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Vocaloid Voice - Soul Singing Synthesis
Are you tired of listening to poor quality voice synthesis? Had enough of those monotone recitations of email? Wondering what to do with all those song lyric sites strewn across the Internet? You're in for a treat.
Yamaha has developed Vocaloid, a software application that can be trained to sing like anyone, from Bing to Beyonce. But for now, you'll have to be satisfied with Leon and Lola, two digital soul singers (isn't that an oxymoron?). Zero-G will be releasing these two musical "fonts" in January.
Here's what it does:
"LEON is a virtual male soul vocalist modelled on a real professional singer, and when he is installed into your PC he will literally allow you to create singing of superb quality and realism. LEON will sing ANY words you ask him to in English - literally anything - be they beautiful lyrics or comical trivialities, Monteverdi madrigals or manic chants."Fans of science fiction of course remember the synth-chips and most especially the talking head computer output device from Neuromancer, William Gibson's award-winning 1984 novel.
Update 16-Jun-2021: Take a look at the technology for creating the perfect voice, predicted in 1931 by Bernard Brown; the perfect voice from Prima Donna 1980. End update.
Update 12-Jan-2024: See also multiple sample voice from The Shining One (1937) by Nat Schachner. End update.
See the product announcement at Zero-G.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 11/25/2003)
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I might also be thinking of K-9 from Doctor Who.
