We are thrilled to announce the upcoming release of HONOS OG04 ELITE, an expansion and upgrade for the original HONOS OG04 voicebank. Designed as an extension of our beloved HONOS OG04, this upgrade takes her vocal capabilities to new heights, delivering an enhanced and enriched user experience.
Retaining the Captivating Deep Tenor Voice
HONOS OG04 ELITE preserves the smooth deep tenor voice that sets her apart. With her remarkable versatility in navigating both masculine and feminine ranges, she continues to be a standout choice among the OGIENOIDs for flexible ranges.
Expanding Timbral Capabilities
Much like the release of KASAI OG01 SALIENT, ELITE builds upon the already impressive timbral capabilities of HONOS OG04. While HONOS OG04 Original featured three distinct timbres, HONOS OG04 ELITE upgrades each of them to multipitch capabilities. Each timbre now possesses four unique pitches, resulting in a total of 12 individually recorded VCVs. This expanded range unlocks exciting new possibilities!
Elevating Creative Expression
This expansion also includes two CV-style growl banks in different registers. The high growl suits screamo and pop-punk, while the low growl suits metal and rock genres. These growl banks add captivating texture, allowing you to include new intensity into your tuning.
Furthermore, ELITE features brand-new glottal stop and vocal fry samples, providing an additional layer of emotion to enhance your tuning. These expressive enable you to achieve desired nuances in your arrangements.
Seamless Compatibility and Integration
Rest assured, this expansion and upgrade seamlessly integrates with both UTAU and OpenUtau, ensuring a smooth transition for existing HONOS OG04 users. You can effortlessly incorporate ELITE’s enhanced voicebank into your ongoing projects. Like HONOS OG04 Original, the appends (Mellow and Firm) possess the same Suffixes OGIENOID users have grown accustomed to.
An Upgraded Look!
HONOS received a remarkable vocal upgrade and underwent a visual transformation. Her new design draws inspiration from the iconic outfit she wore for her original voicebank, maintaining a connection to her roots while adding a fresh and exciting flavor. Get ready to be captivated by her enchanting voice and striking new appearance!
Embark on a Journey with HONOS OG04 ELITE
Join us on an extraordinary sonic journey like no other with ELITE. Prepare to be enchanted by her enriched deep tenor voice, upgraded with enhanced capabilities. Discover new avenues of musical expression and unleash your creativity with this remarkable expansion.
Stay tuned for more updates and demos that showcase the power and versatility of HONOS’s long-awaited upgrade! Like KASAI OG01 SALIENT, a tutorial for ELITE will be available upon release. HONOS OG04 ELITE entrances this July!
It’s with great excitement that we announce the winners of the KASAI OG01 SALIENT art contest!
Firstly, let’s begin with the artwork we received!
We love the ties into KASAI OG01’s extended backstory here! The bright and beautiful colors are very eye-catching, and the inclusion of KASAI OG01’s other friends makes us rather emotional.
This piece is absolutely adorable, and it really reminds us of KASAI OG01’s growth as an UTAU as she looks back at her past self, so very far away now. The art style is super duper unique, and the colors and composition are really eye-catching!
We love the vibes on this piece, so sweet and soft! The cloud wings are such an adorable touch as KASAI OG01 stands against the skyline. You can see the newfound freedom and joy in her eyes as she stands atop her dark past. A bright, happy future awaits her here, bright as the shimmering sky above!
This piece brings us such peace! It’s such warm, calming artwork that brings out the collected, heartfelt side of KASAI OG01. Seeing this side of her warms our hearts in a way we can’t quite describe!
Final Words
Ceren:
“Ok, I’ve got to say, it’s incredibly heartwarming to receive work from these recognizable names. I’m pretty stand-offish and shy, but I pay really close attention to who has given love to our girls over the years. It brings me immense joy that every person who submitted an entry is a name I recognize, and I just want to let you all know how much I appreciate all your support for so, so long now. Every single entry is so beautiful.“
And the results…
The goal of our contest was to spread some love, which is why we wanted to give 3 winners prizes. Depending on how many entries we received, our original intent was to add more winners as we reached a certain number of submissions. Because of this, and because, in all honesty, the goal of this contest was to spread some love, we have decided to announce all four entries as our winners, and all will be receiving a physical KASAI OG01 SALIENT box!
Our top three placements will receive an additional KASAI OG01 chibi button with their prizes. Placements were decided by several people. We had a super hard time since we loved all the entries, so it was incredibly difficult!
