Don’t Like Your Voice? There’s a feature for that
by Jessica Holyoke on 16/06/10 at 11:10 am
For residents logging in since Friday, there was a new feature added to the SL platform; voice morphing. By downloading the new alpha test viewer 2.1 – which the Lab promises has no spyware – residents are able to test and purchase subscriptions for a packet that includes various voice modifications.
For example, if someone wanted to sound more like a monster/demon, for $750L per 30 days, you can buy a subscription that includes such preset voice alterations as Demon, Nightmare or Thunder. The categories are Feminine, Masculine, Techie, Scary, and Tiny.
You can preview the voices on Viewer 2.1 by going under the Me tab, my voice and checking out the voice morphs. The morphs can be heard on any voice enabled viewer. In checking out the voice modifications, I noticed a lack of control that you would find in other voice morphing programs but a fidelity in pronunciation, d’s sound like d’s for example.
So the big questions are; will people increase in their voice usage with the voice morphing or will people still shy away from voice? and will people be willing to pay $750L per month in order to be Scary or Tiny?
Loki
Jun 16th, 2010
A group of friends were trying to do a talent contest on sunday using voice chat. For some reason the voice chat would not work for everyone so they plan to do another contest using external streaming, think that sums it up!
Sophia
Jun 16th, 2010
Loki @ the end of their comment says “think that sums it up!” Yup I guess so. We know what that agenda is all about.
Here we go again….
Darien Caldwell
Jun 16th, 2010
It would have been more humorous if you had said “there’s an app for that” instead of “there’s a feature for that”.
Fail
Orion
Jun 16th, 2010
Wow, now they’re actually charging for “features”? LAME!
K.T.D.
Jun 16th, 2010
People (And I use the term very loosely) in SL are dumb enough to pay L$700/mo for a scam that offers no real protection from theft, at least for L$50 more they get something useful out of the deal.
Jocelyn Pawpad
Jun 16th, 2010
I think I would be more incline to pay for voice morphing if I could apply it to other people’s avatars. Think of the possibilities with being able to make that troublesome neighbour sound like Felix The Cat, or that random griefer like Cletus the Slackjawed Yokel from the SImpsons.
Jocelyn Pawpad
Jun 16th, 2010
Say, being able to gain that little amount of self satisfaction from making those problem avatars sound ridiculous (albeit to yourself only) might go some way to reducing the amount of overt griefing on the grid that people are forever going on about. I can even think of a few whingers right off the bat which I would automatically assign Yoko Ono voice patterns to!
K.T.D.
Jun 16th, 2010
@Jocelyn:
On that note, can we automatically make known fashionistas with zero tech knowledge but enough pull to fuck up the grid’s community with their witch hunts sound like Roseanne, or some 400lb bitch from the wal-mart checkout line?
Jocelyn Pawpad
Jun 16th, 2010
@ K.T.D.
Only if we can make all the self-appointed vigilantes sound like Officer Barbrady and Chief Wiggum.
K.T.D.
Jun 16th, 2010
@Jocelyn: Deal, as long as we also get to assign that pizza faced teenager’s voice from The Simpsons to Fractured Crystal and his associates too.
Jocelyn Pawpad
Jun 16th, 2010
Dunno, I’d have to refresh my memory of what they did. But I’ve already figured out who gets the mad cat lady. Might need an ewok voice morph for any furries in her immediate vicinity too. If I dropped just enough acid then I could be kept amused for *days* just sitting about and giggling my ass off at their antics.
Jocelyn Pawpad
Jun 16th, 2010
Oh, while I think of it, Sam the Bald Eagle from the Muppets can play specially selected Lindens.
Seriously, I *would* pay L$750 per month for a function like this. I don’t see too many people lining up to support this kind of feature though. AR’ing someone for overt griefing is one thing. Wondering whose browser might be making them sound perfectly ridiculous and not being able to do a damn thing about it while various members of SL are laughing up their sleeves is quite another.
Tux
Jun 16th, 2010
Screaming Bee’s MorphVOX is better and there is a free version. LL suck at everything. I wonder what exploit will be found it that!
It's Unfixable
Jun 16th, 2010
Anybody notice that it’s ONLY Woodheadbury and the people who troll them who post here anymore? I think the Herald’s readership must be nearly gone by now. The advertisers all bailed months ago.
It's Unfixable
Jun 16th, 2010
Oh, wait, no, the ads have just been put in a holding pen instead. Lots of ads. Probably none of them paying, but lots of ads.
James Larken Smith
Jun 16th, 2010
I definitely will not pay for it. My voice sounds just fine, plus I can do that through my sound card for free…
Kiddoh
Jun 17th, 2010
“Anybody notice that it’s ONLY Woodheadbury and the people who troll them who post here anymore? I think the Herald’s readership must be nearly gone by now. The advertisers all bailed months ago.”
