Karoryfer Samples has released an updated version of the free Marie Ork voicebank for the freeware Alter/Ego vocal synthesizer VST/AU plugin by Plogue.
The first version of Marie Ork featured two different variations of the female metal growl vocal. It was released last year as a 2016 KVR Developer Challenge entry and was one of the first freely downloadable voicebanks for the Alter/Ego vocal synthesizer. Needless to say, she was also the first virtual metal vocalist to hit the market.
Marie Ork now comes with two additional voices: a clean female singing vocal (Marie Ork Clean) and a spoken word mode (Marie Ork Talker). Some additional presets are also included, along with a few additional phonemes for Latin. Marie Ork can sing in Japanese as well (in other words, you can input both English and Japanese text), but with an accent. The controls remain the same, although the interface did receive a makeover in the form of new and very nice looking background artwork.
Thanks to Alter/Ego’s intuitive control scheme, it’s very easy to get started with Marie Ork. Simply download the soundbank from the product page linked below and drop the included XML file onto the Alter/Ego interface. You can instantly play some notes and you’ll hear Marie Ork signing the default “Select your Alter Ego” lyrics, or you can type in any text to hear how it sounds when sung by a robotic female metal singer. For some advice on how to perform your melodies with Marie Ork and some general usage tips, check out the excellent introduction video which is embedded at the top of this page.
As for the actual vocal, it’s pretty cool sounding. Obviously, it will never sound like a real female singer, but as far as artificial vocalists go, Karoryfer Samples did an amazing job with this voicebank. I was very pleasantly surprised by how well most of the words are pronounced and I could see myself using Marie Ork in some of my future electronica tracks, or at least for experimenting with vocal melodies when working on a new track. If you haven’t tried Alter/Ego yet, definitely give it a go and check out Marie Ork, too.
Marie Ork is available for free download via Plogue (652 MB download size, ZIP archive, contains 1 voicebank for Alter/Ego).
Last Updated on December 6, 2017 by Tomislav Zlatic.
