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Vocaloid is (C) Yamaha Corporation; Hatsune Miku & Megurine Luka sound libraries (C) Crypton Future Media
0CC-FT is (C)jsr & HertzDevil; Famicaloid tweaks (C) w7n
(Legal chit-chat: The modified 0CC-FT should bear the same license of the original software)
This document and related FT modules are all made by w7n.

This is a non-profit fan project, all waveforms are very crude samples (<= 6-bit 64-step) and are only capable of demostrating the Famicom expansion chips' ability to mimic human vocals but not to create any vocals of high quality.



0. About the modified 0CC-FT

0CC-FT is a superset of FamiTracker, but to maintain compatibility with the official, the max number of instruments of 0CC is the same as the official which is 64.
Also, as of now (0CC v0.3.13) it is still unable to output NSF with a large instrument chunk.
The modified 0CC-FT solves both these problems: The max number of instruments is set to 128, and the instrument size allowed in the NSF engine is much larger.
One problem though is that NSFs generated with this modified 0CC-FT will not be compatible with TNS hardware.
(If, in future Famicompo competitions, you want to make your NSFs compatible with TNS hardware, you can contact me for help by PM'ing me in the FamiTracker forums)

The modified 0CC-FT is based on 0CC v0.3.9, and besides the two changes mentioned above, this mod also features these changes:
1, the max size of DPCM is made much larger (only made so that DPCM editing is made easier, DPCM previewing would glitch though). Remember that the max size of DPCM allowed in actuality is still 4081.
2, the N163 instrument slot bug is fixed

*** WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! ***
Known fatal bugs as of now:
1, editing large DPCM samples would easily crash the tracker.
2, adding too many N163 waveforms etc. would probably corrupt your module after you save it(this is a bug that has always been present until 0CC v0.3.11). BACKUP MODULES before you make edits to N163 instruments.
3, the Zxx(N163) command glitches terribly in the exported NSF (again, this is a bug that hasn't been fixed until a later version of 0CC)

I am unlikely to make more edits to the mod unless for my own purposes, so do not submit feature requests to me. Bug reports are very likely to be ignored too.



1. Introduction to FDS vocal synthesis

NES vocals that aren't DPCM / PCM? That must be really screwed up 'potato knishes' FDS/N163 voices, anything other than that is beyond comprehension!
...And the above is totally wrong.
If you think FDS vocals are just potato knishes, or if you think the 'FaMiC' set has the best quality of FDS vocals, simply check the NSF file 'Ievan Polkka.nsf' (Play it in NSFPlay, and enable FDS write protect).

Now, believe me, FDS vocal synthesis isn't technically hard. Still though, you do need to face the following challenges:
>>Tracking in speed 1. But that also gives you the benefit to be able to edit every single detail.
>>The amount of efforts you need for the vocal parts. The making of lead vocals take as much time as instrumental parts, and harmony(N163) vocals take nearly as much time as lead vocals.
>>Vocals always sound weird no matter how hard you try. Get ready to learn then!
>>It's VERY HARD to bring emotions into the vocals, especially if you want the vocals to sound sad. That is Mission Impossible even for me.
>>If you want to sample waveforms yourself, then prepare to be frustrated especially when you have to make all waveforms perfect, or when you have to sample variants of vowels. Luckily, you're given a set of Miku(V2) and Luka(V2)'s vocal samples.
>>Not being able to post your FTM modules in the FT forum since most of them aren't compatible with official FT. (Could that be called a challenge anyway??)

OK, first of all I want to bring your attention to this example:
Anime: Gakuen Alice   Opening theme -- Pikapika no Taiyou:
'Warau kara~ ... Pikapika no Taiyou no you ni~' (笑うから…ピカピカの太陽のように～)
Try to make the 'Pikapika no Taiyou no you ni' vocals using the FDS MikuV2 instruments.
In case you need the note pitches: pi(G5) ka(G5) pi(A5) ka(A#5) no(A#5) ta(C6) i(A#5) you(=yo,A5) no(G5) you(=yo,A5) ni(A#5)

So what needs to be paid attention?
The 'pikapika' vocals are bright, and more importantly the two pi's and the first ka sound as if they are accompanied by a glottal stop, i.e. pi-(halt)-ka-(halt)-pi-(halt)-ka no taiyou no you ni
Their release phases should thus be very short, for example from 12 to 6 and then to 0.
Done now? Now compare your result with the 2nd track in Famicaloid_MikuV2set.ftm.



