Seran, Author at STUDIO OGIEN

Seran, the founder of STUDIO OGIEN, established the platform in 2014 as a medium to showcase her creative works and stories. With a strong professional background in web development and a lifelong interest in technology, she holds a particular fascination for vocal synthesis. Dreaming of becoming an author, she channels her commitment into crafting captivating narratives through STUDIO OGIEN. She hopes to highlight her genuine dedication to her craft and unwavering pursuit of art through the studio, where she integrates her love for technology and vocal synthesis into her works.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

Fitting a UST to a VCV Voicebank

Above all, fitting a UST file to a UTAU Voicebank will improve the sound and make your covers appear more professional. In other words, this is perhaps the most important step in the mixing process! 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

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! However, sometimes this may not do exactly what you’re hoping. To clarify, this does not always perform 100%, and there are times it may actually remove the latter half of the VCV note. Make sure to double-check your work!
Third-Party Plugins

Much better!

Envelope Issues

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 afterward. 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. After that, click OK and it should be good to go!

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

Using ATLAS OG07 Original 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.

After that, click on “Select Singer” and choose a voice. In this instance, we will choose Atlas OG07.

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”. Finally, we are ready to use VCV in OpenUTAU!

For Existing USTs:

Navigate 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 OG07 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 OG07.

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”. Finally, we are ready to use VCV in OpenUTAU!

How To Use THEIA OG03 Original Japanese VCV

Introduction to THEIA OG03 Original VCV

THEIA OG03 “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.

THEIA OG03’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, Flutter (a soft voice), Swarm (a powerful voice), and Swarm_alternate (a different take on Swarm that is slightly more powerful). This voicebank combines four voicebanks into one, allowing the user to plug in “↑”, “↓”, or “S” 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 THEIA OG03 Original

Using The Included Appends

ORIGINAL

“Original” is THEIA OG03’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.

FLUTTER

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

SWARM

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

SWARM_ALTERNATE

Enter “S” into the SuffixBroker.

Using VCV in UTAU

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:

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.

Fitting a UST to a VCV Voicebank

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

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! However, sometimes this may not do exactly what you’re hoping. To clarify, this does not always perform 100%, and there are times it may actually remove the latter half of the VCV note. Make sure to double-check your work!
Third-Party Plugins

Much better!

Envelope Issues

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 afterward. 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. After that, click OK and it should be good to go!

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

Using THEIA OG03 Original 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.

After that, click on “Select Singer” and choose a voice. In this instance, we will choose Theia OG03.

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”. Finally, we are ready to use VCV in OpenUTAU!

For Existing USTs:

Navigate 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 Theia OG03 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 Theia OG03.

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”. Finally, we are ready to use VCV in OpenUTAU!

How To Use APOLLO OG0X Original Japanese VCV

Introduction to APOLLO OG0X Original VCV

APOLLO OG0X “Original” is a Japanese VCV style Voicebank developed by STUDIO OGIEN. She was released in 2015 as a standalone OGIENOID. The character APOLLO OG0X provides a tomboyish voice with an edge of spite and a unique intonation. Additionally, her voicebanks possess several different expressions, making her an ideal fit for many genres of music, most notably rock and EDM.

APOLLO OG0X’s “Original” voicebank is an assortment of three 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, Murmur (a soft voice), and Breaking (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 APOLLO OG0X Original

Using The Included Appends

ORIGINAL

“Original” is APOLLO OG0X’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.

MURMUR

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

BREAKING

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

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:

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.

Fitting a UST to a VCV Voicebank

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

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! However, sometimes this may not do exactly what you’re hoping. To clarify, this does not always perform 100%, and there are times it may actually remove the latter half of the VCV note. Make sure to double-check your work!
Third-Party Plugins

Much better!

Envelope Issues

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 afterward. 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. After that, click OK and it should be good to go!

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

Using APOLLO OG0X Original 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.

After that, click on “Select Singer” and choose a voice. In this instance, we will choose Apollo OG0X.

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”. Finally, we are ready to use VCV in OpenUTAU!

For Existing USTs:

Navigate 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 Apollo OG0X 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 Apollo OG0X.

