Unpopular Opinions

[DefiantKitsune]

I'd also like to add that a lot of popular songs, especially older ones, seemed to have gotten popular mostly because of the story they had.
Early songs by mothy in particular are really bad in...most musical senses (even mothy themselves think Daughter/Servant are pretty bad songs), but they took off because of the story. Alice Human Sacrifice probably fits in this category too, along with the Kagerou Project (most interest I saw in that came from the story not the songs) and some others.

Have you ever gone back to your old favourites, and been surprised by how badly tuned they were? When many of us first got into Vocaloid, we listened to poorly tuned songs without it affecting our experience.

(looks at a lot of the PSP era Diva songs)


Honestly, the only way tuning really bothers me is if the voice comes off as either grating or irritating (this is why I don't personally like Natuaylien for example; the way they tune Miku is irritating to me)

 

[___]

I guess this is coming mostly from an obesrvation as I wasn't really around for that but:

And trust me this is coming from someone who strives for expressiveness first and realism second in her covers, I feel like back when UTAU was 100% seen as LQ and incapable of producing results on par with Vocaloid's a lot of voicers ( somewhat serious ones, not 7 yos with mics ghjjk ) went out of their way to make their utaus stand out and unique sounding, gradually people built upon UTAU and also learnt how to utilize it fully and slowly but surely we started getting more realistic vbs, I think we hit the sweet spot around 2014-15 with Merry Kohaku and Yamine Renri but from there...I feel like it became race as to who creates more realistic vb and since then there's been influx of as I like to call them "somewhat mature and very realistic yet generic and same-y female vbs".

This isn't to say we've had nothing but same-y utaus, like kuzutokaze's utaus are definitely stand out and my absolute favorites and go-to's were created 2017-2019 and have gotten vbs in 2020 too but imo it's became a trend to trade unique traits for extra 20 pitches gfdsa

Uh the question would be "so what?" and I guess what I'm getting at is that it's kinda a shame and somewhat annoying and there's certain irony in utau coming such a long way only for those ultra HQ realistic vbs end up being as impressive as kid's first attempt at vcv in 2011 and people coming back to Teto mostly cuz she doesn't sound like 3000 other utaus.

Or maybe I'm imagining things and ya'll think I'm coo-coo...that's an option too.

 

[Stardust]

I guess this is coming mostly from an obesrvation as I wasn't really around for that but:

And trust me this is coming from someone who strives for expressiveness first and realism second in her covers, I feel like back when UTAU was 100% seen as LQ and incapable of producing results on par with Vocaloid's a lot of voicers ( somewhat serious ones, not 7 yos with mics ghjjk ) went out of their way to make their utaus stand out and unique sounding, gradually people built upon UTAU and also learnt how to utilize it fully and slowly but surely we started getting more realistic vbs, I think we hit the sweet spot around 2014-15 with Merry Kohaku and Yamine Renri but from there...I feel like it became race as to who creates more realistic vb and since then there's been influx of as I like to call them "somewhat mature and very realistic yet generic and same-y female vbs".

This isn't to say we've had nothing but same-y utaus, like kuzutokaze's utaus are definitely stand out and my absolute favorites and go-to's were created 2017-2019 and have gotten vbs in 2020 too but imo it's became a trend to trade unique traits for extra 20 pitches gfdsa

Uh the question would be "so what?" and I guess what I'm getting at is that it's kinda a shame and somewhat annoying and there's certain irony in utau coming such a long way only for those ultra HQ realistic vbs end up being as impressive as kid's first attempt at vcv in 2011 and people coming back to Teto mostly cuz she doesn't sound like 3000 other utaus.

Or maybe I'm imagining things and ya'll think I'm coo-coo...that's an option too.

Even though I am not deep into UTAU(I only use and listen to Teto and Momo mostly), I agree. This seems to happen any time a synthesizer or its users strives for realism. You can see this in Vocaloid a lot. Even if every voice has something unique to them, a lot of the time users will end up brushing it off as sounding same-y. I think it is why the "Character Voice" type vocals succeed well because they are not striving for realism, but a unique sound.

 

[Blue Of Mind]

I feel like back when UTAU was 100% seen as LQ and incapable of producing results on par with Vocaloid's a lot of voicers ( somewhat serious ones, not 7 yos with mics ghjjk ) went out of their way to make their utaus stand out and unique sounding, gradually people built upon UTAU and also learnt how to utilize it fully and slowly but surely we started getting more realistic vbs, I think we hit the sweet spot around 2014-15 with Merry Kohaku and Yamine Renri but from there...I feel like it became race as to who creates more realistic vb and since then there's been influx of as I like to call them "somewhat mature and very realistic yet generic and same-y female vbs".

