Anyone using this product in Cubase? Please share your experiences.
I’ve been playing with the ‘basic’ version and it works well.
-But- the basic version does not allow one to use as plugin so I have no idea how smoothly it integrates into Cubase, which is my intended use case.
TIA.
Do you mean Syntheseizer V? If so, it is utterly fantastic, especially using the Solaria voice.
The pro version works great in Cubase, the only issue I have had with it is 4k window scaling in W10/11 when my O/S was set to 125% and Cubase to -25%. The SynthV plugin would keep getting larger each time I closed and opened it.
You can even play MIDI notes into the plugin via the pro version which is a nice way of starting off a voice melody. It sits nicely within the inserts and sends when you’re live composing - it’s just fantastic.
Do you have any voice packs? It’s so much better with a proper voice pack too and you can sometimes get the Pro version of the software with a voice pack at a reduced bundle price so consider this if you’re looking at buying.
As above, Solaria is just incredible, you can get so many different tones from that one voice and super close to the real thing… I don’t know how they’ve pulled it off, amazes me.
Been using the pro version of Synthesiser V as a plugin within Cubase for a couple of weeks after a few days tinkering with the standalone free basic version. It works fine. I’ve experienced a couple of issues with window focus ( if Synthesiser V has the focus and you use transport key commmands from the computer keyboard it operates as if you have solo engaged and only Synrh V will play, - however if i use the transport controls of my CC121 controller it plays normally, as it does if Cubase has focus. No big deal, I got used to it really quickly.
Other things to consider - if the Cubase project has a bar offset then Synth V can’t read it, so bar numbers + sig changes ( signature changes have to be weitten into the the Synth V editor window as they aren’t transferred from Cubase) could appear out of place on the synth V grid editor. Also although Synth V will take tempo changes from the Cubase project it will only follow tempo jumps, not ramps,
Other than those minor issues which are easily dealt with, it’s been easy and pretty quick to get something together. The workflow is really quite straighforward. I’ve been using the Solaria database and it sounds pretty natural in "Instant Mode "even with very minimal editing work. If you spend a little bit of time finessing things then you can get some amazing results. The voices available in the basic free version were ok too but not as natural sounding without some tidying up.
I have it and it works very well, sounds better than the others. The latest version is good, previous ones, not as much. I did not try the VST yet. I didn’t want to be frustrated. One thing for sure, you have to have the phoneme cheat sheet because there are bugs in the pronunciation. And you have to master the vocal techniques to make it sound good. But it will do that. There are some examples on YouTube that are good. I can do better than those too. I got the program and one voice for 151.00 deal. It’s well worth it for demos and backing tracks and lead lines if they are well processed, as in Cubase Pro 12, which is crazy good. So, I think it beats the others in price and performance as well. Plus, it can be bought in USA as opposed to previous versions which were very hard to purchase.
Thanks so much for all the replies. Very helpful!
My use case would be strictly backing vocals–usually mixed in with ‘real’ bvox. And in my experiments–only with ‘Eleanor Lite’, the results are quite good–even though soloed Eleanor is obviously a bot.
One concern was that the plug-in would be hincky—melodyne was like that. It worked fine stand-alone, but would be testy as a plug-in in early versions.
Another concern is the -programming- vs. the -database-. Solaria sounds fabulous, but I was listening to Natalie and from the demos I’ve heard, she has a timbre closer to what I’m looking for. BUT Natalie sounds more ‘robotic’. I wonder if that’s a question of the end user programming the song -or- if her database just isn’t as ‘advanced’ as Solaria. IOW, are newer databases automatically more ‘real’? I don’t wanna get a database that can’t sound good no matter how much effort I put in.
I was also holding off on male voices until ‘Jun’ which just blew me away.
Thoughts?
There’s quite a big jump between the lite versions and the full/ai versions. The lite versions seem to have some kind of programmed wobble in them which sounds more botty-like. Forte is a good example of that.
If you prefer the sound of Natalie I get that, she’s a lot softer and smoother and her AI database isn’t all that botty at all, I think it sounds very smooth.
I think Solaria is held in high regard as even a basic plot of notes and lyrics she delivers a good performance off the bat, plus she has that more rocky/poppy sound and belts notes out which appeals for such a wider crowd.
Other databases i’ve used do take more work to get to that initial standard. But it all comes down to what timbre and sound you want.
Not sure why some databases are inherently more ‘botty’ than others, I guess it comes down to how good/consistent the original singer and how smart the individual phenomes have been put together? I really haven’t a clue how it’s all developed to be honest. I notice a lot of the male vocalists are more botty though, but I think they’re targeted for that EDM style vocal, even though some sound like they’re from a Disney film.
If you’re unaware the AI format is the latest which is the newer voice db format - so if you’re listening to demos be sure to check out the specific AI versions. This is Natalie AI demo if you’ve not heard it yet (Natalie AI was released Oct 2022):
Wow. That’s nothing like the demo I heard at the Dreamtonics site. This sounds like a Madonna clone. It’s interesting to me how some of these voices can have such different ‘characters’.
The tail/vibrato is -much- better than a lot of demos.
Thanks so much. This is very helpful!
OK, I broke down and bought ‘Pro’ and ‘Natalie’. And the plug-in -does- play back notes in Cubase 12. However, call me lazy, but I can find no reference as to the integration and the process.
Can you record a MIDI track in Cubase and have those notes show up as notes/lyrics in S5? Or do you need to paint notes directly into SV? When I record notes into a Cubase track, they play back as sine waves, not ‘Natalie’.
