Eclipsed Sounds
- May 26

SOLARIA Indiegogo Page Update Archive

An archive containing all of the updates posted to SOLARIA's Indiegogo crowdfund page.

Indiegogo Page | SOLARIA Main Page | Other SOLARIA Articles

All Indiegogo updates were written by Taylor Hennessy.

Note: SOLARIA's name was changed during the development process - this change happens in the 8th update, so updates prior refer to the project as "SOLARIS".

May 16, 2021 | First Guest Artist Reward Revealed! Edlinklover Button Badge

We've revealed the first of our guest artist rewards: the button badge by artist Edlinklover! Remember: the guest artist rewards are exclusive to this crowdfund, and there will be no way to get them after it ends!

Edlinklover is a Japanese-American hafu artist, honing their craft since 2011. Their works often feature warm colors in an anime-inspired textured art style. They discovered vocal synths in 2012 and have been passionate about them ever since, making them the prime focus of their work. They have been active in the vocal synth community not only as an artist, but as a writer and hobbyist game developer as well.

https://twitter.com/Edlinklover

https://edlinklover.tumblr.com/

https://www.instagram.com/edlinklover/?hl=en

We were very excited to work with Eddie for this project! Check out the rest of our reveals schedule below!

Thank you for supporting the Virtual Singer SOLARIS campaign! Please be sure to share our campaign to help SOLARIS get fully funded!

May 19, 2021 | Next Guest Artist Reward Revealed! MystSaphyr Acrylic Charm

May 27, 2021 | Next Guest Artist Reward Revealed! staySOCKY Acrylic Charm

Jun 12, 2021 | Q&A Livestream 2! Fan-art spotlight, DVD Case reveal, & more

Jun 20, 2021 | PayPal Contribution Link, Package Reveal, & Contest!

Jun 22, 2021 | Funding Update: Private Investment & PayPal Update

Jun 26, 2021 | SOLARIS is Funded! + Final Stream

Jun 28, 2021 | Development Schedule, Name Change: "SOLARIA", Design Contest

Thank you all for your overwhelming support of the SOLARIA (SOLARIS) Synthesizer V Project! In this update we'll go over the final funding breakdown, current timeline for development, another contest we will be running in the meantime as we focus on creating the voice library, and details on the shift from the name "SOLARIS" to "SOLARIA" for the project. Final Funding Breakdown Our final funds are as follows: $42,941 (107%) on Indiegogo, $1,476.93 (3.7%) through PayPal, and $6,000 (15%) from a private investor. Overall, this is a total fund of $50,417.93, or 126% of our goal! Thank you so much for your overwhelming amount of support! Extra funds will go towards completing as much of our stretch goal as possible: we will have more data gathered from our singer, and additional key art illustrations of SOLARIA for software users to use at their leisure. (Please see the "Design Contest" section of this update for more information) Development Timeline

Based on our more than complete funding for the project, we will be able to follow the original project timeline closely!

Over the next 2 weeks, Indiegogo will be processing the funds for distribution to our team, and so for the time being we will be compiling final numbers and working with our manufacturer for the small merchandise to complete the first phase of physical rewards distribution. (Scheduled to be completed in December) We will also be completing the Concept Art PDF and Production Diary PDF digital rewards with behind-the-scenes snapshots from throughout the campaign in order to begin digital rewards distribution. (Scheduled to complete in August).

Once the funds are received from Indiegogo, we can move forward with data creation and processing from our voice provider Emma Rowley, which will lead into creation of the AI library. The procedure of collecting all of the necessary singing samples and processing them for the voice creation should take 2-3 months, meaning that we will be on course for the software voice being tested and ready for distribution scheduled in January 2022. The physical package version likewise will be ready for distribution as scheduled. (February of 2022)

We will post updates at least bi-weekly on the crowdfund page as a check-in, and more frequently on social media. When there is visible progress to be announced, we will post special updates here and on all platforms as done so thus far.

Project Name Change: "SOLARIS" to "SOLARIA"

We're sure you've noticed, but we are undergoing a slight change of name for the project.

Over the course of the crowdfunding campaign, we made the difficult decision to announce a slight change of product name: from "Synthesizer V SOLARIS" to "Synthesizer V SOLARIA." We could not announce this before the end of the crowdfunding campaign, as many things on the crowdfunding page, but this minor change was a necessary one that we feel suits the project much better as a whole.

This change was decided on for a variety of reasons, but the primary reasons were to avoid the abundance of other characters, IPs, and products named SOLARIS, and to more quickly evoke the idea of a singer on name alone ("SOLARIA" being a portmanteau of "solar" and "aria"). This change will not affect much regarding the project as a whole, just a letter here and there. We are in the process of updating everything that can be changed to the new name, so please bear with us as we make this shift over the course of the next week as we move into the production phase!

SOLARIA Alternative "Eclipsed Design" Contest

As the software and audio side of our project progresses behind the scenes over the next few months, we will be holding a second, bigger contest for supporters interested in the character mascot side of the project: a contest for the creation of an alternative design!

Prompt: Create an alternative design for Synthesizer V SOLARIA based on the theme of an Eclipse, and the meaning of the company name “Eclipsed Sounds” as described thusly: "The name “Eclipsed Sounds” refers to the idea that when a songwriter uses a virtual singer, their own “voice” as the songwriter eclipses, or becomes more important than, the software vocal they are using, and in that way we hope that using singing synthesizers can help to center & achieve the exact artistic vision of the songwriter." Prizes: One winner will be chosen as the official alternate “Eclipsed” design for SOLARIA. This winner’s design will be illustrated by Superstellar for a special edition of her physical software, given only to the winner, along with one set of SOLARIA Superfan level rewards from the crowdfunding campaign.

