Within Namine Ritsu's CVVC voicebank, there is an extra folder called "eigo", which contains a couple of extra English sounds. I have recently been working with this voicebank, and made myself a basic guide to refer to. Since I don't see many people talk about this library, I figured I would leave my findings in the resource section just in case someone else wanted to use the voicebank, but didn't know where to start.
The English folder can be combined with Ritsu's other voicebanks, such as their KIRE voicebank, although it should be noted that the samples are monopitch, and also sound rather soft compared to samples that would be found in other voicebanks, such as KIRE or EVE.
Please keep in mind that this is not a complete English voicebank, and will not have all of the necessary sounds to accurately synthesize English. It is indended to be used as a Japanese voicebank first, and is almost entirely in kana aside from the add ons. It is mostly just a fun add on for their voicebank, and isn't intended to be used alone. It is also important to note this is a unique reclist, and has been aliased differently than other English voicebanks, such as Kasane Teto's.
Extra consonants:
There are a few extra consonants that have been added for Ritsu's voicebank. There are only a few of them, however.
th- makes a TH sound, such as in the. There are stand alone THs, (such as "thえ”) and there are also VC variants (such as "a th")
ts- makes a ts sound, as in its. It sounds very soft, however. VC only (such as "o ts")
l- makes an english L sound. As far as I know, there are only VC samples (such as "a l")
tut- Exactly what it sounds like. It's a tut sound. Such sass!
Vowel sounds:
Ritsu's vowels are aliased differently compared to English voicebanks, so it is important to keep them in mind. This is also what makes the voicebank hard to learn for most. For these, I will list a word with the same sound, and highlight the vowel sound.
Japanese vowels: these can be used alone, but can also be used for the VC. For example, when writing "a か", the a sound would be an "ah", as listed here.
あ: Ox
え: Bet
い: Bee
お: Go
う: Boom
Extra vowels: aside from @, these are entirely stand alone, and can not be chosen as a vowel for VC samples. This can lead to some choppy sounding words, so be mindful when using these.
@: The
3: Bird
{: That
e+: elderly
i+: it
o+: old
u+: hoof
Please let me know if I missed anything, or if I made any mistakes. I gathered the information from simply listening to the samples and writing down what I heard, so there may be some inaccuracies.
The English folder can be combined with Ritsu's other voicebanks, such as their KIRE voicebank, although it should be noted that the samples are monopitch, and also sound rather soft compared to samples that would be found in other voicebanks, such as KIRE or EVE.
Please keep in mind that this is not a complete English voicebank, and will not have all of the necessary sounds to accurately synthesize English. It is indended to be used as a Japanese voicebank first, and is almost entirely in kana aside from the add ons. It is mostly just a fun add on for their voicebank, and isn't intended to be used alone. It is also important to note this is a unique reclist, and has been aliased differently than other English voicebanks, such as Kasane Teto's.
Extra consonants:
There are a few extra consonants that have been added for Ritsu's voicebank. There are only a few of them, however.
th- makes a TH sound, such as in the. There are stand alone THs, (such as "thえ”) and there are also VC variants (such as "a th")
ts- makes a ts sound, as in its. It sounds very soft, however. VC only (such as "o ts")
l- makes an english L sound. As far as I know, there are only VC samples (such as "a l")
tut- Exactly what it sounds like. It's a tut sound. Such sass!
Vowel sounds:
Ritsu's vowels are aliased differently compared to English voicebanks, so it is important to keep them in mind. This is also what makes the voicebank hard to learn for most. For these, I will list a word with the same sound, and highlight the vowel sound.
Japanese vowels: these can be used alone, but can also be used for the VC. For example, when writing "a か", the a sound would be an "ah", as listed here.
あ: Ox
え: Bet
い: Bee
お: Go
う: Boom
Extra vowels: aside from @, these are entirely stand alone, and can not be chosen as a vowel for VC samples. This can lead to some choppy sounding words, so be mindful when using these.
@: The
3: Bird
{: That
e+: elderly
i+: it
o+: old
u+: hoof
Please let me know if I missed anything, or if I made any mistakes. I gathered the information from simply listening to the samples and writing down what I heard, so there may be some inaccuracies.