Or, can you record MIDI notes from a keyboard into SV which then work in Cubase? I’m trying to get to whether you can -play- notes or you just have to -paint- them?
Is there a faster process for lyric creation going from note to note?
Thanks in advance.
You just export the MIDI from Cubase into a file - then load that file into SV. I have a temporary folder that I use, very simple.
Or, if you prefer you can also drag the MIDI region into the SV track and then within SV itself click the record button and play the track - the notes will be recorded into SV’s timeline.
As above, you need to enable SV to record and then the live notes you play in will go into the timeline. You can’t just play the voices live as it needs context of what comes before and after that phrase to work, i’ll do a basic voice patch in HALion to flesh out a vocal phrase sometimes, and then use that as the basis to start work in SV.
Are you selecting each note with the mouse? Just press your tab button after each word.
Or, you can also select multiple notes and use the “Input lyrics” function and just type or paste the lyrics there and it will spread them across the notes as best as it can.
i.e.:
https://synthesizerv.com/manual/batch_lyric_input.htm
It’s pretty deep software once you start to scratch away at it. But it’s also immediate too, which I like.
And if you’re not aware, there’s a lot of little tricks too. i.e.:
‘+’ will break syllables across different notes
‘-’ will legato from the previous note
‘br’ for breaths in the AI database voices
See here:
https://synthesizerv.com/manual/entering_lyrics.htm
Thanks. That is extremely helpful.
OK, next issue. Natalie stopped ‘singing’ as a plug-in and I have no idea why.
When I first installed, I ran some test CPRs and it worked fine. But all of a sudden, Natalie’s voice does not output to the VSTi audio channel.
I know the plug-in is ‘working’ because I can play MIDI notes and the sine wave still sounds. But again, Natalie does not.
Stand-alone continues to work fine.
I have to believe there is some ‘setting’ I accidentally hit, but I have no idea what it is.
Any ideas?
You tried it on a fresh project?
And is a waveform showing in the timeline of SynthV so you know the voice database is processing the phrases ok?
.
…If it’s not then it’s possible you have overlapping notes perhaps?
There is a master gain slider in the settings, too - check that. Or you may have the plugin bypassed?
I tried it on a new CPR and it’s the same thing. There is a ‘waveform’ in each note (behind the ‘la’). But it’s a very simple sine wave–obviously not Natalie. When Natalie was ‘working’, those waveforms were -much- more detailed, representing real speech.
Any ideas?
Working great here in Cubase 12 on Win 11 - programming is a bit of a learning curve, but the results are spectacular!
All I can think is to reset the voice and that will reset all the parameters? i.e.:
You have got her selected on the tracks at the top left, I presume?
First of all, I want to thank you again for your very helpful replies. This thing reminds me a bit of Melodyne V2, if that makes sense. The integration still has a looooooong way to go, but the potential is so awesome it’s (almost 
) worth it.
Anyhoo, I broke down, uninstalled and re-installed SVPro and magically Natalie is back. The only downside is: I have no idea why. But… one disaster at a time.
QUESTION:
I still don’t quite ‘get’ how the Transport works when SVPro is in focus. I select a bar inside the plugin and Natalie plays -solo-. I have to click the mouse back in ‘Cubase’ to get the entire CPR to playback. Is there a way to have the transport inside the plugin control the main CPR playback? If I can get past -that- I think I can actually make some ‘music’.
Is there a (or rather what is the best/current) manual. There are no ‘tool tips’ and when I go to the online help, it takes me to some Youtube videos with subtitles. I just want an explanation for each little widget on the screen.
Best.
I don’t think there is, as it’s not ARA it seems to only read in position from cubase, and not back to it. I generally just loop a section and work on things that way, and use a keyboard command to move the loop point in cubase up or down the timeline.
There is, but it’s dated:
https://synthesizerv.com/manual/
I think one of the better ways to learn is via “mixPHANTOM”'s channel on youtube, he explains stuff well and it’s Cubase based:
^ That one is using SV standalone, but the usage is the same of course.
You should get tool tips at the very bottom of the window, perhaps you’ve not noticed it?
One thing to be mindful of is that some of the controls (such as the SV transport bar) only appear when you click into that area - which is a really bizarre design choice, I don’t know why they done that. 
I found the unofficial manual pretty useful, and more up to date than the official documentation.
Also there is a user forum with some very knowledgable helpful and responsive people on it
MixPhantom is -fantastic-. BIG CHEERS for that, mate!
The workflow is just annoying enough.
QUESTIONS:
When I play MIDI notes in Cubase, they sound as a sine wave in SV. Is there a way to make the MIDI in Cubase point to an active Track/Voice in SV? (so that the midi being played in Cubase sounds as Natalie singing la la la?)
Is there a way to make the SV plugin window ‘respect’ the ‘on top’ system in Cubase? ie. when I click away from SV, it stays in front, rather than moving behind as other windows do. Or is it just -me-?
Nope, you can’t play live through the plugin as it can only create the voice parts if it knows the length and any proceeding notes.
If you want to hear some laa’s then you could sample Natalie laa’ing at middle C into a sampler track is probably the most simplest option. And then drag that MIDI onto the SynthV track when done, and record those notes within the plugin?
So even when the ‘always on top’ option is disabled in the SynthV plugin window it stays on top? Sorry, I don’t get that here on Mac.