Guidelines & How To Enter:

Illustrate both a front and back view of your design
Maintain official characteristics of “SOLARIA” (skin tone, hair color/length)
Submit your final entry to eclipsedsounds@gmail.com before midnight eastern time on August 1st.
Include contact information such as social media accounts & artist alias for attribution in your email
You may enter up to 2 designs.

Design Usage:

The winner’s design will be illustrated as a new key art piece for SOLARIA and will be distributed, with attribution, for free usage by SOLARIA Synthesizer V library users. The winning design will, after being chosen, belong to Eclipsed Sounds for any and all purposes of reproduction, with appropriate attribution.

For those primarily interested in the music software & production side of the SOLARIA project, please stay tuned for later in our development schedule!

Thank you for your support thus far, we hope that you will continue to support SOLARIS into the future, now as SOLARIA!

Jul 29, 2021 | July Update: Contest ending, Current status, Reference Sheet

Thank you for your patience waiting for this update - we have quite a few small milestones to report! Before that, just a reminder that our alternative "Eclipsed Design" contest for SOLARIA is still accepting entries for the next 2 days! So, if you are interested in the character mascot side of this production, be sure to check it out in our previous update! Current Status: Indiegogo Funds & Final Backer Totals Indiegogo has released the funds to us, so we have been able to make our final payments to guest artists, our first payments to producers, and move forward with the recording stage with Emma Rowley and make steps forward in the small merchandise production process. This means that a lot of our current work is "behind the scenes" as it stands now, but there will be progress to be shown soon! Here are the final backer counts for each tier, including PayPal contributions! There was one instance of a supporter "upgrading" their digital SOLARIA tier to a physical reward tier through PayPal, so there will be just one difference compared to the Indiegogo page.

Non-software digital rewards will be distributed in mid to late August to all supporters. In addition, we will be verifying shipping addresses, and collecting preferred display names for our "thank you video" which will be posted upon SOLARIA's software release! SOLARIA Character Mascot Reference Sheet As part of this project, we created a unique character mascot to represent the vocal to bring some more personality and an optional visual aspect to the virtual singer software. We have received many requests for a full reference sheet for the SOLARIA character, and thanks to our artist Superstellar, we now have a full reference image to show you!

Thank you for your support. We have been busy behind the scenes here at Eclipsed Sounds working to make SOLARIA as good as she can be! While it will be some time before the SOLARIA AI voice can be demonstrated publicly, our next update in mid-late August will announce the winner of the design contest, notify our backers that non-software digital rewards have been distributed, and update the production status of our wave 1 physical rewards!

Aug 29, 2021 | Design Contest Winner & Digital Supporter Rewards!

While the SOLARIA Eclipsed Design Contest has been going on, this month has been a busy one behind the scenes at Eclipsed Sounds working on SOLARIA as well! In addition, as August nears its close, the digital supporter rewards (digital wallpapers, concept art PDF) are now being distributed.

SOLARIA Update

As always, we have been hard at work behind the scenes working on SOLARIA! We have completed the data collection phase and are currently processing the recordings for SOLARIA sourced from our project vocalist Emma Rowley. It may take some time to complete the processing phase, but we will continue to update you on progress as it is made.

SOLARIA Eclipsed Design Contest Winner - static / @staticcoceans on Twitter!

After much deliberation, we would like to congratulate static (@staticcoceans on Twitter), the winner of our SOLARIA Eclipsed Design contest! This decision was by no means easy as there were so many incredible designs, so we want to thank everyone for all of the wonderful entries. We hope this has been a fun event for those interested in the character side of our project while we continue working on SOLARIA's processing behind the scenes in the meantime.

This artwork of the design was made by our project artist, Superstellar. You can see static's original artwork of the design here.

Digital Supporter Rewards

The digital supporter rewards are now being distributed to the email addresses of campaign supporters. Digital supporter rewards are available for all backers who backed at $15 USD and above. If you backed at a higher reward tier, please refer to our campaign timeline for when your future rewards will be delivered.

These rewards include digital wallpapers, & the concept art PDF for the SOLARIA character design. While the character aspect of vocal synthesis projects is completely optional to the software, we hope you can enjoy this look at our process behind the scenes to create SOLARIA's character!

If you have not received these rewards, and you believe this may be in error, please contact us at eclipsedsounds@gmail.com.

If you also backed for the Production Diary add-on reward, it will be distributed when the digital version of the software is complete, to ensure that any events during production are included in it, so please look forward to it as well!

Thank you for following along with the development of our project. We hope to be able to bring you more updates soon! We appreciate your support thus far, we hope that you will continue to support SOLARIS into the future, now as SOLARIA!

Oct 7, 2021 | Post-September Update: Production Continuing

Nov 16, 2021 | End-Of-Fall Update: Production Progressing

This is your last reminder to update your shipping address for physical rewards. Please update your address on your Indiegogo pledge as soon as possible. For more information on how to update your shipping address, see this FAQ from Indiegogo.

Development has continued smoothly over the past few weeks, we have been making significant progress on SOLARIA, and this should be the last time you hear from us before the Synthesizer V SOLARIA samples arrive! For this last production-stage update, we have some timeline information!

December

In December, backers should expect the small physical rewards to ship out, and coupon level backers will receive their coupon codes.

