


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.
Re:Anybody ever say to themselves.... (Score:2)
walk the walk, or talk the talk (Score:3, Insightful)
Great. (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Anybody ever say to themselves.... (Score:2)
Anyway, didn't you see the banner posted above? "Abandon hope, all ye who click here."
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Deja Vu (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Deja Vu (Score:2)
Re:Deja Vu (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Deja Vu (Score:2, Funny)
I've been in love with computers ever since.
er...
Re:Deja Vu (Score:2, Funny)
Me: The kids at school are picking on me again.
DS: Why are the kids at school picking on you again?
Me: I dunno...
DS: Why do you dunno?
Re:Deja Vu (Score:2)
But both he an Eliza agreed I was a psychopath. Which I'm not. Anymore.
So long as I keep taking my Paxcil.
Re:Deja Vu (Score:3, Funny)
mod parent up (Score:2)
Re:mod parent up (Score:2)
Her Talking Dict is from Thailand, a handheld translator more or less, that pronounces words and defines them for you. Strangely enough it was engineered in Berkeley, CA and sounds alot like SID.
Re:Deja Vu (Score:2)
Would you mind enlightening me on your research/classwork? I'm interesting in chasing a master's in this field.
Re:Deja Vu (Score:4, Funny)
Has Simon Cowell (American Idol) reviewed this software?
Is not (Score:5, Insightful)
Frankly, this thing just really needs a good plug-in format, like TDM or VST and it will be a gold-mine- not unlike those god-awful pitch-correction plugins that were reputed to give Cher that plastic effect to her voice (like she doesn't have enough plastic as it is). As a standalone app, it is doomed.
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
Re:One for the road... (Score:2)
Wow, I didn't know Tony Verderosa [tonyverderosa.com] posted to Slashdot!
Re:One for the road... (Score:5, Funny)
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." Now all of those unskilled morons can be sent to fill up the thousands of food preparation and customer service jobs that our public school system can't seem to find enough people for.
Sorry about the offtopic (tongue firmly in cheek) rant. You're right. this does sound like a fun toy.
Re:One for the road... (Score:2, Insightful)
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 engin [oz.net]
Re:One for the road... (Score:2)
I'm a drummer too... and unfortunately, I think we were the first to get replaced.
Heck now it's got'n so cheep that Apple will let you bust out MIDI or WAV looped percussion for $50bucks
Re:One for the road... (Score:2)
Have a listen to my failings at our website [mentation.nl], though. No, really. I didn't reply just so that I could plug our worthless shit. As if.
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, gr
Re:One for the road... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:One for the road... (Score:2)
Re:One for the road... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:One for the road... (Score:2)
I'm impressed. (Score:3, Funny)
Re:I'm impressed. (Score:5, Funny)
Well partly done. I'm sure you could program a computer program to make Teeny boober songs in an afternoon.
@lyrics = "Baby, ooooo, love, ooooo, dance, oooo, uhuhuh";
You get the idea
Re:I'm impressed. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:I'm impressed. (Score:2)
Re:I'm impressed. (Score:2)
Re:I'm impressed. (Score:2)
Are those different than Teen Bopper? Am I getting modded funny for the "boober" or the idea?
Close the loop... (Score:5, Funny)
Think of the time it would free up, and the money it would save - you would never have to buy CDs. *cough* of course, some people have already eliminated that expense.
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).
Re:I'm impressed. (Score:3, Insightful)
World's first? (Score:3, Interesting)
So... (Score:3, Funny)
...this is where Britney Spears' talent comes from!
Re:So... (Score:5, Insightful)
Sorry, but,... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:So... (Score:2, Funny)
The reason you're not modded up to 5... (Score:2)
Makes Milli Vanilli look talented (Score:2)
I prefer SimpleText... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:I prefer SimpleText... (Score:2)
and I thought "fitter, happier" WAS a Macintosh?
