Ventrilo - the bane of Trans gamers who haven't found their true voice yet....

As a gamer in a high end guild we're required to use Vent for raiding. My guild knows me as female. I, of course, didn't just come out and announce myself as a transwoman and I find gaming to be my outlet in a lot of ways but this vent thing is getting to me. My guild leader is starting to agitate for me getting a mic ASAP. As I know it will take me some time, months, maybe a year or so, to find my voice, I may have to resort to other means. The idea doesn't appeal to me but being trans we do as we must.

That said, does anyone know of good voice changing software that sounds natural that I can use with a mic and vent?

Have you tried this? support.audio4fun.com/tutorials/av-voice-changer-software-products/vcs-diamond-tutorials/40-how-to-change-voice-while-doing-voice-chat-in-ventrilo-with-voice-changer-software

The voice fonts in eve online's built in voice program seem pretty real, but I havent found a practical way to get it in mumble or vent.

The only way I have found is a second computer running the client in voice test and having the line out of the one computer go to the Mic port on the other....way too complicated and has a few hundred ms delay.

Games are the primary way I am testing my voice in the real world.

If you have a Mac, all you need is GarageBand and Soundflower

GarageBand does some amazing tricks with MtF voice conversion; Soundflower is an old application (well, more like a framework) which sort of "pipes" you microphone through GarageBand, captures the output, and feeds it into whatever application you need.

I have a really, really deep voice, harsh and full of bass harmonics (as a smoker, this means it's even deeper!), and even though I've learned some tricks on how to project the voice to avoid being so full of harmonics (basically, not using your chest as resonation chamber, but just the head), it still is light-years away from sounding female.

Using GarageBand + Soundflower, besides casual voice chat now and then, I've successfully given two public lectures (remotely), as well as two interviews to TV stations. Nobody suspected that I was anything but a female The results are really very, very good. The only disadvantage is, of course, that you need a powerful Mac to run all those applications, or there will be some digital glitches here and there. What I did to explain them away is simply to say that my computer is so old (true) and crawling to a stop (very true!) so that those glitches are unfortunately a consequence of my outdated hardware (not totally true, it's GarageBand in the background consuming all those CPU cycles). People shrugged it off most of the time and accepted the explanation.

On a PC I tried the AV Voice Changer software a couple of times, and I found it in general quite good.

In Second Life, the built-in voice morphing software also gives rather good results but it's too expensive for my tastes (a monthly subscription)...

All I know is this: I can ALWAYS tell when someone is using one of those voice mod over programs. Even the ones people.swear by...it's still obvious....very obvious someone is using a voice over. I can tell when someone is using garageband and soundflower, and screaming bee too. The voice morph on second life is painfully obvious

You have three options

1. Double time on your voice practice
2. Tell your guild you are transgender (if you flirted with any of em prior u may have to iron out those issues)
3.  Buy the voice over software and hope no one pegs u (they already may be suspicious...having played in guilds and used vent and teamspeak for so long...its pretty much a given that if a girl says they can't get a mic that the girl isn't agirl...since mics are as cheap as 6 bucks)

This isn't against you but I've been burnt by guys pretending to be girls in games and then try to use voice over programs to further their deception. I know you aren't one.of them but if they kno you're using voice overs they will have those same feelings

My favorite Voice Changing Software is from Screaming Bee and its called MorphVox Pro, it has a ton of custom made voices and you can tweak your own voice. It has a free trial so you can check it out. I used it with my guild and they knew i was transgender, but they swear to me it sounded really authentic, it made me sound like a teenager girl, but the voice program works better if you tune the timbre and pitch better, on top of that it helps to speak like a woman usually does and add the mannerisms and melodic way of speaking, this adds to the realism.

I like this program cause you can add all sorts of effects your voice can't normally do.

http://www.screamingbee.com/product/MorphVOX.aspx

As a player and raider also in games like eq2 and wow,i know the feeling of *you must have vent or you can not come* epicness.This raged me because even tho one can know the place *dungeon they are running* like the back of their hand,people still demand its needed so they can bark out orders then claim *its your fault we wiped since you didnt have a *mic* its stupid and childish.even during my raiding time *and was very good at it* i refused to join a group that demanded such.i made clear when seeking a group *know 4/4 <means all stages of the dungeon* and if they still could not accept that then i turn up nose and find someone else.there are people who depend on skill to achieve their goals in these dungeons and those are the only people i will raid with.i also can not stand those who require a certain level of items to join.whats needed yes but to demand 10X higher is pointless.So my opinion is to leave the guild and find one that can depend on your skill and not your ears/mouth.

