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NEWS: Speech Synthesis Software for Anime Announced


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crilix



Joined: 16 Nov 2005
Posts: 208
PostPosted: Thu May 03, 2007 2:42 am Reply with quote
I can't really see this kind of software having a strong foothold in the anime industry, especially when there's a whole demographic of seiyuu-ota supporting their favourite voice actors/actresses. One of the reasons some anime and some games sell in Japan is because they feature certain members of the cast. Good voice actor choices add value to the end product. I somehow doubt a software package would get many fans among the seiyuu-ota communities, no matter how good it gets. Laughing
Personally, I just think that this news post is rather overhyping the whole deal. Some developers have been using audio manipulation programs for editing regular voice patterns of non-professional actors for years. If speech synthesis is the next big thing, so be it, but customer numbers in that area won't be growing any bigger, as far as I'm concerned.
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kokuryu



Joined: 07 Apr 2007
Posts: 915
PostPosted: Thu May 03, 2007 2:43 am Reply with quote
This stuff still doesnt work right, not even after 25+ years being available in the general industry.

I dont think anyone has anything to worry about with replacing actors and actresses, nor even with amatures using it in their projects.

If they want to release a speech related product that everyone would buy, they should make a product that takes the anime as a raw input and converts that spoken words to the language of the person viewing it, modulating the voices to match that of the original people.
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Raoh



Joined: 28 Jul 2003
Posts: 357
Location: Florence, OR
PostPosted: Thu May 03, 2007 4:22 am Reply with quote
I hope this never gets picked up, at least for main characters.

I agree it should be used for background characters and extras.

However, I for one like watching a show and trying to pick out voices and match them to their seiyuu or voice actors. Its a secondary hobby to actually watching the show.

I do think this would be useful for all those independant guys out there who make their own games. It'd definantly be interesting to download a freeware game someone made and have actual narration. The question with that, though, is will it be Japanese spoken language only? Or does it just record straight dialouge, with no bias on actual spoken language?
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jazzlsx



Joined: 01 Aug 2005
Posts: 2
PostPosted: Thu May 03, 2007 6:42 am Reply with quote
Maybe it's just me, but if it were used in place of American voice acting, it won't be any worse. Most of the voice actors on the American side sound like they're constipated everytime they get angry in a show. This probably won't happen with the software, so actually an improvement. Who knows, maybe this will force voice actors to be good.
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kurotsuki



Joined: 02 Jun 2006
Posts: 129
Location: Montreal, Canada
PostPosted: Thu May 03, 2007 7:35 am Reply with quote
well..that's cool....
"Synthesis Voice --------- > Seiyu replacement ------------> Automic car ---------------> Replacement of cab drivers -------------------> Moar automatic things ----------------------> Replacement of Human = extinction of the human race -------> ..the end ?"
and that means..no more anime ! Noooooooooooooo Anime hyper
I hope it fails !!

But in more seriousness , yeah , i see this being a big threat to Seiyus in the future and also a threat for the Anime industry as fans won't really like the idea of having emotionless things do the voice .
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HeeroTX



Joined: 15 Jul 2002
Posts: 2046
Location: Austin, TX
PostPosted: Thu May 03, 2007 9:05 am Reply with quote
While I agree that this is a long way from replacing actors/actresses, I actually think this could be a good thing if it were ever capable of handling voices well. Maybe it's because I have more interest in the art and little to none in the voice ACTORS, but personally I think it'd be great if studios were capable of using the SAME voice for the character whether English or Japanese. There would (or should) be no more debate about which voice is "better" since it'd be the same source.
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DemonEyesLeo



Joined: 20 Feb 2005
Posts: 844
Location: Japan
PostPosted: Thu May 03, 2007 9:54 am Reply with quote
Why do I get visions of those Sci-fi movies were robots and computers have taken over humans?

Anyway, this could work; as long as it's used for the extra voices, and maybe the narration.
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Kyo



Joined: 08 Jan 2003
Posts: 245
Location: OH, USA
PostPosted: Thu May 03, 2007 10:06 am Reply with quote
I don't care if this will be used for narration or voice acting, I dislike this idea. Sure, it'll save time and money but who would want to watch a half hour of sadly-now-drawn-with-computers animation and now-voiced-by-computers voice work? I don't get it, everything seems to be going downhill now.
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Mohawk52



Joined: 16 Oct 2003
Posts: 8202
Location: England, UK
PostPosted: Thu May 03, 2007 10:12 am Reply with quote
Real world Ghost in The Shell is yet another step closer. Ah the future's bright!
if you're a data processing chip. Why do I suddenly feel like a diplodocus?
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MNanimefreak



Joined: 05 Jan 2007
Posts: 12
Location: Minnesota-Twin Cities
PostPosted: Thu May 03, 2007 10:26 am Reply with quote
this could lead to some interesting future discussions if it catches on quickly
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Tyrenol



Joined: 13 Sep 2005
Posts: 398
Location: Northern California
PostPosted: Thu May 03, 2007 12:42 pm Reply with quote
NO!

I had enough headaches with those damn automatic answering services I had to deal with. If I were to play visual novels with that type of technology, I'd start ripping new ones out of these companies that use it.

Evil or Very Mad
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CCSYueh



Joined: 03 Jul 2004
Posts: 2707
Location: San Diego, CA
PostPosted: Thu May 03, 2007 1:00 pm Reply with quote
HeeroTX wrote:
While I agree that this is a long way from replacing actors/actresses, I actually think this could be a good thing if it were ever capable of handling voices well. Maybe it's because I have more interest in the art and little to none in the voice ACTORS, but personally I think it'd be great if studios were capable of using the SAME voice for the character whether English or Japanese. There would (or should) be no more debate about which voice is "better" since it'd be the same source.


As someone who had to change careers bak in the mid-'90's thanks to operators being phased out for those lovely automated machines I can point out what was pointed out then--humans do it better, but in the name of saving a buck, employers opt for the stupid machined that waste more of everyone's time. I was able to provied callers with the specific number they requested in a few seconds verses the system that replaced me asking 5 questions to narrow down the choised (Push 1 if you want---)
And I'm sorry, I have never heard any of these machines that can pass for a real human voice. And I'm sorry, I don't expect even extras voices to sound like a robot.
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MokonaModoki



Joined: 30 Oct 2005
Posts: 437
Location: Austin, Texas
PostPosted: Thu May 03, 2007 2:52 pm Reply with quote
jazzlsx wrote:
Maybe it's just me, but if it were used in place of American voice acting, it won't be any worse.


Based on your other post full of subjective (and way off-base) ranting about American voice acting, I'm overflowing with hope that it actually is just you.
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Acadia



Joined: 03 Aug 2006
Posts: 1
Location: Canada
PostPosted: Thu May 03, 2007 4:22 pm Reply with quote
How could they even concider this idea? No computer generated voice could be as good as the many voice actors out there. It would ruin Anime! I personally love voice actors and it's fun when you recognize them in different anime's. I really hope this doesn't catch on. Sad
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Richard J.



Joined: 11 Aug 2006
Posts: 3367
Location: Sic Semper Tyrannis.
PostPosted: Thu May 03, 2007 6:10 pm Reply with quote
Mohawk52 wrote:
Why do I suddenly feel like a diplodocus?
Because you're an old fossil! Anime hyper

Sorry, couldn't resist.

CCSYueh: Those answering machines are annoying, but I have heard one that sounded human. When I called up my credit card company a while back, I got a machine and it wasn't until the second or third sentence I realized it wasn't a person. I was slightly creeped out considering that just a few months before I'd spoken to a live human when I called.
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