JPF Home Page Forums General Messages General Message Forum The current state of singing synthesizers.

You probably know about Vocaloid and it's offshoots UTAU and Alter-Ego. None of these measure up unless you are Japanese apparently, as they go for hologram superstars lip synced to Vocaloid en masse.

That said, and at a singer and funding deficit here, I keep my ears open for advancement in this wide open area of technical opportunity.

Last year I found Synthesizer V. A creation of Kanru Hua an Asian national in Illinois. What attracted me at first was the English web site, if you've ever surfed around the Vocaloid site, you know what I mean. I downloaded the demo and the only English singer database available right now, "Eleanore Forte". There is a hint of Asian accent, and way too "proper" English enunciation that can be worked around with purposeful mis-spelling of words. But for female guide tracks and maybe even production it's the best thing I have heard yet. By no means is the technology redneck ready yet but if this is interesting to any of you fellow writers, the website is here. https://synthesizerv.com. And the delightfully multinational forum is at https://forum.synthesizerv.com/

It's neat also in that it can sync along with DAW software like a rewire client which is just super cool.

Hear Eleanore Forte sing "Password to my heart" here.

https://www.reverbnation.com/ronnierocks/song/30173848-password-to-my-heart-with-elenore

Hi Ronnie:

I listened to "Password" on your Reverb Page and enjoyed it. If I understand what you are doing here... utilizing a synth based vocal converter (Eleanore Forte) to sing your own vocal as you play. Please let me know if I've mis-interpereted things 'cause the idea has merit for singers who want to sound different or mask their own singing style. (In my case, it would be "crappy vocal ability!" LOL!)

Usually, ideas like this are "discovered" or invented by more than one individual because knowledge and the passage of time allow humans to recognize "problems in need of a solution" on a broad front. The Japanese Culture is certainly an incubator for this type singing. No offense intended. I am reminded of the invention of the "Chip" in America... making it possible to overcome the "Tyranny of Numbers." This allowed the construction of computers that did not take up a half-acre building. (One of the three, an Engineer from Kansas who worked for Texas Instruments, Jack Kilby, a Nobel Laureate, just died recently.)

Keep us posted, when convenient, about your future endeavors and discoveries about this interesting topic.

Thanks for sharing, ----Dave

Dave, you cant sing into this software and have it come out eleanored in real time though some have clamored for that. You either place individual notes on a piano roll like you might for any synth in a daw, or you can import a midi composition of the vocal track and it will lay the notes in placing the word "la" in each note, then you can edit the "la" notes to words for your song. You can add vibrato, glides and stuff too. Download the software its free or 80 bucks to get rid of the nag screen. If you do, you must also grab the Eleanor forte free vocal database as the synth v download doesn't come with it.

Sounds pretty good. It's kinda scary actually, but i guess it shouldnt be any stranger than having somebody play bass guitar on your song who has never heard your song doesnt know you or how its being used, so.

I guess this is why its important to be unique in music and songwriting, our uniqueness is all we have really.

Thanks, Ronnie:

I always hope someone has come up with a better method for enhancing vocals. Midi has never been attractive to me or my "set-up" but it certainly has made it's mark on music. Sad the "user" has to pay 80 bucks to get rid of the nag screen... LOL! So, for me, it's back under the house... same game!

Ronnie I listened to you singing and you sound good except your voice should be more up front.

You must be speaking of the song "By My Side" as that's the only one up at my reverbnation page that is me singing. That vocal performance is so "by hand" tuned it's silly because I can't sing for diddly poo. Sometimes I'm flat and sharp at the same time!

As for the vocals being to far back, I had promised a new uploaded mix but haven't done it yet.

One other significant thing about Synth V that I didn't mention. You can import the instrumental backing track of your choosing right into the Synth V editor. Then make a vocal track against it by placing notes. You can export the vocal track from that arrangement for use elsewhere, Like in your DAW or other recording medium.

Beauty is in the ear of the listener. We are sometimes our own worst critic. I too consider myself a less than desirable singer but some people say they like my singing. Maybe they have a tin ear (lol) or maybe I can't hear myself as others hear me. When I record myself I am using a very cheap mic, which does not help my voice, onto a cassette tape, which is not the best at reproducing what was recorded onto it. I know singing is not my gift and I have yet to prove in a real way that songwriting is. Only time will tell and my time is getting short.

If you think of it, music is 12 notes and all we do as composers is take those same 12 elements and construct them in a unique way coming from our unique talent (or lack thereof, but still producing something unique). So stuff like this is just a natural extension of this and no more or less valid than any other version. I think it will be fun when someone can sing in real time and have a pro level voice come out in return with all the variations of vocal styles represented in menus like sounds on your synth or settings on your guitar effects.

Thanks for sharing!

Brian

You still use cassettes?!
Wow. Good for you.

Ronnie, I LOVED cassette.. my favorite medium. I had an 8 track recorder that used Cassettes and it was great. You got the warmth of tape and cheap medium and pre-computer it was so easy to make copies. I remember when CD recorders first came out blank CD's cost $12 a piece!!!! I recall spending $1000 dollars for 100 of them at a time when they were supposedly in short supply (they actually had news stories saying they were running out of the natural resource they used to make CD's which turns out was such FAKE NEWS! But I needed them and spent the money, which was MORE than the cost of buying a CD from an artist. The music industry has had no end to the fake changing of formats... most audiophiles STILL swear Vinyl sounds best. I am not sure I agree for normal humans (some of these folks spend insane money on their gear) but I do prefer the sound of music on tape over CD.

What do you all think?

I've finally been delivered from the cd and now master 44.1khz 16 bit straight to the sd card in my phone wirelessly. It was nearing the need for intervention. I had cds falling out of an over stressed visor holder that was stuffed with mix version after mix version of the same song. My car stereo started to get flakey and so I bought a new one with bluetooth from Walmart for $20.00 - How could I not? It has no CD. It sounds the same and no longer skips hitting potholes so it's all good.

I use to record to cassette and then put it onto my hard drive until I figured out how to record directly to my PC. LOL I'm not very computer smart but I'm learning slowly.

Cassettes were easy to slip into your pants pocket, don't try that with CDs or LP.LOL They took up less storage space in the glove box in your car too. I only heard myself recorded once in a studio and wondered who that was singing. LOL Still didn't like my voice. lol