OLIVER (VOCALOID3)

Template:Infobox Vocaloid

This is an article about the OLIVER software for the VOCALOID3 engine.

History

OLIVER's production began a year before his release, his voice was recorded by a (then) 13 year old British boy. He was recorded at a London studio. According to an interview in 2013, the boy selected for the role of OLIVER's voice was able to concentrate better than some of the adults they had used in the past. The boy was chosen from a children's choir; the choir leader was known by a friend of Anders and was asked for suitable candidates. OLIVER's provider was chosen for his ability to read the VOCALOID English script clearly and maintain maturity despite the young age.

OLIVER was originally announced on a blog as having a release date set for October 1, 2011. VOCALOID 3 was not set for release until October 21. Certain members of the VOCALOID community were leaked details about him by PowerFX, including to editors of the VOCALOID wiki, such as that their next VOCALOID was male and a VOCALOID 3. Meanwhile, members of the community, had secretly been aiding Anders in OLIVER's fine tuning. As it was their first VOCALOID, PowerFX agreed to release the product for VocaTone, with Anders sorting out most of the legal issues and aiding the group with any issues they faced.

Finally, a fan announced that information had passed to them of OLIVER's name and Anders confirmed that their information was correct. The voice was revealed at an anime convention, Anime Banzai, but was released as an official demo.

On Halloween 2011, a song featuring OLIVER, Sweet Ann and Big Al singing was released on YouTube, the song was a parody of the Addams Family theme song ("The PowerFX family"). OLIVER's official demo song was released on YouTube and is a cover of Circus Monster originally sung by Megurine Luka. A second demo, Scarborough Fair, was also released alongside it. The third demo is "Dinky Dink"; composed by So-Pop and originally sung by SONiKA, it focuses on his lower range and his English. His next demo, Going Home, focused more on his choir boy skills. Recently, his demo of Lonely Flight was reported by VocaTone as focusing on his lower octave. On December 20, a VocaTone member reported that OLIVER was to be released the next day and hinted that VocaloidOtaku forum members might get something "special". This later was revealed to be a 25% discount for VO members that will last till the end of January.

It was confirmed that OLIVER will have a physical box product as well as being available for download online. Progress-wise he was said to be complete. Voice and art were completely finished, and there were activities planned for his reveal and release. According to VocaTone they were pushing for a 2011 release but the holdup is Yamaha. On December 6, PowerFX's website was updated to include a product page for OLIVER.

Finally the announcement of his release came a day before it was due. For members of VocaloidOtaku forums, a 25% discount is offered to the downloadable version (offer will extend to boxed version in the upcoming future) of OLIVER for users who sign up to the forum. This e-mail will be sent out as a bulk e-mail. This offer ends on January the 31st 2012. Currently only the lite version can be bought from PowerFX. The VOCALOID3 editor having to be bought from Yamaha themselves separately, although this will change in the future according to Anders.

A DVD release was eventually made for sale. On the 28th of Feb, 2012 a physical hard copy of OLIVER and VOCALOID were released together.

Product Information

Demonstrations

Demonstrations

The Power FX Family (sample)
CiRCuS MoNSTeR
Scarborough Fair (short)
Scarborough Fair (full)
Dinky Dink No Time To Think + PV
Going Home
Lonely Flight
Lonely Flight (Remastered)
Oliver's Lullaby
I Wanna Be Like You
Moon River

Recommended

• OS: Windows 7 / Vista / XP
• CPU: Celeron Dual Core 2.1 GHz or more
• RAM: 1GB or more
• HDD: 1.5GB free space or more

Voicebank Libraries

• Making Oliver clearer

Product Information
Versions
Trial/Demo Vers?: No  Starter Available?: Yes
Package details as noted:
OLIVER is a young male Vocal with a choir-type singing essence, though capable of singing other genres. He sings with a British accent. He is the first "young male" voice by a provider actually to be a male, and this fact gives a completely natural child tone to his voice. He also has several additional sound snippets such as giggles, gasps and babbles that can be imported into the VOCALOID 3 editor. These are found within his data files.
Vocal traits as noted:
Has notable improvements over past English VOCALOIDs and is relatively easier to get satisfying results compared to many others. His voice is aimed to a classical choir style and is able to sing in a wide variety of musical genres unlike previous vocals such as Prima and Tonio, which are more grounded to their opera vocal style. He is capable of sounding more emotional than past English VOCALOIDs and has improved language skills. He produces a lisp on certain notes. In their raw state, vowels on lower notes sound nasal and choppy. According to a producer, OLIVER is easier to mix on ranges F4 and above. Another user recommended working within the range C3 to A4, depending on tuning.
Phonetic notes as noted:
OLIVER is the only VOCALOID who uses both the old breath phoneme system from V2 and the current WAV breath samples used in V3.
Software issues as noted:
Due to his soft voice, he has some pronunciation issues if not tuned properly. On higher notes, he lacks clarity and can mumble. He can hold long, drawn out notes well, though there is a bit of difficulty when it comes to making him produce clear short notes.
Voicebank sample
OLIVER VOCALOID3 OLIVER's voicebank singing in its raw state
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