2021 Vocal Synth Predictions

[lIlI]

It's that time of year again...

Last year's thread so we can laugh at our naivety. Mini bonus.

Need a refresher on what happened for vocal synths in 2020? Check out this great roundup by TheStarPalace.

Did I get anything right?

After their first voicebank was in English, many Vocaloid fans were shocked by SynthV's decision to focus more on Asian speaking markets. I predict this trend will continue, with SynthV 2 containing a breakout Japanese voicebank that sends the software mainstream. From then on Japanese and Chinese voicebanks will dominate the software, with the occasional English and Spanish releases. Many new fans will join, most unaware of Eleanor's existence, interested exclusively in the new Japanese and Chinese singers. Over 10 years later, just as Oprah enters her second term of presidency, SynthV 5 will release with a surprise crop of English voicebanks and new focus on the American market. Tragically, Kanru Hua will then lose interest in the software, leaving its future uncertain. Can I get an F in the chat

quit messing around past me, this is a serious business.

A Voiceroid will go viral via TikTok.

In the twist absolutely no one saw coming, an Alter/Ego song went viral. 2020 really did be like that

The Piapro synth will be delayed as Yamaha and Crypton fight a custody battle over Hatsune Miku.

Well it was certainly delayed (on several occasions).

A CeVIO character does a weird product endorsement

No idea what I was on for this one.

An original SynthV is released that makes a big splash in fandom for their cool design

I think Minus qualifies!

Over one hundred Western fans email Dreamtonics about English voicebanks, they announce a collab with a new Japanese developer instead. Maybe next year...

I have been in this fandom for too long, I know how we roll.

DeepVocal gets an update and gains its footing as a competitor to UTAU

Announced but not yet released.

ST MEDiA vanishes like Tuxedo Mask

huehuehuehue

Quadimension does something which sparks discourse

I am literally Nostradamus.

And in the twist of the century, a new Vocaloid is released (??!!)

YES I am counting Charlie, NO you cannot stop me.

2021 predictions

• DeepVocal 2 comes out, and a new voicebank is released by Boxstar to accompany it.
• Yet another AI based vocal synth is announced, my brain explodes.
• New male SynthV? Well probably not, but.
• Maki Eng AI is released and becomes the most used English vocal synth for a few months.
• One more NT voice is released.
• 1st Place announces a singing voicebank for CeVIO AI

 

[cafenurse]

how great i did last year

1. PLEASE A NEW VOICEBANK. V5 is so dry. I'm actually expecting there to only be one voicebank released next year. Probably a JPN feminine voice.
I was wrong
2. Another company is going to announce they're not making vocaloids for V5. Maybe Zero-G?
I think I was right?? Didn't Zero-G reveal this year theyre not doing anything with V5? Idk i cant keep up anymore but i feel like i read that somewhere
3. Vocamerica comes to my city (i can hope)
LMAO me talking about vocamerica as if concerts were gonna be a thing in 2020. Rich.
4. Im thinking we might see bigger producers who mostly use miku leave vocaloid as they transition to the new piapro editor that the cryptonloids are moving to.
You guys im gonna be serious with you i didnt even realize mikunt was already released i thought she was still in development so im gonna call this one wrong because piapro is still....well apparently it is a thing because mikunt was released but other than that piapro isnt really a thing yet

2021 predictions:

• No new VOCALOID vbs.
• Maghni AI starts their Kickstarter and gets funded a decent amount but maybe not fully funded.
• Synth V releases an english VB for Saki and I astral project as a result. Jk this wont happen, but I can imagine Synth V releases new voicebanks (maybe more of those fancy ai ones idk) and everyone goes nuts over them because synth v is killing the game right now. I see in the future...a new female english voicebank. i hope.
• I continue to be confused by AI voicebanks and ultimately uninterested in the new AI engines coming out because for once in my life I feel like there's more voice synth engines than I have room to be interested in. I stick to my usual 5 and kind of ignore the rest at this point.

 

[xuu]

Hell yeah my favourite time of year.

What did I get right?

VOCALOID

• Ling V5 and Yanhe V5 are released in Q4, but they don't really make a huge splash. VSinger continue to be successful and get a few more endorsements.

Well this was pretty wrong. We haven't had news on either since July and instead we got a Tianyi V5 announcement out of nowhere. The continued success part was right.

CeVIO

• We finally get some full-length demos of CeVIO AI and it's announced for a 2021 release.
• Maybe one new voicebank is announced but will release with CeVIO AI.

This was... correct? We got CeVIO AI demos and it releases on the 29th. We also got KAFU announced, which is a new character.