This isn't to say we've had nothing but same-y utaus, like kuzutokaze's utaus are definitely stand out and my absolute favorites and go-to's were created 2017-2019 and have gotten vbs in 2020 too but imo it's became a trend to trade unique traits for extra 20 pitches gfdsa

Uh the question would be "so what?" and I guess what I'm getting at is that it's kinda a shame and somewhat annoying and there's certain irony in utau coming such a long way only for those ultra HQ realistic vbs end up being as impressive as kid's first attempt at vcv in 2011 and people coming back to Teto mostly cuz she doesn't sound like 3000 other utaus.

I feel like something similar happened with Vocaloid during the V3 era, when some fans started complaining about how new female VBs were sounding similar to each other because of the nature of V3's engine. (Poor Chika and Kokone to some extent got a lot of crap for sounding "too similar" to Gumi. Personally, I can't hear it, especially with Kokone.) Now I'm starting to wonder if SynthV will get hit with this eventually as more VBs eventually pop up for it.

Random possibly unpopular opinion: Some people complain that Kaito's voice sounds similar to Kermit the Frog, but in all the Kaito songs I've heard so far, I can't hear Kermit? It's legit making me wonder if my hearing is different from everyone else's lol. Or more likely, people are exaggerating a noted trait with Kaito's voice, like how Miku detractors claim she sounds like a chipmunk when she sounds nothing like Alvin and co..

 

[andantina]

Some people complain that Kaito's voice sounds similar to Kermit the Frog, but in all the Kaito songs I've heard so far, I can't hear Kermit? It's legit making me wonder if my hearing is different from everyone else's lol. Or more likely, people are exaggerating a noted trait with Kaito's voice, like how Miku detractors claim she sounds like a chipmunk when she sounds nothing like Alvin and co..

Usually in his Japanese voice i don't hear it, at least not often (unless he goes super high). But in his English... oh boy. I strongly hear the resemblance.

 

[TheStarPalace]

I've only ever seen people say kaito english sounds like kermit, and it's mostly cause of all the people who don't know how to work with his accent

 

[Scarlet Illusion]

Couple of unpopular-ish UTAU opinions:
I don’t see why people treat Tei like she’s a soft vocal? Been using her as my main/go to for years and I’ve never felt like her voice was soft. I’ve never run into issues making her sing stronger songs or y’know anything else a soft vocal would have struggles with. I mean, yeah, she’s not Teto sakebi but by no means is her voice soft and weak.

Also, I don’t find the realistic UTAUs to be as impressive as people make them out to be. Tbh, Renri sounds rather grating to me, Merry is very good but still lacks something although I’m not quite sure what. I might find a cover with Merry I like every once in a while, but overall I’m not in love. (No hate, or anything.)
Something about the realistic types just doesn’t do it for me??

One more opinion: An UTAU doesn’t need a heck ton of appends to be amazing and doesn’t constantly need new updates to be good. That goes for any synth really. I see a lot of people complaining that Team Twindrill hasn’t updated Teto in forever but… I don’t even know what more could be done with Teto??? But people act like she’s been abandoned but, I mean, what more is there to do?

Slight tangent

Tei (and I say this unbiasedly) is also good just the way she is for the most part (though it’d quite nice if she got a power type vb and a proper whisper vb). I’ve seen people claim they abandoned her but… that’s kinda unfair to say? Supposedly her VP left the project/is done with UTAU stuff so what are they supposed to do without a voice provider?? I don’t think most people (including myself) would be too keen on having a different vp.

 

[Blue Of Mind]

Usually in his Japanese voice i don't hear it, at least not often (unless he goes super high). But in his English... oh boy. I strongly hear the resemblance.

I've only ever seen people say kaito english sounds like kermit, and it's mostly cause of all the people who don't know how to work with his accent

I've only ever heard his English VB once, and I thought he sounded like Leon? (Maybe I should look up more Kaito English stuff now).

 

[Krin]

One more opinion: An UTAU doesn’t need a heck ton of appends to be amazing and doesn’t constantly need new updates to be good. That goes for any synth really. I see a lot of people complaining that Team Twindrill hasn’t updated Teto in forever but… I don’t even know what more could be done with Teto??? But people act like she’s been abandoned but, I mean, what more is there to do?

