last night and this morning has mostly been a lot of plug and play, going through files, throwing on auto tuning, and just seeing what hes like. even tho dreamtonics library continues to grow, and some sound similar... its not like i own all of them (my only others are Ryo and Feng Yi), so i knew Yuma would be a much needed addition to my very feminine library and im glad he exists for changing up the gendered vibes.
general use-- quality wise hes better (imo) to me than Ryo, who i still have issues with in his quality which is a shame. hes also much more limited, since Yuma is "younger" toned and meant for a higher range. but! that doesnt mean he doesnt have a good low range. not as low as Ryo or other males. but the way he sounds from high to low is very satisfying. he has a really nice head voice when he gets high enough, but a reall good strong power voice is also possible just around that range too.
with his vocal modes- Power, Gentle, Airy, and Solid.
soo at first i was... i little dissapointed. it did not seem to me like they were making a huge difference... i started messing around a lot to figure out the best use of them- and its not that they dont sound different but, rather i think theyre more noticeable on certain ranges? Gentle seems more obvious to me really low, or really high (for falsetto, but its still very slight). Gentle does add a nice sound to his existing voice but it just isnt super apparent until you listen to him a lot. Airy kinda does what youd expect, and i really dont think its super obvious on any range but higher ones, for that head voice kinda sound. Power is the most obvious sounding in the middle and high range. solid is not super obvious to me either but i hear it best on low/mid range.
it might just be me, and the fact i havent had him long. but i will note my other important discovery... Yuma and especially his vocal modes work best with tone shift. took some messing around to see how i could get him to hold a solid powerful voice in higehr ranges, bc the Power mode alone didnt always do the trick. But lowering the tone shift in high range really really helps, and some of those vocal modes become more obvious (power + low tone shift or gentle/airy + high tone shift). using a higher tone shift in his mid/low range helps bring up some strength too, or gives a boost to the softer vocal modes. in general i dont think id be liking Yuma very much if the toneshift didnt end up saving some of the issues i was having, and even still i have mostly been using Power and Gentle.
not a real critique, but sadly his high range onto goes so high- it cane be a tad annoying when he hits his limit, because some songs not in the male range are too much... but some male range songs are too low. not happening too much, but its occurred with a few files i had so, dont expect him to reach the same range as a female voice... he starts to do that thing where it gets are hoarse and corrupted haha.
obvious i havent dont anything finished with him, not tuning anything from scratch. but im very happy with the quality, mostly after Ryo kinda dissapointed me there. in general i think hes a good addition especially if you dont have a lotta voices and are considering a boyish voice. he is the only "boyish" aimed voice... and i do think his tone is enough to distinguish him from Saki that, while more technical sides may be similar, she is still aimed at being feminine.