Ceren, Author at STUDIO OGIEN

Setting Up Voice Colors in OpenUTAU

About OpenUTAU’s Voice Colors

Voice Colors (also referred to as subbanks) are an exciting new direction for the OpenUTAU software, improving upon the usage and development of multi-expression voicebanks. Until now, users of UTAU have had a strict way to go about using Appends. For a monopitch voicebank with the additional expressions added in, creators of UTAU voices could configure appends with suffixes. Users could then plug the suffixes into the SuffixBroker within the software, or manually add the suffix to each note to achieve the desired effect. For example, a “Soft” append may include the suffix “S”, users would then add this letter onto the end of a note to make the software play that notes for that specific append.

The Old Way

To achieve a multi-pitch, multi-expression voice, creators would have to either split up each append (ex: soft, power, and the base voice all released and used separately) OR the creator of the voicebank would have to use the same pitches for each expression to be able to use all three voicebanks at the same time (ex: all pitches of soft, power and the base voice would all be recorded at A3, C4, C5). Such an example is our very own KASAI OG01 SALIENT voicebank.

These issues add difficulty when developing new voicebanks, as many voice providers find it difficult to keep the same range for such different tones of voice. Luckily, we no longer have either of those problems with OpenUTAU Voice Colors. Essentially, every Color can have its own, unique prefix-map. In short, this gives users the ability to assign different ranges and suffixes to different voicebanks.

An Example

Let’s say a voicebank includes three appends; Soft, Power, and Base. Let’s also assume each of these voicebanks has three pitches, but they all use a different set. Soft might use F3, A3, C4. The base may use A3, D4, and F4. Meanwhile, Power might include G3, E4, and A4. That’s very complicated and pretty much impossible to use together in UTAU. Some samples would be used on totally different ranges than they were meant to be used for, causing a rather chaotic sound. In this scenario, within UTAU, it’s better just to split these voices up to use individually.

HOWEVER, with OpenUTAU’s Voice Colors, we can now assign all three appends to their correct ranges. Soft can use F3, A3, and C4 where they are meant to be used, and the same goes with the other two.

OpenUTAU Voice Colors Tutorial — An Example of Defined Voice Colors

The New Way

In comes OpenUTAU’s Voice Color feature! A handy new tool that gives UTAU creators a greater scope of diversification for their expressions and range. The Voice Color feature is essentially the SuffixBroker’s natural evolution, becoming more and more like commercial vocal synthesis products. Users no longer have to plug Suffixes in individually or through a series of menus. Rather, simply make sure “CLR” is available to use at the bottom of a track, and make sure you are using a UTAU configured for Voice Colors. If not, we’ll teach you how to set that up in just a minute.

Okay, so what makes this so great? Just how easy is it to use? Well, that’s a simple question with a simple answer. By just the press of a button, or a click and drag, users can quickly and easily alter numerous suffixes at the same time. No more rooting around in readme files to copy and paste special characters!

Awesome, how fun! Now we have greater flexibility than ever before to develop interesting and unique voicebanks. However, as OpenUTAU is still very fresh and new, it is going to have some issues as it continues to evolve. One such issue is setting up Voice Colors themselves. There’s not a lot of documentation or help just yet on that, so setting OpenUTAU’s Voice Colors up? A little tricky.

Setting Up Voice Colors in OpenUTAU

Let’s go through the process of setting up Voice Colors! The developers behind OpenUTAU have made this process pretty darn easy. Today, I am working on porting over APOLLO OG0X, so she will be the voicebank used in this example. Let’s go to Tools > Singers.

Ah, here we are in the lovely Singers window. Here, we can see a list of all our subbanks, their aliases, Sets (folders), sample names, phonetics, and prefixes. Extend the window out to see even more information!

Let’s set up some Voice Colors. Go ahead and click “Edit Subbanks”.

Alright, here’s where the magic happens, and things get a little tricky. APOLLO OG0X’s VCV includes three voicebanks. Original, Breaking, and Murmur. Let’s set those up, so I can show you an issue you may stumble upon. Click “Add Color” and enter the name you wish. I’ll start with “Original”, her default singing voice.