Slight tangent

Tei (and I say this unbiasedly) is also good just the way she is for the most part (though it’d quite nice if she got a power type vb and a proper whisper vb). I’ve seen people claim they abandoned her but… that’s kinda unfair to say? Supposedly her VP left the project/is done with UTAU stuff so what are they supposed to do without a voice provider?? I don’t think most people (including myself) would be too keen on having a different vp.

(Sorry in advance I've got a lot to say lmao!!!)

This, and to be completely honest, I don't think UTAU itself is in as much of a dire need for an update as people say it is? UTAU hasn't been updated since 2013, but I think we're at a point where we don't need another update. Plugins have kinda moved us past the need for an update in terms of features / efficiency, plus people can make plugins at any time so it's not like we're gonna hit a wall there. Really the only issue I have with UTAU is, at rare times, it can be a bit unstable (those annoying error messages like "subscript out of range," "overflow," etc etc... burn them btw djsjdkdj). Other than that, UTAU is just an old program that for the most part works very well, once you get over the confusing learning curve and know the ropes to the program.

Obviously I'd like an UTAU update, but I can stay living good without one. Most of the things I'd ask for in an update are features, which again I've got plugins that make my life in the program so much easier. As for instability, remember to save frequently!!

-----

As for voicebanks, I think I half-agree. Both Teto and Ruko (♂) haven't had a new voicebank since 2015 (if you don't count that one experimental Teto vb, which I understand doesn't even use any new recorded samples?) and both of their voicebanks still hold up today. They're clear enough, have a consistent tone (or semi-consistent in Ruko's case :)), and honestly none of them have any big issues that are wrong with them. I think a lot of us would like to see an update for a lot of the vipperloids specifically because;

• 1) We love them!!! Every vip is iconic and special to us in our own way because they've been around since the beginning, so we've gotten a bit attached to them.
• 2) The standards for voicebanks have gone up. Most vipperloids either have none or are very limited with the use of vocal fry. I can live without it hold on that's a lie, but it's fun when you have the option. Vocal fry not only at the start of the sample, like [ - あ'] but also transitions between vowels [ a え'] is something I'd personally love love love to see in some of the vips if they were to be updated.

The one thing I think about when it comes to vips being updated after a LONG while is, we've listened / worked with these voicebanks for so long, and have gotten to know well how their voicebanks sound that if they were to get an update I wonder if or how different they would sound? Even if it's the same voice provider, would the tone or ?? sound different, in a good or bad way? And would it still sound like the real Teto? Meiji and Bibi sound very alike so I doubt this would be an issue, but it's something I've always wondered about.

 

[Prism]

From someone looking in I honestly think utau just needs a ui update I think that's one of the thing deep vocal has on it. I do think that the plug-ins are great and really adds to it's usefulness. I feel like it's the one synth that looks the most confusing and un polished from a person who mainly uses vocaloid.

 

[Kinoshita Crazy]

Oh boy, I can't wait to finally let a few of these off of my chest.

- I think there is an over-saturation of EDM in the modern Vocaloid fandom as opposed to songs from other genres or using real instruments (including VST's)
^
This can be easily explained with the idea that electronic music is more easily created by home producers and not every producer has a band or access to quality recording equipment. But it doesn't mean that I have to listen to the over-abundance of samey sounding songs. This is honestly the least important one and I'm not gonna cry a river when I could just go and listen to other songs that aren't repetitive EDM.

- New original producers on sites like YouTube don't get nearly as much attention as cover artists uploading covers of the new GigaP song a week after it was uploaded, regardless of how good the original track is

- Too many people in places like VocaTwitter pit producers against each other as if they're competing. The mass majority of producers aren't in competition with one another and have mutual respect for other producers. I don't think PinnochioP cares whether or not people think his tuning is better than UtsuP's, I like to think he would be happier knowing that people are still making music with Miku in general

- I don't know how controversial this take actually is but people shouldn't be making Miku English be saying things like "Death to America" for Twitter clout. It's disrespectful to Miku and Crypton and if Crypton knew people were doing that I'm sure they would disavow such actions.
^
Yes this is a real thing on Twitter and I hate that it exists.

