#//i play with openutau a bit

[spectrumspace]

Cringetober Day 12: Hatsune Miku/Vocaloid

I actually don't have, like, a strong preference for any Vocaloids besides Miku, but there's quite a few characters for other software that I quite like. They're friends.

[bmpmp3]

I KNOW every person says this about every medium, art form, hobby, etc. ever, and always specifically about whatever time they get really really really into said hobby BUT i do genuinely think, at least from a software perspective, that we're probably on the cusp of some kind of vocal synth renaissance. the scene never died or even wavered, but with the sheer amount of new software coming out both paid and free, voicevox getting a singing update,stuff like OpenUtau making compatibility easier... i don't care for subscriptions so im only interested in their perpetual licenses but i will admit voisona's subscription model for voicebanks has a lot of benefits for those who just wanna use a voice maybe once or twice.... there are so many robots to make sing you guys. there are so many.

[naivedesla]

New Releases, Voicebanks and Updates!

Hello everyone! We have updated our website with some news you might like. All of them are detailed under the Read More cut.

However, the following is a summary (relevant updates to users marked in bold):

Home page edits

Voices page(s) updated

Glucagon's voicebanks updated

New released voicebanks

Fixed website URLs

Credits page updated

Other news about "coming soon" voices

First of all, the front page was cleaned up and there's a new release! Yay!

Second, the Voices menu!

As you probably have noticed, there are two new Voices: Bakira and SC-122-Sonia.

Bakira will have her own release post. Her voicebanks are already up for distribution again, however the sound samples in the website do not work yet, and display Glucagon's samples instead.

SC-122-Sonia was not updated yet for re-release, so the DL links and the play samples do not work. You might notice the preview shows the display a bit broken... I'm unsure why it shows like that, however the website should look good.

Third, Updated voicebanks!

Glucagon's page was updated with new links as well as his voicebanks!

Both releases (UTAU / OpenUTAU) updated the readme links and made some adjustments to the oto.ini, specifically the hiragana aliases that behaved like duplicates. Some Artwork was included as well.

Fourth! URLs were fixed and Credits page was updated!

You might have noticed (or not), but all the URLs used to be kind of "copy-of-copy-of..." That's fixed now! The URLs now should be displaying the name of the page you are in.

As well, Credits page was updated. Glucagon's credits displayed the wrong name, now the credits mention Fractured Hope Co. as it should be.

Sadly, the Credits page is missing some details and the Projects page is still a work in progress (oops). We hope to fix that with the remaining credits for the front page and Bakira and SC-122-Sonia's credits.

Last, but not least important: Comming Soon (& other news)

Now, this is probably a wall of text divided in sections: new voices, wiki links, addition of affiliated websites, and other miscellaneous updates.

(1)- New voices

There are some voices that only have the wiki, are a wip or have their own website.

Those UTAUs are: Slice, Meast, Nayela Aakiri, Azoa, Captain Papers. (I might be missing a few)

Now, the UTAUs that will 100% be shoved inside the NaiveDesla official website are Meast and Nayela Aakiri. However, Slice could also be included. This has not been decided yet.

Azoa and Captain Papers have their own websites, however Azoa has not been granted a public release (yet) and Captain Papers has been shown mostly in the Wiki page. The idea is to make a "Misc. Voices" menu with similar display to the main Voices, that act as some kind of "backup" or "redirect".

The temptation of creating an UTAUloid group of a project wich we will codename NOTE is very high, as well as making an UTAUloid for a specific inkling-like character. If this last option is done, Slice could be moved to a different website for Splatoon UTAUs. This is not decided yet.

(2)- Wiki page links

One of the upcoming additions is the presence of links to each UTAU's Wiki. That should be an easy way to get detailed information about each one of them and their voicebanks.

(3)- Affiliated websites

Another upcoming addition is the presence of a page for Affiliated websites. This includes easy access to other UTAU's pages and our own. However, the possibility of moving these to Contact page instead is very high.

(4)- Misc. Updates

The Carrd page should be updated soon, and our Tumblr pages as well. We should be making a Wiki page and add Altericide in our website as our "sister project".

[auspicious-voice]

UTAU Tutorials - Multipitch & Multiexpression Voicebanks

Hi! Here's a bit of a heads up: I've switched to using OpenUtau (an open-source alternative for UTAU), so if I post any screenshots concerning UTAU in general, chances are it'll use OpenUtau. Thanks!

