I’m reluctant to say that we’re saving the best for last. This may be the last scheduled announcement, but the STKS era is NOT over – it’s only just begun. We’re going to be engaging in surprise drops (as well as regularly scheduled releases and the such) all summer long, so keep your eyes on the official STKS thread here.
As for today’s announcement: We’re still working out all of the details, but we are currently testing a new version of the Q Customs, which we’ve dubbed QTKS: “Quintessence,” the King Speaks (working title, we may change it).
Why’d we name it this? Well, the name is quite literal. With QTKS, the embedded voices used for the custom will be YOURS. You’re the king. It’s your voice that will help you achieve your dreams the most.
We’ve teamed up with a number of voice cloning providers and developed a method using the Dolby API (which we already use when processing Solace-masked customs) to create a subliminal build that is absolutely unrivaled. This is NOT just the customs except with your voice instead of the high quality commercial voices we licensed. We had to create an entirely new build process for this, one that allows us to produce even more effective titles.
The process to build the standard Q customs is largely automated. Since we special ordered the voices we use, we were able to apply a standardized mixing and mastering process to them. Things like EQ, compression, etc. With the way subliminal audio works, it was hard enough figuring out how to create a title with the Solace mask. We could’ve always used the legacy mask, as it’s so loud and overbearing that we could work with that one easily, but we really needed it to work with Solace, as we don’t go backward.
It’s taken over a YEAR to figure out how to get it right, but not only have we managed to pull it off with Solace, we can even do it with a lightning mask, which has far more moments of quietness and near silence than Solace. This means that some of this technology can be backported to regular Q, where you will be able to choose different masks. More on that another day. Back to QTKS:
I don’t want to “overhype” the product, as we’re still testing it (including @Fire , since this has been his brainchild since the beginning) but early results with the offline testing group have been absolutely incredible. Testing will occur here on the forum, but the testers (at least the first batch) have been pre-selected and are already aware of their status. Only one of those testers have actually received theirs as of yet (again, these take MUCH longer to process and I’m currently building all of them myself), with more going out tomorrow.
Earliest impressions is that the technology feels completely different, so different that they asked me if it was still considered “Zero Point.” We’ve received multiple reports from our offline testers of minimal recon, and that the recon that does occur passes very quickly, as they seem to intuitively understand what’s causing it. This act of “understanding” seems to resolve the recon almost immediately, especially if the user takes action. The sole on-forum tester at the moment has not reported recon of any kind, just a very organic unfolding of results.
There have been other GOOD results, particularly a rather mind-blowing experience that Q-Programmer, @CatalystPrime reported. We will not be sharing that one yet, as we want to see that same kind of effect with the other testers. When / if it happens, we will share it.
As for pricing, we’re just going to be honest: we are still working out the details, but this is considered a very premium service. It does and will not replace the standard Q custom service. In the “Early Access” period, we MAY offer a lower price, which will increase later. Part of the reason is that these have to be monitored and tweaked by a live person while building. Even if we automate much of the process, there’s still a portion that will be hand built for the foreseeable future. This is not a service for a “first custom” either. This is for those who are “locked in,” where you’ve tried a number of products, got good results and to enhance those results.
We’re going to leave it here while we prepare for testing. I know there’s A LOT of questions – go ahead and ask them, but keep in mind we’re still working through everything. We know there will be privacy concerns about the cloned voice (right now, as soon as the build process completes, Q automatically deletes EVERYTHING) as well as questions about how the voice sounds (we’re still getting feedback, but the on-forum tester reported that it was “trippy” how accurate it sounded). By the time we launch, we’ll have answers for everything.
Questions, comments, concerns? Post 'em.
Wonder how it would work though.
