Tonio (VOCALOID2)

Tonio VOCALOID2 | Songs Albums Notable Originals

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Tonio (VOCALOID2)
Product information
Catalog No.	ZG-V6
Company	Zero-G Limited Distributor: Crypton Future Media, Inc. E-Capsule Co. Ltd Big Fish Audio, Inc.
Release	July 14, 2010 initial release September 7, 2011 (Taiwan) December 2013
Status	Unsupported as of VOCALOID3
System	Windows
Language(s)	English
Type	VOCALOID2
License	Proprietary
Affiliation	YAMAHA Corporation E-Capsule Co. Ltd
Website	Product Page Product Page (Crypton) Product Page (SONICWIRE) Product Page (Big Fish Audio) Product Page (E-Capsule)

This article is about the VOCALOID2 software known as a voicebank. If you are looking for the VOCALOID character then click here.

History

Tonio's provider came from the Royal Northern College of Music. He was an experienced opera singer who sang a number of concerts.

Tonio was first announced at the NAMM trade show and was set to be released back in early February 2010. According to SONiKA, he apparently 'had a sore throat' and was consequently delayed until June 2010. By the end of June Zero-G released a note that he was complete, but final touches were still being made to his program and he would be delayed another week. They stated demos would follow soon, possibly a week after the extended delay was announced.

A demo was released on the July 8th, 2010, he is forecast for release within the next "few days" and was eventually released on July 14, 2010. He had several demo songs, including a duet of Big Al and him singing 'Tu vuo fa l' americano' and a duet with him and Prima singing "Cinque Dieci".

Taiwanese Release

Tonio was released in Taiwan by E-Capsule. He received a new boxart and was featured in a 40 second demo. The full version of this song "Treasure" was later released, in the video Tonio was referred to as "Baron Tonio".

Final Retirement

At the end of 2015, it was announced that from March 31, 2016, VOCALOID2 was being retired and no new serial codes were to be issued by Yamaha. Zero-G announced they would continue to issue import codes to legitimate owners of Prima, SONiKA and Tonio.

Product Information

Demonstrations

Demonstrations

Una Furtiva Lagrima	YouTube Zero-G
Donna e Mobile	YouTube Zero-G
Deh Vieni Alla Finestra	YouTube Zero-G
Cinque Dieci (Tonio/Prima)	YouTube Zero-G
Tu vuo fa l' americano (Tonio/Big Al)	YouTube
Fly me to the Moon	YouTube
Spanish Songs Medley	YouTube

E-Capsule Demonstrations

Demonstrations

Treasure (short ver)	YouTube
Treasure	YouTube

System Requirements

• Windows XP/Vista 32bit
  • (Windows 7 is not officially supported; 64bit is NOT SUPPORTED),
• Pentium 4 2 GHz/ Athlon XP 2000, 512 MB RAM
  • (1GB of RAM recommended)
  • (2 GB or more recommended when using VSTi realtime)·
• Approx 4 GB Free Hard Disk Space / DVD Drive.

Voicebanks

Product Information
Optimum
Genre: Classical and Opera  Optimum Range: G2 ~ D4  Optimum Tempo: 60 ~ 140 BPM   Total Tempo (min-max): 80 BPM  No. of Keys: W ~ 11, B ~ 8, Total ~ 19
Versions
Trial/Demo Vers?: No
Package details as noted:
Tonio has a range from baritone to Tenor and is intended to be a partner to Prima whom he is best suited as a vocal partner to and compliments her vocals well. Like Prima he is voiced by a professional singer, known to have had a number of years of experience in conert singing and is designed to sound like a realistic male opera singer. His software comes with the VSQ file for "Una furtiva lagrima". In addition, the package "Classical vocal", also by Zero-G, contains samples that are confirmed to be from Tonio's provider. Though not officially a back up release for the Vocaloid release, it contains 600 samples split between Tonio's provider and a second vocalist (second vocalist is female and confirmed not Prima's provider). It remained one of the most extensive sample libraries until VOCALOID4, yet remains to date the most varied example of its kind, as it contains samples in languages such as French, German and Russian, as well as nonsense sounds (such as simple "aa" sounds).
Vocal traits as noted:
Tonio favors the lower octaves. However, despite being focused on a baritone to tenor vocal, he is capable of going much higher without suffering as much as other male VOCALOIDs. Some notes may also be muffled, so its best to pay attention to his phonetics when users have him sing. Tonio is more robotic sounding and less natural than Prima, if he isn't tuned correctly. Unlike Big Al, he doesn't need much reverb or vibrato to improve his vocal and at times can barely benefit from it. In fact adding these to his vocal can at times prove to have a negative effect on the vocal, in particular too much reverb can giving an echoing effect and generally make his voice a weak booming effect, causing him to loose clarity if not careful. Though he has a number of faults and issues, his vocal can be considered on of the most realistic vocals within VOCALOID2 as it often demonstrates traits heard by his provider's vocal in "Classic vocal". When it comes to mixing his vocals with other English VOCALOID, he can be relatively easy to control. It doesn't take much effort to blend him with other VOCALOID2 English vocals as his voice is not too dominating. He only tends to not sound too well with higher pitched youthful vocals like SONiKA and works better with mature ones like Prima, Big Al or Sweet Ann. His vocal can have a little bit more morphing abilities then Prima and can drop the opera style slightly easier. His deeper tone allows him to morph musch more easily and he can much more easier produce more "unique" vocals. He and Prima are both extreme good vocals for general atmospheric and vocal background noises as their vocals can be quite haunting, so they do not always have to have lyrics to sound good.
Phonetic notes as noted:
Unlike Prima, he has no breath samples. Pronunciations related to the letter "r" in the English alphabet may not sound well for Tonio, as he tends to be flat (example "er" in "Singer" is pronounced as "uh"). Tonio may have some issues pronouncing the "eI' diphthong when combined with aspirated consonants. Instead of hearing "ey", it might sound like "ee". Changing "eI" to "e i:", "e I" or "e j" usually fixes this. Alternatively, deaspirating the consonant works. Notes shorter than a single whole note may be difficult for him. When the word "Sacred" is broken up into two half notes, he will only pronounce the ending half ("Cred") and leave the first half out ("Sa"). Moving the notes to another track may or may not resolve the problem. Alternatively the user can use a auxiliary phoneme like [Sil] or adjust the Velocity (VEL).
Software issues as noted:
Like Prima he is ground into opera and may not be easy to tune into other styles. He can loose quality a lot more easier then Prima. Tonio is often known to crash the VOCALOID Editor if the "@" phoneme is used. This happens less often however if it is used in his lower notes, but is a common problem above C#3. This issue exists no matter what editor he is used in. Sound on sound writer Tom Flint gave Tonio only 3 out of 5 stars, less than SONiKA's review in March 2010 (4 out of 5 stars). He quoted opera as "just sounds odd when colored with an electronic effect". Flint felt that perhaps Opera wasn't the best choice for VOCALOID.
Voicebank sample
Tonio VOCALOID2 Tonio singing in his raw state
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