I laughed too, after I got over the shock.
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For solo voices, I’m less impressed (I couldn’t use it to record a recent work for soprano and piano and had to resort to realizing it with a violin instead…sign). But for chorus, especially if there are no lyrics, I found it to be quite good. For most instruments I’ve tried, it’s very nice, and what sold me was how well it rendered string harmonics. Much better than Garritan Personal Orchestra, for sure. Here’sanother example from a work I did years ago in Finale, with Noteperformer for voices and electronic organ:
You might try Synthesizer X for solo voice. It’s a pain to export, then import, the result in Dorico, but the team has a video on it, and the voices are pretty nice.
Thanks. I’ve been interested in it for a few weeks but haven’t yet downloaded the trial order to better understand how it could be used either with Dorico or my DAW (I use Reason, which isn’t specifically supported but hopefully might work).
Admittedly, it’s worse than typical. One program I beta test for is a LOT more stable and release-ready, even though I’m sometimes shown things well in advance of release.
Yours was just one thread in the midst of many, and my remark was meant to be rather general, and not just aimed at you. Sorry if it came across as sharp.
But I do think a bunch of people downloaded the beta expecting to just get early access to the final program and some of the complaints reflect that. It was probably imprudent to do it as a public beta that way (at least this early). Oh well. It’s all done now. Hopefully the cantai developers manage to make significant inroads the next two weeks.
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No worries. I’m loving this process, and I’m learning how beta testing really works. It’s all good.
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there have been one or two discussions on SynthV (including one on the first work I rendered with it). The main thing that has to be decided on is the import process from Dorico-- using MusicXML only means that any gradual tempo changes are not recorded accurately and need to be modified to approx the midpoint of the beginning and end point of the gradual tempo change. Using MIDI followed by MusicXML does import all the tempi changes but on the other hand, none of the time signature changes, something which is not mentioned in the video. Dorico has no ARA support like Cubase to make things a bit easier.
Still, a quick look at the project should determine which is the easiest way. Added to the fact that SynthV has a wide range of voice configuration possibilities, it certainly needs more work than Cantai. For me the question is basically which gives the better results and I was perfectly happy to spend several weeks converting most of my vocal works. Once you understand the basics, it can work very well but of course for a quick proofing render, Cantai is going to be much easier once the initial bugs are sorted out. And I’m hoping the vocal models also in time will bring a different sort of singing option to the table.
Richard seems to be in active procurement of said voices!
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indeed – the latest newsletter suggests that’s what he’s looking for in the choir. So naturally I am very interested in what can be achieved there.
Thank you. That is very helpful. The piece has no tempo changes (it’s q=60 throughout) and is always 4/4. Will give it a try.
in which case the import should be reasonably straightforward – just MusicXML export is required and then import as a new project in SynthV. Do make sure that, as with Cantai, you have no preroll set in Dorico, otherwise the synch will be off. Feel free to PM me in the event you have any issues.
Thank you. Already have a preroll of 0 by default so that should be good. Will touch base if needed. Much appreciated!
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Still deciding. I’m using only the render version that’s online. English (Tallis’ “If Ye Love Me”) worked fine. Verdi’s “Ave Maria” on the other hand, came out unworldly. Yes, I did select Latin as the language.
Latin isn’t yet supported in the Dorico beta-- supposedly will be at launch. And I found the same thing as you in the web renderer when I tried it a while back so I assume it doesn’t yet work there either.
Here is a ‘ghost’ choir I accidentally created with Cantai rendering “oohs”. I have had some good results with text rendering, though 
That sounds so avangarde 
That’s way better than my results. I’ll keep working with Cantai, but for now I just downloaded a really nice set of choral VSTs from Synthesizer V. It’s more trouble to import them out of and back into Dorico, but the result, at this point, is really nice.
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I feel like I just walked around a bend in the woods, saw something I should not have seen, and needed to turn and start running for dear life. lol
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which for me is the main point…
Ha! I hear you!