In other news... (Score:5, Funny)
Only a first step (Score:5, Funny)
Feh! They might be able to program something that sings better than Britney, but until they integrate it with something like this [realdoll.com], Ms Spears' talents will continue to be in demand...
Re:Only a first step (Score:2)
Re:Only a first step (Score:2)
Seriously - I'd love to see the tech from one of those Japanese robots used in a Realdoll. That'd just be too cool - a sex doll that can get you a beer afterwards.
Sadly, I don't drink beer.
Yay! No more Britney! (Score:2, Funny)
Not to mention that the computer is far sexier.
fp! (mine) (Score:2, Funny)
Re:fp! (mine) (Score:2, Funny)
BattleIdols!
Where engineers compete to build the best computer synthesised pop singer.
Re:fp! (mine) (Score:2)
Idoru Battle Zero!
Finally.. (Score:2)
Re:Finally.. (Score:2)
Sure it can sing (Score:2)
I might actually hear some talent at my job for once
so, i hear that (Score:4, Funny)
Re:so, i hear that (Score:5, Funny)
They now need to work on (Score:4, Funny)
While their "Volcaloid" tech is nice, their "Lyricoid" tech needs work.
"The world's first singing synthesis software"? (Score:2)
Perhaps next month we will get to see an article by Slashdot on the subject of Mitsubishi releasing the world's first car.
Actually... (Score:5, Informative)
This is new? (Score:3, Funny)
Seriously, I'm sure that this new software is much better. At least I sure hope so...
Simone (Score:3, Informative)
Interestingly enough, this made me think of something I read in William Gibsons blog a long time ago. I don't know where it is now though. It was about how in the future, people will be able to take a movie or something on their computer, and tell the computer to replace all the actors heads with dog heads for example, and change what they do and say with simple commands. Perhaps this software is the lower level beginning of making that happen, we'd just need some higher-level controls to make it easy for everybody to use.
After listening the demo's, all I can say is (Score:3, Funny)
(No disrespect intended).
Mandatory Radiohead quote (Score:4, Insightful)
Comfortable
Not drinking too much
Regular exercise at the gym
(3 days a week)
Getting on better with your associate employee contemporaries
At ease
Eating well
(No more microwave dinners and saturated fats)
A patient better driver
A safer car
(Baby smiling in back seat)
Sleeping well
(No bad dreams)
No paranoia
Careful to all animals
(Never washing spiders down the plughole)
Keep in contact with old friends
(Enjoy a drink now and then)
Will frequently check credit at (moral) bank (hole in the wall)
Favours for favours
Fond but not in love
Charity standing orders
On Sundays ring road supermarket
(No killing moths or putting boiling water on the ants)
Car wash
(Also on Sundays)
No longer afraid of the dark or midday shadows
Nothing so ridiculously teenage and desperate
Nothing so childish - at a better pace
Slower and more calculated
No chance of escape
Now self-employed
Concerned (but powerless)
An empowered and informed member of society
(Pragmatism not idealism)
Will not cry in public
Less chance of illness
Tires that grip in the wet
(Shot of baby strapped in back seat)
A good memory
Still cries at a good film
Still kisses with saliva
No longer empty and frantic like a cat tied to a stick
That's driven into frozen winter shit
(The ability to laugh at weakness)
Calm
Fitter
Healthier and more productive
A pig in a cage on antibiotics
Don't bring me down... Bruce! (Score:5, Funny)
Really Bad Synths (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Really Bad Synths (Score:2)
After letter it cycle a few times, I'm preferring these singers to actual voices. It's like getting the Moog element for free. There's quite a few songs I'd like redone with this tools.
It's got a long way to go, but it's an interesting stage of output.
Re:Really Bad Synths (Score:2)
I can't think of any legendary singer who had a generic color to his or her voice. Janis Joplin certainly wasn't famous for the nondescript tone of her voice, neither Dylan, Robert Plant, Bob Marley, Bono, or any other singer that (in my opinion) deserves a penny for his or her work.
