Let's Singing Robots

I've been interested in voice synthesisers for a long time (vocaloid, UTAU, that kinda stuff) and have recently got into actually making music with them

I use a program called Alter/Ego which is free and has one free voicebank at the moment called Daisy:


here she is, holding her tiny hat


the program can work standalone by taking in midi input (which is how I use it) or as a plugin

here's a quick rundown of how it works:


you can type in text normally, like this, and the program will automatically break the words into sounds and syllables for you, which can then be played using midi input, like an instrument


or you can switch to X-SAMPA mode (like the IPA, but only using ASCII) and type in sounds and syllables individually
I like using this mode because I get a lot more control this way

there are a lot more settings that control the way the voice sounds but I wont go into those because there are Too Many


anyway here's some actual music I've made with this thing:


this is the first song I made with Alter/Ego, when I was just trying to figure out how to use it

it's a cover of that 13th century deer fart song


here's an example of a reason you'd want to use X-SAMPA mode: emulating an accent

Alter/Ego (or at least Daisy) defaults to a General American accent, and that's not what you want if you're trying to emulate Gordon Lightfoot, a known canadian

here's what Alter/Ego gives you if you just type in the lyrics normally so you can compare it to the X-SAMPA subtitles I put in the video



anyway I hope that was interesting. right now I'm working on a cover of please mister postman (the carpenters version) with the pronouns switched so it's more gay
I'll post updates on how that's going, probably

it's taking a while because I keep getting distracted