NEXUS ALL the time, obviously not, I was referring to these two video. Life Is Too Short (Energy Mix) released 2011 well within timeframe of Vengeance/reFX (Nexus 2 was released in 2008)
     
  3. VSKZ

    VSKZ Producer

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    I had the Arturia CMI, and it includes the original presets, including this exact vocal "chop", so Nexus can't be the original source.
     
  4. Gilted George

    Gilted George Newbie

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    Except Kai Tracid - Life Is Too Short (Energy Mix) was released in 2001! Nexus is obviously not the origin of this sound, besides reFX and Vengeance are known to just rip sounds straight from songs, so they could never be the origin of anything.
     
  5. au38wzh

    au38wzh Platinum Record

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    I should have been more precise with my starting post ;)
    I think this was the first time I've heard this kind of vocal 'chop' and it was 1994 :cool:
    Btw: The vocal part is from the song 'Talk About Your Life' by Mike Oldfield and sung by an angel named Maggie Reilly.


     
  6. Axvap

    Axvap Kapellmeister

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    Yeah, but not the one posted in the video. One that is from 2001 don't have this "Oh" part, It's from 2011 release.
     
  7. clone

    clone Audiosexual

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    if the first one is the style you want, almost every major 90s synth manufacturer had nearly these exact styled voice sounds as part of their onboard presets library. A lot of them had preset names like "Oohs and Ahhs", and Chorals.

    The one from 1994 had to have been from hardware synths, at some point. So to find the original, narrow it down to the few digital synths from 1994 or prior.

    I'm not typing all this:

    90s synths with patch names from factory like "oohs and aahs"
    ChatGPT said:



    Below are some well‑known 1990s synths (and sound‑modules) that shipped with factory presets literally called “Oohs,” “Aahs,” “Voice Oohs,” “Choir Aahs,” or very close variations.
    Where possible I note the year and show the exact preset name as it appears in the manufacturer’s voice list.

    Year Instrument Where you see it in the factory voice list
    1991 Kurzweil K2000
    Expansion voice set Moans & Groans includes multiple programs such as “Steamy Oohs” and *“Hot Aahs.” patchmanmusic.com
    1992 Roland JV‑/GM family (JV‑30/35, SC‑55, etc.) Because all General‑MIDI synths had Program #53 “Choir Aahs” and Program #54 “Voice Oohs,” every GM‑compliant Roland box of the era contains them. fr.scribd.com
    1995 Roland XP‑50 (and sibling JV‑1080/2080, XP‑60/80) Preset list shows “Choir Aahs,” “Voice Oohs,” “SynVox,” etc. scribd.com
    1995 Korg Trinity / Trinity Pro Voice‑name list entry explicitly labelled “Choir ‘OOH’ and ‘AAH’” (velocity layers cross‑fade between the two). cdn.korg.com
    1999 Korg Triton / Triton Le / Triton Extreme Multiple patches, e.g. “Choir Aahs 1,” “Choir Aahs 2,” “Voice Oohs.” cdn.korg.comcdn.korg.com
    Any other 1990s GM/GM2 work‑station (Korg 05R/W, Yamaha MU80, Alesis NanoSynth, etc.) They inherit the same GM patch numbers 53/54 for Aahs/Oohs, so you’ll see those names (or very slight variants) in every factory bank. fr.scribd.com
    Why the name keeps turning up
    • General MIDI standardisation (1991): GM fixed 128 program names so that sequences would play back predictably on any synth. #53 and #54 were reserved for choral “Aah” and “Ooh” samples, so manufacturers simply copied those labels into their preset banks.

    • ROMpler era fashion: 90‑s workstations relied on short vocal multisamples to give productions an instant “film score” sheen; “Ooh”/“Aah” layers were cheap to market and sounded impressive through on‑board effects.

    • Patch compatibility: Roland’s JV/XP line and Korg’s Trinity/Triton families reused the same PCM wave‑ROM across several products, so once the name appeared it propagated to later models.
    Hunting for that sound today
    If you’re after those nostalgic choir pads but don’t own the original hardware, you can:

    1. Grab the software reissues – Korg Collection Triton, Roland Cloud JV‑1080, or Kurzweil’s ‘Take 5’ VAST library all include the original samples and patch names.

    2. Use any GM‑compatible soft‑synth (e.g. Sforzando with the free Merlin GM2 bank) and call up programs 53/54.

    3. Layer modern choir libraries (e.g. Spitfire LABS Choir) with a gentle low‑pass filter to mimic the 16‑bit ROMpler sheen.
    That should give you all the classic “Oohs and Aahs” you remember from the 90s, whether you’re digging through vintage racks or working entirely in‑the‑box today.
     
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  8. Gilted George

    Gilted George Newbie

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    except its definitely in 2001 release.
     
  9. Theologyx

    Theologyx Kapellmeister

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