Other Cryptonloid voicebank updates, collabs, & concert news (crypton_wat Twitter translations)

[bioloid]

It was confusing about Meiko, because Wat was also talking the upcoming Miku Symphony. All Cryptonloids will be in that along with Teto, but the focus seems to be Miku, Luka, and Teto. Miku Symphony also has something to do with Luka 10th, but I'm not certain what it is. See this teaser from the @mikusymphony account

 

[GreenFantasy64]

Lately rather than many tunings containing humanish vibrato, ...I'm currently searching for a pattern that leaves a sense of machine-ish pitch while being easy to understand [when listened to]...

A while back, I translated an interview with Wat, where he said his goal was to make Miku be easy to understand while singing (it was around the time her rapping was revealed). So he wants it to be easy to understand (word clearness) and "not necessarily human", so I guess he's going for that with all the Cryptonloids. The updates for their voicebanks are going to be created through their original voicebanks being edited (no voice providers are recording new audio, they are editing their old soundwaves in order to get rid of muffledness).

I don't know too much for the 'machine-ish pitch' since I know some people would like to hear them with a more realistic tone to them instead. (I'm thinking of Mitche-M and how they tune too) Until I hear it, I think I won't be a big fan of that for now...

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Also, I wasn't a big fan on the video of Miku 'Rapping' in the collab video, so.....ouch.

Kaito's singing edits have reached a stopping point, so I am now switching over to Len's singing.

Ooh, Len is getting some treatment. Move aside Ladies, it's the boy's time to shine.
Plot twist, Len gets a little more masculine or he's the last one in the group for the treatment....

For the Kaito one, also they could be checking out his XSY with his other voicebanks to see if they work together or something...? Or I can dream and think that they are giving Kaito two new voicebanks instead of one....

Miku Symphony also has something to do with Luka 10th, but I'm not certain what it is.

It would be so cool if they tease Luka's appends there...
I mean, there is only like 2 months until her birthday and if they want to release her new appends then they should show off some demos or news of her. Actually.... I don't know how Crypton does their demos showing or letting people know of their Vocaloid's updates and releases....

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Oh, god I am a Vocaloid Noob...

 

[uncreepy]

Rin and Len's voicebanks and... patterns?:

Currently editing the fundamental parts of Rin and Len's voicebanks and singing patterns today. All of our staff have their speed to about 3 times as fast as last year and their sense of judgment keeps improving. Starting with Shinkalion, this year has truly improved [our skill]..

Note: Wat mentioned "pattern" a few tweets ago, here's a reminder on what he said when refering to Kaito:

Lately rather than many tunings containing humanish vibrato, ...I'm currently searching for a pattern that leaves a sense of machine-ish pitch while being easy to understand [when listened to]...

How Crypton's new VocaListener-esque plug-in is coexisting with other features of the new Piapro:

By chance recently, we got the opportunity to see the tuning data of several awesomely trained creators; and I can relax now that we could confirm that our new [method of Vocaloid] note input we've been developing and the data refine logic aren't conflicting. In other words, continuing to coexist with them, the so-called act of enhancing each other.

 

[uncreepy]

Testing Kaito:

Next month, we will conduct a test to change the KAITO v3 revised voice we used at Miku Symphony into v1 taste. In addition, we will also analyze things like texture and even characteristics like UTAU.

Wat said before that he wanted very short voice samples like what UTAU uses. I guess Kaito must've been at Miku Symphony, are they gonna edit a VSQ he used or something? *no clue*

Notable reply #1:

Eko: I wonder what it'll be like, I look forward to it.

Wat: Without changing the relative ease [for listeners to] understand [Cryptonloids], I'm imagining it would be good if the sound quality becomes like a Vocaloid!

[ ]'s are so "kikitori" is understandable in English (it means how easy it is to understand spoken words). He wants the sound quality to be Vocaloid-ish, probably referring to the fact that people thought the newer versions of Cryptonloids didn't sound close enough to their original voice banks.

Notable reply #2:

Kawama: If it goes well with KAITO, will you also be doing it with MEIKO?