Are you intentionally trying to say the polar opposite about everything you come across?
Also; where’s my two pages of rage & baw? You are the worse delivery boy ever.
Jessica Holyoke
Jun 17th, 2010
@Darien
I decided against saying there’s an app for that due to any form of Trademark ban hammer.
@Tux
I am not sure if Screaming Bees works with SL voice. I believe at one point it did not. Also, there is a convenience factor of having the voice morphing in the client, as opposed to making a third party program work with the client.
@Its Unfixable
Do you mean I’m a woodbury or an anti woodbury troll by writing articles or the people who comment here are woodburies or anti woodbury trolls?
Jayd3n
Jun 17th, 2010
I would pay for such a service but only when 2.1 Source Code for Second Life has been released, so I can properly add Modifications to my own client Like Emerald has and stuff, then I would be willing to pay up to 1k a month + Premium Service on top of paying Tier for such a service.
But I dont think Linden Lab is going to release 2.1 source so soon, so I wont be using 2.0 any time soon till I can make my own Mods.
Jayd3n
Jun 17th, 2010
**Forgot to Add**
As for Morph Vox/Screaming Bees this program does work for Second Life Properly Configured. I have used it before, Its just it does not fully sound real when I use it, and people can tell im using a voice changer.
milner Beck
Jun 17th, 2010
wow now i know they gone insane !!!!! their selling voice changers so griefters can really start on innocent people. when are they going to sell fake email addresses too, god they would do anything for a L$
Little Lost Linden
Jun 17th, 2010
I would have prefered a bug fix to this feature any day of the week. Would have been nice to see sim crossings fixed instead. Something like that I could use more.
Nelson Jenkins
Jun 17th, 2010
This is assuming you’d still want to use v2.x in the first place.
MattyK Snowpaw
Jun 17th, 2010
@LittleLostLinden
Sadly, I have to agree, but it seems Linden Labs are currently more interested in scamming you out of every penny and then packing up and shipping it straight over to some Megacorp/”BIGGER” games company.(Which, if in the hands of Electronic Arts… We’re Fucked.)
Milner Beck
Jun 17th, 2010
yea its sad i know i even told them to take my sim back because of all the crap in the game that was costing me real life money and you know whats funny??? they never took back my sim even after i told my teneants i gave it up and then months later they banned me and ip blocked me stating I owned them almost 900.00 for tiers and I lost my avatar and a 12,000 usd inventory because of that but its cool thats why we have attorney’s. I been building in the game for years and they keep all my stuff and as they see it its ther griefters making them the money so they keep them and ban us instead, they won the fight this round but its not over legally.
Nebula
Jun 17th, 2010
I may get it just to dick around with it for a month.
Melissa Yeuxdoux
Jun 18th, 2010
MorphVOX would be nice, if it would run under Linux.
Alex Ponebshek
Jun 18th, 2010
Charging for features in an open source piece of software, eh? What does LL intend to do when the third party clients throw in voice morphing for free?
At0m0 Beerbaum
Jun 19th, 2010
@ alex.
ban anyone using said clients, or taking them off of their approved list if said client is on there.
There’s no future in SL, and this is LL grabbing at straws to slow the inevitable from happening before they can sell the company to some bigger company.
angelic Ronin
Jun 19th, 2010
Leaves it wide open for people to pretent they are women/men
from personal experience it is not nice to be with some one a long time then find out they are a man and not a woman. and the cost is rediculous
Orion
Jun 19th, 2010
@Angelic – Gee, don’t ya think its kind of silly to try and hold a real life relationship inside a video game where people are encouraged to present themselves in any cartoon way or form that they imagine? It sounds to me like what you’re looking for would be better suited for a dating site like Match.com or EHarmony – certainly not a video game like Second Life.
Annamaria Button
Jun 25th, 2010
Standing ovation for ORION!!! Please use facebook for making new friends you cannot make in RL, and don’t bother who is just asking for a genuine SL experience!
However, I never considered letting avatars know how my voice is because I consider my own voice part of my privacy sphere, it’s not virtual people’s business .. and even if i could solve this problem using a morphed voice, I wouldn’t do it … I am rather annoyed to be forced to use a headset, desktop, monitor, keyboard and mouse, that’s enough!
However I think voice morphing could be useful for RPG players, some of them make really impossible to type while you’re playing and, if there are people who don’t want to use voice (and it’s not anyone else’s business why do not they want to use voice …) voice morphing could improve communications, or simply help players not to lose their friends out of the game because they cannot answer any IM while they’re playing, maybe for hours as if often happens with GOR.