Synthesizer V

• Eleanor Forte's full voice database is released in Q4 and becomes one of the most-used English vocal synths. Her sales exceed expectations and Animen begins work on a new English voice database for release in early 2021.
• Work begins on Yamine Renri's full Synthesizer V voice database and she is rerecorded. A Chinese voice database also enters development, but may not be released at the same time.
• Zero-G partner with Dreamtonics to become a western distributor of Synthesizer V and create a pair of new vocals, male and female. They are announced but might not be ready for release. None of their previous VOCALOID characters receive Synthesizer V voice databases.
• AHS announce a Synthesizer V voice database for one of their established VOICEROID characters and explore the possibility of making a Synthesizer V voice database for Yuzuki Yukari.
• Quadimension's new male voice database is successful, and earns a dedicated fanbase. The succeeding female voice database isn't Xingchen but is well received, with a more mature tone. The second male voice database enters development but doesn't release by the end of the year.
• Two or three new companies partner with Dreamtonics and start to develop new vocals, mostly in Japanese, including a new Japanese male.
• ST MEDiA partner with Dreamtonics to support Synthesizer V in Korea and begin their crowdfunding project, which is funded. The stretch goal for an additional language isn't met but the vocal receives appends.

1, 2, 3, 5, 6 and 7 were all wrong. Damn. No Eleanor yet due to production delays, Renri is MIA and I don't know if she'll ever release properly on SynthV at this point, ZG are still missing regrettably... Muxin didn't really make a splash and I rarely see stuff with him, HOWEVER the female voice database technically wasn't Xingchen, and was well received with a more mature tone. No new male vocal in sight. ST MEDiA did indeed vanish, sigh.

On the plus side, AHS announced Maki SynthV which is huge. 4 SynthV voicebanks and our first bilingual SynthV. While AHS didn't handle Yukari we're getting an AI voice database for her on CeVIO, so that one was half-true. I wasn't counting on things happening that way.

Misc.

• Tohoku Itako's NEUTRINO bank is well received, but doesn't take off in popularity like Kiritan. Development continues on NEUTRINO and its naturalness improves.
• Boxstar releases the DeepVocal engine update, but not the GUI update.
• Ameya is still MIA and comes back early next year again.

First one, yeah basically. Itako didn't really pop off like I thought she would, but clearly people liked it enough that SSS want to do a Zunko one too. Boxstar did technically release it, only as a beta. It's good. Still waiting for the update with additional parameters and stuff 4 months on. Ameya is indeed still missing. Please come back soon.

In terms on 2021 predictions...

VOCALOID

• Ling, Yanhe and Tianyi V5 all release at some point?
• Literally anything else that happens with VOCALOID will be a pleasant surprise. The 3 year V5 anniversary will be celebrated with a 25% off sale from Yamaha.

Synthesizer V

• Maki releases before June and does very well. Is well promoted with full demos from famous producers, and helps to stabilize SynthV's position. Her English voicebank is particularly well received and gets a lot of use from the fandom.
• Rikka releases and easily becomes the most popular SynthV vocal until something new comes along. Gets a few popular original songs.
• Eleanor Forte releases in the middle of the year with both Standard and AI, but is slightly overshadowed by Maki. They'll have fixed a lot of the issues with her original database.
• Internet Co. move to Synthesizer V and announce GUMI AI, which drives a lot of interest for the software. They consider moving over some of their other vocals but it might be difficult to get hold of the voice providers.
• I was wrong on this last year but I do think we'll get a few new companies coming into SynthV, even if it is with help from AHS.
• Quadimension release one more voicebank and consider AI updates.

CeVIO

• Yukari Rei releases to moderate success, most people prefer to use her VOCALOID4 vocal.
• flower AI sounds closer to her talk bank than her VOCALOID bank, but benefits from popular producers using her.
• IA and ONE song voices are announced during their anniversary live. These could also be for SynthV like how Rikka and Maki are split between the two.
• KAFU releases with slight improvements, but the majority of her buyers and users are Kaf's fans.
• Sasara eventually releases and just becomes the "default" vocal for CeVIO AI.
• XING voices don't get an update, and I cry because of it.

Misc.

• Ameya is still missing until April at least. Please come home we need you.
• Boxstar finally releases DV2 with an updated GUI and new parameters. People start to pick it up a bit more, and Xia Yu Yao receives a finished VB for it.
• NEUTRINO chugs along but is overshadowed by other AI Synths.
• Maghni AI is barely funded on Kickstarter after the demo partially settle's people's worries, but some things have to be scaled back.

Let's see how wrong I am this year!

