Journey to the Beginning of Time -- 18-minute sci-fi adventure

[SynergyV]

An 18-minute prog-rock sci-fi adventure and an homage to Rick Wakeman's 1974 classic "Journey to the Center of the Earth". I loved JTTCOTE when it came out. It showed me that orchestras could be cool, and that rock music could create bold and sweeping stories. Technology has now grown to a point where I could give this a try. The music is VST instruments jumping around in different modes with a lot of Phrygian Dominant. Vocals are by Synthesizer V sampled voices Saros and Natalie. Images include AI stills and video AND original space animations created in After Effects by me. Thanks for taking a look/listen - and sticking through the whole thing .

https://youtu.be/xjfBlbuvwyU?si=hm39EJ_4-Q34fn1E

[battema]

Very ambitious! Nicely done

Was the narrator also SynthV? Just curious...

[Nijinsky Hind]

Wow! That’s pretty cool. So the vocals are ai huh? The future snuck up on us… We must kill it! lol
Good work!

[markwoll]

It was interesting, thanks.
The 'industrial age' ai graphics were ... disturbing

[SynergyV]

Hey Battema. Thanks for watching. The narrator is from an online narration generator called Narakeet. Mostly used for presentations and audio books. I thought the British accent added a bit of BBC class :^).

[SynergyV]

Hey Nijinsky. The vocals aren't AI. They are a sampled instrument like any sampled instrument except you program the pitch AND the words on a piano-note timeline. I think there is some AI working behind the scenes to help with pronunciation and pitch adjustments, but it's you that adds all the melody, inflections and realism bits and breaths. Thanks for checking it out, and glad you liked it.

[Nijinsky Hind]

That is pretty interesting. I've never used anything like it but they (The Vox) sound pretty darn good!

[SynergyV]

I've been playing with synth voices for 10 years. The first ones seemed like a miracle, but listening back, were really quite cringe-worthy. The latest Synthesizer V versions are seriously realistic when programmed with the right musical details and finesse. They can't replace a real good singer, but it is fun to be able to create music with lyrics. Check out the other songs on my SynergyV channel .

[Koreabruce]

This is brilliant! I'm very much fascinated with what you've done (and how you've done it).

I'm very much interested in how the vocals are created. You say they're samples and programmed/controlled on a piano note timeline. It's essentially midi-controlled voice samples, then? I would love to play around with exactly this kind of thing so I can put vocals on some of my music. Where do I go to find out more about this?

Thanks for your efforts, which obviously come from a deep place.

[battema]

Not speaking for the OP but....well, actually i guess I am

https://dreamtonics.com/synthesizerv-gen1/en/

It's not purely samples, under the hood it DOES use some AI in the form of neural networks to render the vocals. It's not a generative prompt though, you have to program it ala MIDI tracks. To an extent it's closer to physical modeling than sample playback, if that makes sense.

I used something similar with East West's Word Builder software...for me, it was a bit too difficult to get workable results. But clearly the OP has had considerable success with this package!

[Koreabruce]

Thanks John!

[SynergyV]

Hey Bruce. Try this website https://dreamtonics.com/synthesizerv/. Dreamtonics seem to have different sites for different versions. I believe this is the latest.

Yes, as Battema mentioned it is a sampled instrument with some AI under the hood. As with most VSTs, it's easy to put down the basics - but it takes some skill to make it sound real. The Synthesizer V site has some demos and my earlier videos show the APP screen in action https://youtu.be/9HTDN-7PIYw?si=Wj7j_3QBO-eKj9pl. There is a free version that you can play with to see if it's something you would like to dive into.

[SynergyV]

Hey John. Just spent some time on your BandCamp page. Some really nice work. I'll definitely be spending more time listening.

[battema]

Oh cool, glad you enjoyed

The technology is pretty amazing these days. And more widely accessible than ever before. There are things that I can do today with routine ease that my younger self would've probably regarded as black magic

[clivey]

Dear god. I just can't believe that this has of time of writing has only had 102 views. That's a travisty in my book. The music alone should be receiving more Oxygen.
OP. Congratulations on what you have managed to achieve. Aye of course. You could easily Swap out the AI vox for a couple of hired guns , and you may in time be encouraged to do this .
Never the less as already said it's an ambitious piece very well executed.

[SynergyV]

Hey Clive. Thanks for the nice comments. I hope more like you take the time to take a look/listen. Check out https://youtu.be/1iVmnnzIu-0?si=hh9tN33KBSkTQsDD for more like it - actually it's the sequel to this and what I hope will become a trilogy soon. I checked out your BandCamp page. Nice gritty, personal songs - what music is supposed to be. Thanks again and take care.

[Gizmotron]

An 18-minute prog-rock sci-fi adventure and an homage to Rick Wakeman's 1974 classic "Journey to the Center of the Earth". I loved JTTCOTE when it came out. It showed me that orchestras could be cool, and that rock music could create bold and sweeping stories. Technology has now grown to a point where I could give this a try. The music is VST instruments jumping around in different modes with a lot of Phrygian Dominant. Vocals are by Synthesizer V sampled voices Saros and Natalie. Images include AI stills and video AND original space animations created in After Effects by me. Thanks for taking a look/listen - and sticking through the whole thing .

https://youtu.be/xjfBlbuvwyU?si=hm39EJ_4-Q34fn1E

Fascinating!!! I agree with the other folks; this is most excellent and makes me scratch my head!
Are you working on something new now?


Thanks to John (Battema) for the additional info!

[Koreabruce]

Hey Bruce. Try this website https://dreamtonics.com/synthesizerv/. Dreamtonics seem to have different sites for different versions. I believe this is the latest.

Yes, as Battema mentioned it is a sampled instrument with some AI under the hood. As with most VSTs, it's easy to put down the basics - but it takes some skill to make it sound real. The Synthesizer V site has some demos and my earlier videos show the APP screen in action https://youtu.be/9HTDN-7PIYw?si=Wj7j_3QBO-eKj9pl. There is a free version that you can play with to see if it's something you would like to dive into.

That's very helpful! Many thanks.

[SynergyV]

Hey Gizmotron. Glad you liked it. Please check out Follow the Light (if you haven't). The next one will be a sequel to that - following humans deep into the future exploring the cosmos. Probably way too ambitious, but that's the fun...