2. Famicaloid tips

The 'linking vowel':
When you pronounce 'ai'(愛), you don't switch from 'a' to 'i' in less than a frame's time. But we don't have enough waveforms to record all the in-between states when switching from one vowel to another.
The solution?
Use two frames of 'e' to approximate the shifting of sound. i.e. An 'a' first, an 'e' for 2 frames with slightly lower volume, an 'i' for the rest.
Note that switching between waveforms too frequently may produce some unpleasant noise that may even let people mistake which word is played. Be cautious, and if using the linking vowel sounds bad, don't use it.

General rules:
a-[e]-i/y
a-[o]-u/w
i/y-[e]-o (For i-o only, not for o-i)
i/y-[e]-u

Below are examples of how linking vowels are used:

じょう = じぇおー[j+e+o or j+i+e+o]   In general: x-you = x+e+o or x+i+e+o, where x=sh or j or silent
x+あい = x+あえい[a+e+i]
x+よ(う) = x+いえお(ー)[i+e+o or y+e+o]
あい(short) = あえ[a+e] or あえい[a+e+i]
や = いえあ[i+e+a or y+e+a]
x+おい = as-is
わ = w+o+a

Certain techniques like using samples of different notes also help. For example:
A 生(せい) at F-5 which sounds somewhere between a distinct せー and せい can be simulated with:
S(Note at G-5) + E(Original sample is F-5, note is F-5) + E(Original sample is D#5, note is F-5).
The last E will sound somewhere between an え and an い . We call this E an 'E of risen tone'.

Similarly, a wo(を) at F-5 which sounds closer to うお can also be simulated with:
W(F-5) + O(Original sample is G#5, note is F-5) + O (Original sample is F-5, note is F-5).
The first O is an 'O of fallen tone'.


Consonants(FDS): (Assume that the syllables have no change in pitch, and vowels have sustained volumes of 'D' which is 13)
ts & s: G-5. Volume: Ts=9, S=1-3-7-7 for example(the attack phase of S must be slow or it will sound like Ts)
Sh: same as s
J: G-5 recommended. Volume: 9
Ch: G-5 recommended. Volume: 7
K: G-4, or 1 octave lower than the vowel that follows (if the vowel is higher than G-5). Volume: 9 (if BGM is playing), 4(if no BGM is playing)
H: 2 octaves lower than the vowel that follows. Volume: F
F: Pitch is the same as the vowel. Volume: (When simulating 'Fu') 5 at maximum, then use the 'F of Fu' wave for some more frames and then switch to U; (When simulating anything else) 8 at maximum, do not use the 'F of Fu' wave
Z: E-5 recommended. Volume: 9
M,N: Note is the same as the vowel. Volume: F
D,T: Note is the same as the vowel. D/T only lasts for 1 frame. Volume: F or lower, depending on the case
R: Pitch is the same as the vowel. R lasts for 2 or 3 frames. Volume sequence: C-F for example
W: Pitch is the same as the vowel. Volume sequence: 1-3-6 for example

I've tried simulating the 'ng' sound (nasalised 'g' as in 'nihongo') but it's too hard.

There is no need for frequency modulation except the F consonant, which I've set to the desired rate and depth.



3. Basic knowledge for non-Japanese speakers (including other Famicaloid tips):
Note that being pronounced 'as-is' means being pronounced as the kana(仮名) indicate.

The 'R' in Japanese is (roughly) equivalent to 'L' in English in Famicaloid simulation. In actuality they're different of course.

-ei in a single kanji(e.g. れい as 例,霊,礼 etc):
Spoken Japanese: Closer to a long 'e'. (れい＝れー) Occasionally it's pronounced somewhere between a long 'e' and 'ei'.
In songs: If split into 2 syllables, it's almost always pronounced as-is(れい＝れい). Otherwise it can occasionally be pronounced as a long e.
(Note that the 'ei' in 知っている etc. is usually pronounced as-is in spoken Japanese, because a word-border exists between the 'e' and the 'i'.
As for gairaigo i.e. loan words, it depends--some are pronounced as-is, but most aren't.)

-ou:
In many cases pronounced as a long o. e.g. よう(用、様)＝よー. This applies to both spoken Japanese and songs.
In certain cases when the u is the end of a terminal form of a verb, or where the o and u are in different kanjis, it is pronounced as-is. e.g. まよ-う(迷う)、こ-うし(仔牛)
Note that the 'u' in 有り難う is pronounced as an extension of the previous 'o'. (Look up Google Translate in case you're not sure.)
Also, when the -ou is pronounced as a long o and still considered 2 syllables in songs, the linking part between the two syllables will sometimes sound like 'u'.
For example, よう can sound like: yo(first syllable) - u(linking part) - o(second syllable). This is denoted as よ-うぉ.

