I've been looking at Vocaloid, there's a new version out (5).
I think now its a VST plugin so I dont have to leave my DAW.
There's an accusation that the vocals still sound a little "boring" , but I think they are trying to spruce them up a little by adding some functionality.
But just wondering if anyone has an opinion on Vocaloid, whats the best one to get, or if there's something else better out there in the same category?
(Realivox is limited imo just doing vowels, and pricey too.)
Vocaloid (new version out) - your opinion, - anything better ?
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- KVRAF
- 2110 posts since 19 Aug, 2008
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- KVRAF
- 22892 posts since 8 Oct, 2014
Long time Vocaloid user. Consider myself an expert.
Soundwise, V5 is a slight improvement over V4, though the stock voices aren't as good as the 3rd party voices available. In fact, Chris is awful. The built in FX do help but only so much.
And yeah, V5 is a VST but don't let that fool you to thinking it's user friendly. It's not.
V4, for Cubase, had it's own VST editor and it was brilliant. Everything was in total sync with the Cubase transport. With V5, it is not. So for example, when editing and playing back, if your DAW is at 40 seconds in and you want to restart V5 from 10 seconds in, moving the V5 time slider won't work. The playback will still start at 40 seconds if that's where your DAW is. That's one annoyance.
Another is editing. With V4, I could scroll across from second 1 to second 1001 with my mouse and highlight as much content as I want. With V5, you're limited to what you can see in the window and it's not much. So you have to copy and paste a little at a time.
In short, I hate V5 and hardly use it. The voices I love the most still work in V4 and don't really sound that much better in V5 if at all.
Unfortunately, I think you will find working with V5 very frustrating if you do a lot of copy and pasting and editing.
You have been warned.
In the meantime, I am hoping that down the road Yamaha will fix this piece of crap software to at least work as well as V4 did in Cubase.
Soundwise, V5 is a slight improvement over V4, though the stock voices aren't as good as the 3rd party voices available. In fact, Chris is awful. The built in FX do help but only so much.
And yeah, V5 is a VST but don't let that fool you to thinking it's user friendly. It's not.
V4, for Cubase, had it's own VST editor and it was brilliant. Everything was in total sync with the Cubase transport. With V5, it is not. So for example, when editing and playing back, if your DAW is at 40 seconds in and you want to restart V5 from 10 seconds in, moving the V5 time slider won't work. The playback will still start at 40 seconds if that's where your DAW is. That's one annoyance.
Another is editing. With V4, I could scroll across from second 1 to second 1001 with my mouse and highlight as much content as I want. With V5, you're limited to what you can see in the window and it's not much. So you have to copy and paste a little at a time.
In short, I hate V5 and hardly use it. The voices I love the most still work in V4 and don't really sound that much better in V5 if at all.
Unfortunately, I think you will find working with V5 very frustrating if you do a lot of copy and pasting and editing.
You have been warned.
In the meantime, I am hoping that down the road Yamaha will fix this piece of crap software to at least work as well as V4 did in Cubase.
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- KVRAF
- 2210 posts since 20 Sep, 2013 from Poland
My thoughts, in detail: https://bedroomproducersblog.com/2018/0 ... -5-review/
In short, a lot of work if you need a lot of vocals, like several minutes for a typical song, and human singers are generally less work for stuff like that. But for short bits of backing vocals and things like that, it can be a very useful tool. Also take a look at Synthesizer V which is free at least for now.
In short, a lot of work if you need a lot of vocals, like several minutes for a typical song, and human singers are generally less work for stuff like that. But for short bits of backing vocals and things like that, it can be a very useful tool. Also take a look at Synthesizer V which is free at least for now.
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- KVRAF
- 22892 posts since 8 Oct, 2014
Read your review. I guess going from V4's non VST version to V5 would be more user friendly. Unfortunately, going from V4's Cubase editor to V5 is anything but. It's such a step backward that I avoid using V5 at all costs unless I absolutely have to have Amy or Chris in a vocal.DSmolken wrote: Tue Oct 02, 2018 5:24 pm My thoughts, in detail: https://bedroomproducersblog.com/2018/0 ... -5-review/
In short, a lot of work if you need a lot of vocals, like several minutes for a typical song, and human singers are generally less work for stuff like that. But for short bits of backing vocals and things like that, it can be a very useful tool. Also take a look at Synthesizer V which is free at least for now.
