This is going to be rather short and simple, but we need to have an actual dedicated vibrato tool. As it stands, the “vibrato expressiveness” slider is not going to cut it - as that only affects the overall amplitude. Every major singing synthesizer, even the smaller ones, have some sort of dedicated vibrato tool where you are able to designate the start of vibrato, the amplitude, frequency, and fade in/fade out. This is just a basic feature, and while I understand the pen tool now “automatically completes it” if you start the process of drawing the vibrato, it’s not always accurate.
The lack of a vibrato tool for what is/was considered to be the top dog on the synthesizer market is concerning.
The only thing you’re missing is frequency control, but the pitch deviation tool is really easy to deal with if you work smart.
I’m working on a video to demonstrate the point.
For control of onset (and offset) you still have the vibrato envelope parameter.
The old v1 vibrato control was based on a simple LFO. While I would like to see a one two slider system for simple control of vibrato character, I don’t really want something as simplistic as a sine wave LFO.
If you have found a way to set a GLOBAL vibrato (think DEFAULT), please include that in your video. Without this, no matter how SIMPLE it is, if it must be done for EVERY held note it is tedious.
Generally. A global vibrato default setting would be best. My workflow would be to import midi notes, paste in lyrics and then let the AI generate. But I don’t typically want too much vibrato and want it scaled back throughout the song with exceptions on when I want it more prevalent.
So the overall level can be governed by selecting all notes (select one, and Ctrl+A or Cmd+A), going to the Notes panel, and moving the Vibrato Modulation slider to where you want the general setting. The Vibrato Modulation slider only appears when a note (or multiple) are selected. It appears underneath the “joystick” quad in the Expression section.
Then use the Vibrato Envelope parameter lane to change vibrato where you want it to be more or less pronounced than the general amount. Use single points to avoid a lot of work. You don’t need to put in a lot of points for this - you’re using the lane to get the overall vibrato vibe, not to literally set the pitch modulation itself, so it doesn’t need a lot of work. This will definitely be part of the video.
Thanks, this is good information. I will try to utilize this method next time I load up SV2 - I’m sticking with SV1 right now to finish up some things that required too much rework in SV2.
What if you want to slow down the vibrato rate? For example, Saros has a very fast vibrato. You could slow it down in SV1 with manual settings. As far as I can tell, there’s no way to slow it down in SV2. For some users this is a very major issue.
First of all, you’re right, and I hope they address this in an update at some point. Though, since it would require a re-working of the UI that is fairly significant, I wouldn’t expect it to come quickly. I seem to recall them justifying the disappearance of this in one of their videos. I don’t think it should have been removed, even if the concept of it (a basic LFO) was flawed. There are absolutely valid reasons why singers change the speed of their vibrato to match the genre or style of song that they’re singing.
With that out of the way, there are a couple of hacks.
Firstly if you have a singer that sings with the vibrato you want (so, say you want Natalie, hate Natalie’s vibrato, but also have Felicia, and like Felicia’s vibrato), I would start with using Felicia, and then when you have it the way you want it (except with the wrong singer), freeze the vibrato (and other pitch modulations) Modify >Trace Pitch into Control Points. A dialog box will appear to choose a setting - a setting of .5 should do it. Now set the vibrato modulation slider (Notes panel) to 0, and then change to the voice to Natalie.
The setting of 0.5 should give you good results and allow you to change the depth of vibrato after the fact if you wish, without having to do too much work - it should give you something like points at the top and bottom of the oscillation.
A variation of this would involve using the singer you want to use, setting the vibrato the way you want it (except the speed which you can’t control), then do this…
change the tempo of the track - if you want faster vibrato, pick a slower tempo, if you want a slower vibrato, pick a faster tempo. A difference of 15bpm max, should be enough… at least to get you started. This will be trial and error, but once you have a setting you like, you can make a note for next time you use the voice.
Freeze the vibrato by going Modify > Trace Pitch to Control Points.
Change the tempo back to what it was.
Change the vibrato modulation slider (Notes panel) to 0.
If it sounds good, great. If it doesn’t, Ctrl (or Cmd) z will undo… keep undoing, until you find yourself at the point before you first changed the tempo, and try a different tempo.
For both of these hacks, you can work by section or word, so if you need to change out a word or whatever, you can apply the same hacks to an isolated word.
Just tried out the second hack, and it does work. You’re right - I think this would take some trial and error to figure out what works best, but it’s a good workaround. I tried it out on Saros II, and if you slow it down too much it starts to sound like a warped record. I’m showing my age again. If you don’t know the sound of a warped record, I’m not sure there’s a modern equivalent. Thank you for taking the time to type this up. I will play around with this idea.
While these are all good workarounds in the mean time, respectfully, it should not be this out of the way just to adjust simple things such as frequency / amplitude / fade in / fade out. While I understand the previous slider system was a little primitive, it was still very effective; and softwares such as Vocaloid6, VoiSona, and even free alternatives such as OpenUTAU have a very effective and intuitive vibrato tool.
I just wanted to follow up on themidimachine’s post with a suggested workaround involving changing the tempo, tracing the pitch to control points, and resetting the tempo. After several experiments, I’ve discovered that while this does change the vibrato speed, it changes the vibrato pattern. Meaning it’s NOT the same vibrato but slower… it’s a different vibrato that is slower. To me, this is not really usable, unfortunately.
I also wanted to say that I reported this as an official bug. The response that was sent back to me was a link to a documentation page which had nothing to do with slowing down a note’s vibrato. Very disappointing. I wrote back and explained the issue in much more detail. I am hoping the company will listen, because if they don’t, they’re going to lose potential sales and some actual customers. I wouldn’t have upgraded if I’d known they took this critical feature away. It’s a bummer because there are so many great improvements. But I wrote a ballad that Saros sounds wonderful on in Version 1. And in Version 2, they sound like a nervous goat. Honestly, it’s that bad. Fortunately Version 1 still works great.
I was missing a step in between 3 and 4… turn the vibrato slider down to zero, otherwise it will modulate one on top of the other. It may still not be 100%, but it should be pretty close if vibrato is set to 0. A higher value in the trace pitch to control points would help with accuracy too - its just a case of getting that sweet spot where you don’t have so many pitch points that it makes editing impossible. I will now attempt to edit my earlier post for the benefit of those who haven’t seen it yet.
The Progressive Vibrato script is GENIUS! You can SLOW DOWN THE DAMN VIBRATO with this easy to use script. Here’s the key: follow all of the directions above, and play around with reducing the vibrato frequency (which is the vibrato speed), but also increase the vibrato depth. Otherwise you might not hear the vibrato. Play around until it sounds good.
AMAZING. Just amazing. THANK YOU, dcuny, wherever you are. Also, thank you, lunar, for sharing this with us and restoring my sanity. I will still hope that Dreamtonics provides a native method, but this is plenty good.