Rankings
1st Place: @SherbetBomb42!
2nd Place: @eggsinarow
3rd Place: princeofarkham/StormiLove!
4th Place: @alex21346587
As promised, prizes will be shipped out in early July. We are currently working on the finishing touches and will be in contact with our winners over the next few days. Thank you all so much for your entries, we are truly humbled by your love and support! Please be on the lookout for an email from STUDIO OGIEN in the next few days to confirm addresses and shipping time frames that work best for you.
Offical release notice, how to use SALIENT, and KASAI OG01 backstory.
About The Voicebank:
The official release of the new KASAI OG01 voicebank is finally here!KASAI OG01 SALIENT is an all-in-one Japanese VCV Voicebank that possesses both Multi-pitch and Multi-expression voices.
This Voicebank has three timbres that are 4 pitches each (A3~C5), making SALIENT a total of 12 VCVs. The three timbres can be used all in one track by utilizing the SuffixBroker. SALIENT’s three expressions are:
“Original”: Normal voice with a cutesy, over-pronounced property.
“Tender”: Gentle whisper voice.
“Wild”: A sharp power bank.
The SALIENT voicebank also has some fun add-ons, including several breaths (intake and outtake), western L notes (all timbres, all pitches), a Growl CV bank (Mono-pitch), Vocal Fry (sounds best used with Original/Tender, 4 pitch), and Glottal Stops (all timbres, all pitches).
USING SALIENT: APPENDS
Original – Normal tone of voice. No extra effort is required to use Original.
Tender – A soft/whisper bank. You can use it by selecting the “↓” symbol in the SuffixBroker.
Wild – A power bank. You can use it by selecting the “↑” symbol in the SuffixBroker.
Glottal Stopswith the SALIENT Voicebank:
Glottal stops are compatible with all three appends in SALIENT.
– Replace the space between letters with the・ symbol (ex: turn a あ into a・あ).
– Ends notes use ・ at the end (ex: a ・)
Using Glottal Stops
Vocal Fry & Breaths with the SALIENT Voicebank:
Vocal fry:Use ‘ as the suffix (ex: – あ’ or あ’) or prefix (‘あ). Drop off end notes are formatted with – (ex: a -)
Breaths: SALIENT possesses an entire folder dedicated to breaths of different types. Can be used in UTAU or in an external editor.
Inhales: 息, br (5 different types ex: 息1, 息2, etc)
Soft Exhales: ahh, ehh, ihh, ohh, uhh, nhh
Stand-alone Exhales: 息-, 息2-, etc.
Using Vocal Fry and Breaths (Inhale and Vocal Fry)
Using Vocal Fry and Breaths (Standalone exhale & soft exhale end breath)
Extraswith the SALIENT Voicebank:
Western L notes:To use western L VCV notes (La, Le, Li, Lo, Lu): Add “2” to the end of Japanese R notes (ex: a ら2)
Growl:Add * for the suffix (ex: あ*).
Growl is in CV Format.
About Her Backstory
SALIENT reveals the brightest and darkest parts of Kasai…
KASAI OG01 was the first in the OGIENOID series created by STUDIO OGIEN. She was initially developed to see if biodroids could fit the company’s needs as performing idols. When the company realized it did not have the proper resources to modify her into a singing bot, she was turned into the company’s backup database.
The company would go forward, obtaining other androids to become both singing synthesizers and virtual idols. KASAI OG01, one by one, made close friends with each new member of her OGIENOID family. She would watch as they received extensive training, yearning to be part of their newly founded group.
However, no matter how hard she wished for it, she could not sing…
Though it hurt her heart to watch others live her dream, she stubbornly and enthusiastically attended every practice, every rehearsal, and every live show her friends put on. She wanted to show her full support, hoping to encourage her friends.
Eventually, her actions were noticed by another outsider, an imported biodroid who acted as the company’s secretary. This girl could sing, however, had no wish to do so. Known simply as DIONE OG05. She was a timid, tall young lady with waist-length aqua hair. She sat next to KASAI OG01 at one particular OGIENOID concert and took the opportunity to scold KASAI OG01 for being out in public.
You see, at this moment in time, a particular set of political figures were attempting to eradicate intelligent, artificial life. Biodroids, androids, AIs, etc. None were safe from the propaganda pushed onto the general public. As KASAI OG01 was a vital piece of the company, containing all its secrets, she was ordered to stay within the walls of the business. DIONE OG05 had caught her breaking the rules.