wo:
Spoken Japanese: Closer to 'o' (but not completely equivalent?)
In songs: It's frequently pronounced different from o and instead sounds closer to 'wo' or 'uo'. In extreme cases it's even close to 'vo' if very stressed.
As it turns out, simply using an 'o' to simulate the wo sound would sometimes get an inferior result. I'd prefer to use 'W + O(of fallen tone) + O' for most wo sounds. 

ha(は, as particle):
Always pronounced as 'wa' unless we are talking about certain Old Japanese text like 色は匂へど.

he(へ, as particle):
Spoken Japanese: Pronounced 'e'.
In songs: Sometimes pronounced different from 'e' and instead sounds like 'he'. The 'F of Fu' waveform can be used to simulate this 'h' sound.

fu(ふ):
The 'f' isn't completely equivalent to 'f' in English, however the usual 'f' can be used to approximate this consonant(especially since FDS vocals usually aren't clear enough).
Exactly how 'F' and 'F of Fu' should be used depends on the case. If the fu sounds closer to 'hu', use the 'F' waveform for at most 2 frames and with very low volume.

Silent vowels:
Usually occurs with す, し, く, and only in spoken Japanese but usually not in songs.
す, し, く are, in some cases, often pronounced without the vowels, or at least the vowels becomes shorter.
Examples: the following kanas in brackets are often pronounced without the vowels:
[す]き(suki --> ski)  [く]そ(kuso --> kso)  そ[し]て(soshite --> soshte)
If you find this barely decipherable though, do not make the vowel silent, instead make it shorter and lower its volume. e.g. 「若しくは」(Moshiku wa) = M-O-Sh-I(short, volume at about 6)-K-U-W-O(linking)-A

Rare kanas:
Any syllable that starts with V, e.g. ヴ(vu) -- Most Japanese people pronounce the V as B.
ゐ(wi)、ゑ(we) -- Pronounced i and e respectively, should they ever exist.
づ(du)、ぢ(di) -- Pronounced zu and ji respectively, these two are still normally used.

っ(Sokuon):
In songs, the sokuon is frequently regarded as a single syllable and is pronounced as a short vowel which is the vowel of the last syllable.
e.g. 例え二人離れ離れになっても… (Tatoe futari hanarebanare ni [natte] mo...)
なって is split into 3 syllables and is pronounced: な - あっ - て in the original song (Rondo -revolution-). (Don't mistake what it sounds like for ならって which makes no sense)

Examples about syllables:
じゅんじょう = じゅ - ん - じょ - お (4 syllables). The お can sometimes be replaced with うぉ.
ドール = ど - お - る (3 syllables)
ほしい = ほ - し - い (3 syllables)
とうめい = と - お - め - い (4 syllables)
なっちゃう = な - あっ - ちゃ - う(if slow) or な - っ - ちゃ - う(if fast, essentially the なっ is a long syllable which spans 2 syllables of time). The う is sometimes pronounced closer to お.
そうっと = そ - お - っ - と or just そ - おっ - と(which breaks the rules, but probably sounds better)
Certain songs don't always follow these rules, for example the OP of Kiniro Mosaic.



4. Some simple tips on using the Vocaloid Editor
#1: If you want to sample a vowel e.g. 'a', but find the 'a' as a single sound not suitable, try sampling 'a's from 'da', 'ra', 'ma' etc.
#2: For sampling, the GENDER FACTOR (GEN) will come in handy in cases where you want to make Vocaloids sound lovelier/cuter, or the opposite.



5. Languages whose sounds are easier to sample?

First to note: Any sound that is close to a simple waveform but not typically classified as a vowel, is classified as a semivowel in this chapter. For example, y,w,m,n.

The difficulty of sampling mainly depends on the number of vowels(and less importantly semivowels).

Most European languages (including English)? Forget it.
Chinese? Forget it. The Chinese pinyin only have 6 single vowels, but in fact some of these have variants and the total num of single vowels is 9.
HOWEVER, the Chinese Vocaloid Luo Tianyi sounds great in FDS. And plus the Chinese language doesn't have words that end with hard-to-simulate consonants.

Japanese? Easy to sample: (Written in romanised forms)
Vowels: a,i,u,e,o(They have some variants though)
Semivowels: y,w,r,m,n,ng(Some have variants)
Consonants: k,g,s,z,ts,h,p,b,f,d,t,sh,j,ch(Some have variants but aren't simulated with FDS)

Another example is Korean(we have the SeeU Vocaloid too):
Vowels: a,i,u,eu,e(=ae in modern Korean),o,eo
Semivowels: y,r,m,n,ng
Consonants: (not including variants based on aspiration--aspiration is nearly impossible to simulate with FDS) k,g,s,z,h,p,b,d,t,s,sh,j,ch
One obstacle though, the Korean language have words that end with the above consonants, e.g. 'Yuk-sip-nyeon', and these are hard to simulate.