sherbet42

Teto's Territory
"Soho is the consumer version of our engine and is targeted at music producers and creators. Soho is a virtual instrument plugin for producers to allow them to add synthetic vocals to their productions for the first time ever."

Is anyone amused by this or is it just me. If they mean by the company they aren't making it that clear huh.
 

Chianachini

Ruko's Ruffians
Defender of Defoko
"Soho is the consumer version of our engine and is targeted at music producers and creators. Soho is a virtual instrument plugin for producers to allow them to add synthetic vocals to their productions for the first time ever."

That's a very good catch. It's one thing to promote your product using misleading or exaggerated claims, but this is completely false. Emvoice didn't invent the wheel.

I agree, Rodolphe should correct himself.
 

Melomad

Ritsu's Renegades
Defender of Defoko
What should the CEO explain??? "Hi yes this is a vsti plugin"???
Let's wait until the engine is out to see if it's worth it or nah. It's unproductive to tear up a product when it's not even out.
 

Info-Chan

SELENA Developer
Tutor
Supporter
Defender of Defoko
What should the CEO explain??? "Hi yes this is a vsti plugin"???
Let's wait until the engine is out to see if it's worth it or nah. It's unproductive to tear up a product when it's not even out.
You're missing the point.

He should come and clear up misunderstandings, questions, and concerns so that it doesn't seem like they have a white sheet in front of us and won't tell us why. There is 0 transparency from the actual company.
 

Melomad

Ritsu's Renegades
Defender of Defoko
You're missing the point.

He should come and clear up misunderstandings, questions, and concerns so that it doesn't seem like they have a white sheet in front of us and won't tell us why. There is 0 transparency from the actual company.
Go ask then your questions then! They wont come on UF.
Also do you know that almost every company with a new product have 0 transparency? It's to avoid other companies stealing their ideas! Yeah I know! They can't just unveil everything when the project is so new!
 
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na4a4a

Outwardly Opinionated and Harshly Critical
Supporter
Defender of Defoko
For most of us it's not about the fact it has no transparency. That's normal.
It's the fact they are pretending that competition doesn't exist and it's 100% new and amazing technology. ...and they're marketing their product to a nonexistent market.

Really no one gives a damn about transparency, it's about presentation.
If it's not complete enough to provide more information then they shouldn't of made it public yet.
 

RodolpheO

Teto's Territory
Defender of Defoko
Hey all,
Just discovering the debate here so I thought I would give my point of view.
First, I already apologized to SynthJ because I handled this situation pretty badly. I should at least have consulted him before publishing this letter. His level of training is beyond the point - @ SynthJ like I wrote you, I’m extremely grateful for your work, and your dedication. And I hope I can prove it in the future.

Second… When we say on the website “for the first time ever”, it simply means that producers don’t use vocal synths yet, outside of a relatively small scene. For example, the only example I know in the whole history of mainstream / western pop music is Mike Oldfield, who once used Vocaloid to create backup vocals. Correct me if I’m wrong!

But If you look at everything that has been a hit in EDM / pop / house etc in the last 20 years, there’s no vocal synth at all - not in Daft Punk, Skrillex, Gorillaz or Diplo. And we want to take vocal synthesis to the mainstream, not necessarily in the form of virtual pop stars, but simply in every producer’s toolset.

So that was the point - I agree it’s all pretty clumsy, and I’m still learning to adjust my communication. Thank you all for you support, at least those who don’t hate use yet :-)

PS yes, Julian is based on multipitch (3)
 
P

partial

Guest
Hey all,
Just discovering the debate here so I thought I would give my point of view.
First, I already apologized to SynthJ because I handled this situation pretty badly. I should at least have consulted him before publishing this letter. His level of training is beyond the point - @ SynthJ like I wrote you, I’m extremely grateful for your work, and your dedication. And I hope I can prove it in the future.

Second… When we say on the website “for the first time ever”, it simply means that producers don’t use vocal synths yet, outside of a relatively small scene. For example, the only example I know in the whole history of mainstream / western pop music is Mike Oldfield, who once used Vocaloid to create backup vocals. Correct me if I’m wrong!

But If you look at everything that has been a hit in EDM / pop / house etc in the last 20 years, there’s no vocal synth at all - not in Daft Punk, Skrillex, Gorillaz or Diplo. And we want to take vocal synthesis to the mainstream, not necessarily in the form of virtual pop stars, but simply in every producer’s toolset.

