buying a CT-S1000V for the vocal synthesis feature alone? What to expect?

[Jay C]

Hi.

 

I want to ask those of you who have owned a ct-s1000v keyboard for some time, whether you are happy with it and particular with the vocal synthesis feature?

 

And do you use the vocal synthesis feature to write songs, or try out different lyrics you write with different melodies and harmonies (chords) that you play on the keyboard?

 

Do you think the quality of the voices  and pronunciations of your lyrics are adequate or more than adequate to be used in music productions, for instance, in songs with your own voice?

 

What do you use the vocal synthesis feature for?

 

Thank you,

 

Jay 🎹

 

 

 

 

[Brad Saucier]

I look at it as an artistic way to express lyrics, another color on the painters pallet.  The sound it produces is true to what it is, a vocal synthesizer.  It's probably not going to fool anyone into believing it's a person singing, but that's the charm about it.  It allows the ability to experiment with lyrics and pronunciations, different chords and harmonies, various voices, different phrasing and more.  It's definitely fun to experiment with.  It could be very inspiring when playing around with different settings.  I will say, sometimes it won't pronounce things exactly the way you think it should, but rewriting the lyrics can fix that most of the time.  I've used it to create short lyrics of my own, experimenting with tracks that I've recorded, mostly short phrases within an instrumental type song, like using vocal samples the way EDM music does, as fills or hooks.  But really, sky is the limit. 

 

If you haven't already, check out Christian Matthew Cullen's song done with the CT-S1000V "Into the Dark" on YouTube.  It's great.  

[Chas]

Brad has given you an excellent response, and I agree with everything he says.

 

To add my own experience and view of the S1000V:

Overall, it's an excellent keyboard packed full of features and also capable of excellent sounds. The main caveat, IMO, is it is somewhat quirky in operation and there are some (sometimes large) limitations, depending in the feature(s) being used.

Regarding the Vocal Synthesis feature, the best way to approach it is as an extra seasoning or flavour to your music. It will NOT replace all your vocals, and it will certainly be obvious (in most cases) that it is a synthetic vocal, not a real singer. You won't be fooling anyone that Joni Michell, Karen Carpenter, Frank Sinatra or Tom Chaplin etc. are providing the vocals!! That being said, depending on the genre of music you are creating, synthetic vocals could be exactly what you are after i.e. Kraftwerk, Daft Punk, The Prodigy, The Chemical Brothers and other music that often uses synthetic vocals/ vocoders/ voice changers etc.

 

As Brad says, sometimes that actual pronunciation of the vocals you feed into it don't always come out right, but you can tweak them and most times get it to sound how you want them to. Also bear in mind that lyric creation is only via the Android or ios apps, meaning you cannot create them outside of a phone or tablet. Unfortunately, there are no PC or apple desktop apps available for those that wish to do lyric creation via a non mobile device.

 

I was hoping to have completed some tracks of my own using Vocal Synthesis, but my YouTube channel (and life!) went off on a different tangent and those projects are currently on the back burner. However, as Brad also mentioned above, a great example of using the Vocal Synthesis feature can be heard in CMC's "Into the Dark" song - it shows many of the S1000's strengths and features in that track.

If you want to see how to use the Vocal Synthesis feature, and also hear some examples of it, feel free to check out the Vocal Synthesis episode of my S1000V series of reviews.