This one is a super easy monopitch voicebank, as it has no suffixes or prefixes. Simply hit save.

Boom. Done. One color down. Now, let’s set up an append. Click “Add Color”, and name the append like before. Now, grab the suffix used in the oto.ini for this specific voicebank. Hit “Select All”, add the Suffix into the Suffix box, and hit “Set”.

Looks good. Hit save and repeat for all appends.

Voice Color Issues

All right, everything looks good, now let’s test it!

Ah… Uhm… Remember that tricky bit I mentioned beforehand? Yeah, this is it. As OpenUTAU is still in the early stages of development, it’s going to have some little bugs here and there. Notice how “Breaking”, APOLLO OG0X’s power bank, doesn’t assign her suffix to the note? At this time, on January 18th, 2022, OpenUTAU prioritizes Voice Colors alphanumerically. If the name of the default voicebank comes after the name of an append in the English alphabet, OpenUTAU assumes it is the default voice and won’t add a Suffix. This is just a simple override issue that may change!

For now, let me show you a quick, easy fix. Go back through Singers > Select the UTAU > Edit Subbanks. For this instance, I’m selecting Original.

Simply hit “Rename”, and give it a name that, alphabetically, comes before the names of any append. For this example, I chose “Base”. I’ve also seen others simply use quotes (“”), which also works. Click “OK” and then “Save”. Go back to your track to check….

There we go, all fixed! So long as the default voice has a name that comes first alphanumerically, it will stick to the bottom of the Voice Colors list and should function properly. As OpenUTAU develops, this trick may become unnecessary, but, for now, it is here to help, and so are we!

A Quick Tip

You set up your voice colors, you tested them and they worked, but when you loaded a UST… What the heck!? Why aren’t they working!?

Here’s a nice quick fix. You may notice the UST imported in this example is in VCV format. Hit Ctrl + A to select all. Go to Lyrics > Japanese VCV to CV. This will turn the UST back to CV, and OpenUTAU will automatically convert the notes into VCV as seen below. We have only tested this with VCV voicebanks at the moment, so if you are employing a different method, you may need to experiment!

LET’S HAVE FUN WITH VOICE COLORS!

Check back soon for more tutorials on OpenUTAU!

Need more assistance with UTAU and creating your very own voicebank? STUDIO OGIEN has compiled resources to use with the UTAU software. Check it out here! If you can’t find what you’re looking for, please let us know through our contact form or leave a comment on this article. We can’t wait to see what you create!

What The OGIENOIDs Would Look Like If They Were Real

Our team got to thinking, “What would all the OGIENOID girls look like if they were real or in our world?” Well, we decided to find out! Thanks to the incredible machine-learning website Artbreeder, we were able to create real versions of the girls. Ah, if only they were real.

Real life KASAI OG01 rendition — KASAI OG01

With a mop of curly black hair, KASAI’s image is certainly met here! Her large, blue eyes are truly striking.

The OGIENOID fashion icon VIRTUS gives off such a warm and kind aura!

THEIA’s youthful yet strong face demonstrates such confidence!

Real life HONOS OG04 rendition — HONOS OG04

A very androgynous individual, HONOS OG04 is a strikingly beautiful person in this realistic rendition!

DIONE’s kind and wise face truly brings out her character. Anyone could truly turn to her comfort.

Real life AXIS OG06 rendition — AXIS OG06

A rendition featuring both of her eyes, funny enough! This rendition truly captures how striking AXIS’s mint-green shade of hair would be in real life.

Real life ATLAS OG07 rendition — ATLAS OG07

ATLAS’s realistic rendition is so soft and pastel! In real life, she would certainly own a closet full of softcore fashion!

Lastly, here’s APOLLO! Between her smug look and menacing eyes, no one would mess with this icy girl!

What did you think? Do they match how you imagine them? Let us know your thoughts!

