Embertone has released E.L.V.E.S., a free virtual choir instrument for Kontakt, available for a limited time during the holiday season.
E.L.V.E.S. stands for “Embertone Lyrical Voice Elevation System, although the name very much serves the purpose of being an acronym for elves.
This is a playful holiday sample library designed to sound like a tiny choir of elves singing in unison. The overall tone is slightly tongue-in-cheek, but it still delivers usable sounds if you’re working on Christmas-themed music or festive cues.
The choir has a pitched-up and somewhat cartoonish character that we’ve all heard in countless Christmas movie soundtracks. It’s not meant to be a realistic choral library, and it doesn’t pretend to be one.
But, if you’re scoring something humorous or outright festive this holiday season, E.L.V.E.S. fits the bill nicely.
The interface is minimal. You can switch between polyphonic and monophonic modes, enable or disable round-robin playback, and adjust the reverb amount and type.
There’s also control over how dynamics respond to MIDI input, allowing velocity (or CC control) to influence the performance intensity.
Despite its playful presentation, E.L.V.E.S. includes thoughtful features we’d expect from one of the best Kontakt library developers on the market.
Embertone highlights true legato transitions within an octave, meaning connected notes trigger recorded transitions rather than simple crossfades. Dynamics are handled via modeled behavior rather than velocity-layer crossfading, which helps keep the performance smooth and consistent.
Downloading the library is easy. You simply add E.L.V.E.S. to your cart on the Embertone website and complete the free checkout process.
While you’re there, it’s worth browsing the rest of their free offerings. Embertone offers several excellent freebies, including Ancient Voices, which I use a lot, and Intimate Strings Lite, a very usable, warm-sounding small string library. There are a few other free instruments worth checking out as well.
Unlike E.L.V.E.S., which is part-joke and part-serious, the other freebies on Embertone are seriously high-quality.
One important thing to note is that E.L.V.E.S. requires the full version of Kontakt. It will not run in the free Kontakt Player, so keep that in mind before downloading.
Download: E.L.V.E.S. (FREE, requires the full NI Kontakt)
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Last Updated on December 23, 2025 by Tomislav Zlatic.
