About Base OTOs

This resource assumes at least a basic understanding of UTAU and familiarity with the OTOing/configuration process.

A base oto is a prewritten oto.ini file that corresponds with a specific reclist. They are meant to set up all of the sample aliases and approximate parameter values to make the configuration process smoother and faster.

Base otos are not a substitute for manual configuration, they are merely a tool to assist you in the process. Physical speech has far too many irregularities for them to be 100% accurate, so you will likely still need to make adjustments to each sample.

How to Use Base OTOs (For Windows OS)

First, be sure that the base oto you wish to use is the correct one for the specific reclist you recorded. Even reclists of the same type (CV, VCV, etc.) can have differences in file names and organization.

Next, if the base oto has more than just aliases, make sure it is also for the correct tempo you recorded at, because this will affect all other parameters.

If you downloaded an oto.ini file:

1. Place the file inside the voicebank folder or subfolder it is meant for.
2. Make sure it is named exactly <oto.ini> and is an .ini file type.
3. Double check that it is encoded in Shift-JIS, and not ANSI or UTF or something else.

If the base oto is in text format:

1. Open up your text editor of choice. I recommend Notepad++, because it's free and it's easier to change character encoding than it is in default Notepad.
2. If one is not already open, create a blank note or tab (File > New).
3. Change the character encoding to Shift-JIS to ensure that UTAU will read the characters correctly. Be sure to do this BEFORE the next step.
4. Copy and Paste the contents of the oto into the blank note.
5. Be sure that each line is formatted like:
   
   [filename].wav=[alias],[offset],[consonant],[cutoff],[preutterance],[overlap]
   with no tabs, whitespace, or other characters around it. Every parameter except for the file name and the alias should be a number.
6. Save the file in the voicebank folder or subfolder as exactly <oto.ini>. Make sure it is an .ini file type.

After following these steps, you should be able to load the voicebank into UTAU or setParam and begin the configuration process.

When you load a voicebank and oto.ini into setParam, it will notify you if any oto lines reference a .wav file that does not exist, as well as if any .wav files have no configuration. If this happens:

1. Check the voicebank folder to see if the .wav file is actually there.
2. If the file exists, check over the file name as well as the oto lines referencing it for typos, and correct them as necessary.
3. Reload the oto.ini in setParam.
4. Repeat until all errors are cleared.