Help Eleanor pronounce "X"

[SciencePill]

I’m having trouble getting Eleanor to pronounce “x” as in “toxin”. I have tried a bunch of different spellings. The best I’ve tried so far is “tahk”-“xins”

Any suggestions?

[dcuny]

What’s the problem with /k s/?

Eleanor uses /t aa k s ax n/ by default, and The CMU Pronouncing Dictionary renders it as /t aa k s ah n/.

Both seem to work fine.

[SciencePill]

Thanks @dcuny! I’m a newbie and didn’t know about the CMU Dictionary.

To document the solution for others, I wanted to split the two syllables of the word across two different notes. So first I used the output of the dictionary:

TAA and KSAHN

Eleanor seems to have a British accent and I’m playing more to an American audience, so I tweaked the KSAHN to KSIHN, and then realized I wanted the plural so it’s KSIHNS. Also, the TAA sounded more like the Ta in Tata, so I changed that too TAH, with the result being:

TAH and KSIHNS

I also found that ending the second syllable a bit early (as you can see in the screenshot) helps to hear the S at the end. In my case I have three other voices singing immediately after it.

[dcuny]

Sorry about asking an obvious question, but are you aware that you can type the English words into the green boxes, and SynthV will use it’s dictionary (which is based on the CMU Dictionary) to convert the word?

If you want to change how SynthV pronounces the word, double click directly on the phonemes (for example, k z ih n z and modify the phonemes there.

That way, you’ll still be able to read the English words.

You also can modify the phonemes in the Note Properties panel. This can be opened by either:

• Clicking the Note Properties icon on the right toolbar (the beamed pair of eighth notes); or
• From the menu, by selecting View | Side Panels | Note Properties Panel
• Or using the Ctrl+B hotkey

Click on the note you want to modify the phonemes in, and the Note Properties Panel will be populated with the note attributes. Look under Timings and Phonemes, and you’ll see that each phoneme will have:

• A slider allowing the duration to be modified from 20% to 180% of the default duration; and
• A toggle button that will allow selecting the default (DFLT) phoneme, alternative 1 (ALT1) or alternative 2 (ALT2). This can help greatly when trying to avoid a more British accent.

The alternative phonemes are only available with the Studio version of SynthV. Usually toggling through the options will find a less “British” version of the phoneme.

Because there are errors in the phonemes which occasionally cause the wrong phoneme to be output, having this option is really useful!

Since SynthV is essentially a diphone-based synthesizer, you can also explore changing the phoneme prior to the one you wish to change.

Colliding consonants is a constant problem with vocals. I’ve often found I need to get creative with staggering syllables so that various parts are clear. And then there’s the occasional drum hit that turns the consonant into a plosive…

[SciencePill]

Thank you! I didn’t know you could double click directly on the phonemes, that’s very handy. I’ve used the panels to do things like adjust the tone and vibrato but hadn’t explored the rest. I’m digging in to them now.