PowerFX has released Big Al, a new male vocalist instrument developed by PowerFX using the latest Vocaloid 2 voice synthesis software from Yamaha. It's available for Windows in stand-alone and VST instrument plug-in formats and it costs $149.

"The Vocaloid community is active, especially in Japan and the release of a booming male vocalist is much anticipated", says PowerFX CEO Bil Bryant. "Although Vocaloid and vocal synthesis is an evolving technology, the Vocaloid user community enjoys combining illustrations and video with the Vocaloid artist's performances to make their own unique entertainment genre", added Bryant. "Vocaloid as a sound source is a vastly under looked tool, for instance you could use Big Al to create a bass line with a unique vocal characteristic."

Big Al's vocals come from a real singer who was recorded extensively, enabling PowerFX to create a comprehensive library of his vocal sounds. Vocaloid software users type in words and assign melodies or import MIDI files to Big Al. He then emulates the words and notes given to him. Expressive effects, vibrato and dynamics can also be added to his singing from the Vocaloid editor.

Vocaloid Key Features

Vocaloid Editor:

• Piano-roll editor.
• Note editing / Automatic phonetic conversion / Phonetic editing / Note auditioning.
• Transparent control track.
• Toggling between playback/rendering.
• Expression control.
• Synchronization with host sequencer through ReWire.

Vocaloid Playback VSTi:

• Playback sequence created with Vocaloid Editor.

Vocaloid Realtime VSTi:

• Keyboard performance with lyrics input in advance.
• 4 voice polyphonic.