KVR Audio

Ikariya · Post by **Ikariya** » Sun Jun 22, 2014 4:00 pm

Tweaking at lower tempo doesn't work unfortunately (it's fine when you go slow).

There seems to be a minimum length of time to hold a note before the phrase will advance to next syllable when you hit the next note. Not sure if that's some kinda global window (like the poly legato time window) but it seems to depend on the sample - I think it's more problematic if the first syllable ends in a consonant like 's', as the delay it takes to close the syllable is fixed, i.e. it can't adapt to your pace.

You've just given me an idea though!
I could bounce the clip at a low BPM, then time-stretch it to make it faster haha. Enough reverb and maybe no one will notice!

Musical Gym · Post by **Musical Gym** » Sun Jun 22, 2014 9:00 pm

Ikariya wrote:Tweaking at lower tempo doesn't work unfortunately (it's fine when you go slow).

There seems to be a minimum length of time to hold a note before the phrase will advance to next syllable when you hit the next note. Not sure if that's some kinda global window (like the poly legato time window) but it seems to depend on the sample - I think it's more problematic if the first syllable ends in a consonant like 's', as the delay it takes to close the syllable is fixed, i.e. it can't adapt to your pace.

You've just given me an idea though!
I could bounce the clip at a low BPM, then time-stretch it to make it faster haha. Enough reverb and maybe no one will notice!

cool

Mike Greene · Post by **Mike Greene** » Mon Jun 23, 2014 8:14 pm

Breeze wrote: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?

This is something we're planning to look into next month. I have some ideas that I have high hopes for, but I'm reluctant to make promises just yet.

Musical Gym wrote: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.

You're right. We'll fix that in the next update. Thanks for the catch!

Mike Greene · Post by **Mike Greene** » Mon Jun 23, 2014 8:19 pm

Ikariya wrote: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...

This is a great example. The first syllable ("dahns," although I might try "dehns" as well) will play right on the beat, because "d" is a "hard consonant" and doesn't take any time to develop.

But when you play the second note, Realivox Blue has to a bunch of time consuming things:
First, the vowel has to close into the "n." That takes time.
Second, we need to hear the "s" after the end. More time.
Third, we need that "y" of your, which is a "soft consonant," which is inherently slower to develop.

That's why (as you already figured out

) you have to play the second syllable so early, because all those things have to happen before we get to the "oh" in "your." (It's the "oh" that needs to sound on the beat.)

I'm going to add a "Speed" knob in a future update. It's a complicated addition, so it won't be soon, but hopefully in a month or two. With the Speed knob, you can decide if you want shorter n, s, and y consonants. (Or any consonants, of course.) Realivox Blue was intended to be a fairly slow and ethereal singer, and admittedly, she chokes if things get too fast. But I'm pretty sure I can tweak some things so that she'll be able to sing faster melodies. You'll still have to play ahead of the beat for a syllable like that, of course, but not as much.

Ikariya wrote:I could bounce the clip at a low BPM, then time-stretch it to make it faster haha. Enough reverb and maybe no one will notice!

I think this might be a really good idea! If you try it, please let me know how it works out.

Mike Greene · Post by **Mike Greene** » Mon Jun 23, 2014 8:21 pm

Oops. Double posted . . .

Musical Gym · Post by **Musical Gym** » Mon Jun 23, 2014 10:01 pm

Keep up the great work!

Spitfire31 · Post by **Spitfire31** » Tue Jun 24, 2014 5:42 am

The best time stretcher I've found so far is TimeFactory 2.5 by Prosoniq. It's a standalone application, not a plug-in, but it can do amazing things even with full mixes.

/Joachim

Musical Gym · Post by **Musical Gym** » Tue Jun 24, 2014 8:18 am

Spitfire31 wrote:The best time stretcher I've found so far is TimeFactory 2.5 by Prosoniq. It's a standalone application, not a plug-in, but it can do amazing things even with full mixes.

/Joachim

Looks like Mac only, now owned by Zynaptiq.

