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lIlI
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  • Although it can get monotonous every release, I'm okay with people criticising Yamaha. Right now they're asking customers to pay more for less, and it's understandable that Una fans would feel upset knowing they'll need to pay double for what another engine offers for free. With fewer features and harsher pricing, Yamaha is choosing to put less into their product to increase their bottom line. It's not unexpected: vocal synths aren't their main source of income by a long shot, and the VOCALOID team can only work with the budget they're given. But I have my fingers crossed that more competition in the industry will eventually encourage them to be a little more generous with what they offer their fans.
    peaches2217
    peaches2217
    “At the end of the day, disliking V6, or wishing a new release was on a different engine, doesn't make anyone a bad person”

    She never said it did. She’s saying a lot of the more overt criticism comes not from a place of honest critique, but toxic brand loyalty. No one is trying to insinuate liking one thing makes someone good or bad. That’s the issue: any time this topic comes up, accusations start flying, be they direct or passive-aggressive. It’s an issue on both sides, but no one is any lesser just for liking something, and I don’t think anyone would argue with that point, so discussions like these rarely prove productive.
    lIlI
    lIlI
    I know: this phrase was clarifying my original opinion, which was made in response to people presenting engine criticism and comparison as an inherently bad thing to do. I think Patuk might have misinterpreted it as endorsing the behaviour of a different group of fans. Imo, the issue of pitting engines against each other has a bit of nuance to it: being aggressively competitive about what you like is counterproductive, but products aren't people, so acknowledging areas where one offers more than another is perfectly okay. I understand that it's annoying if your timeline is bombarding you with people expressing their opinions in a way that's extreme or repetitive.
    peaches2217
    peaches2217
    And no one is arguing that. I think it’s equally fair to say some of that criticism is coming from a place of bad faith, though. Patuk’s point wasn’t “V6 haters, bleh,” it was “V6 isn’t a perfect engine but there’s people hating it solely because it’s not SynthV,” and that’s something that needs to be acknowledged too. That’s the issue I have; the implication that saying some criticism isn’t being made objectively means you’re trying to defend said product as being flawless and superior or what have you. As you said, they’re products, not people, so I guess seeing the levels of vitriol I’ve seen between all sectors of the fandom just has me baffled.
    body yoghurt, body butter ...eagerly awaiting the next skin care sensation: body string cheese
    every personality test:

    1. Do you like talking to people?
    2. Are you a talkative person?
    3. Do you socialise often?
    4. Would people describe you as gregarious?
    5. Is your heart filled with HATE and MURDER?
    6. Do you talk to lots of people, often?
    Grimes: I'm interesting in making an AI of my voice!
    Fanbase: You should make a Synth-
    *I run through the door and tackle them to the ground, details of Grimes' 999 controversies and misdeeds spilling out of my backpack*
    AmazingStrange39
    AmazingStrange39
    Eh, you could probably do without knowing tbh.
    MillyAqualine
    MillyAqualine
    Outch, just looked at her page OTL

    (Also with all those stories and controversies about AI, now I kinda feel guilty for having thought about Moïse or even AI equivalent fo my babies.... But since my schedule is pretty much tied, I wouldn't be able right now to get enough time to make those projects come alive OTL at this point it's just trying to learn and picking up some of my favourite tunes in my laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarge inner playlist)
    pico
    pico
    The Person aside, if a proper voicebank were made, her "terms"-- 50% royalty on any "successful song", is wildly contrary to the actual application of this technology. It'd probably be the worst license ever.
    I wouldn't be surprised if Teto ended up filling the same niche as Flower on Synthesizer V; their voices aren't the same; but I think they'll suit similar songs. It's fortunate that as well as being Teto, she stands out from the other SynthVs - I could see people picking her up even if they weren't big Teto fans, just for her unique timbre.
    It's interesting to reflect on how much the landscape of vocal synths has changed since Maghni AI was announced. With such a small team, it must be hard for them to keep pace with technology; I wouldn't be surprised if the constant pressure to adapt is a big reason behind their extended development. In the past 2 years, the nature and accessibility of voice synthesis has changed more than every generation of Vocaloid combined.
    Nulut, iyowa, now Azari: Solaria is getting some attention from Japanese producers! It's really nice to see more cross-over between different parts of the community.
    aru ii
    aru ii
    i wonder if Japanese producers find her accent interesting or cute, like how some western producers find Japanese accented English vbs interesting and cute?
    ___
    ___
    @aru ii in Azari's case she was just made sound and possibly morphed with Yuki to make it sound like Yuki was singing the english lyrics.
    lIlI
    lIlI
    @aru ii I think that's possible, as it was trendy to use Gumi English in Japanese for a while! There are also people who're excited to write English sections to their songs, which is quite common in j-pop.
    in the interest of science, I will now be dividing video essays into categories

    • The Problem with Society Caters to Your Existing Beliefs
    • Making Fun of Teenage Girls Under the Pretence of Moral Concern
    • Here's Why Popular Media is Actually Bad
    • Using TikTok to Prove Feminist Issues are Other Women's Fault, Actually
    • Here's Why All Media You Consumed Age 15 Was Actually Genius
    • Conventionally Handsome Guy Explains Topic He Learnt Yesterday
    and my personal background noise of choice:
    • Video Games are ...HAPPENING
    I enjoy how the lack of timestamps on Tumblr increases the longevity of posts. Every so often getting a few dozen reblogs on a joke from 8 years ago. The out-of-body experience of seeing a post you have no memory of, that at some point in the distant past, you had already clicked like on. Who were you, lili of the past that laughed at this meme...
    This video is great for understanding why English vocal synthesis needed AI to sound 'real': sample based voicebanks weren't built to account for how frequently our pronunciation changes based on context, as well as the huge number of phonetics we slur and drop in different instances. The way we speak has very few consistent rules, and a phonetic alphabet can only scratch the surface of their complexity. It simply isn't fair to programmers trying to create a vocal synth when the way we pronounce words is so often, technically, wrong. The reason AI voicebanks sound more natural is because the program has finally been trained on our mistakes.

    To tune a concatenative voicebank to vocalise the same way as a real person would require a PhD in linguistics!

    I love experiencing a media then going to read the TvTropes page and watch all the Youtube videos about it and browse the tumblr tag (already filled with y/n fics, but traces of civilisation remain). like yas shared emotional catharsis through fiction ♥
    An interesting sentiment I've seen a few times from Japanese fans is that the non-Japanese SynthV's are higher quality, and wishes that vocals like Stardust and Solaria were easier to buy (several people hoping Eclipsed Sounds would translate their website to Japanese). As well as encouraging people to make Japanese songs with the non-Japanese voices to advertise their potential.

    Most curiously, it's non-Japanese fans that are most self-conscious about SynthVs having an accent in Japanese; I've only seen complaints about vocalists sounding to American from English-speakers. Likewise, I rarely see English-speakers saying Tokyo6's SynthVs are lower quality.
    Fun online observation: people will always believe someone they see debunking a post, even if the debunk has no credentials and doesn't provide a source. So, theoretically, you could go around the internet writing 'Actually, this isn't true because [insert vaguely convincing bollocks here]' under every piece of information you see, and cause chaos.

    *edit* Just remembered they made an entire website dedicated to people who do this for a hobby. Would ya look at that!
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