Due to supply chain issues happening worldwide during the end of this year, it is possible that the physical backer rewards that are shipping out next month may arrive later, possibly into January and February. We have very little control over when these will arrive, but when we begin shipping those rewards, an update will be posted and tracking numbers will be sent to each backer. Backers who also supported for the SOLARIA Physical Edition will have their entire physical rewards package mailed out in February to save on packaging and shipping costs, and also because higher tiers' packages will be packaged differently.

Additionally, in December, we anticipate most of the demonstration songs will be posted, so please look forward to these as well!

January

In January, all software backers will receive their copies of Synthesizer V SOLARIA! Both digital and physical backers will receive download copies and activation codes at this time, while physical SOLARIA backers' packages will be mailed out in February. In mid January, SOLARIA will be available for sale on our website, and coupon level backers will be able to use the codes they received in December for a one-time $50 discount on their purchase. The exact date is still being determined but we will make a formal announcement when it is decided.

February

In February, the final physical packages will be mailed out! This applies to all tiers including the physical software version. We will have more information on these packages as we get closer to February.

Thank you for following along with the development of our project. We will bring you more updates soon!

Dec 15, 2021 | Synthesizer V SOLARIA Voice Library Complete!

SOLARIA's AI voice is finally complete, and we are so excited to share new samples with you!

After months of behind-the-scenes work - she is here! Please listen to the short vocal-focus version of "Miles" below to get an idea of her final tone! This video also includes a summary of the project so far.

Commercial Release Date + "Lite" Version

SOLARIA will release commercially on January 19th of 2022! She will be available for purchase on our website starting then. Crowdfund backers should expect to receive their copies of her digitally at least one week prior to this release date. Commercial sales of SOLARIA will be digital-only, and at this time we do not have plans to sell more physical editions.

After much deliberation and many community & backer requests, we will also have a "Lite" version of the voice library made available some time after the commercial release. This will be a lower-quality "trial" type voice that will be available for free, but will not be able to be used commercially and will not yield as high-quality results. This is typical for Synthesizer V libraries, and so we hope that when SOLARIA Lite releases more users will try her out and consider purchasing the full library.

Thank-You Video

The thank-you video will feature the full, final AI vocalist version of "Miles" and will be posted at the end of this month. If you would like to adjust your name for the video, or ask to not be included, please update your information on your Indiegogo pledge as soon as possible. Once the video is uploaded, we will not be able to change names in it.

Physical Merchandise Rewards

Due to manufacturer delay and the increasing shipping times typical of the end of the year, the small physical rewards will unfortunately be slightly delayed until late January/early February. However, this will give backers more time to update addresses and ensure correct names on pledges before rewards are shipped. For backers who pledged at tiers including the physical version of the software, your shipping time is not expected to change, and is still expected to begin in February.

Please update your address on your Indiegogo pledge as soon as possible. For more information on how to update your shipping address, see this FAQ from Indiegogo.

Original Demonstration Songs

As part of this project, we promised 4 original demonstration songs to showcase the final vocal! The short (under 2 minute) versions of these demo songs will all be posted this month - with the full versions being released on each songwriter's platform early next month! In fact - the first short version of a demo song has been released! You can listen to it here!

This first song was created by Circus, with illustration by Hedy Fu! "Dawn" focuses on showing SOLARIA's flexibility and realism even when singing a cappella, as well as the ability that Synthesizer V gives to creators to create numerous harmony lines with the same vocal. We will also be posting a few cover demonstrations this month as well, so we hope you look forward to seeing more of what SOLARIA can do!

Thank you for following along with the development of our project. We will bring you more updates very soon!

Dec 31, 2021 | Synthesizer V SOLARIA Pre-orders Open!

Synthesizer V SOLARIA Available for Pre-order! https://www.eclipsedsounds.com/shop

For those of you who were waiting for the ability to buy SOLARIA - our pre-orders are now open! This will ensure that you receive your code & installer on release day (January 19th)

Coupon Backers

Coupon tier backers - check your emails! Ahead of the SOLARIA pre-order, your coupons have been delivered! Each coupon is a single-use for $50 off your purchase! If you did not receive your coupon, check your spam folder - if it is not there, send us an email at eclipsedsounds@gmail.com and we will sort it out for you!

3 More (short versions of) Original Demonstration Songs, 1 Cover Demonstration Song!

Hear SOLARIA sing along with a real vocalist in this new song by Meltberry! This demonstration song shows SOLARIA's realism when compared directly against a human singer, as an example of how you could use SOLARIA as a duet partner in a finished production!

This demonstration song shows SOLARIA in a unique song by GHOST with themes based in Polish pagan mythology. The vocals are stylized rather than aiming for perfect realism, lending to the song's atmosphere. It serves to show that, as an AI vocalist, you can create and fine-tune anything you could imagine with SOLARIA!

SOLARIA's final pre-release original demo song - "Our Universe" is by Flanger Moose, with illustration by irarugii! This demonstration is meant to show the most common use case for SOLARIA - as a vocal part of an electronic composition! This piece is situated right in the middle of SOLARIA's ideal range, and shows her clearest tone!

The first cover demonstration is of "White Winter Hymnal" by Fleet Foxes - specifically the a cappella arrangement by Pentatonix! This technical demonstration uses very minimal manual adjustment- only about 4 notes in the entire song have been adjusted manually! The pitch adjustment is relying mostly on Synthesizer V's Auto Pitch Tuning feature to add realistic pitch interpretation to all 4 vocal lines.

