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Dreamtonics Felicia

Voice Database For Synthesizer V Studio Pro By John Walden
Published February 2025

Dreamtonics Felicia

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 5/5 Stars

Music technology has given us some truly amazing virtual instruments and, in 20+ years of writing product reviews for SOS, I’ve been lucky enough to have my jaw dropped by some of the very best of them. The most recent addition to that list would undoubtedly be DreamtonicsSynthesizer V Studio (see the March 2023 issue) which, somehow, manages to generate genuinely realistic lead vocals in software.

Dreamtonics have continued to add further voice database expansions to their product line. These are produced in collaboration with an actual singer whose voice is appropriately sampled, and those samples are then used to create the data needed by Synth V’s engine to sing whatever melodic or lyrical combination you choose to compose, along with options to fully customise the style of vocal delivery (soft, tense, powerful, etc). Each voice offers different combinations based upon the original singer’s vocal styles.

The latest voice database addition is Felicia. This is based upon a native English singer and, while the engine lets any of the voice databases sing in English, Japanese, Chinese or Spanish, it’s undoubtedly easier to get the best from Synth V when it is generating vocals in the original singer’s own language. Alongside the singing expression controls offered for all voices (loudness, tension, breathiness, gender and tone shift), Felica offers five voice‑specific vocal modes; airy, bright, musical, operatic and powerful.

Dreamtonics suggest the voice is suitable for a number of genres such as pop, soul, electronic, opera, classical, alternative rock and metal. Having experimented with the voice database, I think that’s a pretty good summary. Lots of the voice databases can easily be used for more electronic music styles (where vocal production styles are not necessarily striving for a natural sound), but acoustic pop meets singer‑songwriter styles are also well within Felicia’s capabilities, while ‘show tune’ styles are also easily dealt with. In terms of more aggressive styles such as punk, indie rock or metal, Felicia voice modes perhaps don’t take her into full‑on grit or growl, but she can certainly be made to belt and sing with power. And, if you like your metal to be symphonic, she can do that too.

Synth V continues to amaze me, every time I use it.

If you want to hear some examples, check out Dreamtonics’ excellent demo song (‘Show Me’ was created in collaboration with UK producer/songwriter Nick Trepka) or the cover of Paramore’s ‘All I Wanted Was You’; a quick YouTube search will easily find both. Yes, as with any virtual instrument — piano, drums, bass or orchestra — it’s perfectly possible to end up with something that reveals its ‘virtual’ origins but, equally, once you understand that software’s capabilities, you can also create results where the vast majority of listeners will not even question its ‘human’ status. Given just how complex the human voice is, that’s a remarkable thing to be able to say. Each of the new voice databases does seem to nudge the level of realism forwards. The Felicia voice database does just that and Synth V continues to amaze me every time I use it.

$94.80

www.dreamtonics.com

$79

www.dreamtonics.com