Now shipping! Vocaloid PRIMA - a brand-new plug-in VIRTUAL VOCALIST modelled on the voice of a professional soprano opera singer, and powered by the all-new Yamaha VOCALOID2 Singing Synthesis Technology.
PRIMA is a virtual female vocalist modelled on the voice of a professional soprano singer. NOTE: You can buy Prima as a boxed DVD version (see this page) or as a DOWNLOAD. The content of both versions is identical.
Once PRIMA is installed into your PC she will allow you to create synthesized singing of unprecedented quality and remarkable realism.
MIKE OLDFIELD is just one high profile artist who has used Vocaloid to add a new dimension to his music (for example the Vocaloid sound is a key element in his album "Light & Shade" - check out the hauntingly hypnotic single he released from it, "Surfing").
Prima will hit those high notes every time with perfect accuracy.
Whether it's soaring leads, harmonies or backing vocals, Prima can sing any word from the English language (and other languages too with a little work).
Prima is also very well suited if you want to be adventurous and experimental, since her voice can be easily modified and shaped in many ways.
In addition to singing any words or combination of syllables or phonemes you can imagine, PRIMA will spread any sustained vowel (or voiced consonant) across as many notes as you like, with perfect legato. You can select from several different natural vibrato types and drag and drop your chosen type to any note or notes, and control the time-position and amount of the vibrato.
And that's just the beginning - you have control over all of the following parameters, which you can bring to bear on any part of your creation:
- Changing syllables/phonemes
- Timing of each note (precise position/length).
- Vibrato (you can change its type/position/amount/frequency).
- Volume
- Attack.
- Crescendo or diminuendo
- Pitch bend (amount, and positionable in time).
- Glide (portamento).
- Resonance (Frequency/bandwidth/amplitude)
- Harmonics.
- Noise.
- Brightness
- Clearness.
- Gender factor.
"..I was skeptical about opera vocals fitting in with anything I produced, but once I discovered that you can tweak Prima's character and tone quite handily, I found many successful uses for it. Admittedly, I didn't use Prima for her intended purpose of lead soprano. Instead, I found her perfectly suited in creating "dream" harmonies in trance numbers and soaring, lush, expression-filled backing vocals to edgier pop singers I'd been working with. By playing around with syllables and phonetics, you can literally make Prima sing anything, and in any language. Inspired by this, I created some very cool ethnic vocals to drop atop World beats, and by using the gender-bending parameter, I even coaxed out a male falsetto perfect for sample recreating experimental post-rock work a la Sigur Ros.." (REMIX magazine, USA).
"Despite the soprano singer source, Prima could easily be used for some pop-styles, although the operatic flavour does come through. The MP3 audio examples of 'Mon Coeur S'Ouvre' (from Samson et Dalila) and 'Ave Maria' demonstrate just how credible Prima can sound, particularly with long, legato-style phrases... It is relatively easy to get Prima to produce something that sounds very realistic within the context of a musical arrangement. In fact, it's possible to produce some really strident, window-rattling, operatic vocals... the results can be impressive. As the Vocaloid editor allows up to 16 tracks to be layered, Prima could hold considerable appeal for media composers looking to add some operatic-style backing vocals or vocal 'washes' to their projects... Prima can be made to sound uncannily like the real thing... Prima is undoubtedly the best implementation of a Vocaloid virtual vocalist that's currently available... if you need to add backing vocals or the occasional operatically-flavoured vocal line to a project, Prima will prove far cheaper than booking a session singer... and while it is still not the Holy Grail of a perfect 'singer-in-a-box', Prima does represent another step in the right direction towards that very ambitious target" - SOUND ON SOUND magazine (UK).
Key Features of VOCALOID2
VOCALOID2 is a new version of VOCALOID, which includes major improvements in usability and synthesis quality. Here are the key features: - New GUI: The VOCALOID Editor (score editing tool) of VOCALOID2 has a cool new look with improved user functionality.
- A much more realistic and natural sounding vocal: The synthesis engine of VOCALOID2 uses a different signal processing technique from Version 1, creating a clearer and more natural vocal.
- Realtime Keyboard Performance (VST Instrument): Written lyrics can be assigned a note by touch of a keyboard. Now you can "sing" using a keyboard.
- New functionalities and improvements: Much easier to use functionalities are newly implemented, which reduce workloads in creating your music. Existing functionalities are also improved.
- Note auditioning: If you press a note, singing with lyrics and pitch will be assigned to the note. Instantly check lyrics and notes.
- Transparent control track: Control track for controlling timbre is transparent, so you can check two parameters at once.
- Toggling between Playback and Rendering You can specify playback/rendering mode for each track. By rendering the finished track, you can reduce CPU load in playback. Maximum number of tracks is 16.
- Expression control: You can easily specify musical expression (attack and vibrato) with this intuitive user interface.
Key features:
VOCALOID Editor:
- Piano-roll editor;
- Note editing / Automatic phonetic conversion / Phonetic editing / Note auditioning;
- Transparent control track;
- Toggling between playback/rendering;
- Expression control;
- Synchronization with host sequencer through ReWire
VOCALOID Playback VSTi:
- Playback sequence created with VOCALOID Editor
VOCALOID Realtime VSTi
- Keyboard performance with lyrics input in advance;
- 4 polyphonic
Supported Interfaces & Standards:
VST 2.0, ReWire. (Please note however that VST with Cakewalk Sonar is not supported)
Recommended Retail Price:
$199.95 US Dollars (169 Euros / 114.95 pounds sterling)
System Requirements:-
Windows XP/Vista, Pentium 4 2 GHz/ Athlon XP 2000, 512 MB RAM (1GB of RAM recommended) (2 GB or more recommended when using VSTi realtime)· Approx 4 GB Free Hard Disk Space / DVD Drive.
Catalog (SKU) number: ZG-V4
All product specifications are subject to change without notice.
Availability: This product is NOW SHIPPING - contact your local Zero-G distributor to order your copy now (Click on the flag for your country, on the right of this page).
Vocaloid PRIMA is also available to buy by DOWNLOAD - click HERE for more info.
| AVAILABLE VERSIONS: |
DOWNLOADABLE Version
 Identical contents to DVD version
Buy & download now at: www.prima-vocaloid.com
| | VOCALOID DVD version
Vocaloid2® Singing Synthesis Technology by YAMAHA
Requires Windows XP or VISTA (see system requirements above)
Plug-in Instrument (VST** / ReWire)
| | $179.99 USD (approx £95.00 GBP / 115 Euro) | | RRP: $199.95 US Dollars / 169 Euros / £114.95 pounds sterling (inc. VAT) |
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