In Synthesizer V Studio Pro, AI voices like SOLARIA have the ability to sing in multiple languages regardless of the language of the original recordings! While SOLARIA is recorded as an English AI singer, you can hear her in this technical demonstration singing in Japanese and Chinese! (Thanks to translation help here from Geiky and Creuzer!)

Minor Schedule Changes

The Thank-You Video & Production Diary will both be made available to contributors on January 19th - SOLARIA's release date! There was a little more to be done with both of these - and still 19 days to release - so we have decided to reveal both of those then!

Thank you for following along with the development of our project. We will bring you more updates very soon! https://www.eclipsedsounds.com

Mar 4, 2022 | Physical Crowdfund Rewards On The Way!

We have been absolutely blown away by the support over the past few weeks! We have been kept extremely busy fulfilling digital orders and answering customer inquiries - but finally, everything is lined up to progress, so we have a lot of updates on the remaining crowdfund rewards, SOLARIA's lite version, and other upcoming company plans for you today!

Before getting into the update, we wanted to thank IrunaBara for all of his hard work during the development of the SOLARIA project and the crowdfunding process. Shortly after SOLARIA's release, he left amicably from the Eclipsed Sounds team to focus on his wellbeing and education. We wish him the best in all future endeavors!

Physical Crowdfund Rewards

While we have faced some unexpected delays in receiving certain parts of the overall rewards, most items are ready to ship this week! We expect the first wave of packages to ship out on Monday! Unfortunately, due to the amount of varied items in the Superfan and Ultrafan level packages, we anticipate a somewhat longer delay in fulfilling these items. We will continue to update on the status of these tier rewards as we get more information. Our sincere apologies for the delay.

The small physical merchandise turned out perfectly! The two buttons have a matte, sparkly finish that creates a very unique impression, the stickers are all glossy and crisp-looking, and the acrylic charms are both double sided and look great when they catch the light! While we couldn't get a great photo of the acrylic stand, it also turned out amazingly! We are very excited to get these items out to everyone!

The physical editions of Synthesizer V SOLARIA are also ready to go! Both autographed and normal copies are all packed up and ready to be shipped this coming week!

For all physical crowdfund backers, expect tracking numbers in your inbox very soon!

Remaining Digital Crowdfund Rewards

As of tonight, the remaining digital crowdfund rewards are the Production Diary, full Synthesizer V project file for Miles, and the Thank-You Video! The Thank-You Video and .SVP were delayed because they are slated for concurrent release, and we kept receiving video display name change requests after our stated deadline. However, we found it important to continue to update the names for the video as backers wished. At this time no more name changes will be put into effect, and the Thank You Video, Miles .SVP, and Production Diary are slated to be sent out on March 10th, next Thursday! Thank you for your patience and cooperation at this time.

Additionally, any backers who backed for custom voice lines should be able to check their email inboxes for their custom line tonight! If you did not receive your custom voice line, please email us at contact@eclipsedsounds.com so we can sort that out for you.

SOLARIA "Lite" Version & Original Song Contest Coming Later This Month!

We intend to release SOLARIA's "Lite" voice database late this month! This voice database is a low-quality free version of the full SOLARIA voice that will let prospective users try before they buy! While it won't give nearly as realistic or high-quality results as the full database, or include any of the extras that come with her commercial version, it can help give users a taste of what using SOLARIA will be like! As with most Synthesizer V "Lite" databases, SOLARIA Lite will not be allowed to be used commercially, and, on publicly uploaded works, users must specify in the upload title or prominently in the description that their usage uses the Lite database. Please keep these rules in mind for when her lite version is released later this month, as well as for all other Synthesizer V Lite databases!

This free version release will coincide with the launch of an original song contest! Details are still in the works for this contest, but the original song entry must use SOLARIA prominently, and no other virtual singer voices. However, human duet partners for SOLARIA are completely fine. Entrants will have to submit a link to their uploaded song and .SVP project file on our website before the end of the entry period. Please look forward to more information about the contest and associated prizes soon, we hope you will be excited for the launch!

We also hope to run an additional contest for SOLARIA users later this year, but the upcoming contest mentioned above is currently the only one focused on original songs.

Finally, we would like to extend a very sincere thank you to everyone who believed in our project and helped make SOLARIA a reality, and everyone who has supported the project post release! The support and enthusiasm for SOLARIA is more than we could have ever expected, and we will keep working our hardest to satisfy the needs of SOLARIA supporters and vocal synthesis users more broadly. We hope we can continue to fulfill the wishes of our supporters far into the future. Thank you all very much, and we hope you enjoy using SOLARIA!

Thank you for following along with the development of our project. We will bring you more updates as the final rewards are distributed! https://www.eclipsedsounds.com

Email us for support related to your pledge or purchase of Synthesizer V SOLARIA:

contact@eclipsedsounds.com

Apr 15, 2022 | April Update & Original Song Contest

While we have been slowly transitioning out of the crowdfund fulfillment period, we still have a few updates regarding physical rewards that we are waiting on! Additionally, we have a contest event running now to commemorate the one year anniversary of the crowdfund!

Synthesizer V SOLARIA Original Song Contest & SOLARIA Lite

As mentioned in our last update, to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the crowdfund we are running a song contest for SOLARIA! Until the end of the day on June 24th, you can submit new, original works with SOLARIA to the contest form on our website. For this contest, there are no genre or style limitations, and the song will be judged on overall sound rather than SOLARIA usage techniques or strict technical merit. As a result, the contest is open to everyone, not just music professionals and experienced users of Synthesizer V! All entrants retain all commercial and distribution rights to their song. Songs will not be re-uploaded or used anywhere without the written permission of the entrant. If you don’t own Synthesizer V SOLARIA, you can enter the contest using the free version we have just released, SOLARIA Lite. The Lite database is a free, reduced-quality version of SOLARIA, and, like other Synthesizer V Lite voices, it cannot be used commercially, and any public usages must indicate in the description or prominently in the title/caption that it uses “SOLARIA Lite”.

