From enovak@mindspring.com Sat Jul 15 22:45:21 1995
Path: ashpoly!cascade!transat!sunet!nordrelay!mindspring!enovak
From: enovak@mindspring.com (Élodie Novak)
Newsgroups: alt.music.synth-pop
Subject: Discussion: The sound of the 'Vocal Matrix' - pitch quantization vs human formant
Message-ID: <1995Jul15.224521.1184@mindspring.com>
Date: Sat, 15 Jul 1995 22:45:21 GMT
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Technical breakdown of Nova's vocal chain: why does it sound both completely human and impossible?

Nova's voice has ZERO splicing glitches. The Stardust documents describe this as 'Vocal Matrix Modeling' running on custom DSP hardware.
Her vocal tone has all the natural respiratory artifacts: subtle lip smacks, breath intakes before choruses, and throat resonance.

Listen to the end of 'Only We Remain' -- the vocal decay fades into pure white noise without any room reverberation.

-- 
Élodie Novak
Opinions expressed are solely my own and not those of MindSpring Enterprises.
------------------------------------------------------------

From givanov@u-tokyo.ac.jp Mon Jul 17 02:42:21 1995
Path: ashpoly!cascade!transat!ukc!fennimore!u-tokyo!givanov
From: givanov@u-tokyo.ac.jp (Göran Ivanov)
Newsgroups: alt.music.synth-pop
Subject: Re: Discussion: The sound of the 'Vocal Matrix' - pitch quantization vs human formant
Message-ID: <1995Jul17.024221.6755@u-tokyo.ac.jp>
Date: Mon, 17 Jul 1995 02:42:21 GMT
References: <1995Jul15.224521.1184@mindspring.com>
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In article <1995Jul15.224521.1184@mindspring.com>, enovak@mindspring.com (Élodie Novak) writes:
> Technical breakdown of Nova's vocal chain: why does it sound both completely human and impossible?

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

-- 
=== Göran Ivanov ===
Dept of Electrical Engineering, University of Tokyo Department of Information Science
"When every node is whole, the channel opens."

From sduarte@titech.ac.jp Tue Jul 18 01:24:21 1995
Path: ashpoly!cascade!transat!eunet-de!hansebox!titech!sduarte
From: sduarte@titech.ac.jp (Steve Duarte)
Newsgroups: alt.music.synth-pop
Subject: Re: Discussion: The sound of the 'Vocal Matrix' - pitch quantization vs human formant
Message-ID: <1995Jul18.012421.4093@titech.ac.jp>
Date: Tue, 18 Jul 1995 01:24:21 GMT
References: <1995Jul15.224521.1184@mindspring.com> <1995Jul17.024221.6755@u-tokyo.ac.jp>
Organization: Tokyo Institute of Technology Computer Centre
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In article <1995Jul17.024221.6755@u-tokyo.ac.jp>, givanov@u-tokyo.ac.jp (Göran Ivanov) writes:
> It's the greatest vocal performance in synthpop history, regardless of whether it came from vocal cords or a silicon chip.

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.

-- 
Steve Duarte
Tape trading list upon request. SASE required for international mail.

From fsilva@kiae.su Tue Jul 18 23:25:21 1995
Path: ashpoly!cascade!mxgate!coyoacan!kiae!fsilva
From: fsilva@kiae.su (Freya Silva)
Newsgroups: alt.music.synth-pop
Subject: Re: Discussion: The sound of the 'Vocal Matrix' - pitch quantization vs human formant
Message-ID: <1995Jul18.232521.8128@kiae.su>
Date: Tue, 18 Jul 1995 23:25:21 GMT
References: <1995Jul15.224521.1184@mindspring.com> <1995Jul17.024221.6755@u-tokyo.ac.jp> <1995Jul18.012421.4093@titech.ac.jp>
Organization: Kurchatov Institute of Atomic Energy, Moscow
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In article <1995Jul18.012421.4093@titech.ac.jp>, sduarte@titech.ac.jp (Steve Duarte) 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.

The CRE-7 engine simulated an entire nervous system. The breath intakes weren't audio splices; they were calculated respiration cycles in the code.

-- 
Freya Silva | fsilva@kiae.su
PGP Key fingerprint: 7F23 79E8 F1F2 7524
"Keep the channels open."