- Just because a producer writes a song that contains controversial or dark subject matter doesn't mean they condone said subject matter depicted in the song. I've seen people try to cancel Wowaka and Ghost for writing dark or edgy songs and it's really pathetic. The people who do this are no different from the crazy boomers who claim rap music will ruin the youth and that video games will turn kids into school shooters. If you took this mentality to the absolute extreme and wiped out every Vocaloid song with even semi-controversial subject matter, you'd be wiping out hundreds of the most popular songs out there.

- In the modern era of vocal synths, I personally believe it is becoming less and less acceptable to pirate Vocaloids or other Vocal Synths. Nowadays there are dozens of free vocal synths that people can use without paying a cent. No, you don't need to pirate the normally $250 Miku V4 bundle when you can find perfectly good copies of Miku V2 on sites like Buyee for as little as $50. You can make arguments for things like the V4 editor, since it's no longer being sold by Yamaha, but that's an exception to my general stance.

In all reality, I get tired of seeing people with 10K subs on YouTube and full monetization openly admitting to having half of their library be pirated. At what point do you need 12 pirated Vocaloids? At what point do you come to realize you aren't actually supporting the industry by pirating copious vocal synths and that you aren't supporting the companies that produce them?

There we go, that's about all I can think of now. Feel free to contest me on any of these or ask questions. I'm always happy to elaborate on my stances.

 

[Blue Of Mind]

- I think there is an over-saturation of EDM in the modern Vocaloid fandom as opposed to songs from other genres or using real instruments (including VST's)
^
This can be easily explained with the idea that electronic music is more easily created by home producers and not every producer has a band or access to quality recording equipment. But it doesn't mean that I have to listen to the over-abundance of samey sounding songs. This is honestly the least important one and I'm not gonna cry a river when I could just go and listen to other songs that aren't repetitive EDM.

As an electronic music fan, I do agree there's a saturation of mainstream EDM within Vocaloid. I want to hear more trance, eurobeat, drum 'n' bass, hardcore, etc., within Vocaloid and other vocal synths, not the same 'big room/anthem' house style that's been plaguing mainstream electronic music over the last few years.

- I don't know how controversial this take actually is but people shouldn't be making Miku English be saying things like "Death to America" for Twitter clout. It's disrespectful to Miku and Crypton and if Crypton knew people were doing that I'm sure they would disavow such actions.
^
Yes this is a real thing on Twitter and I hate that it exists.

Surely that's against Crypton's ToS for using their Vocaloids too?

I won't say the Japanese fandom is innocent regarding this, because no doubt some people on the Japanese side have made shitpost talkloids that can be construed as offensive, but I've seen this a lot in the Western fandom too, and aside from the edgelord-iness (yes, I know it's not a real word), they're just... Not amusing? Ha ha ha ha ha, Miku said something offensive that would piss off boomers. Yawn.

- Just because a producer writes a song that contains controversial or dark subject matter doesn't mean they condone said subject matter depicted in the song. I've seen people try to cancel Wowaka and Ghost for writing dark or edgy songs and it's really pathetic. The people who do this are no different from the crazy boomers who claim rap music will ruin the youth and that video games will turn kids into school shooters. If you took this mentality to the absolute extreme and wiped out every Vocaloid song with even semi-controversial subject matter, you'd be wiping out hundreds of the most popular songs out there.

Isn't trying to cancel a deceased producer disrespectful as well? Gotta love people attacking Wowaka, even though he's no longer around to defend himself. Ugh.

- In the modern era of vocal synths, I personally believe it is becoming less and less acceptable to pirate Vocaloids or other Vocal Synths. Nowadays there are dozens of free vocal synths that people can use without paying a cent. No, you don't need to pirate the normally $250 Miku V4 bundle when you can find perfectly good copies of Miku V2 on sites like Buyee for as little as $50. You can make arguments for things like the V4 editor, since it's no longer being sold by Yamaha, but that's an exception to my general stance.

I was gonna post my own comment on piracy issues on Vocaloid a while back, but I wasn't sure what the rules are regarding piracy discussions. I mostly agree with your stance (even during the V2 era, you could use UTAU as a free, legal alternative to Vocaloid, even though it was, and still is, clunky to set up and use), but one grey area is discontinued Vocaloids, and I don't mean older versions of VBs that got updated later, like Kaito and Meiko - I mean VBs that have been left to rot on older versions of Vocaloid, like the V1 Engloids, Piko, etc. Aside from old physical editions, the only other way to obtain them is to pirate them - Piko had his digital version delisted a while back, and now it's impossible to get him legally unless you scour auction sites for a physical copy.