Download SOLARIA Lite on the contest page here.

We wanted to use this contest as an opportunity for those who missed the crowdfund to have a chance to get their hands on some of the limited physical items as was highly requested, but we believe strongly in fairly compensating artists, and so a cash prize is also included for most prize tiers. The prizes for the contest are as follows:

First Place

$300 USD (via PayPal)

Crowdfund exclusive physical edition of Synthesizer V SOLARIA, autographed by voice provider Emma Rowley. Crowdfund exclusive merchandise pack including 2 buttons, 2 keychains, acrylic stand and tote bag.

The first-place winner may also opt to collaborate with Eclipsed Sounds to have a new video for their song created, and to have a short version uploaded on the Eclipsed Sounds YouTube channel as an exceptional usage of SOLARIA. More details to be shared with the winner upon acceptance of this prize.

Second Place

$100 USD (via PayPal)

Physical Edition of Synthesizer V SOLARIA

Third Place

$50 USD (via PayPal)

Physical Edition of Synthesizer V SOLARIA

Fourth Place

Digital Download of Synthesizer V SOLARIA

Fifth Place

Crowdfund merchandise pack (buttons, keychains, acrylic stand)

For this contest, lyrics must primarily be written in a language officially supported by Synthesizer V SOLARIA. If you are using the Lite voice database, only English is officially supported. However, if you have the full version of SOLARIA and the Synthesizer V Studio Pro editor, you can also write your lyrics in Japanese or Chinese.

Check the contest page here for a full list of submission requirements and more information.

In a future contest set to begin around fall of this year, we will be focusing on advanced usage that stretches the language capability of the software both in original and cover song works, and in that later contest, English, Japanese, and Chinese works will not be accepted.

Remaining Crowdfund Rewards

The following rewards are still waiting to be sent out: autographed & blank posters (Ultrafan tier), campaign exclusive t-shirts (Ultrafan & Superfan Tiers), & Superfan packages (as a result of waiting just a bit longer for the t-shirts to be complete). We have reached out to all Superfan level backers to offer to ship packages without the t-shirt, and ship the t-shirts as they arrive, so if you would like to get your hands on your package as soon as possible, please check your email!

Thank you for following along with the development of our project. https://www.eclipsedsounds.com

Email us for support related to your pledge or purchase of Synthesizer V SOLARIA:

contact@eclipsedsounds.com

May 24, 2022 | One year! +Vocal Modes Update

May Update: One year since launch, Vocal Modes, & original song contest ending in 1 month

Thank you for one year of support of SOLARIA and of our company as a whole! We have a shorter update for you today, and we are slowly but surely working through a transition out of the crowdfunding stage. Additionally - SOLARIA's Vocal Modes update is almost ready!

One Year Since Launch

On May 14th of last year, we began this crowdfunding campaign. While synthesized singers had been crowdfunded before, a native English language singer had never been crowdfunded successfully. However, because of you, SOLARIA was able to be completely funded and was able to release earlier this year! We hope that we can keep working to satisfy the needs of vocal synthesis users into the future - if you have a specific request for a product or company activity, please feel free to submit them under the relevant contact topic on our website contact form. Thank you so much again, we hope you will continue to support SOLARIA and look forward to more from us in the future!

Final Fulfillment Update

Recently, we completed crowdfund fulfillment! While there are some packages that have been returned to us due to incorrect addresses, some that are being replaced due to damage from their local carriers, and a few other unique circumstances, we are working to fix these errors as the packages return to us and are able to be re-assessed and shipped out again. If you have had issues receiving your package, or if it arrived very damaged, please feel free to reach out any time to us at contact@eclipsedsounds.com so we can do our best to solve it for you.

Vocal Modes Update for SOLARIA

SOLARIA's vocal modes update is nearly complete! For users of Synthesizer V Studio Pro, vocal modes will add a new level of expression to the SOLARIA vocal. You can hear a sample of 2 of her upcoming vocal modes below: Soft and Solid! In this sample, the only parameter adjusted is the pitch parameter, and all 3 samples come from the exact same set of notes - the only change is the vocal mode selected!

SOLARIA Original Song Contest Deadline: 1 Month Left!

The original song contest we announced in our last update has only 1 month left before the entry acceptance deadline ends! Be sure to submit your songs before the contest ends! https://www.eclipsedsounds.com/solaria-original-contest

We have stopped sharing community content on social media for the duration of the contest to avoid any bias, as judging will be anonymized, but rest assured that as soon as it ends, we will be sharing all of the works tagging us again!

Thank you for following along with the development of our project. https://www.eclipsedsounds.com

Email us for support related to your pledge or purchase of Synthesizer V SOLARIA:

contact@eclipsedsounds.com

Jul 2, 2022 | First Half of Summer Update

As always, we have been hard at work on SOLARIA and creating future resources for our supporters. While much of our current work is behind-the-scenes at the moment, we have quite a few updates today on what have been working on.

Vocal Modes Update Around the Corner!

We have been hard at work evaluating the vocal modes to ensure each mode carries a different tone. While the update has taken more time than expected to finish preparing, we do expect it to be out to users within the next 2 weeks. Thank you for your patience so far! We have collaborated with unit.0 to prepare a new demonstration song to show 3 of the upcoming 7 vocal modes, which you can listen to below.

