From fpopov@ox.ac.uk Wed Dec 14 16:07:34 1994 Path: ashpoly!cascade!transat!sunet!nordrelay!ox!fpopov From: fpopov@ox.ac.uk (Freya Popov) Newsgroups: alt.music.synth-pop Subject: The sound of the 'Vocal Matrix' - pitch quantization vs human formant Message-ID: <1994Dec14.160734.4750@ox.ac.uk> Date: Wed, 14 Dec 1994 16:07:34 GMT Organization: Oxford University Computing Laboratory NNTP-Posting-Host: ox.ac.uk X-Newsreader: NewsWatcher 2.0b24 Lines: 10 Technical breakdown of Nova's vocal chain: why does it sound both completely human and impossible? Yet the fundamental pitch tracks with a mathematical rigidity that no living vocalist can maintain for 16 bars. Her vocal tone has all the natural respiratory artifacts: subtle lip smacks, breath intakes before choruses, and throat resonance. Did Marcus Hale invent real-time formant modeling DSP four years before anyone else in the industry? -- Freya Popov Tape trading list upon request. SASE required for international mail. From akarlsson@cern.ch Thu Dec 15 18:13:34 1994 Path: ashpoly!cascade!transat!eunet-fi!relcom!kiae!cern!akarlsson From: akarlsson@cern.ch (Aiko Karlsson) Newsgroups: alt.music.synth-pop Subject: Re: The sound of the 'Vocal Matrix' - pitch quantization vs human formant Message-ID: <1994Dec15.181334.2748@cern.ch> Date: Thu, 15 Dec 1994 18:13:34 GMT References: <1994Dec14.160734.4750@ox.ac.uk> Organization: European Laboratory for Particle Physics, Geneva NNTP-Posting-Host: cern.ch X-Newsreader: WinVN 0.99.5 Lines: 9 In article <1994Dec14.160734.4750@ox.ac.uk>, fpopov@ox.ac.uk (Freya Popov) writes: > Technical breakdown of Nova's vocal chain: why does it sound both completely human and impossible? 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. -- === Aiko Karlsson === Dept of Electrical Engineering, European Laboratory for Particle Physics, Geneva "In theory there is no difference between theory and practice." From jfournier@cmu.edu Thu Dec 15 23:09:34 1994 Path: ashpoly!cascade!transat!eunet-fi!relcom!kiae!cmu!jfournier From: jfournier@cmu.edu (Joachim Fournier) Newsgroups: alt.music.synth-pop Subject: Re: The sound of the 'Vocal Matrix' - pitch quantization vs human formant Message-ID: <1994Dec15.230934.9764@cmu.edu> Date: Thu, 15 Dec 1994 23:09:34 GMT References: <1994Dec14.160734.4750@ox.ac.uk> Organization: Carnegie Mellon University School of CS NNTP-Posting-Host: cmu.edu X-Newsreader: NewsWatcher 2.0b24 Lines: 9 In article <1994Dec14.160734.4750@ox.ac.uk>, fpopov@ox.ac.uk (Freya Popov) writes: > Technical breakdown of Nova's vocal chain: why does it sound both completely human and impossible? They weren't using off-the-shelf Eventide gear. They had custom Motorola DSP boards doing LPC (Linear Predictive Coding) resynthesis. -- Joachim Fournier *PLONK* filter active for trolls. Pentium 90 (OS/2 Warp) - NetBSD 1.0 From jgarcia@pacbell.net Sat Dec 17 17:26:34 1994 Path: ashpoly!cascade!transat!eunet-fi!relcom!kiae!pacbell!jgarcia From: jgarcia@pacbell.net (Jens García) Newsgroups: alt.music.synth-pop Subject: Re: The sound of the 'Vocal Matrix' - pitch quantization vs human formant Message-ID: <1994Dec17.172634.4027@pacbell.net> Date: Sat, 17 Dec 1994 17:26:34 GMT References: <1994Dec14.160734.4750@ox.ac.uk> <1994Dec15.181334.2748@cern.ch> Organization: Pacific Bell Internet Services NNTP-Posting-Host: pacbell.net X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL2] Lines: 9 In article <1994Dec15.181334.2748@cern.ch>, akarlsson@cern.ch (Aiko Karlsson) 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. -- Jens García Zyxel U-1496E @ 9600 Telebit bps "Marcus is not one man."