{"id":1997,"date":"2025-01-09T18:41:05","date_gmt":"2025-01-09T16:41:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vocevista.com\/en\/?page_id=1997"},"modified":"2025-01-11T09:12:48","modified_gmt":"2025-01-11T07:12:48","slug":"history","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.vocevista.com\/en\/about\/history\/","title":{"rendered":"History of VoceVista"},"content":{"rendered":"


\nVoceVista as we know it today emerged from several different roots, bringing together distinct approaches to voice analysis and visualization. The original version of VoceVista began as an outgrowth of Donald Miller’s attempts to combine his professional singing and teaching career with his interest in acoustic and voice science.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

\n

Don Miller’s Account<\/h2>\n

Below is a first person account of how Don became interested in pursuing voice research, and how VoceVista grew to become a leader in the field:<\/p>\n

Voice Science and Early Experiments<\/h3>\n

In 1964, after completing post-graduate study and performing professionally in Europe, I joined Syracuse University (SU) as a voice instructor, later becoming Professor of Voice. This position offered unique opportunities, including access to Tri-Cities Opera in nearby Binghamton and involvement with SU’s Voice Foundation initiative, which provided cutting-edge technology for research in laryngology and voice science. My early interest in phonetics had already led me to explore acoustics and voice science, and at SU we had the rare opportunity to observe vocal folds during singing using videostroboscopy.<\/p>\n

Through the Voice Foundation initiative, I collaborated with singing teacher Jo Estill and speech scientist Ray Colton, gradually becoming involved in the Voice Foundation symposia in New York City. In the late 1970s, a chance meeting with Richard Miller of Oberlin Conservatory led me to connect with Harm Schutte, an otolaryngologist and voice researcher in Groningen, The Netherlands. This connection proved pivotal, as Groningen was where voice pedagogue William Vennard had worked with voice scientist Janwillem van den Berg on the myoelastic-aerodynamic theory of voice production.<\/p>\n

In 1984, I spent a sabbatical with Dr. Schutte, conducting groundbreaking research on sub- and supra-glottic pressures in the singing voice. Our experiments yielded significant findings that contradicted common scientific understanding of voice production. The pressure data showed that the basic acoustic impulse was negative, producing a wave of rarefaction rather than compression – a finding that challenged existing theories.<\/p>\n

Harm Schutte and I continued our investigations of the singing voice for the next 25 years, contributing regularly to Voice Foundation Symposia and publishing in peer-reviewed journals. In 1987, I moved to Groningen to focus full-time on scientific research, particularly interested in how modern technology could enhance practical studio instruction.<\/p>\n

The Origins of VoceVista<\/h3>\n

In the 1990s, personal computers had evolved to the point where they could perform real-time spectrum analysis, providing immediate evidence of formant tuning effects on voice harmonics. With support from Groningen University Hospital, we developed an MS-DOS program that could simultaneously display microphone signal, spectrum analysis, and electroglottograph (EGG) signal.<\/p>\n

While our initial presentations at Voice Foundation symposia generated limited interest, the technology showed great promise in practical teaching. A breakthrough came when Jim Doing, an American tenor teaching at the University of Missouri, became the first professional singer to successfully implement visual formant tuning feedback in lessons. This led to a funded research project and successful demonstrations of the technology’s potential in voice pedagogy.<\/p>\n

The software’s development accelerated through collaborations with key figures in the field. Garyth Nair, a choral conductor and early technology adopter at Drew University, helped make the software more user-friendly. Engineer Richard Horne integrated both acoustic and EGG signals into the first Windows version. Dutch engineer Gerrie Goeree created an affordable EGG device, making the technology accessible to singers and teachers.
\nA significant advancement came with Richard Horne’s integration of spectrogram software, enabling real-time visualization of singers’ resonance adjustments. This led to the first “wired master class” in 2007 with pedagogue Scott McCoy, author of “Your Voice, an Inside View.” The success of this class and subsequent presentations at the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) conference in 2008 coincided with the publication of “Resonance in Singing,” a comprehensive manual for using VoceVista.<\/p>\n

The basic acoustic analysis software with EGG capability became known as VoceVista Pro, establishing itself as an important tool for singing teachers worldwide. Its effectiveness has been validated through academic research, including Stephen Robertson’s doctoral dissertation at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, which documented its use in both teaching and professional performance analysis.<\/p>\n

This is an abridged version of the original text. Click here to read the long version<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

