Synthesizer V Studio 2 Pro: reviews and analysis

TLDR: Synthesizer V Studio 2 Pro turns written notes and a lyric into a sung performance you steer syllable by syllable and phoneme by phoneme. It costs from $99 as a one-off purchase, includes one voice and runs on your own machine, with no monthly fee and nothing uploaded to a server. The second bill is what changes the arithmetic: every extra voice is bought separately, and that is what decides whether it comes out cheap.

What Synthesizer V Studio 2 Pro is and how it works

The problem it solves is narrow: you have written a melody and a lyric, and there is nobody to sing them. This segment attacks that from two sides. One starts from a recorded voice and recasts its timbre, so you have to sing in tune. The other starts from the score, so you have to be able to write a melody. Dreamtonics plays on the second side, and that boundary decides whether the tool suits you long before the price does.

The editor behaves like a piano roll. You place notes, type the lyric underneath, and the engine distributes syllables and synthesises the performance. From there the version 2 work begins, and the Sound on Sound review lays it out better than any launch note: a dedicated phoneme lane where the strength and duration of each phoneme are adjusted graphically, pitch edited through control points sitting on the curve itself or drawn freehand, and a voice panel that opens each singing style separately to reach its pitch, timbre and pronunciation. That same review describes the engine consolidated into two modes, sing and rap.

The other decisive trait is where all of that runs. This is desktop software for Mac and Windows, the Sound on Sound review adds that it also loads as an ARA plug-in in suitable hosts, and the synthesis happens on your machine. No cloud and no credits. Within the best AI singing-voice tools, that puts it alongside VOCALOID6 in the short group that does not depend on the vendor keeping a web service alive tomorrow.

What using it day to day is like

The KVR Audio thread comparing it with ACE Studio holds two readings, and they should not be merged. One user reports that for electronic or pop material it does not require much tweaking to sound good. Another posts the reverse, having hit situations where it will simply not pronounce words or phrases correctly. The first then replies that in English, using native English voices, they have yet to find an unsolvable pronunciation. The useful part of that exchange: when the engine jams on a word, the phoneme lane is what you fix it with, and that is why it exists.

The sweep puts the cost plainly: editing demands manual MIDI and phoneme work rather than an automatic conversion. In exchange, iteration is fast: the Sound on Sound review describes a retakes function that regenerates by varying timing alone, pitch alone, timbre alone or all three together, plus a two-axis panel that moves expressiveness and vibrato without redrawing anything. It also notes rendering is considerably faster than in the previous version, to the point where edits feel instant.

On the voice catalogue there is a warning in that same thread worth reading to the end. One user observes that these apps focus on female, light pop and soul vocals, with no options for harsher rock or metal registers. Another answers with a concrete way out, a third-party gritty English tenor rock voice for Synthesizer V. On that reading, anyone heading into those genres buys outside the official catalogue, which is money on top of the $99.

Pricing and plans

You buy it once, from $99, with no subscription on top. The licence includes one voice, and that is the small print that changes the arithmetic: each additional voice is bought separately, so a project with a duet or two distinct characters does not cost $99, it costs $99 plus whatever the voices you need are worth.

Comparing across the segment has a catch, because ACE Studio starts from $16.58 per month billed yearly but also sells a perpetual licence. Both can be bought outright, so the useful question is how much you want to put down on day one and where the rendering will run. For three songs and done, any purchase is a worse deal than renting for a few months.

There is a free trial with a limit that matters: it does not allow commercial use. It is there to judge whether the engine pronounces your language and your lyric properly, and whatever comes out of it stays outside any paid job. For release, Dreamtonics’ terms record commercial use with the official voices, so the check to make before you commit is the specific licence of the voice you plan to sing with, especially if it comes from a third-party provider.

Who it is for (and who it is not for)

The licence brings one voice and the synthesis happens on your own computer. Those two facts already say who it suits: anyone composing in bursts who does not want a monthly fee ticking through the months they never open the program, anyone handling material that by contract or by habit has to stay on their own machine, and anyone happy with a single lead voice whose performance they intend to write out in full.

Rule it out if your starting point is a recording of your own voice, because timbre conversion is not what this does, and that brief belongs to Kits AI and Audimee. Rule it out too if the project calls for three or four distinct voices in the first month, because each one adds its own purchase to the initial $99. And if hard rock is your ground, listen to the third-party voice demos before paying.

Synthesizer V Studio 2 Pro alternatives

Against ACE Studio the dividing line is where the rendering happens: theirs runs in the cloud, here the synthesis stays on your machine, so a studio holding material under an NDA has the choice settled before it auditions a single voice. If catalogue size is what weighs most, ACE Studio starts from $16.58 per month billed yearly and its site advertises considerably more voices than this one ships with. The related option is VOCALOID6, from $225, also bought outright and also working locally, so between those two the day-one outlay decides. Then there is a whole group that is not in this conversation at all, the one starting from a vocal a person has already sung: Musicfy from $8, Audimee from $9 and Kits AI from $10. The full picture is in the Synthesizer V Studio 2 Pro alternatives.

Frequently asked questions

Is the $99 a monthly fee?

No. It is a one-off payment for the Studio 2 Pro licence, with one voice included and no subscription on top. What does cost money again is additional voices, bought one at a time.

Does it work without an internet connection?

Yes. It installs on Mac or Windows and the processing happens on your computer, including when you run it as a plugin inside your DAW. That is the biggest practical difference against rivals that render in the cloud.

Can I release and monetise what I generate?

With the official voices, Dreamtonics’ terms record commercial use. The free trial sits outside that, so anything made while evaluating the tool cannot go into a paid job. Check each voice’s licence before release, particularly third-party ones.

Do I need to be able to sing?

No, and that is precisely the difference from voice converters. What you need is a melody written in notes and a lyric. If what you have is a recording of yourself, the tool you want is a different one.

Is it any good for rock or metal?

According to the KVR thread, not out of the box. One user there observes that these apps focus on female, light pop and soul vocals with no harsher options, and another points to a third-party gritty tenor rock voice for Synthesizer V. Budget for that extra purchase if it is your genre.