[DECtalk] OT: Another Singing Synth!

Tue Nov 22 13:12:39 EST 2011

Daisy is a major one, with good reason. I don't know the exact historical 
details, but I think sometime back in the 1960's some programmers at Bell 
Labs programmed an IBM mainframe to sing that song. As far as I know that 
was the first singing computer. That program inspired a certain scene in 
2001 a Space Odyssey. I won't say any more about that to avoid spoilage. 
So that's why lots of people make synths sing Daisy.
Jayson

----- Original Message -----
From: "Raymond Grote" <musicalman1 at comcast.net>
To: "DECtalk Discussions" <dectalk at bluegrasspals.com>
Date: Tue, 22 Nov 2011 12:58:15 -0500
Subject: Re: [DECtalk] OT: Another Singing Synth!

> Well, by substitute I meant something like Vocal Writer. I love the sound 
of 
> that synth and I thought Syng would be able to sound closer to that than 
DT. 
> And in some ways it does. I'll post some stuff in a bit. Maybe i'll even 
> recreate some synth classics, like Penny Lane and or Daisy Bell. Every 
> singing synth like this seems to have a demo for one or both of those.
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Alex H." <linuxx64.bashsh at gmail.com>
> To: "DECtalk Discussions" <dectalk at bluegrasspals.com>
> Sent: Tuesday, November 22, 2011 12:26 PM
> Subject: Re: [DECtalk] OT: Another Singing Synth!
> 
> 
> > No, well I didn't think it was a DT substitute anyway. Nothing can
> > replace that beautiful synth! Yes, if you can post an MP3 of it, even
> > though it's not perfect, please do. I'm interested to hear this now!
> > :)
> > thanks,
> > Alex
> >
> > On 11/22/11, Raymond Grote <musicalman1 at comcast.net> wrote:
> >> Well, this thing doesn't look like it's all I thought it would be. It's
> >> certainly different from Dectalk, but it sounds rather strange. I made 
a
> >> file of the ABCs, and even after spending around two hours on it, I 
> >> could've
> >> done much better with Dectalk. So, I think Syng is more made for a 
> >> singing
> >> robot sound effect, not for actually sounding like a person. You can
> >> understand the words, but they won't sound natural. I'd compare it to a
> >> Braille N speak type of synth sound, or an 80s synthesizer.
> >> It definitely has its place, but it is not a Dectalk substitute! I 
wasn't
> >> going to post any mp3s of it since  it didn't work out as I had 
expected,
> >> however I am rethinking that decision and I might post some when I 
have 
> >> more
> >> made. I can't find any audio demos of it from anyone else, at least in 
my
> >> brief search, so maybe i'm not very good at it yet.
> >> I'm pretty certain i'll post some demos for you to here, but still let 
me
> >> know anyways if you want them or not. If enough people say no I won't
> >> bother, but if people want to hear, which I expect many do, then I 
will.
> >>
> >> ----- Original Message -----
> >> From: "Alex H." <linuxx64.bashsh at gmail.com>
> >> To: "DECtalk Discussions" <dectalk at bluegrasspals.com>
> >> Sent: Tuesday, November 22, 2011 11:17 AM
> >> Subject: Re: [DECtalk] OT: Another Singing Synth!
> >>
> >>
> >>> Nice! Sounds pretty cool. Yeah, I'm not a MIDI expert by any means, so
> >>> it's over my head right there. lol
> >>> thanks for posting though, sounds very cool.
> >>>
> >>> Alex
> >>>
> >>> On 11/22/11, Raymond Grote <musicalman1 at comcast.net> wrote:
> >>>> Hi,
> >>>> Just thought I'd inform you guys about a singing synthesizer This 
isn't
> >>>> the
> >>>> best list to put it on since it doesn't have much to do with 
Dectalk, 
> >>>> but
> >>>>
> >>>> it
> >>>> has to do with singing synths. If you're a musician and are on any 
midi
> >>>> and
> >>>> audio mailing lists or forums, you might want to post it there 
because 
> >>>> it
> >>>> might gain interest. Maybe some already use it.
> >>>> So, what is it? It's called Syng, and it is a vst plugin.
> >>>> Here's a little bit about it. You control it with midi, so if you're 
> >>>> not
> >>>> well rehearsed with that, I would recommend getting somewhat 
familiar 
> >>>> on
> >>>> that if you want to go through the trouble. On channel 1 you put the
> >>>> notes
> >>>> you want to sing, easy enough. The vocal range is very wide, in fact 
i
> >>>> don't
> >>>> see a limit yet, but I'd obviously stick to the middle, it sounds 
much
> >>>> better there. On channel 2 you put the phonemes. It's sort of like
> >>>> playing a
> >>>> drum set, where every note is a different drum sound, in syng there 
are
> >>>> forty-nine notes given to the forty-nine phonemes.
> >>>> For anyone who doesn't understand any of that, please do not torture
> >>>> yourself trying this. I don't want to be held responsible for your
> >>>> frustration.
> >>>> To keep from boring casual listers, I'll keep the rest of this brief.
> >>>> It's a
> >>>> freeby, which means you have to pay for it. Zero buks, in fact. 
Pretty
> >>>> cheep, eh?
> >>>> The manual, which is in pdf format, is readable, but there are a few
> >>>> tables,
> >>>> like those that describe the midi stuff, which are pretty confusing. 
> >>>> Not
> >>>> only because the content is confusing but because of the layout. If 
it
> >>>> gains
> >>>> enough interest I'll consider converting it to text and making it 
easer
> >>>> to
> >>>> read, and maybe i'll write some stuff in myself if i'm brave enough.
> >>>> As for how it sounds? The phonemes are in UK English, according to 
the
> >>>> manual, so it will probably sound British, but to me it sounds
> >>>> australian,
> >>>> with the little i've played with it. I haven't ventured to look for 
> >>>> demos
> >>>>
> >>>> of
> >>>> it yet since I'm still learning it, and I don't want to get 
> >>>> disappointed
> >>>> with how bad it really is, or here how bad I am. I'm working on some
> >>>> productions of my own, and if it's half decent, I'll make some demos 
of
> >>>> my
> >>>> own and give links to other demos if I find any. So with that said, 
the
> >>>> link
> >>>> to download it is:
> >>>> http://www.xoxos.net/vst/vst.html
> >>>> Click on the link that says "Download Syng2"
> >>>> If you have any specific questions about how to do something, or what
> >>>> something technical means, I'd recommend asking off list, although it
> >>>> really
> >>>> doesn't matter to me. It's more for the mods, owners, and other 
listers
> >>>> who
> >>>> aren't interested.
> >>>> Enjoy!
> >>>>
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> >>
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