I tried using VOCALOID5 to take on the challenge of singing a male vocal song.

favorite_borderLast updated:2018/12/19

I tried using VOCALOID5 to take on the challenge of singing a male vocal song.

• DTMermilk cocoa
  Former IT engineer. I use a wind synthesizer. I make songs using Vocaloid and CeVIO, and sometimes I invite a vocalist to create songs as well. I originally was a half-baked DTM user who only made backing tracks for instrument practice, but after discovering Vocaloid and following its evolution, I fell deep into it—just a music lover. I use Vocaloid 2 Megpoid, Vocaloid 3 IA, and ONE from CeVIO Creative Studio.

A ballad rich in dynamic contrasts

https://www.

youtube.

com/watch?v=SuFScoO4tb0

Because “Honesty” is a song that builds from a gentle opening into a climactic final chorus,The vocals also grow louder and more expressive to match it.

In VOCALOID4, variations in loudness could be expressed with Dynamics, but I’ve mentioned before that it’s weak when it comes to accents.

This time, “Honesty” isn’t just about dynamics; it also features vocals with strong growls, especially in the chorus.

Expressions like these have been difficult to achieve with singing synthesis software.I’d like to explore how far I can push expressive capabilities with VOCALOID5.

The basics of adjustments are the exciter.

After creating the off-vocal track in your DAW, launch the VOCALOID5 voicebank.

Since VOCALOID5 is a system compatible with VSTi, it can be used with any VST-compatible DAW.

It also supports AU plugins such as Logic on Macintosh, so there are many environments where it can be used on both Windows and Mac.

First, create a container for each phrase in the VOCALOID5 Editor and input the melody.

Once the melody is programmed, insert the lyrics and adjust the parameters.

At first, I’ll listen to the original track and make notes on intonation and dynamics.。

I’ll draw a curve with the Exciter parameter to reproduce the perceived intensity variations.

When things don’t go as you hoped and you feel like something’s off…Try humming it yourself to check where the stress falls, and then press the Alt key to identify the stressed syllables—this should make adjustments easier.

Vary the voice with pitch and crescendo

Expressions like a vocal break when jumping to a high pitch (not the pitch itself) or a crescendo on a low long tone that makes the voice sound thicker can be reproduced by varying the Character parameter.

In the chorus’s higher-pitched sections, I made sure to raise the Character parameter as well to change the tone of the voice, in an effort to bring it closer to the original performance.

Before introducing the chorus and at the end of the chorus for long sustained notes, I intentionally lower the Character parameter to make the voice sound thicker.

By adjusting the Character parameter along with the Exciter, you can achieve more nuanced, detailed expression.

Make use of phrase samples.

VOCALOID5 comes with a large number of phrase samples.

This time as well, for the “oh ooh” phrase in the break section, I imported a similar vocal phrase from the phrase library and inserted it after adjusting the pitch and accents.

The phrase library is extremely useful as a reference for accents and distinctive vocal styles, as well as for how to use phonetic symbols.

Especially if you're a beginner and not sure what to do, I think it would be helpful to quote phrases from the phrase library and check their contents.

Previous articleWe’re also distributing the vocal data for songs created with it, so please feel free to use it if you like.

https://rainbowsound.

cafe/2018/11/07/vocaloid-5-starry-lovers/

If your singing skills or the quirks of the library end up showing

This update (5.

There were parts where the quirks of the skill were too strongly reflected in (2).

If the pitch jumps unintentionally in certain parts, lower the parameter for those sections using the Emotion tool.

If you lower it to a value quite close to zero, the pitch jumps will disappear, so for any unintended parts, reduce Emotion first and then use pitch bend to write in the movement as a workaround.

If it’s at the beginning of a vocal line or the tail end of a note, one option is to simply overwrite it using Attack and Release effects.

In this data, we distinguish between the sobbing-like portamento added with the Attack effect and the portions accompanied by voiced sounds, for which we used grace notes.

We sometimes hear comments like “Attack and Release effects are hard to use and don’t yield good results,” but if you assign them appropriately in the right context, you can enhance expressiveness while also reducing the amount of work.

The direction of the library is important.

What bothered me throughout when inputting “Honesty” was Chris’s actual voice; even if I wanted to make it thicker and more composed like Billy Joel’s, there were aspects that couldn’t be addressed just by tweaking the parameters.

I’ve tried using Chris and Amy so far, but the standard bundled libraries feel a bit rough around the edges.

After listening to the results from other libraries released by third parties, I still think it’s better to introduce additional libraries that match the direction of the track.

The bottom is still nowhere in sight.

How was the result this time?

There are still parts where we haven’t fully captured the quirks, but there are also aspects where the expressiveness has clearly increased compared to conventional VOCALOID.I’d be happy if this gives you even a small sense of what’s possible with VOCALOID5.

It seems we still aren’t fully utilizing VOCALOID5’s capabilities, and it isn’t showing us the limits of what it can do yet.

I think there are many ways to use it—whether bringing it closer to human singing or creating phrases that only a VOCALOID can sing—but once you master VOCALOID5, it will help you create wonderful works.

Please be sure to give VOCALOID5 a try.