Cong Zheng

> “
> Play the strings until the plectrum breaks.
> Hitting the keys with force even if the fingertips are numb.
> Hammering the drums even if the sticks break.
> Singing with all my might, even if my throat cries for blood.
>
>
> In the spotlight, I look at all beings.
> In front of the microphone, all the sounds will avoid me.
> I command the notes on the stage.
> I'm in charge of the atmosphere when the song starts.
>
>
>
> ”
> —Introduction prior to debut; shared with Xuan Yu
>
>

**Cong Zheng** (Simplified Chinese: 从铮; Traditional Chinese: 從錚) is a Mandarin Chinese vocal developed and distributed by Dreamtonics Co., Ltd., and released as an AI voice database for *Synthesizer V Studio* in December 2022.

Her voice provider has not been revealed.

## Concept

Like previous Dreamtonics vocals before her, Cong Zheng was intended to be treated as an official voice database or an indispensable "reference-level" type of singing voice, representing Dreamtonics's brand quality. Cong Zheng is created in the image of a rock singer and is Dreamtonics's first attempt in the field of stylized synthetic vocals.

### Etymology

"**Cong**" (从; *Cóng*) in this context means "to follow" while "**Zheng**" (铮; *Zhēng*) is an onomatopoeia for the sound of metal objects being struck, otherwise known as "clanging". Combined, her name means "to follow the sound of struck metal". With considerations to her role as a rock singer, her name was intended to be a constant search of power in her voice. Her name may also reference the Chinese idiom "Tiě gǔ zhēngzhēng" (铁骨铮铮), a metaphor for someone's uprightness, strength, and unyielding backbone.

### Appearance

Like previous Dreamtonics vocals, rather than having an official human-like avatar, Cong Zheng is represented by an abstract symbol, the letters C and Z, which are drawn from the first letters per Chinese character of her name in romanization. The letters are red with hints of white on the C and Z. The C is is rectangular-shaped and the Z is shorter than the C. Characterization is left to the song producers themselves rather than the product, so Cong Zheng is open to any form of visual interpretation, allowing the producer to decide what they would like her to look like.

## Voice Libraries

* Cong Zheng AI (*Synthesizer V Studio*), December 12, 2022

## Additional Information

### Marketing

Cong Zheng was noted to be Dreamtonics's first attempt in the field of stylized synthetic voices.

Like previous Dreamtonics vocals, Cong Zheng was treated as an official or standard vocal for the engine, where she could potentially be found in demonstrations of Synthesizer V Studio and its AI capabilities. This also meant that she would be among the first vocals to be equipped with the latest engine updates. She was used to demonstrate Diffusion Probabilistic Models (DPM), a Synthesizer V Studio 1.8.0 feature, prior to her release.

Similarly, Dreamtonics began uploading tutorial videos that were suited for new users of Synthesizer V Studio since October 17, 2022. Cong Zheng's voice was featured in the series' third and sixth videos for bilibili.

On December 9, 2022, Dreamtonics announced that Cong Zheng, Saki, Qing Su, Ryo, Kevin, An Xiao, Feng Yi, Yuma, Natalie, Mai, and Xuan Yu officially have their own artist association profiles on NetEase Music. Creators can use the profiles to add to their published songs, providing a more unified retrieval method and higher exposure rate for the works. Dreamtonics would provide assistance services to creators at no charge and would not obtain any income belonging to the artist when associating their works with the singer profiles. Based on NetEase Music's policies, creators needed to provide relevant proof of purchase to NetEase Music's customer service in order to associate a virtual singer with their works, thus, screenshots of receipts would need to be prepared in advance. NetEase Music's customer service would then confirm the request and forward it to Dreamtonics, who would approve the requests within five business days upon receiving them.

### Reputation

Cong Zheng's character status
**Reaction**

As a vocalist without an official character, this allowed producers and fans to create their own for Cong Zheng, resulting in a variety of designs. Her voice was also noted to sound professional, well done, realistic, and was met with overall positive and impressed reactions.
**Impact**

As a Dreamtonics product to demonstrate the capabilities of Synthesizer V Studio (specifically Synthesizer V AI), Cong Zheng was considered to be one of the default or reference vocals used for tech demos, allowing for producers to compare and understand the differences per update. she had a professional feel and made for a good starting AI voice database, which was especially praised for sounding realistic and helped gauge interest in this type of voice database for Synthesizer V as a whole.
**Miscellaneous**

The first song featuring Cong Zheng to reach one million views was a *Lobotomy Corporation* parody cover of "Tiānxià Jú" by A Quan Jun LIN, Wangpai-P, and Wanneng Qun You on July 8, 2023.

## References

1. ↑ https://t.bilibili.com/731656281877643365
2. ↑ https://twitter.com/LenKiMo/status/1595327756367065088 - Translation by @LenKiMo
3. ↑ https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1S24y1C7XT/
4. ↑ https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1Kv4y1C7R6/
5. ↑ https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1Yz4y1M72n/
6. ↑ https://weibo.com/ttarticle/p/show?id=2309404844858597835082
7. ↑ https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1qv4y1s7RB/

## External links

* Cong Zheng NetEase Music artist profile