The 3 vocal modes used in this demonstration are Power, Airy, and Soft. The other 4 vocal modes not used here are Clear, Passionate, Solid, and Light. For a short sample of the Solid vocal mode, please see our last crowdfund update. When the update is complete, users of Synthesizer V Studio Pro will be able to add more expression to their SOLARIA usage! We will add the Synthesizer V Project files to the SOLARIA distribution folder for this demonstration as well as for CYCLES when the update is out. If you missed that last demonstration by ODDEEO, you can listen to it here.

We hope you will continue to look forward to the vocal modes update, as well as toward the possibilities it will open up for your usage of SOLARIA.

License Agreement Update

Over the course of SOLARIA’s commercial availability, we have had many discussions with users and made updates to the license agreement to remove or clarify restrictions. However, we are dedicated to giving our users the best possible products, and felt that these updates and clarifications did not go far enough. As a result, we have entirely re-written the license agreement for clarity and to remove more restrictions. This change will be reflected in the voice database after the vocal modes update, and the SOLARIA Lite license agreement will remain unchanged.

Original Song Contest Judging Has Begun!

SOLARIA’s funding anniversary Original Song Contest is now in the judging phase, with a grand total of 238 qualified songs! There are a total of 197 songwriters who entered the contest, and 31 entrants submitted multiple songs – of them, 2 submitted the most, each with 4 songs! To listen to all 238 songs in a row, it would take 13 hours and 55 minutes, with an average of 3 and a half minutes per song. The longest individual song is exactly 7 minutes long, while the shortest is exactly 2 minutes long - exactly following the requirements!

Before judging could begin, we sorted through each song and ensured it met the length and upload date requirements. We also resolved all duplicate submissions, only keeping the most recently submitted entry. To prepare all files for judging, each song was anonymized down to a number and had its metadata stripped to ensure complete fairness for each entry. During the judging process, we have begun by judging participants who submitted multiple songs first and selecting the “best” of their submitted songs since only one song per participant may be eligible to win. After this, several rounds of judging will take place as we narrow down the songs to the very best. We are taking a wholistic approach to judging, considering all aspects of the production together - however, as previously stated, the expertise of SOLARIA usage will be the least emphasized aspect to make the contest fair for new users.

Originally, we wanted to announce results as soon as possible, however, there are too many to complete judging quickly while also giving each song a fair listen. With the sheer volume of songs, it will take us quite some time to judge the entries given how incredible they all are. So, we will release results one month from now. For the time being, we have collected all contest entries that were publicly uploaded to YouTube and SoundCloud in these playlists below, so please lend entrants your support!

YouTube Playlist | SoundCloud Playlist

Website Updates

We are currently working on a full website update to improve the appearance of every page and improve navigation. This update is expected to be completed gradually over the course of the next month, and be complete when the results of the song contest are uploaded. As of this post, we have already updated the information on our contact page and the SOLARIA license page.

Future Content

We are currently preparing to increase our output of demonstration songs and covers going forward. Along with reviewing previously received portfolios, we are asking those interested in working with us to submit work examples and pricing information through the Collaboration Application category on our contact form. We are primarily looking for those experienced in songwriting and music production, though artists and other creatives are always welcome. Submissions without pricing information will be discarded, as we believe strongly in compensating creative work fairly.

Additionally, we are asking interested users who are experienced with SOLARIA or are capable of unique tricks using the voice database to submit tips via the Product Usage Tips category on our contact form. We will include these tips in future resources we are preparing for users, and you can choose to be credited or anonymous in these tips. Tips can include your personal parameter settings, ways you achieve certain vocal techniques, or even just fun effects you can get out of SOLARIA.

User Help Appointments - Test Run

While all of us work on SOLARIA and customer support alongside our day jobs, we have noticed an increasing need through the customer support email for new users to have direct assistance in setting up or improving the output of their Synthesizer V projects. As a result, we will be taking limited Saturday appointments on our Facebook page for direct walkthroughs with team members beginning on July 16th. These appointments will be free - available times will be posted on Sunday and will need to be claimed by end of day on Wednesday. This will be a test run, so we may stop offering these appointments in the future if they have not been utilized - the first 2 appointment slots will be made available to claim on July 9th.

Facebook Page

Thank you for following along with the development of our project. https://www.eclipsedsounds.com

Email us for support related to your pledge or purchase of Synthesizer V SOLARIA:

contact@eclipsedsounds.com

Jul 31, 2022 | Mid-Summer Update (Contest Results, Dreamtonics Store)

This update, we have quite a few things to announce, both big and small, as well as updates on a few things we are still working on, so please forgive us for this long update! Also - our apologies if you received two emails regarding this update. The SoundCloud embeds did not work as expected, so we re-posted the update with links instead. Thank you for your understanding! SOLARIA Dreamtonics Store Distribution We are pleased to announce that from today on, SOLARIA will also be distributed through the Dreamtonics store! Users who wish to purchase the voice database through Google Pay are now able to do so through this storefront. Thank you to Dreamtonics for helping us provide an additional avenue for SOLARIA to make her way to users! Users who purchase SOLARIA through the Dreamtonics store will still be able to email us for usage questions. See SOLARIA’s page on the Dreamtonics store here. Website Updates We have made several updates to our website to assist with navigability and information, and will continue to update the website over the next few days -- make sure to keep an eye out for those changes! We will make a small announcement on social media to let you know when we have completed them. Newsletter & Site Blog By user request, we are working on setting up a newsletter! It may be a bit of time before our first newsletter is ready, but for now if you are interested in signing up for our new mailing list, keep an eye on our social media for the announcement! We expect to send 1-2 per month, and we are starting the mailing list fresh to ensure we don’t end up sending emails to anyone who doesn’t want them. On top of this newsletter, with the new updates to our website we will soon be shifting over to using the site blog feature. While we will continue to post a summary of announcements monthly on the crowdfund updates page for the foreseeable future, we expect to post blog updates with more frequency. These updates will be included in the aforementioned newsletter. SOLARIA Crowdfunding Anniversary Contest Results We also have the contest results for you this month! With over 230 amazing entries, the level of participation far exceeded our expectations! As a result, we have increased the prizes offered for the top 5 participants & added 5 runner-up winners who will be receiving a coupon prize! The prizes are now as follows, with old prizes highlighted in red, and new changes highlighted in blue:

