Yamaha Releases Singing Synthesis Software 344
loopdloop writes "The world's first singing synthesis software, Vocaloid, was released by Yamaha this month at the Los Angeles NAMM show. Simply type in the lyrics and notate the vocal expressions to create a completely computer-generated singer. There are also audio demos of the product available." Update: 01/26 21:14 GMT by S : An earlier NYT-authored preview of this software has also been covered on Slashdot.
Anybody ever say to themselves.... (Score:3, Interesting)
This was something I was really interested in when choosing a college major, and thought that I'd get into EE CS and do this. Somehow, I've found myself coding web applications instead.
I'm glad to see somebody's doing it, but man, I think I took a wrong turn somewhere.
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)
World's first? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:I'm impressed. (Score:3, Interesting)
It's been done [nec.com]. Bach was an early [colorado.edu] target [ucl.ac.uk]. Heck, I was writing melody generators and harmonizers 8 years ago (badly, but I was doing it).
Wow... (Score:4, Interesting)
When people hold notes, there are natural fluctuations in the tone, nobody can hold a perfect tone without some audible wax or wane.
But you can hear this simulated amazingly if you listen to that one japanese song with the single male "vocalist".
entirely computer generated music... (Score:3, Interesting)
Now we can finally get rid of these whiny musicians, always complaining about "I need to feed my family" and "I'm a professional and should be paid like one."
Close...this is just the piece of the puzzle that gets rid of those money-grubbing vocalists. Combine this latest development with a computer composition engine [oz.net] and we won't need any musicians at all!
Similar thing already been done on a 386 in 1998 (Score:3, Interesting)
Check out 386DX [easylife.org], his band project. Which includes the 386. That only has 4 MB of RAM and also has to do visualizations and MIDI sound at the same time.
I've had the fortune of seeing him perform live in Linz as well as chatting with him a little, and he came to our school for a lecture. He has a few brilliant projects, maybe you might like WIMP [www.wimp.ru] which he developed with a friend.
omfg (Score:1, Interesting)
Listen [yamaha.co.jp] [mp3]
It is at times disturbingly beautiful.
(It gets bad nearer the end, but I think they did that on purpose because it's a conspiracy)
Re:One for the road... (Score:3, Interesting)
With V drums you can virtually alter drum woods, alter cymbal metals, alter instrument sizes, switch drum heads (pin strip, coated, etc), place tape or foam on your heads, use brushes, grab and mute cymbal crashes, add a custom levels to the snare gate, tight or loosen head, change room acoustics, stick stuff in the bass drum, etc etc.
If you know what your doing you can make them sound real and imperfect just like an acoustic set. However, you -need- a good PA, and you need to sound check the shit out of them before you play (quick set up, long sound check).