Dreamtonics Synthesizer V Studio 2 Pro

Synth V’s UI has been reworked in a number of ways in v2, to reflect some significant refinements in the software’s toolset.

Dreamtonics take their session singer in software to the next level.

I love it when a music technology product leaves me believing in magic. Working with Dreamtonics’ Synthesizer V — which I reviewed in the March 2023 issue of SOS — was undoubtedly one such moment. Dreamtonics have now released version 2 of Synth V. This brings a whole raft of enhancements and new features that, on paper at least, seem very intriguing. To be on the safe side, I placed a pillow on the desk under my chin before exploring. Did I need it? Let’s find out...

Sing It Again

I covered the basic features of Synth V in the original review so, aside from restating that v1 was already capable of generating some amazingly realistic sung vocals (realistic to the point that many listeners will not realise that they are hearing a synthesized voice until you tell them), I’ll focus on what’s new here. If you need to catch up, then the original review (SOS March 2023) is available to read in full on the SOS website and the underlying principles still apply even if some operational changes have been made.

That said, I should also point out some highlight additions that arrived as updates to v1 of the software after that original review: a rap engine designed specifically to create rap vocals, and a voice‑to‑MIDI conversion option allowing you to automatically extract note/lyrical information from your own recorded vocals and turn them into the data need to generate a Synth V vocal. Spanish language support was also added. And, while running as a standalone application (which is how I did much of my own testing here), Synth V is also available as an ARA plug‑in within suitable hosts.

For those new to the product, it’s also worth emphasising one key concept; Synth V is a virtual instrument. You create the melodic (and lyrical) content of the performance and Synth V’s engine then renders that information into a synthesized vocal based upon your selected virtual singer. The engine utilises AI/machine learning to process detailed samples of the actual singer from which the selected voice library was built and to resynthesize those samples into the performance you have constructed. This includes the pitch, lyrical content, the choice of singing ‘modes’ (styles such as clear, muted, belt), characteristics (such as loudness, tension and, breathiness) and phoneme duration and pronunciation. Make an edit and Synth V resynthesizes — not in real time, but very rapidly — the required changes.

The principle is, therefore, no different from the way you might create a virtual solo violin or guitar part; a sample/synthesis engine interprets the MIDI and sound parameter information you have supplied into a realistic performance. It’s the same here but with the...