First Place Prize

$300 $500 USD via PayPal, crowdfund exclusive physical edition of Synthesizer V SOLARIA autographed by voice source Emma Rowley, crowdfund exclusive merchandise pack including 2 buttons, 2 keychains, acrylic stand & tote bag. Optional: collaboration with Eclipsed Sounds to have a new video created for their song, with a short version posted on the Eclipsed Sounds channel and the full version reserved for the songwriter.

Second Place Prize

$100 $300 USD via PayPal, physical edition of Synthesizer V SOLARIA, crowdfund exclusive merchandise pack including 2 buttons, 2 keychains, & acrylic stand

Third Place Prize

$50 $150 USD via PayPal, physical edition of Synthesizer V SOLARIA, crowdfund exclusive merchandise pack including acrylic stand, 2 buttons & 2 keychains

Fourth Place

$100 USD via PayPal, digital download physical edition of Synthesizer V SOLARIA, crowdfund exclusive merchandise pack including acrylic stand, 2 buttons & 2 keychains

Fifth Place

$50 USD via PayPal, physical edition of Synthesizer V SOLARIA, crowdfund exclusive merchandise pack including acrylic stand, 2 buttons & 2 keychains

Runner Up Prize (New!)

$30 off single-use coupon for digital download of Synthesizer V SOLARIA

(runner up entrants can feel free to give this coupon to a friend if they do not wish to use it themselves)

Top 5

The Top 5 were the songs that we felt rose above the rest of the competition. The differences that put one song above another in this ranking are very slight, as all 5 are incredible pieces.

First Place: “SANDCASTLES” by Nishin

Nishin crafts an unforgettable emotional experience with “SANDCASTLES” – the winner of our first song contest! Throughout the whole song, the instrumental and vocals build to create perfect momentum to the very end – and what a breathtaking end it is! We hope that you’ll give Nishin’s piece a listen, especially if you’ve missed out on this one so far, and send them your congratulations!

Second Place: “ほろにが” (“Bittersweet”) by Juudenki

“ほろにが” blends masterful sound design and a driving electronic beat with a vocal melody that just begs the listener to sing along. The blended English & Japanese lyrics layer perfectly with the off-kilter sound effect and mixing choices, Juudenki really is in a class of their own with this piece.

Third Place: “All Smiles” by Rook

Rook provides an incredible listening experience in “All Smiles”, glittering keys paired with powerful guitars wrap this unique usage of SOLARIA into quite the amazing production. The part of the production where they bring in their own vocals surprised us, and really tied the whole thing together - this song is just great!

Fourth Place: “Mr. Know-It-All” by egg-tan

egg-tan brings us the pop hit of the summer with “mr know it all”. Combining lively SOLARIA vocals with pumping bass, sassy lyrics, and bouncing chords, this song was stuck in our heads non-stop! The song also notably pushes her range to the max, pulling her higher and higher until she reaches a whistle tone, which egg-tan masterfully fits into the song.

Fifth Place: “On Time” by cora

With catchy guitar chords and a delightfully nostalgic theme,“On Time” is the perfect wistful and light rock song. We could not get enough of these lyrics about the earnest wish to connect with someone special in this song; we could almost picture her running towards the camera! cora creates an amazing piece here where everything - SOLARIA's vocals, the bright guitar, light keys, percussion and heartfelt lyrics - fits together perfectly and makes the perfect experience. (The change in the composition around 2:09 is particularly executed with amazing skill!)

Runner-Up

Runner-up entries can be considered the remainder of our top 10! These were amazing to listen to, and every single one of these impressed us so much that we had no choice but to create this category.

Runner-Up: “Autumn Leaves too Soon” by Hyder

The wistful and lonely feeling of “Autumn Leaves Too Soon” is accented perfectly by the smoky lounge atmosphere created by the mix. SOLARIA here reminds us of a classic lounge singer, which we were particularly impressed by. This unique and moody piece took us completely by surprise, in the best way possible!

Runner-Up: “At Your Word” by NEOKIN

NEOKIN provides an incredibly relaxed, yet emotive piece that showcases SOLARIA’s softer side. As if having incredible mixing wasn’t enough, the catchy lyrics and melody really made this song stick out! Contemporary, chill, and very relatable, “At Your Word” is an instant classic!

Runner-Up: “Liar” by DevilsPoison

“Liar” is an extremely impressive song – backed by a trap beat, deep bass and plucked strings, DevilsPoison shows off SOLARIA with smooth, captivating vocals and solid harmonies. The production is tight all-around and we could not get enough of the intensity of those lyrics! This is definitely one we will be listening to for a long time.