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 DIONE OG05 Original Multipitch

Introduction to DIONE OG05 Multipitch VCV

DIO NE OG05 “Original” is a 4-pitch Japanese VCV style Voicebank developed by STUDIO OGIEN. Released in 2022, DIONE OG05 is the first OGIENOID base voicebank comprised of multipitch VCV recordings.

How To Use DIONE OG05 Original

Using Multi-pitch

“Original” consists of 4 unique pitches. These pitches 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 the voicebank 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

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!

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

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

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

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 DIONE OG05.

The voice is loaded. Now, we must tell OpenUTAU what type of voicebank she has. Click on “More…” 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 useDIONE OG05 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 DIONE OG05.

With the voice loaded, we must tell OpenUTAU what type of voicebank it is. 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 AXIS OG06 TELLURIC JP VCV Multipitch

Introduction to AXIS TELLURIC Multipitch VCV

AXIS OG06 “Telluric” is a 7-pitch Japanese VCV style Voicebank developed by STUDIO OGIEN. Released in 2016, “Telluric” was the first installment of The Goddess Series, a mini-series of voicebank releases based on the OGIENOIDs’ alter-egos in another world.

How To Use AXIS OG06 Telluric

Using Multi-pitch

“Telluric” consists of 7 unique pitches. These pitches 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 Telluric will work without any additional effort. From this point, a user can carry on as if they are using a normal VCV voicebank.

“Telluric” includes a Falsetto voicebank as well. By inserting the letter F into the SuffixBroker, or by adding F to the end of a note manually, users can operate this voicebank. The falsetto voicebank is optimized for C5 and above.

Using VCV in UTAU

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!

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

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

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

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 Axis TELLURIC.

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 Axis TELLURIC 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 Axis TELLURIC.

With the voice loaded, we must tell OpenUTAU what type of voicebank it is. 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 AXIS OG06 Original Japanese VCV

Introduction to AXIS OG06 Original VCV

AXIS OG06 “Original” is a Japanese VCV style Voicebank developed by STUDIO OGIEN. First released in 2014, she was developed as a counterpart to her twin sister, ATLAS OG07. The character AXIS OG06 utilizes human voice samples to create her uniquely clear and mature, feminine voice. Additionally, her newest voicebanks offer a crisp, decisive voice suitable for various genres of music such as ballads, pop, rock, and many more.

AXIS OG06’s “Original” voicebank is an assortment of three 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, Revolve (a soft voice), and Lively (a solid 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 AXIS OG06 Original

Using The Included Appends

ORIGINAL

“Original” is AXIS OG06’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.

REVOLVE

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

LIVELY

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

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:

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.

Fitting a UST to a VCV Voicebank

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

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! However, sometimes this may not do exactly what you’re hoping. To clarify, this does not always perform 100%, and there are times it may actually remove the latter half of the VCV note. Make sure to double-check your work!
Third-Party Plugins

Much better!

Envelope Issues

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 afterward. 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. After that, click OK and it should be good to go!

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

Using AXIS OG06 Original 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.

After that, click on “Select Singer” and choose a voice. In this instance, we will choose Axis OG06.

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 Axis OG06 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 Axis OG06.

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”. Finally, we are ready to use VCV in OpenUTAU!

Audacity VS OREMO – Which is Best For Recording UTAU?

Recently, Kiko went over installing the UTAU software, but that leaves us with a question; how do we even record for the UTAU software? Not to worry! We’ve drawn up a small introduction to free audio recording programs for the UTAU software. These two different applications are commonly used with UTAU for recording voicebanks. We will be covering two names that you may be familiar with: the UTAU community’s good friends, Audacity and OREMO.

OKAY…SO WHAT IS AUDACITY?

Well, to put it simply, Audacity gives you the audacity to record. Okay, okay, I’m sorry, I couldn’t help myself.

Ahem. Anywho. Audacity is a free, open-source, cross-platform audio software. It’s a relatively simple program, but it is a great starting point if you are overwhelmed with voicebank recording. With Audacity being so bare-bones, you can use it to learn the basics of recording any audio in general. You can cut, copy, splice, or mix sounds together as well as apply numerous sound effects like pitching a sample up/down.