As you mentioned, even certain older versions of Vocaloid like V3 and V4 are hard to find now (unless you buy a starter pack from Internet Co., since I think they still have a license from Yamaha to sell V4?). It's strange for me to say that it's still super-easy to get V2, because it's always bundled with any copies of a V2 bank, unlike all the banks from V3 onwards. (Though I guess there's V3 Lite for old V3 banks).

 

[Kinoshita Crazy]

I have no idea if I'm doing this quoting stuff correctly. Please forgive me if I'm fudging it up lol.

As an electronic music fan, I do agree there's a saturation of mainstream EDM within Vocaloid. I want to hear more trance, eurobeat, drum 'n' bass, hardcore, etc., within Vocaloid and other vocal synths, not the same 'big room/anthem' house style that's been plaguing mainstream electronic music over the last few years.

I love Eurobeat! Some of my favorite M.O.V.E tracks are Eurobeat! Sadly I can't get that one supersaw synth sound that Initial D uses so I've been putting off trying to make it myself. Other than that I was thinking more of things like ODDS & ENDS style with full instrumentation, not just EDM subgenres.

Surely that's against Crypton's ToS for using their Vocaloids too?

I won't say the Japanese fandom is innocent regarding this, because no doubt some people on the Japanese side have made shitpost talkloids that can be construed as offensive, but I've seen this a lot in the Western fandom too, and aside from the edgelord-iness (yes, I know it's not a real word), they're just... Not amusing? Ha ha ha ha ha, Miku said something offensive that would piss off boomers. Yawn.

I am pretty sure that Crypton once sued a Japanese politician for using Miku in an ad campaign. So I would imagine political statements of any drastic nature are against their TOS. Especially ones that advocate for terrorism.

Isn't trying to cancel a deceased producer disrespectful as well? Gotta love people attacking Wowaka, even though he's no longer around to defend himself. Ugh.

Yes, yes it is. But to the edgy 14-year-olds, canceling a corpse is just another Tuesday.

I was gonna post my own comment on piracy issues on Vocaloid a while back, but I wasn't sure what the rules are regarding piracy discussions. I mostly agree with your stance (even during the V2 era, you could use UTAU as a free, legal alternative to Vocaloid, even though it was, and still is, clunky to set up and use), but one grey area is discontinued Vocaloids, and I don't mean older versions of VBs that got updated later, like Kaito and Meiko - I mean VBs that have been left to rot on older versions of Vocaloid, like the V1 Engloids, Piko, etc. Aside from old physical editions, the only other way to obtain them is to pirate them - Piko had his digital version delisted a while back, and now it's impossible to get him legally unless you scour auction sites for a physical copy.

As you mentioned, even certain older versions of Vocaloid like V3 and V4 are hard to find now (unless you buy a starter pack from Internet Co., since I think they still have a license from Yamaha to sell V4?). It's strange for me to say that it's still super-easy to get V2, because it's always bundled with any copies of a V2 bank, unlike all the banks from V3 onwards. (Though I guess there's V3 Lite for old V3 banks).

I've got nothing to add other than I pointed that Piko stuff out on Twitter and I agree with that sentiment. But if it's still available then that's a different story.

 

[Prism]

I don't personally condone piracy but I think it think it's currently on the rise. When copies of v4 editor are going for 589$ and v2 unsupported in v5 and v5 editor being 250$. I can see someone asking is this even worth it for just for covers. The software is getting more and more into professional software pricing and being unsupported. A lot of people are also asking is worth it when other vocal synths are getting new voices. Miku and Yukari and flower and are migrating to different programs it gives a sense of who's next.

 

[Rylitah]

On the cancelling wowaka topic (spoilering because it's not really on topic, but I want to explain what actually happened bc... it's a whole bunch of misunderstandings):

See more

No one ever tried to actually cancel wowaka. What happened was someone left a comment on Ura-Omote Lovers questioning the lyrics and the fact that Miku was 16, but it was really obvious that they weren't actually trying to start anything. There was maybe a somewhere, but again, it was clear that they weren't really trying to rile anyone up or start some sort of anti-wowaka brigade. Someone screenshotted that comment and posted it on twitter; I don't remember what the caption was but I think it was them who may have started the "people are actually trying to cancel wowaka" thing. People saw that screenshot and then somehow assumed that the person who took it was the one who made that comment, and then everyone started dogpiling on them when all they were doing was sharing the comment. I know this is the case bc all I kept seeing was "people/someone on twitter is really trying to cancel wowaka" and.... no. They weren't. They were just sharing a comment, but this is what spread, and people saw that and kept attacking the person who took the screenshot (probably without even seeing the original tweet since it was mostly their name that was going around, not the original tweet itself) and it was just... a mess orz. Literally the comment wouldn't have been seen by anybody if that person didn't take the screenshot, but it's not their fault for wanting to share something they found. I don't think anybody intended for it to blow up as much as it did, and then someone's reputation (not wowaka's) was actually damaged for it.

