Ok so I said that the UUM was incomplete and got shot down for being critical. Well I agree that the document is a very professional piece and soooooooo much better that the old one of 2019. So look on my comment as a challenge not deprecation.
Clare asked for examples of where her doc was lacking info
Here we go (in the spirit of enlightenment btw)
Check entry for “Editing Phonemes” not much detail here IMHO but yet this is crucial to the USP of SV and is what puts it so far ahead of the game
Check this vid and see whats missing
Its by Mixphantom and is most helpful BUT
it fails in the typical way that the Wizard shows the kids some tricks (and how smart he is) but doesnt show how he did them. So the poor noob is left fumbling around for an hour or two trying to work out how to repeat the tricks. This is a very common problem with vid tuts
So noobs out there look at the vid and see if you can repeat those invaluable tricks?
Clare we need more help on how to edit phonemes effectively. I struggled to get a proper phoneme for the vowel in “pot” it comes out as “part” without the “rr” - rotive.Its a backward “a” IPA was aimed at global vocal sounds but Im not expecting that. But the basic short “oh” like “ah” (not “aah”) is missing. your phoneme “ao” as in fought doesnt work. I struggle to make “awesome” just to be inclusive here - try it
As I repeat IMHO clever generation of Phonemes + advanced solo voices like Solaria etc is the whole USP of SV. So help customers to understand how to use the product. Im sure its gonna be a winner with supportive user FB and contributions to the KB data, scripts etc.
I’ve added some new examples over my lunch break which hopefully expand on the process of manually setting phonemes.
Beyond that I’m not sure what details could be added beyond like… “if you want a long F sound make a long note with an F phoneme”… but I feel like people can draw that conclusion on their own.
At the end of the day, people who have read the content will know how to enter phonemes manually, and they have access to the phoneme list. That’s everything they need to try it out and find solutions to their specific obstacles.
I’m always open to feedback and clarifying things if they’re confusing, but there’s a certain point where the advice gets too specific to be useful – especially when it’s a matter of subjective opinion rather than operation of the software. Personally I hear no issue with the default phonemes for “pot” or “awesome”, so it wouldn’t make sense for me to add a section about how to “correct” them. Additionally, the pronunciations will be subtly different for each voice database. It’s not feasible for me to offer advice about how to adjust specific phoneme sequences when that information wouldn’t apply to the majority of situations.
Too much detail can often make things more confusing rather than less.
I hope you have actually watched the Vid Tut I linked above?
" Personally I hear no issue with the default phonemes for “pot” or “awesome”, so it wouldn’t make sense for me to add a section about how to “correct” them "
Wow that is an astonishing admission - the ommission of a short from your phoneme list like saying we dont need the letter “e” in the alphabet. I assume you must have had some training in IPA phonetics. Perhaps its a “tone deaf” issue? Your rendition of “pot” comes out as “part” - without a noticeable “rr” rotive
Do you have the ability to add missing vowel phonemes or is it impracticable - hence denial of problem position here?
I have to strongly disagree with you there Claire and its the whole reason for my OP. Maybe you are too expert and close to the subject to realise that noobs are not gifted with knowledge on how phonemes work. Its not immediately obvious as it might seem. I suggest you try your explanation out on an untutored person and see how much they understand from your UUM on this topic.
Also you dont seem to have grasped how much of the Vid Tut I linked about is simply not mentioned in the UUM. eg where do you explain the use of a period (full stop) in front of a character?
Where do you show how to split a note into its fundamental phonemes so they can be moved to create emphasis. Where do you explain why phonemes go green, or dont sound. How about the use of and and so on
Way too much corporate defensive denial IMHO when what we need is enlightened instruction
I state once again that the whole USP of SV is its ability to harness phonemes
Its very much in your company’s interests to explain it fully. Its like selling a model T truck to a farm boy but not showing him how to drive it - result Truck sits in the barn. So if you dont show users properly how to use your product it will just fade away as a curiosity (like so many AI products before btw just look at Talking head apps starting with MIMIC)
If I am coming across as blunt its because I am frustrated at having wasted many fruitless hours wrestling with how to use your phonemes - through lack of proper instruction.
It’s an unofficial user manual. I’m just a user who decided to document information about a piece of software I thought was cool. I have no special access to Dreamtonics, the development team, or any input into how the software is created.
The phoneme list on my website is a list of phonemes supported by the software. Whether you like it or not, that is the list of supported phonemes, and it will not change unless Dreamtonics releases a major update that includes more nuanced vowel sounds.
If you want to provide feedback to Dreamtonics, by all means you can send them an email, but being rude to other users on the forums is not going to do you any favors.
It’s not. Mapping words to phonemes is a basic feature of every vocal synthesis software except for UTAU, and is in no way unique to Synthesizer V.
Given your insistence on being rude and resorting to insults over the fact that I think the word “pot” sounds fine, I’m going to mute your account so that I no longer see your posts on the forums. If you want further assistance, you’ll have to hope that other users are willing to help you.
Claire is just a user. “Just” doesn’t really cut it - Claire’s user manual and effort on this forum is mind-blowing. Awesome that Claire is open to some feedback. Super inappropriate reaction, robint.
Yeah, SynthV’s official documentation is severely lacking. What if it was more complete? Maybe a few people would read it. Check out Davinci Resolve’s manual, vs Reaper’s way of teaching users. Not sure I really blame SynthV for taking it slow on the manual end.
mixPHANTOM’s video is pretty good. I didn’t see anything a noob couldn’t copy. I’m gonna watch some more of his stuff. If you have feedback for him - leave a comment! He seems responsive.
I mostly stopped replying to requests for help about SynthV (here, facebook, discord), because it’s clear that many of its users are language or music noobs. Nothing wrong with that. They’ll get there eventually, and videos/manuals like the ones you refer to, are going to help them. But it takes a LONG time, lots of trial and error, lots of DOING (not reading/watching), to really understand these things. It’s not up to one video, or one user, or one manual to do it all for them.
Ok I got it Mixphantom mislead me in his vid tut. The dot is used in the note bar so phonemes can be displayed. As i said MP vid tut is the wizard who shows kids tricks but not how to do them grrrr.
Now to show that I am a contributor not a destructor here is a chart of Phonetic symbols SV vs Arpabet hope it helps those confused.
The basic point here is that Arpanet is missing the short as in “dot” so we get west coast “dahd”
I guess we have to live with it in SV as
BTW let me be clear, that I fully respect the quality and professional presentation of the UUM - well above average - more work needed
Let me also say that I have the greatest respect for the quality of Japanese products and the sincere endeavours of the start up Dreamtronics. Lets all hope it continues to develop as it shows such promise.
For those detractors who think I may have gone soft, I shall have a rant about RP English in another post - hold that thought
Now here is something that will excercise the follicles. Australia OZ is a very big continent, as wide as E/W States 3000mile IIRR. In the colonial (convict) days there were only a few settlements - notably Perth, Darwin, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide Hobart. All these were only accessible by long sea voyages. This was the case for 200 years with communities isolated from each other. The strange thing is that spoken “strine” is virtually identical throughout the whole continent. That curiosity has never been explained. In UK you can travel as little as 5 miles between villages and get variations in accents eg somerset vs wiltshire
Wow. Claire, you have the patience of a saint. I, personally, would not lift a finger to help someone that doesn’t show you the full respect that you deserve. You are a huge resource for this community and are very generous to volunteer your time and effort to help others. I feel confident in saying that 99.999% of the others that participate in this forum feel the same and would never speak to you in such a manner. I just wanted create a quick post to offset the negative tone in this thread and to let you know that all of your hard work is very much appreciated.
