Realivox Blue - Vocal Sample Instrument Released! And . . . On Sale!

[Morph243]

Just a quick thought: if there was a built-in library of words pre-programmed within the script, one could go ahead and write words that would be interpreted by the script automatically. This would mean A LOT of work, but would render the product really natural to use.

[Mike Greene]

Just a quick thought: if there was a built-in library of words pre-programmed within the script, one could go ahead and write words that would be interpreted by the script automatically. This would mean A LOT of work, but would render the product really natural to use.

This is something we're looking into. There are a number of pretty big challenges to it, besides just the time of compiling a modest dictionary. One item is that an onscreen QWERTY keyboard would have to be made as an option to the current one, since it's not possible to have computer keyboard entry into Kontakt.

[Mike Greene]

We've fixed the stuck notes in Poly Legato bug, as well as a few other things. (And of course, we added the backspace button in the previous update.)

To get this update, go to the same link as the zip file which contained your Instruments folder and stuff. (It was the second link in the "Your Realivox Blue Purchase" email.) Download, unzip, and replace. Then play without fear of attacks from scraping pianos!

[Iostream]

Even if you don't provide a library of prebuilt words, the ability to save and load phrases, and hotkey banks would be extremely helpful. I probably have a weird workflow, but I do a lot of sketching in maschine, and when I end up with something I like enough, I basically export everything into Cubase to finish. Now, I could leave the maschine project loaded and Blue in Maschine, but it just annoys me, so I move it out to a kontakt track in Cubase. This means I have to redo all phrasing, etc.

[EvilDragon]

since it's not possible to have computer keyboard entry into Kontakt.

It is, in Kontakt 5 ui_text_edit is the UI element you need to use. See Studio Drummer and other newer NI libraries - they use ui_text edit to input the name that is used for NKA filename when exporting a preset array to a file.


BTW Mike, perhaps it could be useful if you used a small ui_label in a corner of the GUI that would state the version of the script

[Darkle]

I would be happy with just a web page, that people contribute words and phrases to (collated into alphabetical order), just to occasionally look up other and perhaps better ways of getting the word or phrase I imagined.
I think Mike's time would be better spent on more sampling of other vowels and other voices, than pandering to our laziness.

[Mike Greene]

Even if you don't provide a library of prebuilt words, the ability to save and load phrases, and hotkey banks would be extremely helpful.

I'm not sure what you mean by "hotkey banks." This would be a button that loads a, b, c, and d banks of keyswitches?

since it's not possible to have computer keyboard entry into Kontakt.

It is, in Kontakt 5 ui_text_edit is the UI element you need to use.

I thought about that, and it's certainly good for saving nka files, but I don't think it's possible to input phrases with it, is it? Unless I do a massive group name comparison with a zillion groups named for various phrases, but that sounds like a nightmare.

BTW Mike, perhaps it could be useful if you used a small ui_label in a corner of the GUI that would state the version of the script

That's a good idea.

I would be happy with just a web page, that people contribute words and phrases to (collated into alphabetical order), just to occasionally look up other and perhaps better ways of getting the word or phrase I imagined.
I think Mike's time would be better spent on more sampling of other vowels and other voices, than pandering to our laziness.

I like this idea. I'll ask my web guy how difficult it would be to set up. For now, I'll start a thread in the KVR Realitone forum:
http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic ... 3&t=413926

[Iostream]

Even if you don't provide a library of prebuilt words, the ability to save and load phrases, and hotkey banks would be extremely helpful.

I'm not sure what you mean by "hotkey banks." This would be a button that loads a, b, c, and d banks of keyswitches?

Precisely, when I come up with the phrases I want to use in a piece, and map them to keyswitches, it would be nice if I could save that somehow as a bank, where I can open up kontakt again somewhere else and just load that bank, putting all of my phrases back on their keyswitches. I am sure I could save a copy of the instrument every time, but that gets unweildy.

