Question Using Vocal-synths as a beginner

[Luxie]

Should I give up?
I’ve been practicing on Eleanor Forte and a Miku ENG demo. I want to be able to use and understand the process to at least make covers, and all I was able to make sound good was Mary and the Little Lamb. A bit discouraging. I’m hoping to get Luka V4X for Christmas and I’m afraid that I won’t be good enough to use her. What should I do? Should I sit back and realize that I won’t be able to understand it in 3 months time?

 

[___]

Like any other hobby, it's a craft that takes time and practice, a lot of covers you love that you've heard? Those people are guaranteed to have few years under their belt.

What motivated me to practice is the thought of doing the voicebanks I love, a justice, Luka isn't something to reward yourself with once you're good enough, she's someone you should practice with because you like her.

Of course, we don't see into your head, you know the best whether it's a hobby worth investing into for you, but I don't think you should be quitting based on your current skill level because we all have been beginners.

 

[inactive]

We all start out as beginners. Experts are the people that never gave up.

 

[mobius017]

Like any other hobby, it's a craft that takes time and practice, a lot of covers you love that you've heard? Those people are guaranteed to have few years under their belt.

What motivated me to practice is the thought of doing the voicebanks I love, a justice, Luka isn't something to reward yourself with once you're good enough, she's someone you should practice with because you like her.

Of course, we don't see into your head, you know the best whether it's a hobby worth investing into for you, but I don't think you should be quitting based on your current skill level because we all have been beginners.

I completely agree with this.

Speaking about my own experience, I know that, especially near the beginning, there are times where you can feel overwhelmed. Starting from zero, sometimes it seems like each new thing you learn makes you aware of something else that you feel like you need to learn. Combine that with your excitement to make something good, and maybe with your passion for your synth/wish to do them justice, and it's easy to feel inadequate.

I think it's important to think of the process of learning to use your synth and make music as a journey that you and your synth take together. Being bad at first and stumbling, or finding rocks (things you've never seen before) and having to climb over them, isn't something to feel bad about--they're just other aspects of your journey, other events that happened along the way.

 

[peaches2217]

You’re at a slight disadvantage here: English is a difficult language to synthesize. As such, it’s always going to sound a bit off, especially in sample-based programs like Vocaloid. But as everyone here has said already, you’re gonna stumble a lot on the beginning, and that’s just part of the process. You’ve got this! We’re all here to help and give feedback if you’d like, otherwise we’re all here to cheer you on.

 

[Ibis]

As a beginner myself I’ve got to say: You’ve just got to keep going. It’s going to be rocky at the beginning, sure, but you’ve got to stick through it and keep practicing. Your first few songs or originals may not be amazing, but keep in mind that they are helping you grow, and you can ALWAYS remake them later. The best advice I can give you is to not gatekeeper anything for “when you are good enough at it”. It wont be any fun if you limit yourself due to your skill level, and if it isn’t fun, you wont continue. And hey, in three months time if you hate what you’ve made, it just means you’ve grown! You won’t get better if you don’t do anything, so give it your best shot! If in a few months you realize it really isn’t for you, at least you tried. and trying is always better than doing nothing.

 

[AmazingStrange39]

You’re at a slight disadvantage here: English is a difficult language to synthesize.

Yeah, though Japanese is also ridiculously easy to (just compare the simplest Japanese UTAU to the simplest English UTAU), so...

 

[lIlI]

Something that will be good to figure out is what part of the process exactly is giving you struggle - most producers have tips and tricks they use that make the process easier. Is it working out how the software functions, or getting the correct notes and timing?

You might find this resource by mobius017 really useful!

 

[IO+]

Just chill and have fun with it or take a break if you like, you can give up but you can also coming back again, this is the beauty of the hobby.
It take sometime but in just 3 months is too short. How about giving yourself another 3 months? so you won't burn out.

 

[mobius017]

Since you're working on covers, I would also suggest that you take a look at our Tuning resource. Depending on where you're at currently, I'd suggest not worrying about it too much right away--just focus on getting comfortable with using your DAW, making or using downloaded MIDIs, and adding notes/lyrics to your vocal synth. When you're ready to take a step into deeper work getting the voice to sound more human, have a look at the Tuning items then.

Within the tuning items, I'd similarly suggest taking it somewhat slowly. I'd suggest trying phoneme replacement first, then experimenting with adjusting the parameters (e.g., breathiness, dynamics, brightness, etc.), and then maybe getting into pitchbending. Just take things slowly and get into things as you need them and feel comfortable. There's no need to try to master everything right away; I certainly haven't.

 

[Luxie]

Miku's pronunciation is starting to improve. I'm working to see what pitches work right for both Miku and Eleanor. Miku tends to be just above C3, and Eleanor slightly above the VOCALOID.
There's a test I did, it's rather okay.