Annah, that's good advice — if the intent is cheating, it's never a good motivation.

As for the "always" figuring it out, mmh... well, there are high-end systems (the same used by professional singers on stage) that can change your voice flawlessly. I've seen it demonstrated to me by someone I know, who happens to be a audio recording specialist: the results are perfect, and there is simply no way to figure out what gender the speaker is.

Voice-changing software is little more than a nice gadget which has some interesting possibilities, mostly depending on how much raw CPU you have to run it on top of your favourite game/application, but they're really just "toys". The real McCoy is a completely different beast altogether, but it's pricey beyond us common mortals, and requires qualifications as a sound expert. Not for us!

The intent isn't cheating or deception, though that is sadly an element of the lives of TS people. Online is the one place I can go and escape this male prison I'm in 24/7. Now some people demand that I shatter that escape and that I won't do. I've put them off over and over again but the guild leader berated me the other night for not having a mic.

I enjoy the people I play with and don't want to leave them but it looks like I may have to do just that.

Quote from: Sandra M. Lopes on December 23, 2012, 08:06:45 PM
Annah, that's good advice — if the intent is cheating, it's never a good motivation.

As for the "always" figuring it out, mmh... well, there are high-end systems (the same used by professional singers on stage) that can change your voice flawlessly. I've seen it demonstrated to me by someone I know, who happens to be a audio recording specialist: the results are perfect, and there is simply no way to figure out what gender the speaker is.

Voice-changing software is little more than a nice gadget which has some interesting possibilities, mostly depending on how much raw CPU you have to run it on top of your favourite game/application, but they're really just "toys". The real McCoy is a completely different beast altogether, but it's pricey beyond us common mortals, and requires qualifications as a sound expert. Not for us!

Quote from: Wynternight on December 24, 2012, 02:07:36 AM
The intent isn't cheating or deception, though that is sadly an element of the lives of TS people. Online is the one place I can go and escape this male prison I'm in 24/7. Now some people demand that I shatter that escape and that I won't do. I've put them off over and over again but the guild leader berated me the other night for not having a mic.

I enjoy the people I play with and don't want to leave them but it looks like I may have to do just that.

Thats one thing,i see your point of view as i been there many times.regardless of what one has or doesnt have,or what their reasons are *and i do agree that our very lives should not become public on a speaker phone* he has no right to belittle you for any reason,mostly for not having an object.my opinion of course but just for that action,i advise you to find a better guild but good luck in whatever you decide

Quote from: Wynternight on December 19, 2012, 11:29:36 AM
Ventrilo - the bane of Trans gamers who haven't found their true voice yet....

As a gamer in a high end guild we're required to use Vent for raiding. My guild knows me as female. I, of course, didn't just come out and announce myself as a transwoman and I find gaming to be my outlet in a lot of ways but this vent thing is getting to me. My guild leader is starting to agitate for me getting a mic ASAP. As I know it will take me some time, months, maybe a year or so, to find my voice, I may have to resort to other means. The idea doesn't appeal to me but being trans we do as we must.

That said, does anyone know of good voice changing software that sounds natural that I can use with a mic and vent?

idk if the OP will see this, or get any notification that her thread has had another post or not. or if shes still around. but oh well. ill reply to it anyways. i too am a gamer and for the longest time would only get on vent and listen and do what im told to do, i did find that making keybinds and using the text to speech functions very helpful in getting around the whole "not having a mic" issue. i too was scared of the whole voice perception thing as everone i played with knows me as a girl. regardless, to my satisfaction when i did finally break down and get a mic, i was told i sounded like another girl people i played with knew IRL. but the keybinds and text to speech functions worked soooo well for along time. >.> just my thoughts.

I'm still here. Thank you for the response. I've ended any issue by just being a casual player and doing PUGs for the time being. No one gets on me now so I'm much happier.

I ran away from my server on WoW because everyone in my guild knew me as a girl, I waited too long to come out which I wanted to do from the start, and I hate carrying a dirty little secret. I totally forgot that I was transgendered when I was playing, until one of my female friends in the guild kept asking me for my Facebook and Real ID.

I've moved to two different servers. On one server I'm out to the guildmaster which isn't really a big deal because the guild and the server are an LGBT sanctuary. On my main on a different server, my GM recently asked me to get on vent, and I told him I didn't have a mic. (which is true) If anyone directly asks my gender, I will come out to them.

I've found that I don't like stealth.