The VSTi That I Would Pay $1,000 For

[Teksonik]

With that logic he wouldn’t have created the thread, genius.

Now you've got it Einstein. Another pointless thread that should have never been started. Asking for something that will never exist (to his own admission in his lifetime) and resistant to any other possible solution and rude to anyone who just tried to help.

[Teksonik]

Regarding the tech, just wait, when that Adobe thing matures a little, or others like it emerge, and makes its way into the entertainment industry, real singers will be feeling like drummers after drum machines came out. Not outright replaced, but they will get some hefty competition. There will probably be free phone apps doing it, make you sing like Beyonce. $99 sounds like the right price for my budget, or maybe it will be free with my next DAW.

I think you're being way too optimistic that this will exist:

You sing into a mic. The audio then goes through the VST and converts YOUR voice into any singer's voice you want it to sound like and perfectly on key. So, you could sound like Sinatra, Bon Jovi, Meatloaf, Cher, anybody you can think of

.

But hey I hope you're right. I hope such technology will be free in our DAW in the very near future. But I'm not holding my breath......(sort of pun intended)

[elxsound]

With that logic he wouldn’t have created the thread, genius.

Now you've got it Einstein. Another pointless thread that should have never been started. Asking for something that will never exist (to his own admission in his lifetime) and resistant to any other possible solution and rude to anyone who just tried to help.

It’s almost as if you are suggesting he simply wanted to talk about it. If only he made that more clear like by asking something open ended, like “anybody else?”

I wonder if other people post pointlessly too.

[Teksonik]

It’s almost as if you are suggesting he simply wanted to talk about it. If only he made that more clear like by asking something open ended, like “anybody else?”

You mean "anybody else" want something that will never happen ? Shall I start a thread asking for a $1000 plugin that will generate chart topping hits with one push of a button ?

I wonder if other people post pointlessly too.

You mean like your posts ?

Hey at least I tried to help by suggesting the only possible solution available at the time. I even posted examples I found here after a quick search.

And you've done what to add to the thread ?

[Teksonik]

Anyway no such plugin is likely to exist anytime soon if ever. The only other solution has been resisted so there is no point going on.

So I'm out. Have a nice day.

[braj]

Regarding the tech, just wait, when that Adobe thing matures a little, or others like it emerge, and makes its way into the entertainment industry, real singers will be feeling like drummers after drum machines came out. Not outright replaced, but they will get some hefty competition. There will probably be free phone apps doing it, make you sing like Beyonce. $99 sounds like the right price for my budget, or maybe it will be free with my next DAW.

I think you're being way too optimistic that this will exist:

You sing into a mic. The audio then goes through the VST and converts YOUR voice into any singer's voice you want it to sound like and perfectly on key. So, you could sound like Sinatra, Bon Jovi, Meatloaf, Cher, anybody you can think of

.

But hey I hope you're right. I hope such technology will be free in our DAW in the very near future. But I'm not holding my breath......(sort of pun intended)

Yeah, I'm likely being overly optimistic, but 5 years to $99 plugin is not at all unreasonable, and there are compelling uses for it. And there are real dangers for accuracy of evidence on all kinds of levels to be had with it too, so who knows what will happen exactly. I guess that gets further away from the singer focus, but if it did face some legal action or limitations, then music applications would be even more attractive for using the tech.

My bottom line is I think the idea is great.

This is what I'd dig: some future AI enhanced singer that works withing a nuanced physically modelled body, throat, sinus, lips, tongue, a synth of the mouth basically, with all the resonators and modulators and oscillators that exist in the human flesh modeled. You could add 20 pounds to their weight and it would effect the whole voice.

[donkey tugger]

I wonder if other people post pointlessly too.

Never knowingly.

minicock.gif

[Tj Shredder]

If I had something like that, 90% of the negative comments I get on my music would be gone.

I bet any money on the world, that your 90% rate would not change if you had such a tool. And that is also nothing to aim for - getting rid of negative comments!

First: are you fine with your own production, or do you look at it as just being a demo? In both cases all is fine already. In the old days composers would write a score instead of creating demos... Most scores have never been performed, some of them really deserve it...

What is your musical aim? Is it fullfilled either with your own voice or with Vocaloid? Then establish it as style, much more interesting than sounding like a "professional" production with "real" singers...

Don't get fooled by the charts. Most of it isn't interesting at all and will be forgotten soon...

In my head I am always also an inventor. The tool you envision is very possible. They actually exist already in almost every DAW just not in an automated way. We can correct pitches, we ca equalize. Your voice delivers all it needs...
But listen to your critics, is it the pure sound they don't like? If they are not trained musicians, they probably don't know.
Singing is all about human and personal expression. If you are able to tell a story, it will be completely independant of the sound design f your voice. As listener I am interested in the artist as a human, robots are boring...
Investing 1000$ in a teacher who would teach you singing, would much more likely get you off those 90%...
Btw. singing IS FUN - always...

Love your threads. They point to questions all posters here are moved by, filling 8 pages in a short time... That is something VERY valuable...

[elxsound]

I wonder if other people post pointlessly too.

Never knowingly.

minicock.gif

Nobody knows what you mean.