So that was the point - I agree it’s all pretty clumsy, and I’m still learning to adjust my communication. Thank you all for you support, at least those who don’t hate use yet :-)

PS yes, Julian is based on multipitch (3)
Wow, really cool to see you here! Thanks for the clarification. The article I read beforehand left a bad taste in my mouth but this post has cleared it away.
 

RodolpheO

Teto's Territory
Defender of Defoko
Since you're here @RodolpheO , when will you show off SOHO in action? (In a video or a demo release)
Actually we've just started testing the plugin now - we were busy building the engine itself. I hope to be able to show SOHO in action before the end of the year. In the meantime, here is a little additional demo of Julian, singing different words on the same pattern and speaking a little bit. https://clyp.it/vh042yzn#
 

Halo

Icon by Wanpuccino @ DA
Administrator
Defender of Defoko
For example, the only example I know in the whole history of mainstream / western pop music is Mike Oldfield, who once used Vocaloid to create backup vocals. Correct me if I’m wrong!

But If you look at everything that has been a hit in EDM / pop / house etc in the last 20 years, there’s no vocal synth at all - not in Daft Punk, Skrillex, Gorillaz or Diplo. And we want to take vocal synthesis to the mainstream, not necessarily in the form of virtual pop stars, but simply in every producer’s toolset.

Hi, not part of the debate here or anything but this isn't quite true!

While of course I'd like competent vocal synth to be used more often in mainstream western music, and you're right that it's fairly uncommon, there are definitely musicians using older methods of TTS and such as backup vocals or in their beats in general, and quite a few are your rival products (eg: Vocaloid, Alter/Ego, or bundled TTS engines/plugins). Being pedantic, I would say people using vocal synth for more minor beatwork or backup/effects are an audience you shouldn't dismiss either.

Additionally, there are some examples of mainstream western producers using Vocaloid as either main vocals or (like Mike) backup/chorus.
I'd say the most prominent example off the top of my head is probably Porter Robinson. No Daft Punk, but 13mill views on a VOCALOID3 English song that iirc got taken on a mainstream EDM tour is nothing to shrug at;


An issue we have in the VOCALOID/UTAU community, being people who tend to seek out Vocal Synthesis explicitly, is that most mainstream western use of VOCALOID obscure the tech they used because... well, for most it's just another instrument! Unless you're a hardcore fan (like us!) it's not often you'll see someone notate exactly what tool or instrument they used to create a specific sound, after all. It's tech that's been used in a lot of games and a couple of animations, too, sometimes it can be quite hard to pinpoint.

From my perspective (a personal take, and certainly just an opinion) Mike Oldfield's usage may be usage from someone mainstream, but it's kind of small beans, don't you think...? Especially since it's so old. I appreciate that it was unabashed about using VOCALOID and being experimental in that fashion, but there's definitely more recent examples now I should think. I admire the desire to spread the product past the (admittedly limited!) scope of the existing Vocal Synthesis Fan niche, but while that may be a mainstream name, VOCALOID English producers do have some clout too. Got users getting some good numbers and developing a more mainstream following (which I personally hope to see develop into breaking into a more mainstream presence over here in the west, similar to how many Japanese producers moved on to mainstream producer roles), the kind of audience that's reaching can't be dismissed imo... Though often still, it's mainly reaching a very Online audience, haha. Fans of games and movies, the like, a bigger niche but still a niche.

All in all, I'm very much looking forward to SOHO. I'm sure we all would like to see vocal synth more widely embraced in the western mainstream, so I do hope to see that goal come to fruition. On a personal level I love the sound, even though I'm more of a hobby user when it comes to commercial engines, I could see myself using it!

Cheers, and looking forward to seeing more development from you guys! This wasn't intended to be overly critical or anything, just felt like throwing some thoughts out there. We're all a little too passionate about our Vocal Synth here, but we'd all be happy to see this project take off like it should!
 

Info-Chan

SELENA Developer
Tutor
Supporter
Defender of Defoko
Yes, Lucy is the name of the new voice. It's really a preview, because we've recorded only one pitch so far. Lucy is quite easy to use. While the results may vary, "she" sometimes has a very natural response like in this example https://clyp.it/juuwwb2d?token=ab037be19876d785f5395d545951f3c7
Again, extreme notes are not that nice yet, but I think the expression is.
She sounds nice, do you know if you are going to open to beta testers soon?

I also ask, will the voices have characters?
 
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RodolpheO

Teto's Territory
Defender of Defoko
She sounds nice, do you know if you are going to open to beta testers soon?

I also ask, will the voices have characters?

Voices won't have characters I think, as they really are tools to inspire composers rather than "individuals". Public beta should be available in about 3 months