Spitfire31 · Post by **Spitfire31** » Tue Jun 24, 2014 11:16 am

Musical Gym wrote:
Spitfire31 wrote:The best time stretcher I've found so far is TimeFactory 2.5 by Prosoniq. It's a standalone application, not a plug-in, but it can do amazing things even with full mixes.

/Joachim
Looks like Mac only, now owned by Zynaptiq.

I think you're right. Sorry for omitting that – may have to do with my being a primarily Mac guy.

/Joachim

updog · Post by **updog** » Tue Jul 01, 2014 2:23 pm

Just bought this, wish I had time to try it more, maybe tomorrow

This one sounds a lot like Cheryl (I think, the softest of the lot nevertheless) but I haven't made any actual comparisons other than playing a part from one of my pieces that sounds strikingly similar - though only a basic ahh -articulation. I wonder if there were some same samples used, or is it just the similarity of the voice? (though honestly I wouldn't mind - she's my number one girl from the Ladies lot anyway so it'll be good to have her be able to sing words)

I've no idea if this has been mentioned by now, but there's something I'd really like in a future update - the values on the controls to reset to a default (the middle zero) when you double-click on them.

Mike Greene · Post by **Mike Greene** » Tue Jul 01, 2014 4:28 pm

updog wrote:I've no idea if this has been mentioned by now, but there's something I'd really like in a future update - the values on the controls to reset to a default (the middle zero) when you double-click on them.

All the knobs do have this feature, although you reset to a default setting by control-clicking (Windows) or Apple-clicking (Mac) on them. (Rather than double-clicking.)

You're right, Blue does have a Cheryl sound to her.

We wanted Cheryl's voice, but without the vibrato. These were all new recordings for a number of reasons.

Mike Greene · Post by **Mike Greene** » Tue Jul 01, 2014 4:29 pm

Through July, Realivox Blue is just $129.95! (Kontakt Player version is $139.95.)

bigcat1969 · Post by **bigcat1969** » Fri Jul 18, 2014 8:42 pm

Blue loves Mike more than she loves me, but I did have fun asking her to sing Danny Boy. She is all lady, wonderful and frustrating simultaneously.

https://soundcloud.com/bigcat1969/danny-boy-blue-2

Musical Gym · Post by **Musical Gym** » Sat Jul 19, 2014 1:31 am

Mike Greene wrote:Through July, Realivox Blue is just $129.95! (Kontakt version is $139.95.)

I think you mean Kontakt Player version is the higher priced of the two, the lower being the Full Kontakt version (unless you changed the paradigm).

Mike Greene · Post by **Mike Greene** » Mon Jul 21, 2014 5:45 pm

Musical Gym wrote:
Mike Greene wrote:Through July, Realivox Blue is just $129.95! (Kontakt version is $139.95.)
I think you mean Kontakt Player version is the higher priced of the two, the lower being the Full Kontakt version (unless you changed the paradigm).

Thanks for the catch. I've changed it now.

That could be pretty funny to change the paradigm, by the way. I wonder if I made the full Kontakt version more expensive, if there are some people who would actually pay more for it. I'll bet there would. (Personally, I prefer the full Kontakt version.) I don't think I'll actually try the experiment, though.

bigcat1969 wrote:Blue loves Mike more than she loves me, but I did have fun asking her to sing Danny Boy.

Since she doesn't do short "a" or short "i," that's a challenging piece! My hat's off!

I could be wrong, but it sounds to me like you're only using legato on select words, and not on the full phrases. That will make her sing a lot more smoothly.

It also sounds like you have the sequence quantized. That will make the timing weird, because you need to anticipate a lot of the syllables, like the "nee" in "Danny." Consonants like "n" or s" or "f" or "th" need time to sound before they get to the meat of the vowel. It's the vowel part of the syllable that needs to be on the beat, not the initial consonant, so there are many syllables where you need to play ahead of the beat.

I really need to make a video about this, because that will make things a zillion times clearer. But I've been really busy as we spent over a week recording new stuff for a certain singer and . . . well, I don't want to say too much . . .

bigcat1969 wrote:She is all lady, wonderful and frustrating simultaneously.

I guess that's why so many people keep asking for a male version . . .

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