Wat: Of course!

 

[uncreepy]

Tweets are oldest to newest.

tl;dr: Wat seems to be reflecting on this year's progress, hinting at tons of more stuff for next year, Sega collab(s), recognizing what users have done to build up Cryptonloid lore, and saying that their Miku is a representation of "real Miku"?!


Miku in "One Hokkaido Project" collab:

Gist: Crypton is participating in a collab called "One Hokkaido Project" where a large number of Hokkaido-related artists will perform. Crypton is currently working on their song(s). Hatsune Miku is on the list of performers. The event is scheduled Dec 2018 - January 2019.


Deleted Sega tweet:


I get text alerts, so here are the receipts. (I wonder if it's Snow Miku-related or if it's related to One Hokkaido Project?)


So much stuff happening next year that Wat feels flustered:

I wonder if this bustling feeling is inevitable with the development of many things next year.

Wat being vague about feelings and projects:

Honestly... doing this work for about 12 years, up until now this is the first time I've touched on "those" projects for a long period of time... For next year, I will do as much as I can as possible, in order to someday speak my mind to everyone..

Making the next batch of plans:

I dunno how to translate this, but due to the end of the term/period, Wat's getting ready to make plans for the next period.

Period could be like how schools always have spring break at the same time, basically how someone splits up time periods. It could be due to the end of the year or how Japanese months are broken apart by 3 sections of 10 day periods (joujun for the start of the month, chuujun for middle, gejun for the last bit).


Crypton Miku is a representation of Miku? #1:

When said paradoxically, it's "For a [future (Miku)] that won't come, my role is to make good use of my wisdom and experience, and bend until my breaking point" ...Now and hereon out! Especially next year, too!

Miku's name is usually written in katakana, ミク, but her name is also written as 未来 (mirai, which means "future").

I don't really understand the paradox, but his next tweet "clarifies" what he means. People are either saying Miku is precious and they leave it up to Wat to care for her, or they're worried about his physical state and want him to take it easy.


Crypton Miku is a representation of Miku? #2:

I want to answer the question as sincerely as I can, so... When superficially explaining "A Miku that won't come", ...it's essentially introducing a Miku that is not Miku as Miku, and things like deliberately ignoring CGM (Consumer Generated Media) and built up culture

I think he's basically saying Miku from Crypton concerts and stuff is a representation of "Miku". So there is a lot of fan lore about her, and Crypton purposely ignores it and gives us "their Miku", which isn't the "real Miku". So, uh, multiple Miku theory is confirmed? Or she's a being that is so large that no one can accurately depict her, not even Crypton?


Wat has regrets about Crypton glancing over users' and Nico Nico Douga's contributions:

There were many wonderful places, but the matter of being unable to properly express the cause and effect of "Nico Nico Douga", or the matter of supervision putting users' works in a folder called "omake (bonus)" without careful consideration, because in these types of things self-condemnation and introspection is gained.

 

[mobius017]

Crypton Miku is a representation of Miku? #2:


I think he's basically saying Miku from Crypton concerts and stuff is a representation of "Miku". So there is a lot of fan lore about her, and Crypton purposely ignores it and gives us "their Miku", which isn't the "real Miku". So, uh, multiple Miku theory is confirmed? Or she's a being that is so large that no one can accurately depict her, not even Crypton?

I think that makes sense. I mean, Crypton's policy has been that Miku and the other Vocaloids have no canonically-defined anything, other than their voices and appearances. Her producers/fans define who she is at any particular time.

At the same time, though, Crypton has put words in Miku's mouth before. You can't have her thank the fans for coming, or get teary-eyed at one of her concerts, without providing information from which people will make inferences about her personality. These insights are tiny, but people are going to get some sense of who she is at that moment and begin extrapolating. It's how people are. And since that information comes to us from Crypton, they either have to acknowledge that as the canon Miku, or else lump themselves in with all other creators and say that that is "their" Miku, just like any other producer can illustrate a Miku of their own.