 

[Blue Of Mind]

I love Eurobeat! Some of my favorite M.O.V.E tracks are Eurobeat! Sadly I can't get that one supersaw synth sound that Initial D uses so I've been putting off trying to make it myself.

Vocaloid Eurobeat sadly isn't too common within the fandom - aside from Samfree's (RIP) Night Fever songs, you usually just find remixes of non-Eurobeat tracks. Originals do exist though - if you type in "vocaloid eurobeat" on YouTube, you might find some stuff.

I am pretty sure that Crypton once sued a Japanese politician for using Miku in an ad campaign. So I would imagine political statements of any drastic nature are against their TOS. Especially ones that advocate for terrorism.

Oh, I remember that incident. I think the main issue was that they wanted to use Miku's avatar alongside the political campaign, but Crypton declined because they didn't want Miku or themselves to be politicised, which I personally thought was a good call.

Yes, yes it is. But to the edgy 14-year-olds, canceling a corpse is just another Tuesday.

I've said elsewhere on VV how irritating the 14-year old fans are to this 20-something who's been into Vocaloid since she was 11 or 12. I'm super glad I'm not on Twitter now, I'd be telling off so many kids on there lol.

I've got nothing to add other than I pointed that Piko stuff out on Twitter and I agree with that sentiment. But if it's still available then that's a different story.

I don't personally condone piracy but I think it think it's currently on the rise. When copies of v4 editor are going for 589$ and v2 unsupported in v5 and v5 editor being 250$. I can see someone asking is this even worth it for just for covers. The software is getting more and more into professional software pricing and being unsupported. A lot of people are also asking is worth it when other vocal synths are getting new voices. Miku and Yukari and flower and are migrating to different programs it gives a sense of who's next.

I definitely think the piracy issue is gonna get worse over the next few years as V2 inevitably loses ongoing support, more vocal synths move away from Vocaloid, more unpopular banks get delisted from sale, etc. Unfortunately, I'm not sure what, if any solutions there are to these problems - it's not like with games, where they can be easily emulated on a computer and for the most part, people won't chastise you for using emulation. People who are discovered to be using pirated Vocaloids are rightly jumped on for using cracked versions, but what about pirated VBs that have been discontinued and can't easily be bought anymore?

 

[lIlI]

On the cancelling wowaka topic (spoilering because it's not really on topic, but I want to explain what actually happened bc... it's a whole bunch of misunderstandings):

See more

No one ever tried to actually cancel wowaka. What happened was someone left a comment on Ura-Omote Lovers questioning the lyrics and the fact that Miku was 16, but it was really obvious that they weren't actually trying to start anything. There was maybe a somewhere, but again, it was clear that they weren't really trying to rile anyone up or start some sort of anti-wowaka brigade. Someone screenshotted that comment and posted it on twitter; I don't remember what the caption was but I think it was them who may have started the "people are actually trying to cancel wowaka" thing. People saw that screenshot and then somehow assumed that the person who took it was the one who made that comment, and then everyone started dogpiling on them when all they were doing was sharing the comment. I know this is the case bc all I kept seeing was "people/someone on twitter is really trying to cancel wowaka" and.... no. They weren't. They were just sharing a comment, but this is what spread, and people saw that and kept attacking the person who took the screenshot (probably without even seeing the original tweet since it was mostly their name that was going around, not the original tweet itself) and it was just... a mess orz. Literally the comment wouldn't have been seen by anybody if that person didn't take the screenshot, but it's not their fault for wanting to share something they found. I don't think anybody intended for it to blow up as much as it did, and then someone's reputation (not wowaka's) was actually damaged for it.

Thanks for clarifying. People often take mild criticism out of context for drama, strawmen, or to demonise an opinion they disagree with. With so many genuine things to worry about, it's terrible when social media manufactures more.

