German company Bragi - the pioneer of true wireless earbuds in 2015 - is now focused on offering a complete software platform for manufacturers and brands, focusing on scaling its own AI technology efforts. Bragi's Software Platform consists of an operating system (OS) for earphone and truly wireless designs, complemented with a smartphone App embedding advanced AI and software. This approach enables developers to focus on a product launch based on its core strengths, with the possibility to offer future upgrades to extend the value and product lifecycle, while also enabling the possibility of an App Store environment, where users can simply pay for what they find valuable.
Voicemod specializes in real-time audio augmentation technology, enabling developers to create virtual voices and help users define their own unique sonic identities - part of something that certain companies would quickly define as an essential component of the Metaverse - in this case, also immersed in real life. Voicemod is capitalizing on that trend and already offering tools for gamers and content creators to find voice effects to replace their own.
While most creators and audio enthusiasts are already using a real-time voice processor such as the excellent V6 or V3 Vocal Processors from Zoom (the Japanese audio manufacturer, not the videochat company), which allows gamers to even use an expression pedal for shifting the formant of their voices with very interesting effects, the Spanish company's approach was founded in embedding voice manipulation and effects directly into the software environment of game engines and gaming platforms, such as the Sony Playstation, where users pick a voice profile the same way they choose avatars for their characters in a game.
This integration introduces seamless interoperability between Voicemod’s real-time voice changing engine and Bragi's Operating System. This enables headphone brands to incorporate these audio and voice modification experiences directly into smart headphones via voice or headphone controls to power the easy creation of virtual voices and sonic identities on any device.
“We're ecstatic to be able to include Voicemod capabilities in Bragi's platform. This is the first time that voice modification experiences have been made available on mobile devices via headphone technology,” says Nikolaj Hviid, CEO of Bragi. “This allows content creators and influencers to post content with fun and cool voice mods on apps like TikTok and YouTube. Voicemod also enables AI noise suppression in conference or phone calls.”
The strategic partnership with Bragi further solidifies Voicemod’s B2B expansion strategy to cultivate an ecosystem around the company’s interactive audio technology and voice avatars — "capabilities that will become increasingly essential as the metaverse grows into reality," as they state.
It will be interesting to see how this will work out with earbuds. Voicemod says they have "a huge library of voice and sound effects," but the examples we can listen, such as in examples like this Click for Youtube clip are not much different from what has been tried and tested in effects units. When we hear it, it doesn't sound any different or much better than all the effects units that musicians already have and that podcast software increasingly offers. The difference here is that the user selects a voice effect and it can apply it all the time to the microphone input in the earbuds - without latency, supposedly. So, very soon, everyone will be sounding like a robot, a gremlin, a giant, or a dog... Voicemod also says that users will be able to modify incoming voices as well (!??).
"The Voicemod features allow users to unleash hidden depths of creativity and express themselves imaginatively as they play, work, create, and entertain," the company says. Among the features listed, Voicemod says that users can modify a voice with Voicemod voice filters and fun emojis for mobile gaming and communication with friends, play sound effects, auto tune voices for singing, and improve audio clarity through background noise.
"It’s nearly impossible right now to enhance your voice on mobile devices, but that is changing thanks to our partnership with Bragi,” says Voicemod CEO and co-founder Jaime Bosch. “This next generation of audio integration with the Bragi ecosystem ensures that OEMs of earbuds and headsets can easily incorporate real-time voice and microphone augmentation.”
"For the hearables and headphone sector, this represents a strategic milestone. When hardware manufacturers build audio devices using the Voicemod-enabled Bragi software solution, consumers can finally sound how they want to sound — anytime and on any device, and even when using communication apps such as Discord, WhatsApp or Zoom,” he adds.
For more information on the Software Developer Kit for incorporating Voicemod’s real-time voice changing engine directly into hardware, games and applications go here.
www.voicemod.net
www.bragi.com
