Aurum

* Debut
* Maghni AI

**Aurum** is a character for the upcoming singing synthesis engine Maghni AI.

## Concept

Aurum was originally designed as a "Agender EDM voice" and is described as a "Warm tenor for any tempo". They are based on a 1930's radio producer and inspired by Orson Welles's famous The War of the Worlds audio drama. They were also inspired by gold in contrast to Audine's silver to create chemistry between the two.

### Etymology

The name Aurum means “a new glowing dawn”. In a stream it was mentioned their name was changed from ausgris due to it being hard for people to pronounce and not being able to settle on a single pronunciation, aswell as the Katakana spelling (オーグリー) looking similar to the spelling of the English loanword "ugly".

## History

A sample of a male vocalist developed by VocaTone was showcased early 2016. It was later explained that "ausgris" was a working title. On VocaTone's Tumblr they replied that it's unlikely they will keep the name. A preview of the finished design was revealed on VocaTone's social media  and a few details about the product were revealed on Tumblr: the vocalist was described as having a quirky and upbeat voice, able to sing and speak at a low pitch. The vocalist was not a professional singer and sung-spoke the lyrics. The voice was described as "fun to use".

It should be noted that the demo was of a single pitch, more would likely be added if the project continued. VocaTone also had a few ideas on names that would suit them better then "Ausgris". One thing holding back the product was the recent number of young masculine vocals that were being produced at the time of demonstration. VocaTone stated ausgris would be released if there was interest, but would remain untouched for the moment.

A full image of ausgris was revealed on OLIVER's official twitter account on September 16, 2016. Their release was uncertain at the time. Although originally introduced as a 'young male vocal', ausgris was later confirmed to be agender. In July 2017, VocaTone stated that they were making steady progress with 3 potential English vocals; one of which being ausgris.

On December 25, 2020, VocaTone revealed they were working in collaboration with Misbah Studios to create a new vocal synthesizer, Maghni AI, which needed to be funded via Kickstarter. The first two vocalists were revealed to be Audine and Aurum, the latter being the final version of ausgris. Both were expected to be made trilingual in English, Japanese, and Spanish according to their reveal video. The announcement of their new software suggests that VocaTone departed from VOCALOID. In a Christmas Q&A with Natalia Shmueli, the owner of Misbah Studios on the VocaVerse Discord, she mentioned that Aurum sounds even better now and that their voice provider "has greatly improved at singing"

## References

1. ↑ Aurum did you know twitter fleet
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Maghni AI announcement
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 VocaTone/Misbah Studios Q&A transcript
4. ↑ December 27 Q&A summary
5. ↑ https://vocaverse.network/threads/maghni-ai-by-vocatone-and-misbah-studios-kickstarter.5467/page-3#post-33139
6. ↑ http://vocatoneofficial.tumblr.com/post/143069231607/yay-welcome-back-i-was-actually-checking-here-a
7. ↑ http://vocatoneofficial.tumblr.com/post/143353148267/are-you-really-gonna-name-him-ausgris
8. ↑ https://www.facebook.com/VocaTone/photos/a.249884465155209.1073741825.214314255378897/778825342261116/?type=3&theater
9. ↑ http://vocatoneofficial.tumblr.com/post/143252784637/if-you-guys-do-follow-through-with-that-beta
10. ↑ http://vocatoneofficial.tumblr.com/post/143721936437/you-should-really-keep-the-name-ive-grown
11. ↑ http://vocatoneofficial.tumblr.com/post/143121711142/is-there-any-way-you-could-give-this-VOCALOID-more
12. ↑ ausgris' full image
13. ↑ https://twitter.com/VOCALOID\_oliver/status/776873479559929856
14. ↑ http://vocatoneofficial.tumblr.com/post/150710216542/so-is-ausgris-a-boy-or-a-girl
15. ↑ http://vocatoneofficial.tumblr.com/post/162633614402/vocatone-is-making-steady-progress-with-3
16. ↑ https://twitter.com/VocaTone/status/1342518814563565568
17. ↑ Christmas Q & A