– STUDIO OGIEN

How To Use ATLAS OG07 CELESTIAL JP VCV Multipitch

Introduction to ATLAS CELESTIAL Multipitch VCV

ATLAS OG07 “Celestial” is a 7-pitch Japanese VCV style Voicebank developed by STUDIO OGIEN. Released in 2015, “Celestial” is the second addition to The Goddess Series, a mini-series of voicebank releases based on the OGIENOIDs’ alter-egos in another world.

How To Use ATLAS OG07 Celestial

Using Multi-pitch

“Celestial” consists of 7 unique pitches that are auto-configured using the Prefix.map function in UTAU. As long as the user does not remove the Prefix.map file, the multi-pitch functions of Celestial will work without any additional effort. From this point, a user can carry on as if they are using a normal VCV voicebank.

Using VCV in UTAU

For those new to the VCV voicebank format, let’s learn how to use it in UTAU! First, load up the desired Voicebank and UST file (if you have one). There are two scenarios here: the UST is either formatted for VCV or it just isn’t. Not every UST comes in VCV format, but you may really, really want to use the UST. Fear not, there are many options to remedy this situation!

The tedious method that we aren’t going to actually consider a method, but rather a painful last resort: Add the preceding vowel to the lyric: Let’s say you have two notes “か” (ka) and “あ” (a). Simply add an “a” in the same note as あ. Simply, あ now becomes “a あ”.

The easiest method (that, unfortunately, costs money): UTAU Shareware: If you have the shareware version of UTAU, you can simply hit the auto VCV button, and UTAU will turn the vowels into VCV!

Other methods: Plugins: Some plugins may convert the CV vowels into VCV without altering the rest. Others may turn the entire UST into VCV. Experimentation is key! IroIro is our favorite recommendation, as the plugin has many other useful features packed into it as well.

Navigating to your installed UTAU plugins

If you have IroIro Installed, follow Tools > Plug-Ins(N) > IroIro. Select CV -> VCV and click OK.

Once your UST is in VCV format, you are ready to proceed.

Fitting a UST to a VCV Voicebank

Fitting a UST file to a UTAU Voicebank will definitely improve the sound and make your covers appear more professional. By fitting the UST, you are telling the software to conform to that particular UTAU’s configurations and setup (OTO). This is an important step if the UST was not explicitly made for the UTAU you are using, and it helps to improve the fluidity and clarity of the voice. So, let’s do it!

To start:

Open a UST file
Select all (Ctrl+A)
Right-click on a note
On the pop-up, select “Property” or “Region Property” (if you selected all notes). A new window will appear.
You may notice sections on this window labeled “Preutterance” and “Overlap”. To their right, there is a “Clear” button. We want to click that.
Next, at the bottom of the window, there is a box labeled STP.
1. If it has a value, delete it.
2. If the box is grayed out, double-click the box to clear it.
Press “OK”
In the top right of the main window of UTAU, you will see a group of four buttons (ACPT, P2P3, P1P4, RESET).
1. Click RESET
2. Then click P2P3
3. Next, P1P4
4. P2P3 again
5. Click ACPT (You can click this multiple times if you see any red “!”, and it may take care of those. More on that in just a second!)
That’s it! You’ve fit the UST to your VCV Voicebank

Special Characters, Envelope Issues and Other Problem Samples

Special Characters

Example of notes with special characters

While fitting a UST to your UTAU, you may find errors highlighted as red “!” along the way. VCV is a popular method and widely employed, so a user may run across custom notes, properties, and expressions within a UST. Your UTAU may not have these special notes and sounds, so, we need to run through a few options.

Manual removal
1. Simply edit each note, one by one, and delete the extra symbols.
SuffixBroker (for custom characters at the end of a note such as an up or down arrow, a number, or another special symbol)
1. Select the notes you want the characters removed from
3. Found under: Tools > Built-in Tools > SuffixBroker
5. Leave the box blank, click OK, and now the Suffixes are gone! PLEASE NOTE: this does not always perform 100%. Make sure to double-check your work.
Third-Party Plugins

Much better!

Envelope Issues

How to use UTAU VCV Voicebanks: editing envelopes

The error still shows up, and, more confusingly, the sound sample exists and your oto is fine. Grr… Now that’s frustrating! But we have a fix. Let’s check and edit some envelopes!

