TL;DR. Best reward comes WITH the LoRA at 50% (LoRA50 0.589, vs BASE_P 0.525 and BASE 0.505); higher merges backfire (LoRA100 drops to 0.413). Prompt with the evolved steering text and merge the LoRA at 50% — this lifts target emo modestly (0.016 to 0.060), raises genuineness (0.110 to 0.173) and roughly holds blend (0.469). The trade-off is intelligibility: WER rises from 0.193 (BASE_P) to 0.336, and quality slips to 0.522. The most notable coloring is that longing reads as tender and sorrowful — LoRA50 shifts up Emotional Numbness and Fatigue and correlates ~0.87 with Affection, Distress and Helplessness, so expect a wistful, near-grieving tone rather than hopeful yearning.
Without a LoRA
Best: evolved prompt, no LoRA → reward 0.53
GENERAL: A voice unmistakably expressing longing, an aching, yearning voice, full of wistful longing, reaching for what is out of reach, with every word.
SCRIPT: (with aching, wistful longing) "<neutral sentence>" · temp 1.05 top_p 0.9 top_k 25
Best reward comes WITH the LoRA at 50% (LoRA50 0.589, vs BASE_P 0.525 and BASE 0.505); higher merges backfire (LoRA100 drops to 0.413). Prompt with the evolved steering text and merge the LoRA at 50% — this lifts target emo modestly (0.016 to 0.060), raises genuineness (0.110 to 0.173) and roughly holds blend (0.469). The trade-off is intelligibility: WER rises from 0.193 (BASE_P) to 0.336, and quality slips to 0.522. The most notable coloring is that longing reads as tender and sorrowful — LoRA50 shifts up Emotional Numbness and Fatigue and correlates ~0.87 with Affection, Distress and Helplessness, so expect a wistful, near-grieving tone rather than hopeful yearning.