 

[___]

• Ling, Yanhe and Tianyi get released.
• Tianyi gets a new append(?).
• Maki's japanese voicebank will be controversial due to the vp drama, it'll leave sour taste in people's mouths years to come.
• Her Cevio AI talk will be a flop and people will continue to use her Voiceroid instead.
• Maki's english will be well recieved but ultimately she'll be overshadowed by Eleanor AI due to accent-bias in the community.
• We'll see a lot of voiceroids migrating to other talking programs.
• C!Flower will be a port of her vocaloid vb like Yukari.
• Kafu will.....exist.
• Kotonohas AI.
• Iori Yuzuru will get a sing vb on the new software he's on now.
• Meiko NT gets released and she'll universally recieve good feedback unlike Miku NT.
• Maghni AI will be like A/R, in terms of sound quality.
• Quadimension does something with Stardust in terms of vb development ( taking notes from Tinayi? eh Quadimension? )
• Everyone forgets about Seika fvgbhjkl

 

[xuu]

• Meiko NT gets released and she'll universally recieve good feedback unlike Miku NT.

God if you're watching please just give me this one thing

 

[___]

God if you're watching please just give me this one thing

I like what I've heard of her in Project Sekai so far, I have high hopes for her.

 

[Rylitah]

Maki's VP situation seems to have calmed down in JP fandom somewhat, I'm seeing most people make the most out of the situation and talk about having two different Makis to either ship together or ship both with Yukari at once, lol. But that's neither here nor there, time to reflect on my predictions!

2020 predictions

For once, I have... no Vocaloid predictions. I'm not really pessimistic about it like a lot of others seem to be, maybe one or two new Vocaloids, but that'll probably be it. It'll probably be from Yamaha themselves.

Yeah, more or less. If you count Charlie, I was even right about the Yamaha bit.

Aside from that, Voiceroid domination. Zunko English's fundraiser will be a success and she'll release within the year, probably close to or on her birthday. The new male Voiceroid will also release in the year, whether that male ends up being Kiyoteru, Kou's older brother, or someone entirely new. Probably some more Voiceroid stuff too, including a purely English Voiceroid that isn't Zunko.

Weeeeeell Zunko's English Voiceroid still doesn't exist, but no way did I expect this year to turn out the way it did. I was right about the male voice that ended up being Yuzuru though. Wrong about another English Voiceroid.

Also related, more companies will probably join in on the talking synth craze. Una's doing well, the Meikas are doing well, Flower will probably do well. I don't see it being another Vocaloid company specifically that will also make their own talking synth (I see people tend to use "Voiceroid" as a catch-all phrase for talking synths when really only AHS can use the term), so perhaps a new one altogether.

Eehh, not really... to my surprise. Yuzuru did pretty alright, but no other companies jumped on the talking synth bandwagon and AHS even ceased Voiceroid development (which I did NOT expect). No other talking synths came out after Yuzuru aside from Una's Voiceroid, who I'm pretty sure was just a quick port anyway to have her be usable in the same program as the other Voiceroids. I mean, there's Rikka, who had the craziest crowdfunding campaign in Voiceroid history.... but she's not a Voiceroid anymore.

2021 Predictions:

- Maki Synth V releases in the first half of the year, does pretty well! I think her English will be one of the most widely used ones going forward. CeVIO Talk will probably do alright as well since she's also getting English there, but attention will mostly be on Synth V.
- Tsuina-chan Synth V releases, does okay, popularity will probably be about the same as the Kotonohas.
- Seika Synth V releases and does about as well as her Voiceroid. That's pretty much it.
- AHS will continue moving their characters over. This pretty much just means Sora at this point and giving her a second chance on a new software, maybe Kiyoteru or Kou, though I'm not expecting much with either of them. ... None of their other characters (Yuki, Ai, Shouta) can be moved without them being ports, so nothing will be done with them.
- CeVIO AI Flower sounds exactly like Vocaloid Flower, but on CeVIO. Opinions will be very mixed. Probably will release first half of the year.
- CeVIO AI Kizuna Akari.
- Maghni AI kickstarter launches, does... okay? Will probably make the goal, but it'll be close. Will definitely get a few thousand in the first day. (I will not remember how much it got on the first day when it comes to reflecting over this post in 2022.)
- Still quiet on the Vocaloid front. Yamaha continues doing their own thing, does small V5 sales here and there, more private vocals and projects.
- AI VOICE does okay, people pretty much only care for the Kotonohas though. Any new vocals for it will be met with silence unless AHS is involved (which I don't believe they will be)

Honestly trying to wrack my brain for more stuff but this is all I can come up with ;; still more than I did last year at least

 

[peaches2217]

Let’s see...