[wagtunes]

If I had something like that, 90% of the negative comments I get on my music would be gone.

I bet any money on the world, that your 90% rate would not change if you had such a tool. And that is also nothing to aim for - getting rid of negative comments!

First: are you fine with your own production, or do you look at it as just being a demo? In both cases all is fine already. In the old days composers would write a score instead of creating demos... Most scores have never been performed, some of them really deserve it...

What is your musical aim? Is it fullfilled either with your own voice or with Vocaloid? Then establish it as style, much more interesting than sounding like a "professional" production with "real" singers...

Don't get fooled by the charts. Most of it isn't interesting at all and will be forgotten soon...

In my head I am always also an inventor. The tool you envision is very possible. They actually exist already in almost every DAW just not in an automated way. We can correct pitches, we ca equalize. Your voice delivers all it needs...
But listen to your critics, is it the pure sound they don't like? If they are not trained musicians, they probably don't know.
Singing is all about human and personal expression. If you are able to tell a story, it will be completely independant of the sound design f your voice. As listener I am interested in the artist as a human, robots are boring...
Investing 1000$ in a teacher who would teach you singing, would much more likely get you off those 90%...
Btw. singing IS FUN - always...

Love your threads. They point to questions all posters here are moved by, filling 8 pages in a short time... That is something VERY valuable...

Let me try to answer your question the best I can.

Am I happy with my production?

To a degree, yes. But not entirely. While I don't hate Vocaloid like some people do (okay, most people) I don't love it either. For one thing, it's very difficult to work with. The tone requires a lot of EQ. It doesn't have all the inflections of a human singer. The dynamics are non existent. I could go on and on about all the flaws but you get the point. It's not my first choice by any means. But given how I hate people and prefer to work alone and I can't sing anymore, it's the only option I have.

There is a community out there that loves Vocaloid. Oddly, I don't feel like I belong there either. Vocaloid is almost like a religion with them. For me, it's just a tool and not one I'm entirely pleased with. So I really don't fit in anywhere. I never hang out at the Vocaloid forum as I find I have nothing in common with these people.

Vocaloid, for certain kinds of music (like Chiptune) is fine. But for doing ballads that have true emotion, forget it.

But until something better comes along, given my contempt for working with others, Vocaloid will have to do.

[braj]

I'm really digging the pitch correction in Reason 10 to fix up my terrible singing. I want something like that regarding a synthetic vocal, something built in a easy to use, right in the audio/midi editor. That's why I never looked into using Vocaloid, that it was external to the DAW just wasn't attractive to me.

[elxsound]

My bottom line is I think the idea is great.

This is what I'd dig: some future AI enhanced singer that works withing a nuanced physically modelled body, throat, sinus, lips, tongue, a synth of the mouth basically, with all the resonators and modulators and oscillators that exist in the human flesh modeled. You could add 20 pounds to their weight and it would effect the whole voice.

Do you mean 20 pounds, like a young Elvis vs. an old Elvis?

Actually that’s where I see this thing taking off for both nostalgic reasons and copyright reasons, but I could see a couple generations from now jamming out to new music from Janis Joplin, Otis Redding, James Brown and Frank Sinatra.

Otherwise I personally don’t have a wishlist for a plugin that I’d pay $1000 for.

Where I would throw money would be on computer performance/speed but more often than not, that’s where I hold back because I hate spending that kind of money... but this thread actually has me rethinking that approach.

[wagtunes]

I'm really digging the pitch correction in Reason 10 to fix up my terrible singing. I want something like that regarding a synthetic vocal, something built in a easy to use, right in the audio/midi editor. That's why I never looked into using Vocaloid, that it was external to the DAW just wasn't attractive to me.

Vocaloid 4 for Cubase editor is a VST and loads into your DAW just like any other VST and is relatively very easy to work with. Had their not been a Cubase editor, I would have never purchased the product because yes, working with something outside your DAW is not something I would ever consider. That's a deal breaker for me. That's why it took me years because I even considered getting Vocaloid.

[mgw38]

Vocaloids are interesting but come with significant limitations. I always felt that it might be worthwhile experimenting with these limitations in more creative ways to come up with something new (like they started to use Autotune as an effect) but have not found the time to do that yet.

Another option to consider for vocals: you do not always need to use an actually existing language to communicate emotion. Probably the best example is the Gladiator theme song by Hans Zimmer which Lisa Gerrard sang in Idioglossia (essentially a made up language). You can actually do that quite well with many of the better vocal Kontakt libraries.

[wagtunes]

Vocaloids are interesting but come with significant limitations. I always felt that it might be worthwhile experimenting with these limitations in more creative ways to come up with something new (like they started to use Autotune as an effect) but have not found the time to do that yet.

Another option to consider for vocals: you do not always need to use an actually existing language to communicate emotion. Probably the best example is the Gladiator theme song by Hans Zimmer which Lisa Gerrard sang in Idioglossia (essentially a made up language). You can actually do that quite well with many of the better vocal Kontakt libraries.

I know exactly what you're talking about. In fact, I did that already with one of my older tunes (before Vocaloid) called "Love Will Come Calling"

https://soundcloud.com/steven-wagenheim ... -tapes-iii