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Vocaloid "Sweet Ann" & "BIG-AL" entering the charts...


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Coming soon from PowerFX, new Vocaloid "Sweet Ann" & "BIG-AL" the first two vocal libraries which include Yamaha's Vocaloid2 upgrade software. It enables users to type in the words and melody, and the library "vocalist" sings back the input.

 

Or Vocaloid Meiko is based on Japanese female singer Meiko Haigo's voice and does not sing in English. The lyrics have to be written in Japanese phonemes. Musicans that don

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I think the way it works is that Yamaha invented the engine and then licenses the code out to companies that want to tackle doing voices. Zero G (or whoever it was) did Leon/Lola (maybe another too?) and now Powerfx is jumping in to try it's luck.

 

I heard the version 2 engine and it's still pretty mechanical. Unless Yamaha abandons development, this could perhaps evolve into something useable in some future decade.

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I have experimented with Vocaloid LOLA, LEON and MIRIAM.

 

While there is no doubt it's an interesting concept, I personally have set them aside for awhile... mainly because typing in all the lyrics, getting all the phonemes exactly correct and natural-sounding, making sure notes don't overlap, trying to imbue notes and phrases with musical-sounding inflections/embellishments/dynamics.....is really time-intensive, quite laborious work!

 

By the time I get through sequencing only one or two phrases, I find myself thinking: I could just as easily sing these harmonies myself, and even do my own girl parts by shifting up my pitches and formants (in SONAR or with some other vocal tool. Oh yes, it can be done!!).

 

I also rather thought that LOLA sounded more like an African Zulu tribal princess rather an an American R&B/soul songstress. Even when I prepared LOLA's tracks perfectly, they still sounded too delicate to me, not soulful/ballsy enough.

 

And of course MIRIAM is so idiosyncratic in every way, it sems to me that her moments in any producer's vocabulary would be limited...

 

Just MHO. Still, it won't be long before all these kinks are addressed, I'm sure. it's inevitable.

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  • 7 months later...
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Oh my... I just got through listening to some samples of Big Al and Sweet Ann. Here are some mp3 snippets:

 

http://www.jasminemusic.com/vocaloid/05-28-2007.htm

 

Sweet Ann is a dead ringer for Astrud Gilberto, and just as these samples show, light jazz and Latin will surely be her forte...

 

But! Big Al... I dunno what to say about him... He sounds quite bizarre (to my ears) indeed. He doesn't sound stereotypically white or black, necessarily... He's VERY stiff and still quite machine-like. Kinda sounds like he has a corncob lodged where the sun don't shine... Techno/Goa/Trance kids will be able to use him-- for a weird and machinelike "futuristic" effect--- but I'm not sure who else...

 

If you want to make Patsy Cline spin in her grave, take a listen to the video of "Crazy" here:

 

http://www.powerfx.com/

 

 

Huyyyy-y... and what's with the picture, at the end, of Lena Horne sporting an Ella Mae Morse 1940's blonde pageboy hairdo?? Who are the youngsters who are commandeering our culture!?!

 

 

Oh-la-la... and you simply MUST listen to the version of Linda Ronstadt's "It's So Easy" as performed by Sweet Ann. [Check the sliding menu at the base of the YouTube screen on the above PowerFX link]. Honestly, my brain can't even wrap itself around what this recording sounds like or the effect it has upon me.... Maybe the phrase "it's so bad that it's very very good indeed" is a start? Kinda like the postiches of 1960's songs re-done in the 80's by such groups as The Silicon Teens or The Flying Lizards?

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