However, it isn’t the best for voicebanks due to the time and file sizes created when recording. When recording a voicebank, users in Audacity will either need to record one sample at a time, exporting and naming the file afterward, OR they must record in one long track, splicing and naming each recording separately afterward. That’s a lot of extra work! So, why do we still recommend it?

AUDACITY FOR POST-PROCESSING

Audacity is fantastic for post-processing. The software features multi-export, which is a very handy tool. After your recordings are complete, you can drag and drop several audio samples into the software if need be. Many users take this approach when removing background noise from their recordings. Afterward, one may use Audacity’s ability to multi-export each individual track separately, and Audacity will use the track’s name to name the exported samples automatically.

Batch-Processing

Alternatively (and much more fun) is Audacity’s impressive batch-processing capabilities. With batch-processing, a user can create a unique macro (once referred to as a “chain”) of events that Audacity will apply to any audio files within a designated folder. For instance, STUDIO OGIEN uses chains for KASAI OG01 and APOLLO OG0X’s development, as both use Audacity’s pitch effects to procure their unique voices. These chains include information on how high or low to change the pitch of each sample, as well as what file type to export as (.WAV). Their audio files are run through the chains and automatically exported for minimal work on the team’s part, rather than adjusting the pitch on each individual sample.

Audacity’s Macro option, under the Tools dropdown

To create a macro

Go to Tools
Select Macros…
Click “New”
Insert a name for the macro
Choose and inserts effects
For UTAU recordings, make sure to include “Export as WAV”
Save it!

A macro has been created! The user can now apply the macro to their preferred audio samples. Note, in the team’s experience, macros do not work well with the Noise Removal tool.

To use the macro

Go to Tools
Select Macros…
Select the macro
Browse to the file folder and select the desired files
Select Open
The processed files will be placed in a new folder within the folder of the original files

[Download Audacity] – https://www.audacityteam.org/download/

OREMO AND UTAU: BEST FRIENDS

OREMO, developed by nwp8861, is the main audio recording software that STUDIO OGIEN uses in-house. Why? OREMO is explicitly designed to work with UTAU’s voicebank recording methods. The learning curve is upped a bit when you begin OREMO, but many in the community recommend starting with OREMO to help save time and sanity.

One of the best things that OREMO has in its software is auto-saving, which automatically splits each sample into its own, named .WAV file. No more manually exporting or naming files!

The OREMO Interface — The OREMO User Interface

OREMO’s UTAU Specific Features

OREMO also supplies an array of features that improves the overall recording experience. Users can take advantage of the application’s BGM (which plays beats at a specific note while the user records, helping them keep on-time and on-pitch). This is a life-saver when it comes time to configure the OTO. Several community-made BGMs are available for download as well to fit the tastes of the user. The program also gives access to a built-in metronome.

OREMO also supplies a pitch guide, which, once a recording has been completed, will compare the pitch of the sample to a predetermined note (this is the red line pictured above). This helps the user to determine if their sample is on-tune. Users may also insert their favorite reclists into the program as well as a list of unique Suffixes. Essentially, one can record a multi-pitch voicebank with ease this way, as the user can simply select a Suffix to attach to the voice sample, and OREMO will automatically add the suffix to the filename.

Audacity doesn’t necessarily include the features above, making it a more difficult software to record with. As OREMO is much more specialized, one can save an abundance of time by utilizing this unique tool.

Download OREMO

WHY COVER BOTH PROGRAMS?

We understand that OREMO seems like the best option for recording a new voicebank. Still, sometimes, users prefer options they are familiar with rather than the community accepted software, which is OREMO.

If you are looking just to practice audio recording and learning what all the terminology means, we say try out Audacity.

If you plan to record voicebanks (VC, CV, VCCV, or others), we recommend sticking with OREMO.
For post-processing, we recommend Audacity or software similar to it.

Curious to know what the recording process is like for STUDIO OGIEN? Check out our OGIEN Recording Suite for more links and resources.

OGIEN RECORDING SUITE