And right there, not having strayed too far from anything we concretely know to be true, I hope (i.e., Crypton's lack of canonical definition for their Vocaloid characters policy), I'm going to stop. I said all I wanted to anyway, but I don't want to offend anyone or mix things up. :)

Though I do love that last sentence of yours. It makes me think of a Miku religion or something. :)

 

[uncreepy]

Chiptune-esque Cryptonloids and canceled Microsoft singing AI collab:

Our course of action is to take a to some extent real or rich sound, and an individual deformed/distorted sound range like chiptune, using a range that can recognize as "relatively natural", things like being able to go back and forth is good~, is what we thought. We had plans to do a collab with Rinna-san after this year, but it was canceled (*tear* > See Retweet

Chiptune definition from here:

So, in general, Chiptune define music written in sound formats where all the sounds are synthesized in realtime by a computer or video game console sound chip, instead of using sample-based synthesis.

Rinna is Microsoft's singing AI:


The Retweet:

"Revolution in singing voice synthesis! AI singing synthesis system sings just like a human through deep learning developed by Nagoya Institute of Technology and Techno Speech" was uploaded to DTM Station. Vocaloid has a singing ability from a different perspective, progressing to a level where it's hard to tell the difference between AI and human singing.

Links to this article: 歌声合成技術に革命！ディープラーニングで人間さながらに歌うAI歌声合成システムを名工大とテクノスピーチが開発｜藤本健の “DTMステーション”
The article talks about different vocal synths like Microsoft's Rinna, Vocaloid, and CeVIO.


Cryptonloids will be easy to understand, but distorted like chipset:

Based on the history and nature of things like vocaloid, we're turning 2 issues quite chaotic, but [the voicebanks are] very easy to understand, and that's why we can also make a voice with a feeling of being fully deformed/distorted.

I wonder if the situation will change when TTS (Text To Speech) or singing synthesis that is difficult to understand so it has no meaning decreases. ...We will also do our best. Or rather we have done our best. Yes.

I don't really understand what this means, but here is the translation anyway. Wat alluding to vocal synth technological advancements.

 

[BenHo]

I'm confused. Does this imply that they're moving the Cryptonloids to a different, non-Vocaloid engine?

 

[Exemplar]

@BenHo With SynthV's breakthroughs, the major upgrade CeVIO is going to get next year and the relatively tepid response the community gave V5 along with how Yamaha left CFM (along with all third parties outside of AHS) out of the loop with the launch of V5; CFM would have to be crazy to not consider moving to a new engine at some point the past few months.

 

[uncreepy]

>>>> I have compiled a chart of all of the info we know about the updates to the Cryptonloids so far in order to get rid of any misinformation: <<<<


Edit 1-19-19: I have reason to believe Yamaha is developing a VocaListener-esque plug-in that uses deep learning (based on their patents available on Google). Crypton only has patents listed for concert technology (like their big screens to show the holograms). I think Crypton is testing out what Yamaha has developed.

This is a reference tweet that contains the image showing Kaito's original voice being edited:

Me replying to earlier comments:
The CeVIO upgrade isn't even ready to be sold commercially, they are just having a conference about it next year.

I don't remember seeing anything official from someone like Wat about not knowing V5 was happening. *would like to see an example if possible*

They are still on the Vocaloid engine to my knowledge. Wat is either making the changes to Piapro sound fancier than it actually is, or they were able to change the "Vocaloid 5" base software a bit in order to have their automatic tuning (aka VocaListener-esque plug-in) and change cosmetic features. Plus, Wat's been referring to "Vocaloid", "Vocaloid editor", and "Vocaloids" this year and last year. If it was something similar to IA switching over to CeVIO for her English voicebank, remember how Lia had to appologize for accidentally saying it was "#VOCALOID" on Twitter? Hatsune Miku is arguably the most well-known "VOCALOID", so why would they give up that title?

 

[bioloid]

Love that spreadsheet

 

[mobius017]

@uncreepy That is an amazing spreadsheet. Takes everything you've gleaned from the past I-don't-even-know-how-long (2 years?) and condenses it into a few points with the accompanying supporting Tweets. That's first-rate work!