Runner-Up: “Bloom” by Penelope Aveline

Penelope Aveline creates a nostalgic and charming citypop tune that expertly weaves a sweet romantic tone throughout, with a story steeped in android theming. This song is wonderfully written in a way that just makes us smile non-stop, and that trumpet solo is unforgettable!

Runner-Up: “BLACK SWAN” by odotter

A dark and electronic piece with a strong vocal center, “BLACK SWAN” has a vice grip on drama and presentation throughout the song. With an atmosphere partially reminiscent of early 2010s Lady Gaga, odotter demonstrates a showmanship we can’t get enough of and hits the ear just right.

Honorable Mentions

Honorable mentions are the songs that did not necessarily make it into the top ranks, but that came out of the judging process as deserving of special note. We hope you'll give them a listen!

Honorable Mention: “Rainyday Blues” by MTCP

We could not get enough of this quintessentially blues tune from MCTP! Each part of this composition fits perfectly together, to say nothing of the incredible rasp they were able to get out of SOLARIA’s voice! We’re definitely looking forward to a rainy drive through town to be able to turn this song all the way up.

Honorable Mention: “雪山庆典” (“Snow Mountain Celebration”) by 惰性气体NX

This Chinese disco piece by 惰性气体NX had us immediately swaying along to the beat! The lighthearted feeling of the song is carried throughout the whole production, from the beat into the instruments and the melody itself, all coming together for a really special production! This song certainly is not one we will forget any time soon.

Honorable Mention: “Sol County Fair” by VoXil

Come on down to the county fair! VoXil brings us a folk song about the sunniest event around – they make great use of the "gender" parameter in Synthesizer V to bring you a chorus of singers telling you all about when and where to go and just how much fun you’ll have - all created using SOLARIA. We love how cheerful this song is, and just wish we could attend the next “Sol County Fair”!

Honorable Mention: “Fire of a Thousand Suns” by Derek Spear

A swinging, jazzy piece that captures the ear from the first moment, Fire of a Thousand Suns provides an extremely fun experience that doesn’t let up for a moment! The blend of typical jazz instruments layered over a crunchy guitar certainly doesn’t mess around, this is one song that you don’t want to miss.

Honorable Mention: “Siren Song” by Masuna

This song is a complete ear worm, and quickly became the personal favorite of one of our team members. The theming of a siren works perfectly for the topic of the lyrics, and the sound design expertly levels digital instruments with brain-scratching noise and an unforgettable melody. This song is somewhat dark and mildly explicit, so listeners beware!

Honorable Mention: “Don’t Pick on Me” by StardustLegend

Incredibly moody and mysterious, this jazzy piece by StardustLegend really stuck out to us! This dark fantasy story of deception and revenge is not only catchy, but lyrically clever! We hadn’t originally expected many fantasy songs, and this immediately jumped out as something special!

Congratulations to all of our winners, runners-up, and honorable mentions, and thank you to everyone who participated!

To our winners & runners-up: please expect an email from us in the next few days regarding fulfillment of your prizes!

Contest Conclusion

With over 238 many incredible songs submitted, we found it nearly impossible to narrow down to only 5 winners – and even with 5 runners-up & 6 honorable mentions added on, there are at least 50 other songs we wish we could adequately spotlight! As a result, we ask that you take some time today to celebrate all entrants and listen to all the amazing songs below in our official playlists! There is an amazing variety of genres, song topics, and sheer talent & skill represented in the entries, so give them a listen! YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqLFWeV0vNRHbkLBXDBosCp9hFZLoIEW9

SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/eclipsedsounds/sets/solaria-original-song-contest

Additionally, there is one entry that was uploaded publicly to Audiomack.

Entries missing from the playlist may have been uploaded as unlisted or private. Additionally, if your song is not included in either of the playlists and you believe it may have been disqualified, you can email us at contact@eclipsedsounds.com and we can sort out this matter. (Most likely, we just skipped over it when adding to the playlist from our spreadsheet!)

With the contest results finally announced, we will be taking time to share community content again on social media beginning later this week! While we stopped sharing user content to avoid accidentally hearing contest entries outside of judging, we will now be free to share as before.

Thank You

Thank you for your support as always, and for reading through another long update! We are hard at work on some very exciting projects behind the scenes, and hope that you will look forward to what we have coming up!

Thank you for following along with the development of our project. https://www.eclipsedsounds.com

Email us for support related to your pledge or purchase of Synthesizer V SOLARIA:

contact@eclipsedsounds.com

SOLARIA Indiegogo Page Update Archive

May Update: One year since launch, Vocal Modes, & original song contest ending in 1 month

First Place: “SANDCASTLES” by Nishin

Second Place: “ほろにが” (“Bittersweet”) by Juudenki

Third Place: “All Smiles” by Rook

Fourth Place: “Mr. Know-It-All” by egg-tan

Fifth Place: “On Time” by cora

Runner-Up: “Autumn Leaves too Soon” by Hyder

Runner-Up: “At Your Word” by NEOKIN

Runner-Up: “Liar” by DevilsPoison

Runner-Up: “Bloom” by Penelope Aveline

Runner-Up: “BLACK SWAN” by odotter

Honorable Mentions

Honorable Mention: “Rainyday Blues” by MTCP

Honorable Mention: “雪山庆典” (“Snow Mountain Celebration”) by 惰性气体NX

Honorable Mention: “Sol County Fair” by VoXil

Honorable Mention: “Fire of a Thousand Suns” by Derek Spear

Honorable Mention: “Siren Song” by Masuna

Honorable Mention: “Don’t Pick on Me” by StardustLegend

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