I'm sure it has some
Re:Really Bad Synths (Score:3, Insightful)
Think "new tools at an artist's disposal", and "dawn of a new type of digital instrument" instead. If you want this software to sound good in your music mix, you're going to have to invest a considerable amount of time and effort setting it up properly and recording it properly. Therefore, it takes
SingTab (Score:2)
first **commercial** software (Score:2, Informative)
I can't find a link to an actual demo of it simulating a human voice, but here's a page [berkeley.edu] that documents its use to reproduce the sound of a suling (javanese wooden flute). Does a good job
Been done before, just in shareware! (Score:2)
The software is of (lesser) but similar quality to the demos I just checked out for this new engine.
But, it also begs the question: what *really* is the purpose of software designed to replace humans going to be used for besides... replacing humans?
The appeal seems to be to small-time musicians/hobbyists (no money to pay people) and big-time corporations (wanna keep more money for themselves). 8/
Re:Been done before, just in shareware! (Score:2)
That's exactly what it is supposed to do. You see, they found that singing was the one job performed by a human that was not well suited to outsourcing to India. Think Apu sings The Doors.
Creative singing text (Score:2)
It did a great rendition of "Itsy Bitsy Spider". * grin *
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".
Re: (Score:2)
VocalWriter (Score:2)
What about VocalWriter [kaelabs.com] for the Mac. Allegedly, "the world's first music synthesizer that can actually sing your lyrics", it's been around at least 5 years now ...
"The world's first singing synthesis software..." (Score:2)
Not the only person working on this... (Score:2, Informative)
asx and webpage html (Score:3, Informative)
In case the direct "save/play" links do not work with your browser and OS, just replace the asx with mp3, and enjoy.
No Mac version of Vocaloid? (Score:2)
I know we're a small percentage of the population... but not in the music industry. Windows and linux studio machines are like big foot to me. I see evidence that they exists, and every once and a while I catch a glimpse of what appears to be one. But, for the
prank calls... (Score:2, Funny)
Although...most idiots out there fall for the midi based voices anyhow...
Sound's like Norman Spinrad's _Little Heroes_ (Score:2)
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.
Groupies (Score:2, Funny)
been there.... (Score:2)
here [versiontracker.com] is a more recent version of the concept from 2001
Re:great... (Score:2, Funny)
sigh... dancing, singing robots?, its been done [nsync.com]
Re:Awesome! (Score:2)
Re:Human voice (Score:5, Insightful)
Emotions are an information processing system that works holistically, priming the logical parts of the brain for the kind of work they will need to do. Big orange and black stripey thing running towards you? Prime the brain for a flight or fight response rather than curiosity, i.e. "Run, it's a tiger!" not "I wonder if this orange and black stripey thing wants to play?"
There remains the problem of qualia. That is, a robot may look for all intents and purposes as if it is having emotions, but does it feel the same things internally as we do? Unfortunately, there's no real way of knowing if even other humans feel the same thing we do.
When the day comes that a robot belts out a blues song about someone done it wrong and broke it's heart, we will judge it in the same way we judge human singers: Does it look and sound authentic, or is it faking it? If it looks and sounds authentic, I believe that we will take it for granted that it feels the same as we do, just as we take it for granted in other humans.
Re:Human voice (Score:3, Insightful)
Consider: For the purposes of this thread, AI is considered incomplete due to inability to simulate emotions why? Because it's arg
Re:Human voice (Score:2)
Re:Human voice (Score:2)
that sounds like anthropomormising. but evidence does exist -- you can get antidepression pills for your doggy. go figure.
Re:Human voice (Score:2)
Lispy
Re:Human voice (Score:4, Funny)
Ah'll be BECK.
Re:FEAKING ENCODING FORMAT!!! (Score:2)
What's Linux user to do???
Copy the link destination for the ASX file and replace the extension with MP3. Voila.
Re:Quality (Score:2, Insightful)
So it fits right in with most of the pap on the top 40.
The real sham is all the manufactured music that's been out there for years and increasing. Just program it a dictionary and it'll do rap, too.