The Parallel Development of Overtone Analyzer<\/h2>\n

While the VoceVista journey was unfolding in Groningen, another path toward voice analysis was taking shape in Germany. In 2003, two individuals with distinct but complementary backgrounds came together to create Sygyt Software. The company\u2019s name, chosen from the Tuvan word for a specific throat singing technique that produces pronounced overtones, reflected its founders\u2019 deep connection to overtone singing.<\/p>\n

Bodo Maass\u2019s path to voice analysis began at Oxford University, where he studied Cognitive Science. His early career took him to Washington D.C., where he worked on voice-based human-machine interfaces at MicroStrategy. Returning to Oxford, he became the first employee of the newly founded company NaturalMotion, where he served as lead developer for their \u201cendorphin\u201d software \u2013 a breakthrough system that used artificial intelligence principles to synthesize human movement.<\/p>\n

When he was first introduced to overtone singing in 1994, it sparked a passionate interest in this remarkable technique of simultaneously producing two distinct melodies. However, finding instruction in this specialized art form proved challenging \u2013 qualified teachers were scarce and none were available locally. This personal experience of struggling to find proper guidance fueled Maass\u2019s desire to develop better tools and methods that could assist others in learning overtone singing. His search for teachers eventually led him to Wolfgang Saus, with whom he enrolled in a year-long training program in the method.<\/p>\n

Wolfgang Saus brought to the partnership a unique combination of scientific training and classical singing expertise. His scientific background, coupled with decades of singing performance and teaching experience, had given him profound insights into overtone singing and through this, a uniquely deep understanding of how the voice works, how sound is produced and perceived, and how the brain processes auditory information. He had developed not only an exceptional ability to explain these complex concepts in intuitive terms, but could also demonstrate them himself like few others could. Saus had trained hundreds of students both individually and through workshops. His expertise extended to innovative methods for improving choir intonation through overtone control, which he developed into his \u201cChoral Phonetics\u201d method.<\/p>\n

The creation of Overtone Analyzer emerged from their shared recognition of a critical gap in voice pedagogy: the lack of effective software tools for teaching overtone singing. Their software approached voice visualization with particular attention to making overtones visible and understandable \u2013 an innovation that would prove valuable not just for overtone singing but for voice pedagogy in general.<\/p>\n

The Convergence with VoceVista<\/h2>\n

In 2008, the parallel paths of voice analysis software development began to converge. Bodo Maass and Donald Miller recognized the potential in combining their distinct approaches to voice analysis. They agreed to work together on a new product, \u201cVoceVista Video,\u201d which would build upon both the established voice science methodology of VoceVista and the advanced visualization capabilities of Overtone Analyzer.<\/p>\n

The collaboration presented both exciting possibilities and significant technical challenges. The team chose to use Overtone Analyzer\u2019s platform as their foundation, but the vision extended far beyond a simple combination of existing features. They planned a complete rewrite of the software to support multiple platforms \u2013 not just PC and Mac, but eventually iOS and Android as well. The integration of video signals with the existing audio and EGG analysis capabilities required careful attention to synchronization and processing speed.<\/p>\n

The development process reflected the complexity of merging these technologies while maintaining the precision essential for voice analysis. Each feature needed to serve both the practical needs of voice teachers and the rigorous requirements of voice scientists. In 2017, these efforts culminated in the first cross-platform release of VoceVista Video for Mac and PC.<\/p>\n

This merger represented more than just a technical achievement. It brought together two distinct approaches to understanding and visualizing the voice. VoceVista presented spectral analysis in a traditional scientific format familiar to researchers, aligning with its deep roots in classical voice pedagogy and formant analysis. In contrast, Overtone Analyzer approached visualization from a more musical perspective, specifically designed to highlight harmonic overtones as fundamental building blocks of music. This complementary combination of scientific rigor and musical accessibility proved particularly valuable in bridging the gap between voice science and practical pedagogy. The combined software offered teachers and researchers a more comprehensive tool for voice analysis, supporting both traditional voice pedagogy and specialized techniques like overtone singing.<\/p>\n

The evolution continues today, with ongoing development aimed at expanding the software\u2019s capabilities while maintaining its accessibility to voice teachers and students. This collaboration demonstrates how different approaches to voice analysis, born from distinct needs and perspectives, can combine to advance the field of voice science and pedagogy as a whole.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":14,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1997","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vocevista.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1997","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vocevista.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vocevista.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vocevista.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vocevista.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1997"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.vocevista.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1997\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2040,"href":"https:\/\/www.vocevista.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1997\/revisions\/2040"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vocevista.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vocevista.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}