Speektra is a speech simulation synthesizer, based on the VOSIM method (pdf), developed by Kaegi and Tempelaars in the 1970s. It uses bursts of pulses with formant characteristics to synthesize robotic vowel sounds.
The Puremagnetik implementation of VOSIM stretches things a bit further, allowing you to morph between vowels, manually or via a modulator. You can also choose your voice register (Bass to Soprano).
Features:
- VOSIM-based vocal synthesis
- Manual or modulated control of vocal morph functions
- Random function for inter-note modulations
- Voice register selection
- Integrates into any VST / Audio Units compatible host
- Includes a collection of factory presets
Pricing and Availability
Speektra is available now, for macOS & Windows, for US $8.00 (normally $20).
Pretty cool! I recently picked up Plogue’s wonderful chipspeech plugin and have been having lots of fun playing around. The dev is crazy about speech synthesis and it shows! Chipspeech has a wider range of voice technologies (including VOSIM) but doesn’t have the morph feature or (I think) multiple sets of formants. It’s also much more expensive at $100. The price is pretty much forgivable due to the dev needing to purchase or license all of the speech engines though.
For someone casually interested in this stuff this looks like fun and a great intro. Can’t beat that intro price either. I’ll be checking this out later tonight.
$8 a month, not a one-time purchase! I’d like to know what they are smoking.
Ummm… it’s a subscription that gives you discounted audio apps each month. Even if you cancel subscription you keep what you’ve downloaded. Why is that a reason to complain?
It si 8$ a month with a different plugin every month, used to be a sample pack now it is plugins.. so i think they smoke good one a puremagnetik
Ideal candidate for MPE… also worthwhile trying out the vocal filters in HELM (free VST) which are excellent.
It’s not entirely clear. It looks like a “subscription” but rather than only being able to use the plugin while subscribed, you get new plugins every month? So if I’m understanding, I could pay $8, and get Speektra, then cancel the subscription and keep it? If that’s the case, I’d only buy this if I really wanted it. It’s like wanting a particular issue of a magazine, subscribing, then cancelling after the issue arrives.
i read this as a one off $8 plus the site offers a yearly $60 for a new plug in a month. Not an adobe style subscribe to keep alive. Perhaps the company could clear things up?
Interesting sales model for sure! From https://puremagnetik.com/apps/help-center#!what-is-the-difference-between-spark-and-your-other-packs
“We have two separate areas of the catalog. One is the regular a-la-carte collection and the other is the Spark subscription. The Spark section includes our current generation of products that are released each month. The current month (new monthly releases) are only available by subscription – $8/month. Each month, you get a new pack.
The alternative is to wait until the item is back catalogued (in approx 60 days) at which time the price will be $20. You can see previous monthly Spark releases that are available for purchase in the Spark section of the website: https://puremagnetik.com/collections/spark-packs”
So for the $8/mo subscription you get “early access” to one plugin each month. You can continue to use the plugin after you cancel the subscription, so that’s nice. It’s kind of like buying a new plugin in from them every month for $8. You don’t get access to the whole back catalog, just the new stuff that’s released during your subscription. And whatever is released during your subscription is yours to keep.
If you don’t want the subscription model you can wait 2 months and buy it outright for $20.
So it’s not so much on “sale” for $8, as it’s on early offer in the subscription section. That probably adds to the confusion too.
A plugin a month seems like quite a pace to keep up. The other previous Spark releases don’t look as enticing to me either. I’ll probably wait a couple months and see what kind of stuff they’re releasing. It’ll be a long time before I go for one of these sub models.
Their sales model is why I ended up not buying it. Just let me hand you some monies and get the damn plugin.