In short, I am very disappointed with V5's user interface and hope they improve it, though I don't see that happening.
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- KVRAF
- Topic Starter
- 2110 posts since 19 Aug, 2008
Thanks. Where can I get Synthesizer V from? I googled it but got a series of dodgey looking links and wasn't sure which website was legit.DSmolken wrote: Tue Oct 02, 2018 5:24 pm Also take a look at Synthesizer V which is free at least for now.
Thanks for your honesty; thats helped me make a decision about it.wagtunes wrote: Tue Oct 02, 2018 4:22 pm In the meantime, I am hoping that down the road Yamaha will fix this piece of crap software to at least work as well as V4 did in Cubase.
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- KVRAF
- 2210 posts since 20 Sep, 2013 from Poland
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- KVRAF
- Topic Starter
- 2110 posts since 19 Aug, 2008
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- KVRian
- 655 posts since 25 Dec, 2009
I tried Synthesizer V, but it doesn't seem to me to be as intuitive as Vocaloid Editor. I guess that, like anything, there's a learning curve to make it work as intended. To my ear, their demo track wasn't very impressive either, but that's just me.
I was hoping to get started with a voice synth cheaply, so I picked up Zero-G's Tonio on sale. It comes with the full Vocaloid 2 editor and I have been able to confirm that it works on my Windows 10 x64 system (disclaimer: YMMV and no ASIO support). The included VST's also appear to work OK in 32-bit Traction 7, but not 32-bit Waveform 8(?). The real-time 32-bit v2 Vocaloid VST also works OK bridged to Studio One v4 x64 using DDMF MetaPlugin v3, but the other Vocaloid plugin doesn't work like this (insert disclaimer). BTW, one tip that I have learned is to apply some reverb to the resulting wave file, which seems to help the voice sound less robotic.
Unfortunately though, Vocaloid Editor v2 is not eligible for an upgrade to Vocaloid 5...drag. If you have Vocaloid 3 or 4 Editor however, the Vocaloid 2 banks from Zero-G apparently can be imported into them (although I haven't tried yet). They have to provide an import serial code for this to work.
**Shout out to Zero-G's support, which is excellent! They have been super helpful both pre and post purchase.
G
I was hoping to get started with a voice synth cheaply, so I picked up Zero-G's Tonio on sale. It comes with the full Vocaloid 2 editor and I have been able to confirm that it works on my Windows 10 x64 system (disclaimer: YMMV and no ASIO support). The included VST's also appear to work OK in 32-bit Traction 7, but not 32-bit Waveform 8(?). The real-time 32-bit v2 Vocaloid VST also works OK bridged to Studio One v4 x64 using DDMF MetaPlugin v3, but the other Vocaloid plugin doesn't work like this (insert disclaimer). BTW, one tip that I have learned is to apply some reverb to the resulting wave file, which seems to help the voice sound less robotic.
Unfortunately though, Vocaloid Editor v2 is not eligible for an upgrade to Vocaloid 5...drag. If you have Vocaloid 3 or 4 Editor however, the Vocaloid 2 banks from Zero-G apparently can be imported into them (although I haven't tried yet). They have to provide an import serial code for this to work.
**Shout out to Zero-G's support, which is excellent! They have been super helpful both pre and post purchase.
G
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- KVRian
- 655 posts since 25 Dec, 2009
Quick update: I got Vocaloid 2 Rewire working on Windows 10 too. The key appears to be that the (32 bit) host needs to be run first - as administrator - on Windows 10. Then launch Vocaloid 2 Editor and set up Rewire. One other tip: you have to click the Rewire button after each edit in the Vocaloid 2 Editor. This sends the changes to the host so that it can be played. So far, it seems to sync up pretty well on x86 Studio One Pro v3.
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