People love a tagline that fits a pre-existing stereotype, e.g. the century's old: 'pretentious young people take moral standards too far'. Social media often exaggerates nuanced situations to fit them into a mould, and generate maximum outrage (engagement).
So it's always good to question the things we see that seem black and white, or play into stereotypes. The world is rarely so simple.

 

[Stardust]

I am a bit late to the Miku and politics topic, but yes, it does go against the ToS, which you have to agree to before using the voicebank. Most, if not all, voicebanks/vocal synths have a no politics, discrimination, hate-speech, etc, policy to avoid controversy. I am surprised Crypton has not told the western community or spoken about it more, but maybe they are not sure they can monitor an entire community, especially one that politicizes Miku often?

As for some unpopular opinions, I actually think CV voicebanks are good. They are not as smooth as VCV or CVVC, but there is something about them that I find enjoyable to listen to.
I do not mind overtuning. I love seeing what people are capable of with vocal synths, especially tuning.

 

[Rolo]

- New original producers on sites like YouTube don't get nearly as much attention as cover artists uploading covers of the new GigaP song a week after it was uploaded, regardless of how good the original track is

- Too many people in places like VocaTwitter pit producers against each other as if they're competing. The mass majority of producers aren't in competition with one another and have mutual respect for other producers. I don't think PinnochioP cares whether or not people think his tuning is better than UtsuP's, I like to think he would be happier knowing that people are still making music with Miku in general

I feel like your first point is only natural y’know? Like of course everyone will be looking for a cover of let’s say “Ready Steady” instead of an original song by unknown producer 2345. People know what Ready Steady is and they want to hear their faves sing it, but the original song no one knows and how would they know it if the artist making the original song isn’t popular. That’s why it’s good as fans to promote your fave artist if you think they should be heard more in my opinion. There’s a Kaito producer with like 100 subs on YouTube and they’ve been making tons of originals for him that sound good but nobody knows them. The producer doesn’t advertise themself either. So I didn’t even know of them until a friend told me about them and then I made sure to post them here so others could learn of them. As much as I want more support for newer or unknown producers, these producers and their fans have to be willing to go the extra mile to make them known. No producer was popular overnight it took some work.

I agree that people shouldn’t put producers against each other, they’re real people after all. However I don’t think it’s wrong to talk about the music or compare their music I think that would be the best thing to talk about honestly because you’re not talking about the person.

On the topic of political stuff with Miku it’s true Crypton doesn’t want political statements made with their product but I would honestly just ignore that stuff. People will do what they want with the software they paid for and the reality is no one will probably have anything done against them for it. I’ve seen way worse stuff done with Miku than a bad political joke (with no repercussions). Not to mention Crypton uses the piapro characters for government stuff now so she’s kinda political anyway.

Someone already touched on the wowaka drama so I won’t repeat but I will say a lot of people involved in vocaloid fandom drama aren’t all 14. A lot are over the age of 20, and a lot of these adults make these 14 year olds fight and argue with others.

 

[Blue Of Mind]

I am a bit late to the Miku and politics topic, but yes, it does go against the ToS, which you have to agree to before using the voicebank. Most, if not all, voicebanks/vocal synths have a no politics, discrimination, hate-speech, etc, policy to avoid controversy. I am surprised Crypton has not told the western community or spoken about it more, but maybe they are not sure they can monitor an entire community, especially one that politicizes Miku often?

The language barrier between Crypton and the Western fandom might be the problem. Plus, as I've bolded in your original post, the Vocaloid fandom as a whole is way too large for one company to try and police how fans use their characters. Plus, any fan policing would just attract backlash - that's probably part of the reason why Crypton gave up trying to tell everyone the Kagamines were supposed to be mirror images of each other, rather than twins or lovers.

On the topic of political stuff with Miku it’s true Crypton doesn’t want political statements made with their product but I would honestly just ignore that stuff. People will do what they want with the software they paid for and the reality is no one will probably have anything done against them for it. I’ve seen way worse stuff done with Miku than a bad political joke (with no repercussions). Not to mention Crypton uses the piapro characters for government stuff now so she’s kinda political anyway.

You mean stuff like the Olympics and Covid? I assume those are more like positive, public service stuff that relates to everyone - it's not like the Japanese government are using Miku to spout a certain political point. (Meanwhile, the Chinese government tried to use Tianyi for propaganda purposes in the past...)