That being said, it's been a hot while since I wrote a tutorial. I've been holding off this one for a while until I released my UTAUs' recent updates, and considering the format of those voicebanks, we'll be taking a look at multipitch (and multiexpression) voicebanks. This is not a tutorial on how to record those voicebanks, and it's meant to provide an overview of what they are and what purpose they have in general.

Multipitch Voicebanks

OH BOY. Multipitch voicebanks. They tend to be bigger than monopitch (one pitch) voicebanks since they contain multiple pitches. They can be in any format, but they often appear in either VCV or CVVC.

Multipitch voicebanks are VERY popular in the UTAU community for a variety of reasons, which I will get to later.

The Setup

When you open a monopitch voicebank folder, the you can already see the .wav files, frq. files, and all that kind stuff that makes a voicebank sing. In the case of multipitch voicebanks, every single pitch is organized in a folder and the folder name is named after the note (suffix/prefix) the pitch was recorded in (e.g. A3, D4, etc.). This allows for easier management when making a multipitch voicebank, but that doesn't stop there.

The oto.ini of a pitch is a bit different, because when you open one, you can see something like this:

The major difference between the oto.ini configurations of a monopitch and a multipitch voicebank lies in the suffix (or prefix) being used in the aliases. Why does every pitch need a suffix? The answer lies in the prefix.map file, which automates how a multipitch voicebank functions.

Every multipitch voicebank contains a prefix.map file. Normally, monopitch voicebanks don't need one due to their nature, but multipitch voicebanks cannot function properly without a prefix.map that is configured.

When you open a prefix.map file (with Notepad or any text-editing program), you can see on the left side the notes of the piano roll, and on the right side the pitches the multipitch voicebank was recorded in. Every configured pitch can now play according to the note range it is set in, and when you play it in UTAU, all of these pitches will come together to make a great singing voice.

What are the benefits?

The benefits of using (or even making) multipitch voicebanks is that it gives the UTAU you're using a wider range compared to a monopitch voicebank, meaning that they won't distort as much in either the higher or lower octaves. It also makes the UTAU sound more natural as a result.

Ideally, the spacing between pitches is at least five semitones to allow for the most optimal results, so keep that in mind when you record multipitch voicebanks.

Multiexpression Voicebanks

Now this kind of voicebank doesn't really matter if it's monopitch or multipitch, because it allows multiple appends of the same UTAU to be packaged into one voicebank. It's not an entirely new concept as it has existed since forever, but there's an alarmingly growing trend of UTAUs receiving multiexpression voicebanks.

The Setup

The average setup of a multiexpression voicebank typically involves the normal voicebank, and a couple other of appends such as a power/soft/falsetto append. The normal expression is often configured like a regular multipitch voicebank, but as for the appends, their suffixes are a bit different.

So you notice something in the power append's oto.ini? The suffix in the aliases often have something like "x X■G4". The ■ can either be a letter or a kanji that corresponds to the voicebank.

How does this play out in the editor?

Notice how two of the notes have a weird-looking suffix to them. These suffixes will activate a certain append, with 弱 activating the soft append and 強 activating the power append. So the voice goes from a soft > normal > powerful voice in the process, all in one track.

HOWEVER, if you want all appends to work seamlessly, you would need to record all expressions with the same pitch setup AND according to the prefix.map, otherwise the appends won't work at certain parts.

But in OpenUtau, we have the Voice Colors feature, which allows you to use multiple appends recorded at very different pitches all within the same voicebanks. Say you have a normal voicebank append at A3, D4, and G4, and the power append is recorded as G3, C4, and F4. This setup would not work in UTAU unless you brute force it with adding a suffix to the notes, but OpenUtau's Voice Colors features allows you to use both appends within the same track through the use of prefix.map. It's a VERY convenient feature if you want to combine several voicebanks into one neat package.

What are the benefits?

The great benefit to using multiexpression voicebanks is that by using multiple appends within the same track/UST, you get a realistic, expressive voice. It is INSANE that you can get very nice results with the help of using different suffixes, and it's a game changer when making covers.

Conclusion

Multipitch and multiexpression voicebanks are just one of the many voicebank types that are very popular in the UTAU community. Should you use them or even record one? I think that's entirely up to you, so go use any kind of voicebank you feel comfortable using. I like to talk about voicebanks for the most part, so I hope this post hlped you in some way.

Thanks for reading! ^^ I'll try to work on other tutorials when I can.