 

[uncreepy]

Miku was in the opening for NHK Kouhaku Uta Gassen (NHK Red and White Song Battle, where groups in red or white compete as groups).

Here's the clip:

It's got Miku as a Sega model on the right and Sachiko (an enka singer with her own Vocaloid of the same name) is doing a cover of Miku's Senbonzakura on the TV in the middle.


The comments on the image say:

USAGI: Sachiko Kobayashi is amazing!
I'm watching-, isn't it Senbonzakura
wat: The performance is very emotional
As expected of the final boss

Wat was surprised that his name was on the screen commenting on the performance. He didn't notice til 2 hours later. He thanks Makoto Oosaki and Shinji Motoyama (Diva producers from Sega, which they will continue to work with in 2019).

 

[GreenFantasy64]

So~ I was listening to AtH video of Luka V4 and I just got a thought.... (and I shared it in Discord first )

What if Crypton doesn't want to update their Vocaloids to V5 because than they'll be "rushing" them again to go into the new engine. Plus they're working on their own plugins (I'm thinking they are plugins unless they're part of the appends or new parameters) which would not work in V5. But, they don't want another "Luka V4" mistake for the Appends.

Either way, 26 more days until her 10th birthday!!!

 

[mobius017]

I'll all for not rushing stuff. Does the upgrade to V5 require new recordings? That could be a reason, too. Then you've got to get the voice providers scheduled and back and contracted for the new work and whatnot.

Though I'd be thrilled for something new and exciting in...24...days too, of course. :)

 

[Megami Chan]

I'm so excited! Do you think the Crypton bunch will be receiving new artwork with their voicebanks?

 

[GreenFantasy64]

I would think so! Oh, that makes it exciting on thinking of what designs iXima would give them all!

 

[sour_supreme]

i personally hope that its a new artist instead of iXima! don't get me wrong i LOVE iXima's style so much, but i have seen so much Miku in iXima's style and i kind of feel like that era is over. like in 2007, the KEI style era started, and then in 2011/2012, the iXima style era started. i'd love to see crypton pick up a new artist to design the characters for their V5 updates!

 

[uncreepy]

i personally hope that its a new artist instead of iXima! don't get me wrong i LOVE iXima's style so much, but i have seen so much Miku in iXima's style and i kind of feel like that era is over. like in 2007, the KEI style era started, and then in 2011/2012, the iXima style era started. i'd love to see crypton pick up a new artist to design the characters for their V5 updates!

That would be interesting, but I feel like it won't happen. Wat tweeted before in a weird 2 or 3 tweet ramble (here's one of them) about iXima being in his RPG-game-esque party to defeat the evil standing before Miku and that they would help protect her, so it seems like they will be doing a lot of work together in the future. Also, Wat tweeted today that they are updating Meiko's 3D model, which is also in iXima's art style.



Today's tweet is about updating Meiko's 3D model:

The Miku Symphony Osaka performance is over. For [what's] next, we have to hurry and adjust MEIKO-san's [3D] model...

Miku Symphony was on January 25th in Japan. I assume her model will match Miku, Rin, and Len's iXima-style models.

My prediction: If The Cryptonloids aren't updated on Luka's anniversary (Jan 30) or after Yamaha's maintenance (Jan 31), then maybe during Snow Miku all of the updated Cryptonloid 3D models will jump on stage and start singing with their Append voicebanks?!

There will be 3 different times for Snow Miku-related live performances.
Sound Lab mole = Feb 8 at 6 pm = 6:30 pm (too short, not enough time for any dramatic news)
Zepp Sapporo =
Feb 9 at 1 pm - 2 pm and 6 pm - 7 pm (probably won't be on the 1st day or in the morning) and
Feb 10 at 1 pm - 2 pm and 5 pm - 6 pm (I bet it would be at the night performance this day cause it's the last one)

 

[xuu]

I think we might get an announcement of the appends on Luka's anniversary and then on 2/10 they'll do performances with their appends? It's diffcult to tell because of how short the performances are...