Very carefully, right-click on the note. A new pop-up will appear. Hover down to “Envelope…” and click on it.

And…

YIKES! That’s pretty bad! Worry not, there’s a simple fix. Let’s click “Normal”. 9/10 times, that does the job.

If the error still persists after hitting “Normal”, simply drag the red boxes around until they look, well, normal. Click OK and it should be good to go!

Much better, and now our “!” is gone. We are ready to tune and mix!

Using VCV in OpenUTAU

For tracks made from scratch, start by clicking the “+” icon on the left-hand side. A new track like so will be created.

Click on “Select Singer” and choose a voice. In this instance, we will choose Atlas CELESTIAL.

The voice is loaded. Now, we must tell OpenUTAU what type of voicebank she has. Click on “DEFAULT” to open a new menu of options.

Select “[JP VCV] Japanese VCV Phonemizer”. We are ready to use VCV in OpenUTAU!

For Existing USTs:

Go to “File > Import Tracks…” and choose a UST of your liking.

You may notice the singer data is saved from the UST file. You may or may not have this UTAU in your library. Either way, we are wanting to use Atlas CELESTIAL in this example as well. Go ahead and click on the singer’s name to open a new menu.

Select the preferred singer by clicking their name. In this instance, we will choose Atlas CELESTIAL.

The voice is loaded. Now, we must tell OpenUTAU what type of voicebank she has. Click on “DEFAULT” to open a new menu of options.

Select “[JP VCV] Japanese VCV Phonemizer”. We are ready to use VCV in OpenUTAU!

How To Use ATLAS OG07 Original Japanese VCV

Introduction to ATLAS OG07 Original VCV

ATLAS OG07 “Original” is a Japanese VCV style Voicebank developed by STUDIO OGIEN. Released in 2018, she is the first member of the OGIENOID character subset collectively known as “The Triad,” her counterparts being HONOS OG04 and VIRTUS OG02. Her voice suits pop, rock, and EDM genres with a broad range of expressions, among other music types. Currently, she is the OGIENOID with the largest selection of Monopitch appends.

ATLAS OG07’s “Original” voicebank is an assortment of four different VCVs, each in a unique timbre (the character or quality of a musical sound or voice as distinct from its pitch and intensity). “Original” is a normal singing voice, Lullaby (a soft voice), and Endure (a powerful voice). This voicebank combines three voicebanks into one, allowing the user to plug in “↑” or “↓” into the UST from the SuffixBroker for appends. Making all voices available to use in one UST helps make editing, tuning, and mixing faster and easier.

Using ATLAS OG07 Original

Using The Included Appends

ORIGINAL

“Original” is ATLAS OG07’s default voice and will play so long as the user understands how to control VCV UTAU voicebanks. No additional steps are necessary to utilize this tone.

LULLABY

Select or enter “↓” into the UST from the SuffixBroker. By default, it should be included in the base installation of UTAU.

ENDURE

Select or enter “↑” into the UST from the SuffixBroker. By default, it should be included in the base installation of UTAU.

Using VCV in UTAU

For those new to the VCV voicebank format, let’s learn how to use it in UTAU! Firstly, load up the desired Voicebank and UST file (if you have one). There are two scenarios here: the UST is either formatted for VCV or it just isn’t. Not every UST comes in VCV format, but you may really, really want to use the UST. However, there are many options to remedy this situation!

The easiest method (that, unfortunately, costs money): UTAU Shareware: If you have the shareware version of UTAU, you can simply hit the auto VCV button, and UTAU will turn the vowels into VCV!

Other methods:

Plugins: Some plugins may convert the CV vowels into VCV without altering the rest. Others may turn the entire UST into VCV. Experimentation is key! IroIro is our favorite recommendation, as the plugin has many other useful features packed into it as well.

Next, if you have IroIro Installed, follow Tools > Plug-Ins(N) > IroIro. Select CV -> VCV and click OK.

Once your UST is in VCV format, you are ready to proceed.