Vocaloid 4 & Cyber Diva Community Assistance Thread

[wagtunes]

This might totally bomb out due to lack of interest but I figured nothing ventured nothing gained.

I finally bit the bullet and purchased Vocaloid 4 for Cubase and Cyber Diva. I'm quickly discovering that you just don't type in lyrics and what comes out is intelligible speech. This requires work, and a lot of it. This explains why some Cyber Diva demos are horrible while others are actually very good, which is why i finally decided to take the plunge.

The purpose of this thread, therefore, is for users to help each other with tips, tricks and even just some straight forward instructions on how to use this thing. It isn't as intuitive as you might think.

So if anybody has Vocaloid and Cyber Diva and wants to participate by offering any kind of help or, if you need help, please feel free. I don't know how popular this VST is (just released in the US) but I am hoping to attract a lot of interest and participation.

Having just downloaded and installed, just to see that it works, and run a very simple test, I don't have much to contribute other than to say that the installation process is seamless. The only heads up is that the online purchase doesn't have the most up to date editor for Cubase. There is a version 4.2 which you can download. I don't know what the enhancements and/or bug fixes are yet as I haven't found any release notes.

And of course if anybody has made any Vocaloid recordings with Cyber Diva, please feel free to post them here so we can hear what's possible.

I expect it is going to take me a long time to master this but I'm going to put in the effort because I need to come up with a decent demo in the hopes of getting someone interested enough in it to hire a real singer for a better demo. My singing just won't cut it and I don't have the funds to hire singers.

But all of that is irrelevant to the purpose of this thread. It's to share ideas and help each other with this software.

So if you're interested, we want to hear from you.

** EDIT ** My Soundcloud Playlist as of 5/7/2016

https://soundcloud.com/steven-wagenheim ... -originals

[wagtunes]

Okay, here is my first attempt with Vocaloid and Cyber Diva.

https://soundcloud.com/steven-wagenheim ... a-original

This is what I've discovered after wracking my brains with this thing.

You have to pretty much edit each word so that it sounds just right depending on what words come before and after it. Accent is extremely important. You have various accent strengths. I find that strong accent works best when words seem to blur together. Brightness control also helps a lot here.

Some words simply don't pronounce "properly" depending on what part of the world you're from and what native accents you're used to. There was a big problem in development over this especially between British and American English. The words are not terribly off but for my ears and what I'm used to, they're not quite right.

Good thing is this. You can go into the editor and change the phonetics of the word. There is a phonetic dictionary in the back of the manual that shows how to get every possible letter combination. The codes they use are a little odd at times but they're consistent. After a while, they become second nature. There are dictionaries for several languages aside from English including Japanese and Korean. I think Spanish is in there too.

VST is probably still best used for Anime, but with careful crafting you can do some great pop tunes. Listen to somebody's rendition of "Blank Space" when you get a chance. It's really very good.

Anyway, I'm pleased with the purchase. It's not a human singer but it's the next best thing and with care can sound very good.

I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

[jezjez]

Sounds cool!
Yeah it's hard to get it sounding natural (though if you do some insane tweaking you can probably get pretty close) but if you just accept it for what it is I think its just another style of vocals, not necessarily better or worse than real vocals but just a different style and perhaps suitable for different genres.
I like this Japanese producer called livetune, he always autotunes his vocaloid vocals, I'm not sure how it would work for English but may be something worth experimenting with. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UlMGutR-uQ

[wagtunes]

Remix of above song using Ruby on lead vocals and Cyber Diva on "ahs" for last chorus.

I like Ruby's pronunciation a little better than Cyber Diva's.

What do you think?

https://soundcloud.com/steven-wagenheim ... y-and-diva

[MachineClaw]

I like the CyberDiva original better than the Ruby remix version.

though the CyberDiva version has a bit of problems with the high trail at the end of phrases like the "hold me thrill ME kill me" phrase. I really like the CyberDiva basic "our love is like a hurricane" that seems pretty natural sounding. natural for a robot like sampled vocal sound still it's passible and usable.

I'm still not sold yet and haven't taken the CyberDiva Vocaloid 4 plunge. I have heard there are other libraries coming out that will be English. I might just hold off and wait and see.

I think maybe the problem I have with CyberDiva still is that the original samples are of an oriental singer singing in English (can't find the original link with singer info as it seems to be taken down. on the Vocaloid page there is a developer blog page where it's stated that 80% accuracy is what they have or about 1-5 word shave errors. still seems high to me.

tracks sound decent enough. music is great. I just haven't bought into the vocal yet and it still sounds odd to me.

[wagtunes]

I like the CyberDiva original better than the Ruby remix version.

though the CyberDiva version has a bit of problems with the high trail at the end of phrases like the "hold me thrill ME kill me" phrase. I really like the CyberDiva basic "our love is like a hurricane" that seems pretty natural sounding. natural for a robot like sampled vocal sound still it's passible and usable.

I'm still not sold yet and haven't taken the CyberDiva Vocaloid 4 plunge. I have heard there are other libraries coming out that will be English. I might just hold off and wait and see.

I think maybe the problem I have with CyberDiva still is that the original samples are of an oriental singer singing in English (can't find the original link with singer info as it seems to be taken down. on the Vocaloid page there is a developer blog page where it's stated that 80% accuracy is what they have or about 1-5 word shave errors. still seems high to me.

tracks sound decent enough. music is great. I just haven't bought into the vocal yet and it still sounds odd to me.

I don't think Vocaloid will ever reach the point where it is "human realistic" so that you can barely tell the difference, if at all, but in a pinch where there is no other option, I think it's more than "passable" of course depending on the situation.

And yes, there are things about Diva that I like better than Ruby as well but the pronunciation, in general, is better in Ruby probably because it IS an American singer.

[BiancaNeve]

Vocaloid 4 for Cubase doesn't appear to be available in the UK if anyone knows better please post a link

I have the vocaloid 3 Avanna but only the tiny editor and would like to upgrade.

[Musical Gym]

I passed on Cyber Diva and will be getting Dex and Daina instead. The intro bundle price is too good to pass up. I was going to go for Ruby, but she's more expensive than Dex and Daina combined.

[teacue]

(Deleted and created a new thread instead)

[wagtunes]

Finally put together a playlist of all the Vocaloid tracks I've done so far.

https://soundcloud.com/steven-wagenheim ... -originals

[Musical Gym]

thanks, will take a listen

Hold You High has a nice feel.

[wagtunes]

thanks, will take a listen

Hold You High has a nice feel.

Thank you. Appreciate the comments.

[Musical Gym]

thanks, will take a listen

Hold You High has a nice feel.

Thank you. Appreciate the comments.

I didn't really spend any time with the others, just listened a bit and moved on (sorry); I'm a bit more old school I guess.
I wonder what Hold You High might sound like down maybe 5 semitones. She's a bit high I think and might sound better lower if she can do it. Just a thought.
It's a great title. Are all the compositions yours?

[wagtunes]

thanks, will take a listen

Hold You High has a nice feel.

Thank you. Appreciate the comments.

I didn't really spend any time with the others, just listened a bit and moved on (sorry); I'm a bit more old school I guess.
I wonder what Hold You High might sound like down maybe 5 semitones. She's a bit high I think and might sound better lower if she can do it. Just a thought.
It's a great title. Are all the compositions yours?

We actually did transpose it down for the church choir. So yes, it does sound better at a lower key.

Yes, all compositions are mine.

[Musical Gym]

cool, thanks