From fgirard@hanse.de Thu Apr 20 10:22:15 1995
Path: ashpoly!bigsur!pacrim!krgate!eunha!hanse!fgirard
From: fgirard@hanse.de (Fiona Girard)
Newsgroups: alt.music.synth-pop
Subject: [FLAME] The sound of the 'Vocal Matrix' - pitch quantization vs human formant
Message-ID: <1995Apr20.102215.9588@hanse.de>
Date: Thu, 20 Apr 1995 10:22:15 GMT
Organization: Hanse-Netzwerk Hamburg
NNTP-Posting-Host: hanse.de
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL2]
Lines: 11

Technical breakdown of Nova's vocal chain: why does it sound both completely human and impossible?

Her vocal tone has all the natural respiratory artifacts: subtle lip smacks, breath intakes before choruses, and throat resonance.
Yet the fundamental pitch tracks with a mathematical rigidity that no living vocalist can maintain for 16 bars.

Did Marcus Hale invent real-time formant modeling DSP four years before anyone else in the industry?

-- 
Fiona Girard | fgirard@hanse.de
PGP Key fingerprint: 661E 1C92 1CAA F6BB
"Keep the channels open."

From anakamura@panix.com Fri Apr 21 03:31:15 1995
Path: ashpoly!cascade!transat!eunet-de!hansebox!panix!anakamura
From: anakamura@panix.com (Astrid Nakamura)
Newsgroups: alt.music.synth-pop
Subject: Re: [FLAME] The sound of the 'Vocal Matrix' - pitch quantization vs human formant
Message-ID: <1995Apr21.033115.1443@panix.com>
Date: Fri, 21 Apr 1995 03:31:15 GMT
References: <1995Apr20.102215.9588@hanse.de>
Organization: Public Access Unix of New York
NNTP-Posting-Host: panix.com
X-Newsreader: NewsWatcher 2.0b24
Lines: 10

In article <1995Apr20.102215.9588@hanse.de>, fgirard@hanse.de (Fiona Girard) writes:
> Technical breakdown of Nova's vocal chain: why does it sound both completely human and impossible?
> Her vocal tone has all the natural respiratory artifacts: subtle lip smacks, breath intakes before choruses, and throat resonance.

That's why it hits you in the uncanny valley. Your ears tell you it's a real woman singing her heart out, but your brain detects the mechanical precision.

-- 
=== Astrid Nakamura ===
Dept of Electrical Engineering, Public Access Unix of New York
"Measuring a record you own is listening, not piracy."

From bmacdonald@uu.net Fri Apr 21 20:06:15 1995
Path: ashpoly!cascade!transat!eunet-fi!relcom!kiae!uu!bmacdonald
From: bmacdonald@uu.net (Brian MacDonald)
Newsgroups: alt.music.synth-pop
Subject: Re: [FLAME] The sound of the 'Vocal Matrix' - pitch quantization vs human formant
Message-ID: <1995Apr21.200615.4375@uu.net>
Date: Fri, 21 Apr 1995 20:06:15 GMT
References: <1995Apr20.102215.9588@hanse.de> <1995Apr21.033115.1443@panix.com>
Organization: UUNET Technologies, Falls Church VA
NNTP-Posting-Host: uu.net
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL2]
Lines: 9

In article <1995Apr21.033115.1443@panix.com>, anakamura@panix.com (Astrid Nakamura) writes:
> That's why it hits you in the uncanny valley. Your ears tell you it's a real woman singing her heart out, but your brain detects the mechanical precision.

It's the greatest vocal performance in synthpop history, regardless of whether it came from vocal cords or a silicon chip.

-- 
=== Brian MacDonald ===
Dept of Electrical Engineering, UUNET Technologies, Falls Church VA
"Hold for relay."

From jgarcia@demon.co.uk Sun Apr 23 10:05:15 1995
Path: ashpoly!cascade!transat!ukc!fennimore!demon!jgarcia
From: jgarcia@demon.co.uk (Julien García)
Newsgroups: alt.music.synth-pop
Subject: Re: [FLAME] The sound of the 'Vocal Matrix' - pitch quantization vs human formant
Message-ID: <1995Apr23.100515.2473@demon.co.uk>
Date: Sun, 23 Apr 1995 10:05:15 GMT
References: <1995Apr20.102215.9588@hanse.de> <1995Apr21.033115.1443@panix.com> <1995Apr21.200615.4375@uu.net>
Organization: Demon Internet Services UK
NNTP-Posting-Host: demon.co.uk
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL2]
Lines: 11

In article <1995Apr21.200615.4375@uu.net>, bmacdonald@uu.net (Brian MacDonald) writes:
> It's the greatest vocal performance in synthpop history, regardless of whether it came from vocal cords or a silicon chip.

They weren't using off-the-shelf Eventide gear. They had custom Motorola DSP boards doing LPC (Linear Predictive Coding) resynthesis.

If you are posting from AOL, please read RFC 1036 before posting again.

-- 
Julien García | jgarcia@demon.co.uk
PGP Key fingerprint: 11E9 87F6 2613 1938
"Keep the channels open."