Having seen a promotion for Synthesizer V voices, I’ve downloaded the trial of the synth plugin and Choir Voices#2. I’ve not yet got it to work within Dorico, but I can import an xml file into the standalone app and playback with some success.
Apart from any guidance on using this within Dorico, if, indeed, that’s possible (the plugin is found and selectable for a vocal track).
More broadly, does anyone have personal knowledge or experience of any other software out there that is worth looking at? I’m working exclusively in the classical genre, so really just traditional SATB voices.
In fact, is this worth pursuing yet, or is it still too early?
Any thoughts would be welcome. Earlier topics seem to have been closed.
Have a look at Cantai (not yet available for Dorico), there is an extensive thread here including the latest update by the product owner:
It looks quite promising and it it already working within MuseScore, so the proof of concept is fulfilled.
I’m not perfectly up-to-date, but as far as I know, an update for Dorico will also be needed because the Cantai VST must somehow get the lyrics. I assume such an update will also enable other software to directly integrate with Dorico.
As things stand, the vocal quality is far by the best for more serious music and the interface allows a lot of flexibility in shaping the voices to your taste. The plug-in works fine from within Dorico, though of course it has its own interface window so there is a certain amount of work required for optimum results. I’ve converted a dozen substantial works to use it. If you like what you hear, I and one or two other users will certainly be able to help you with tips in getting it to work in Dorico.
When it comes out – supposedly end of April --, it’s likely that Cantai will be easier to use as it’s promised to work from directly within the Dorico window. It might become the NotePerfomer of the vocal world - simple to use for proofing but not having production level quality. Still, Cantai has promised a new choir imminently and if it’s a big improvement on what’s currently available, the software will certainly be worth considering (and even if it isn’t might still be worthwhile as a quick proofing tool if the price stays reasonable).
Many thanks for this. It’s good to have some firsthand information. It seems to me that this is very promising and means I shouldn’t commit elsewhere just yet. I’ll investigate further – much appreciated.
Thank you for this. I’ll persevere with Synthesizer V while I have the trial period, but I think I’ll hold off committing until there’s more known about Cantai – it appears simpler.
I can get the SV plugin installed in Dorico’s VST list, and a vocal track is assigned to it – the cursor moves when Dorico is in play, but no sound. I’m probably missing something obvious – will have another look later.
Ha – it’s always the near-obvious – you have to hit the record button in SV!
It’s capturing the vocal line, but it’s all ‘La’ – maybe that’s to be expected, and you have to change the text within SV? I had thought it would capture the text as well.
Synth V does not read lyrics from Dorico. You need a MIDI or XML export to import into Synth V (can be done as a VST as well as standalone). Once the the import into Synth V is complete, you need to suppress playback on the vocals otherwise you will hear sine waves of sorts. Or just decouple Synth V from the player in Play mode. From here on out, people’s workflows may differ, but at this stage, I consider what’s inside of Synth V to be its own project and I work inside it almost exclusively.
as you mentioned right at the beginning that you had managed a MusicXML import, I assumed that this was how you were operating. Indeed when you export from Dorico and import into SynthV, the lyrics are normally copied correctly (but be aware than any that are not aligned correctly such as can happen after some copy/paste operations will be ignored), As @derAbgang says, the actual editing will take place from within SynthV but nevertheless, the fact that you are using a plug-in does mean that that everything is synchronised with other instruments in Dorico (well – one or two caveats here but I won’t bring them up at this point)