[Breeze]

Thanks for the fixes Mike! I found some time to play around with Blue again today. It's really quite an accomplishment and I understand these projects have to fit into timelines and budgets, but I have to re-iterate that my biggest issue is that there's no management of diphthongs. Being able to accurately place concurrent vowel transitions is such an elemental requirement for proper pronunciation, that without it Blue as is will always be singing with a speech impediment. I can use Blue for many creative uses, but actually singing convincing lines is really hampered by this. Maybe someday... an upgrade?

[EvilDragon]

since it's not possible to have computer keyboard entry into Kontakt.

It is, in Kontakt 5 ui_text_edit is the UI element you need to use.

I thought about that, and it's certainly good for saving nka files, but I don't think it's possible to input phrases with it, is it? Unless I do a massive group name comparison with a zillion groups named for various phrases, but that sounds like a nightmare.

Yeah, inputting phrases is a no go... but you could use this text input filename for NKA files containing either single phrases, or fully mapped phrase banks (all keyswitches).... You could even use an ui_file_selector for a direct way of choosing different phrases/phrase banks stored in NKA files.

[Strezov]

... You could even use an ui_file_selector for a direct way of choosing different phrases/phrase banks stored in NKA files.

+1
It's really handy for such situations.

Mike, you can even use direct load_array / save_array (K4.2+) - both functions support a dialog box where you can select the NKA file for loading / saving. Maybe you will need a function to process the data in a buffer array before using save_array in your ui_callback.

But I think, EvilDragon suggestion will be more useful in your situation if you want to load / save only a part of the phrases in you word building engine.

[EvilDragon]

Yep, he's better off using ui_file_selector and load/save_array_str because he can declare absolute paths to the Data folder (and this should be the same for Kontakt Player and regular Kontakt versions - remember that regular load/save_array behaves differently for KP libraries, i.e. puts you in some folder in Documents, which is not where you'd want it, usually).

[Strezov]

Yep, you're right
I was talking about the full version of Kontakt, so thanks for the reminder

[Ikariya]

I'm new around here but I just wanted to say a couple things:

1. Mike I bought your plug after watching your video - and I must say you did an *excellent* job of explaining how to best use the plugin. Sometimes in tutorials there's a fine line between going into detail that sounds like gibberish, and not going into enough detail so 10 minutes are spent demonstrating barely anything (newbie video). You struck the perfect balance, and I loved your honesty with regard to who might want / not want to buy it. That alone won me over!

2. Great plugin, but some constructive criticism - it's very time consuming. I've spent hours on a few phrases, tweaking note lengths by 64th increments, trying to get them singing in time with the tempo. I've found that some transitions happen really easily using phrase legato, some seem to require *not* overlapping the notes (else there's a really really long delay to hear a closing 't' etc), some are simply impossible at my BPM of 128.

To elaborate on the challenges - a test phrase I've inputted starts with "dance your" ("dahns yohr"), intention is to have each word on-beat, so two beats at a tempo of 128. To get the "your" to happen on the 2nd beat I've had to shorten the 1st syllable to just 1/16th note, with 2nd syllable starting 1/64th note before the 1st syllable ends - that's over 3 16th notes early. That just barely makes it in time, if I try to bring the 2nd syllable a 64th note earlier then she sings "dance dance". The phrase doesn't advance to the next syllable. This difficulty in getting a full phrase timed the way I want has resulted in me bouncing the audio and splicing syllables manually...

Another difficulty came when I wanted multi-part harmonies where say the highest melody has more notes (e.g. runs) while the lower part holds 1 note. It's almost impossible to get them singing the correct syllable at the correct time, even with poly legato. Solution - run multiple plugin instances I guess.

I don't want to sound like I'm whinging, this is perhaps the best virtual vocalist I've heard. Just highlighting where it could potentially be made even better. Ideally what I'd love is control over *which syllable* is being played on every note. Using keys to designate phrase is fine, perhaps MIDI CC values can force the syllable too? Sounds painstaking to sequence, but I'd still prefer that to audio editing.

Thanks Mike and great work again.

[Musical Gym]

@ Ikariya
Did you try working at a lower tempo and raising it to 128 after tweaking?

I think I found a bug: G above middle C in Phrase Legato Mm
Playing G alone outputs a G# to G sound. G# is not pressed.
Also reported here.