KASAI OG01 left with her willingly. DIONE OG05, noticing that KASAI OG01 seemed crushed, offered an alternative to viewing the performance. From then on, the two began to watch the concerts together from the safety of a security surveillance room.
Before they knew it, they became very fast friends.
Time went on, and the political landscape became worse over time. Humans began to fear the robots that once assisted them in everyday life, and a movement began to form among the masses. People began to blame artificial life for unemployment and degrading quality of life. Their leaders persuaded them that soon, all humans would become slaves, or worse, killed.
Those who worked and lived with robots knew this was fear-mongering propaganda created by those who hated change and technology. For a long while, the anti-robot movement didn’t go anywhere, and many consider it a laughing stock. However, during a summer holiday, a mass wave of robots began to act disturbingly, activating on their own, destroying property, humans, and each other. Those who once considered robots as friends changed their minds instantly when one turned on a human, and, suddenly, the government began demanding registered robots be handed in. STUDIO OGIEN hid its remaining OGIENOIDs, refusing to let them be the next target.
The time spent with her family was coming to an end. One by one, OGIENOIDs disappeared seemingly overnight. What was once a lively family of 35 biodroids was decimated down to 6 within weeks. Kasai watched her family members walk out the door, promising a safe return, only to never come back. All the while, she was forced within the walls of STUDIO OGIEN.
She, DIONE OG05, THEIA OG03, VIRTUS OG02, and HONOS OG04 promised one another they would survive.
Drastic measures were taken to protect them. However, without the income from performances, STUDIO OGIEN was quickly collapsing under financial pressure. However much KASAI OG01 pleaded with The Trio (THEIA OG03, VIRTUS OG02, and HONOS OG04), the three would not stay out of harm’s way. They wanted desperately to find out what had happened to their dearest friends, and, as such, refused to stay within the company building.
HONOS OG04, VIRTUS OG02, THEIA OG03, and the only other surviving OGIENOID, CIRCE, focused day and night on trying to find their friends. They managed to successfully disguise themselves for a month or so, but things changed on one night in particular.
While protecting VIRTUS OG02… HONOS OG04 died.
After the loss of HONOS OG04 and the disappearance of CIRCE thereafter, KASAI OG01 could no longer take the pain. DIONE OG05 watched her fall deeper into darkness. VIRTUS OG02 and THEIA OG03 disappeared, even though they never left the company building again. KASAI OG01 would not speak of them to her. DIONE OG05 begged her to talk, but KASAI OG01 eventually stopped approaching her entirely, vanishing for days on end. HONOS OG04’s body, which VIRTUS OG02 and THEIA OG03 had brought back with them on the night HONOS OG04 died had also disappeared.
Odd things went missing. Power supplies, sheet metal, welding tools, CPUs, blank android bodies. The weirdest things just began to vanish. At first, DIONE OG05 wondered if the company was selling parts off on the black market to stay afloat as robots became more and more illegal. She wandered the halls of the basement alone, pondering the state of her home and her friends.
Then, one night, she noticed a door with the lights on inside…
DIONE OG05 peered through a slim line of glass at the top of the door, and her eyes went wide at the site behind it. KASAI OG01 had stripped herself of her outward flesh from the neck down, connected to perhaps the most powerful computer in the entire building. Laying next to her, in what looked like incubators, were three blank child bodies. One with pink hair, one with green, and one with a periwinkle blue that was so pale, one could mistake it for white. The incubators connect to the same computer as KASAI OG01. On the giant screen, red as blood, words flashed in bolded text:
DIONE OG05, suddenly realizing what was happening, screamed KASAI OG01’s name. She grabs the handle with all her might, silently praying it wasn’t locked. It was. The woman cursed as she begged herself to override her own software that kept her strength to human levels.
If only I wasn’t limited like this-! I-I could break this door down!
KASAI OG01, tears in her eyes, stared at DIONE OG05 through the glass. She flinched guiltily as the aqua-haired woman banged on the door, screaming at her. Begging her, crying for her to stop.
However, it was too late, she’d made up her mind. Scared, guilty, and sad to say goodbye, KASAI OG01 mustered the biggest smile she could.
“Thank you for being my first friend,” she mouthed through tears. She knew DIONE OG05 wouldn’t hear her through the metal door.
In a flash of light, KASAI Vanishes, and Dione erupts into tears, sliding down the door.
The door clicks, as though it perfectly shut with the knowledge of the future.
DIONE OG05 looked up, broken, and opened it, stepping inside.