vocal synthesis

Ueberschall is now shipping The Voice Vol. 2 Liquid Instrument for Mac and PC worldwide. The Voice Vol. 2 consists of vocal phrases of a choir with independently editable voices in a plug-In for VST, Audio Units and RTAS.

For the first time ever it is possible to change a single voice within a choir – independently from the other lines – and to adjust it to the individual producer’s needs. You can create basically every vocal harmony and every chord progression possible. Only Liquid Instrument “The Voice” offers total control over each single voice and melody within a choir. It is possible to take a chord, change a line and create a new feeling in an instant. The unique Liquid Engine helps to create everything from simple adlibs to complex harmonic structures.

Every vocal phrase is dubbed eight times by two (male and female) singers. That makes a total of eight different tracks per vocal phrase for absolutely realistic sounding choirs.

The Voice vol.2 (non-verbal) contains melodic vocal lines from simple to sophisticated not just the usual “Ah”, “Oh” and “Uh”. Beautifully sung lines with appealing melody and rhythm offer a great range of different tunes for that extra spice in songs.

Ueberschall “The Voice” Vol. 2 was recorded in 24 bit, acoustically dry without additional effects and filters. Each Volume contains 300 vocal phrases = 2400 vocal loops, requires 3GB of hard disc space and retails for US $199.

More information is available at the Uerberschall site.

NAMM Show Update: Digidesign is shipping Synchro Arts VocALign PRO, a new and more powerful version of the VocALign automatic audio alignment tool. VocALign PRO provides audio, post production, and multimedia professionals the greatest flexibility and power to quickly complete audio alignment tasks — automatically, within the industry-standard Pro Tools environment as an AudioSuite plug-in or as a stand-alone application. VocALign automatically stretches or compresses one audio signal to match the timing patterns of another.

VocALign PRO introduces advanced new features that offer improved accuracy, sound quality, and ease of use. New preview controls allow you to listen to sections or all of the signals before and after alignment, individually or together. User-defined Sync Points let the user target audio alignment at specified pairs of points in two signals. A protected signal block feature allows users to protect sections of the replacement (or Dub) signal from being time-compressed or expanded during alignment. Read more…

NAMM Update: Roland introduced VP-550 Vocal Designer Keyboard. Much more than a traditional vocoder or harmonizer, the VP-550 uses vocal-modeling technology to bring the highest-quality, interactive vocal sounds to a dedicated instrument.

Connect a mic, select a sound, and play. You won’t believe what can come out of this instrument: spectacular classical choirs, soulful gospel choirs, pop and jazz voices, male & female ensembles, vintage vocoder, and lush string/vocal hybrids.

Not specific to one style of music, the VP-550 can be used for a wide variety of musical applications. It’s ideal for musicians who perform alone or in small groups, for example, and who need an interactive, real-time backing chorus. Or, film and TV music composers who are challenged with time and budget can use the VP-550 to generate high-impact choral arrangements on the spot. Churches in need of a choir (or choir enhancer) will love the VP-550. The creative possibilities are vast, as are the time/money savings that this instrument can provide. Read more…

Zero-G has introduced Vocal Forge, a new virtual instrument powered by Native Instruments Intakt.

Vocal Forge is based on a library featuring 800 patches and over 2,500 samples in 1.2GB of new material, sourced from pro vocal performances.

Male and female MCs, sweet R+B, gospel singers, dance and pop vocals all recorded with accompanying harmonies. There are even a few wild cards such as Choral, Gothic and even Opera styles. Plus there is a vocal Toolbox loaded with single vocal lines, scratches, effected vocals, grunts & breaths, human beatbox & percussion grooves and fake TV and radio clips.

The whole library is presented within NI’s Intakt interface which will soon have you customizing, shaping and manipulating the vocal lines to suit your own requirements. The flexibility of the interface allows you to automatically sync any of these vocal lines to your song’s tempo, and you can apply a vast amount of sound-shaping to each vocal as well. Read more…

Celemony Software has announced the fall release of Version 3 of the legendary audio software Melodyne for Mac and PC. Melodyne3 offers a new algorithm that allows any type of audio material to profit from Melodyne’s unique editing functions and sound quality; in other words, Melodyne is no longer limited to the editing of melodies but can handle homophonic and polyphonic textures. Melodyne3 also offers fully automatic analysis of the audio material, powerful macros for the correction of intonation and timing errors, and numerous improvements in the user interface. Melodyne3 is not only capable of doing far more than its predecessors; it is also faster and easier to use. Read more…