Abstract
Cantor Digitalis is a performative singing synthesizer that is composed of two main parts: a chironomic control interface and a parametric voice synthesizer. The control interface is based on a pen/touch graphic tablet equipped with a template representing vocalic and melodic spaces. Hand and pen positions, pen pressure, and a graphical user interface are assigned to specific vocal controls. This interface allows for real-time accurate control over high-level singing synthesis parameters. The sound generation system is based on a parametric synthesizer that features a spectral voice source model, a vocal tract model consisting of parallel filters for vocalic formants and cascaded with anti-resonance for the spectral effect of hypo-pharynx cavities, and rules for parameter settings and source/filter dependencies between fundamental frequency, vocal effort, and formants. Because Cantor Digitalis is a parametric system, every aspect of voice quality can be controlled (e.g., vocal tract size, aperiodicities in the voice source, vowels, and so forth). It offers several presets for different voice types. Cantor Digitalis has been played on stage in several public concerts, and it has also been proven to be useful as a tool for voice pedagogy. The aim of this article is to provide a comprehensive technical overview of Cantor Digitalis.
Highlights
Cantor Digitalis is a singing instrument, i.e., a performative singing synthesis system
A formant synthesizer is preferred for Cantor Digitalis because flexibility and real time are the main issues for performative singing synthesis
The additive amplitude and f0 perturbation terms pheart are modeled on a cardiac cycle as follows:
Summary
Cantor Digitalis is a singing instrument, i.e., a performative singing synthesis system It allows for expressive musical control of high-quality vocal sounds. A formant synthesizer is preferred for Cantor Digitalis because flexibility and real time are the main issues for performative singing synthesis. It has been extensively tested for intonation control in speech and singing synthesis [16, 17] This interface allows much expressiveness [18] because it takes advantage of the accuracy and precision acquired through writing/drawing gestures. We present the general architecture of Cantor Digitalis and the main issues and choices related to chironomic control of the singing voice. 2.1 Singing voice parameters Cantor Digitalis is restricted to vocalic sounds (the case of consonants being considerably more difficult for real-time high-quality musical control [5, 19]). Note that other shares of parameter controls between the GUI and chironomy are possible; for instance, modulation of breathiness, voice tension, or vocal tract length can be assigned to the stylus (see Table 2 for musical examples)
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