Help:UTAU User Manual

&nbsp Hi all.

As you certainly know, most of the original documentation relating to UTAU is in japanese, and mainly comes as short articles within the author's blog at http://utau2008.blog47.fc2.com. These have been nicely merged into a user manual at http://kenchan22.web.fc2.com/i/utaumanualindex.html. Kenchan, the author of this manual, graciously allowed me to use his texts and images to do an english translation from it.

Please bear in mind that this is an initiative of mine, and that Kenchan won't answer to any question related to the present english version.

Also, I am not a native speaker of neither english nor japanese, and I didn't want to spend too much time in polishing the translation, so please bear with me. This is a Wiki, so feel free to improve whichever parts you see fit.

Now, without further ado, here it is.


 * Onkr.

UTAU Operations Manual

Introduction

In this pages I would like to explain how to use UTAU, and to describe UTAU's operation screens. I would be happy that you use it as a reference if you want to try using UTAU afterwards, or if you already started using UTAU but don't know very well how to use it.

When consulting this guide, please pay attention to the following items.


 * The author of UTAU is Ameya/Ayame sama, but this manual for learning UTAU's operations is a voluntary contribution by Kenchan, a UTAU user. In particular, as Ameya/Ayame sama did not request to write this manual, do not send questions or comments about this manual to Ameya/Ayame sama . Please post your questions and requests to the UTAU Manual Bulletin Board. (Please understand that there are times when I'm unable to answer because there are items even I don't know about.)


 * Please note that UTAU's author Ameya/Ayame sama and Kenchan are not in any case responsible for any damage that could occur due to operating UTAU according to this manual . In addition, matters that may cause serious damage are listed with a "Notes" or "Warning" mark so please read them attentively.


 * The display of this manual has been validated on Internet Explorer 8.0 and Mozilla Firefox 3.6. In addition, as the layout has been designed for a SXGA (1280x1024) screen, please note that you may need to scroll horizontally for small screens like XGA (1024x768), or the WSVGA (1024x600) used in netbooks. (Viewing could be easier if you reduce the display size of your browser.)


 * You are free to link to the top page or to any chapter of this manual.


 * As there are items that are not yet written in this manual, please see also the links to UTAU-related sites or the video courses listed in the table of external links in the left frame.


 * UTAU is nowadays frequently updated to add functionalities or to fix bugs, thus please note that I may be late in modifying this manual. Please check the latest information about UTAU upgrades in Ameya/Ayame sama's blog.


 * This manual has been modified to cope with the latest versions but please understand that the screen copies are left to older versions when it does not hinder the explanations.

UTAU Operations Manual Table of Contents

1. Introducing UTAU


 * 1-1. Operating Environment


 * 1-2. Installing UTAU


 * 1-3. Adding UTAU singers (voice banks) to the default singer


 * 1-4. Updating UTAU


 * 1-5. Registering UTAU shareware Ver0.2.61 and later


 * 1-6. Uninstalling UTAU

2. Entering notes, rests and lyrics


 * Introduction. Description of the main screen


 * 2-1. Setting the tempo


 * 2-2. Entering notes and lyrics


 * 2-3. Entering rests


 * 2-4. Changing the pitch of notes


 * 2-5. Removing notes and rests


 * 2-6. Changing the length of note and rests


 * 2-7. Joining notes and rests


 * 2-8. Splitting notes


 * 2-9. Cutting notes and rests/Copy and paste


 * 2-10. Changing the lyrics


 * 2-11. Changing the volume


 * 2-12. Reverting to a previous state/Do it again (Undo and Redo)


 * 2-13. Using and changing the voice files (sound libraries)


 * 2-14. Changing the screen display to 3-beat


 * 2-15. Moving notes horizontally

3. Audio playback


 * 3-1. Playing, pausing and stopping audio


 * 3-2. Fixing sound drops


 * 3-3. Troubleshooting: cannot play at all

4. Exporting audio to a WAV file


 * 4-1. Exporting only a selection (that was just played) to WAV


 * 4-2. Exporting the whole project file to WAV

5. Saving projects to a UST file


 * 5-1. Saving a UST file


 * 5-2. Opening a previously created UST file


 * 5-3. Merging UST files (appending notes)

6. Importing and exporting MIDI/VSQ files


 * 6-1. Importing MIDI/VSQ files to UTAU


 * 6-2. Exporting UTAU created data to MIDI/VSQ

7. Note properties and flags


 * 7-1. Opening the "Note Properties" screen


 * 7-2. The settings of the "Notes Properties" screen


 * 7-3. Setting the Flags


 * 7-4. Setting default values for "Note Properties"


 * 7-5. Setting flags in the "Project Settings" screen

8. "A la carte" Tonal mark features


 * 8-1. What are "A la carte" Tonal mark features


 * 8-2. Opening the "A la carte" configuration screen


 * 8-3. Performing various tone marks in the "A la carte" configuration screen


 * (1). Blending Vowels


 * (2). Portamento


 * (3). Vibrato


 * (4). Modulation


 * 8-4. Applying the configured tonal marks


 * 8-5. Saving the settings

9. Envelope and Vowel Blending


 * 9-1. Adjusting the envelope


 * 9-2. Normalizing the envelope


 * 9-3. Changing the default envelope


 * 9-4. Blending vowels


 * 9-5. Automatically adjusting the envelopes all together (hidden feature)

10. Setting voice banks


 * 10-1. About voice configuration


 * 10-2. Opening the Voice Bank Settings screen


 * 10-3. Switching the desired sound source in the Voice Settings screen


 * 10-4. Using the Voice Setting Editor to configure a voice


 * (1). Left blank (offset)


 * (2). Consonant part fixed range


 * (3). Right blank


 * (4). Overlap


 * (5). Preutterance


 * 10-5. Precisely adjusting the phonation timing (adjustment method using a metronome)


 * 10-6. Automatically configuring a voice (estimating the voice settings values) (hidden feature)


 * 10-7. Creating/regenerating the frequency table files in one go (hidden feature)

11. Adjusting the Pitch (attaching vibrato and portamento vocal expressions)


 * 11-1. Adjusting the pitch using the Pitch Editor


 * 11-2. Adjusting the portamento


 * 11-3. Adjusting the vibrato

12. Mode2 features


 * 12-1. What is Mode2


 * 12-2. Opening the Mode2 configuration screen


 * 12-3. Adjusting the portamento in Mode2


 * 12-4. Finely adjusting the pitch by adding more pitch control points


 * 12-5. Adjusting the vibrato in Mode2


 * 12-6. Changing the Mode2 default settings


 * 12-7. Editing furthermore with the classical Pitch Editor a pitch curve configured in Mode2

13. Properly using various pitch files (Prefixmap - SuffixBroker)


 * 13-1. Automatically using the proper pitch file (Prefixmap)


 * 13-2. Manually using the proper pitch file (SuffixBroker)

14. Extending features with Plug-ins

15. Continuous sound sources


 * 15-1. What are continuous sound sources


 * 15-2. How to use continuous sound sources


 * 15-3. Voice configuration of continuous sound sources sound settings

16. Other useful features


 * 16-1. Searching for lyrics


 * 16-2. Jumping to a label


 * 16-3. Saving a notes selection range