• CeVIO Yukari and Flower are released. General opinions will be mixed, but their fans will latch on hard, and we’ll see a major boom in content from them.
• Kafu is released. Two weeks later, she is forgotten.
• Tianyi, Ling, and Yanhe get their V5 updates in Q2. The Chinese fandom rejoices, they’re more beloved than ever, and they quickly make back the money it took to develop them. The Western fandom ignores their existence and insists the Meikas were the final V5s.
• Something new happens with Xingchen’s voicebank. Either she receives an update on V5 or she’s formally retired.
• Maghni AI’s Kickstarter just barely scrapes by, but they’re funded. Updates after being fully funded will be scarce, and the beta isn’t released to funders before year’s end.
• Maki isn’t immediately loved, but fans warm up to her eventually. The Western fandom criticizes her English VB for being cutesy and Japanese-accented, but otherwise view her favorably.
• Rikka and that other VB are released to widely positive reactions. Seika’s VB is just barely funded, and she’s somewhat-quietly released in Q4.

 

[Leon]

I will say I'm so proud of Marie (and Aku P ofc) for going viral. Having heard that song before the meme I was like "wait hol up" jas;ldkfj
But damn, 2020 is the first year in a long time that (if I'm not mistaken) no Vocaloid banks dropped at all? Not counting Charlie, as he's not a bank you can buy and manipulate separately.

For this year... Well,
-Vsinger will drop at least Tianyi V5, maybe Yan He and/or A-Ling's updates as well. If the latter two happen it'll be late in the year, Q4, while Tianyi's will be sooner.
-CeVIO releases banks, at least Yukari, and announces some more. They'll do fairly well, even if they're not all-around loved.
-SV continues to do splendidly. Another English bank is at least announced, maybe releases.
-Maghni AI's demo isn't world-changing but is decent, and the Kickstarter gets funded.
-Xingchen's Vocaloid bank finally goes out of stock officially, and isn't restocked. Her SV bank(s) come out instead.
-Yamaha either releases nothing or comes out of the woodworks with V6. Since they don't tend to announce things early. If they do, V6 is decent and people like it, but it's overall not as price-friendly as competitors and so people don't flock to it even though it does get decent use.
-Crypton releases NT demos of Meiko and/or Kaito, but no new full-bank releases this year. Some updates to Miku NT peppered along the year.

 

[StrawberryDemon]

I think v6 will be announced

 

[Blue Of Mind]

I think v6 will be announced

It's too early for V6 - V5 isn't even three years old yet.

 

[cafenurse]

Honestly I wouldn't even be surprised if there never was a V6, with how few VBs are coming out for V5.

 

[StrawberryDemon]

Honestly I wouldn't even be surprised if there never was a V6, with how few VBs are coming out for V5.

I don’t think they are done with the voicebanks

 

[peaches2217]

I don’t think they are done with the voicebanks

Hard agree there, but development is slow, slow enough that I wouldn’t anticipate V6 any time soon. We’re just this year getting three more confirmed V5s, and we had nothing in 2020, so it’s a tricky tightrope.

 

[cafenurse]

I didn't say they were done with voicebanks, it's just that development has become so slow (we've gone an entire year without any new voicebanks) and so many companies have explicitly said they don't plan on updating/creating new vbs for V5, that I wouldn't be surprised if Yamaha never bothered to make a V6. It doesn't mean that they're done with making voicebanks or done with vocaloid forever, just that V5 could be the final engine they settle with.

 

[StrawberryDemon]

Hard agree there, but development is slow, slow enough that I wouldn’t anticipate V6 any time soon. We’re just this year getting three more confirmed V5s, and we had nothing in 2020, so it’s a tricky tightrope.

I think the process is slower because of covid

I didn't say they were done with voicebanks, it's just that development has become so slow (we've gone an entire year without any new voicebanks) and so many companies have explicitly said they don't plan on updating/creating new vbs for V5, that I wouldn't be surprised if Yamaha never bothered to make a V6. It doesn't mean that they're done with making voicebanks or done with vocaloid forever, just that V5 could be the final engine they settle with.

I think they are not done with V5 so that’s why Yamaha isn’t bothering to make v6 yet

 

[Blue Of Mind]

I think the process is slower because of covid

It wouldn't surprise me if some unexpected V5 releases come out this year, with reveals that they were supposed to be announced and/or released last year but were pushed back due to Covid. Saying that, I do think Yamaha has been intentionally slowing down on Vocaloid development, and wants to stick with V5 for a few years until it gets too outdated to be usable for projects like Charlie.