I actually don't speak Japanese, so I can't confirm the details, but according to this post on Virvox twitter
They will begin crowdfunding for GENBU AI
They will begin crowdfunding for GENBU AI
SynthV Crowdfunding campaign for GENBU AI announced
- Thread starter Silver1063
- Start date
Make no mistake, I’ll support it, but do you think it’ll really happen? Genbu doesn’t have much of a following or see much use in Japan and VirVox is still such a small name. And given how many crowdfunders we’ve had in the past year and how they’re steadily less and less successful… I’d be happy to see it happen, but is it feasible?
It will be interesting to see how he does, the situation with male vocal synths is a peculiar one. Every factor comes with a 'but'.
1. Rosa's crowdfund struggled at first, but still succeeded with flying colours in the end, so our success rate is 100%.
2. There's less demand for male voicebanks, but Genbu has zero competition. Rosa faced challenges partly because the need for young, feminine voices was already served.
3. Male voicebanks are popular with English speakers, but Genbu is Japanese, and hasn't made too much of an impact in the Western fandom.
There's a lot of factors at play. So far I see some hearty support, which is a good sign.
As the only male Japanese voicebank, Genbu is a very important product for the SynthV lineup. The number of people using male voicebanks may be smaller, but they are no less important, and to drive them away would be a loss. I feel for the producers that need this option and sincerely hope it succeeds.
1. Rosa's crowdfund struggled at first, but still succeeded with flying colours in the end, so our success rate is 100%.
2. There's less demand for male voicebanks, but Genbu has zero competition. Rosa faced challenges partly because the need for young, feminine voices was already served.
3. Male voicebanks are popular with English speakers, but Genbu is Japanese, and hasn't made too much of an impact in the Western fandom.
There's a lot of factors at play. So far I see some hearty support, which is a good sign.
As the only male Japanese voicebank, Genbu is a very important product for the SynthV lineup. The number of people using male voicebanks may be smaller, but they are no less important, and to drive them away would be a loss. I feel for the producers that need this option and sincerely hope it succeeds.
This is very rare occasion where I feel like allowing overseas donations maybe would be beneficial haha
I know we haven't had an outright failure yet, and I'm glad for that! And GOD I hope that continues. But crowdfunders are getting closer and closer with their funds each time. Rosa sat at like 40% for a loooooong time before being funded on her final day in one of the greatest comebacks of 2021. Solaria was partially funded by sources outside of the crowdfunder; the crowdfunder itself was at around 85% when she was declared fully funded. And though he has no competition, again, there's just not a huge demand for him or his voicetype in Japan. I'm just worried for his prospects.
We'll have to see! A minor detail: Solaria did reach 100% on her Indiegogo before the deadline, so she would have succeeded even without the outside funding.
I'm aware! Just saying she wasn't there when she was fully funded; while every crowdfunder has been fully funded so far, it's getting closer and closer with each go-round, hence my concerns. Crowdfunders are just losing steam, but they haven't sputtered out yet. God willing, they won't, at least not for a while longer.
If Genbu succeeds, it'd be a good precedent and show that there is an audience for masculine voice synths out there, even if they have to be crowdfunded. Now would definitely be the time to let their money speak if they're serious about wanting more masculine voices on the market - unpopular as Genbu is, as the first crowdfunded male voice for a big synth, he'll be what future projects look back on when it comes to deciding if something like this is worth it.
Looking back at previous Synth V crowdfund campaigns, it seems like Genbu's goal will probably be around 5 million yen at most. The lowest goal we've had for a Synth V project so far is Seika, whose goal was 4 million yen (~$36,460 USD). Tsuina-chan's goal was 5 million yen, which is about $45k USD - a little more than Solaria's goal. Iirc Seika had additional funding from other sources due to the nature of her character, so she didn't need as much as the other two to begin with.
Tsuina-chan and Seika both crowdfunded for standard voices, but was able to hit AI stretch goals (Tsuina's goal had to double to hit it - Seika's AI stretch goal was 2 million yen more than the goal which added on $20k USD, but again, additional funding). Solaria was only AI, but being English may have added on to that price?
Either way, I'm guessing Genbu's goal will be around that price range, if not cheaper (assuming it's cheaper to just do AI than Standard, though I'm not basing this off of anything) - I'm just assuming English vocals are more expensive to make in general compared to Japanese ones because... that's typically how it's always been, so it'd be good if he had a smaller goal. I'm really interested in seeing what it ends up being.
Looking back at previous Synth V crowdfund campaigns, it seems like Genbu's goal will probably be around 5 million yen at most. The lowest goal we've had for a Synth V project so far is Seika, whose goal was 4 million yen (~$36,460 USD). Tsuina-chan's goal was 5 million yen, which is about $45k USD - a little more than Solaria's goal. Iirc Seika had additional funding from other sources due to the nature of her character, so she didn't need as much as the other two to begin with.
Tsuina-chan and Seika both crowdfunded for standard voices, but was able to hit AI stretch goals (Tsuina's goal had to double to hit it - Seika's AI stretch goal was 2 million yen more than the goal which added on $20k USD, but again, additional funding). Solaria was only AI, but being English may have added on to that price?
Either way, I'm guessing Genbu's goal will be around that price range, if not cheaper (assuming it's cheaper to just do AI than Standard, though I'm not basing this off of anything) - I'm just assuming English vocals are more expensive to make in general compared to Japanese ones because... that's typically how it's always been, so it'd be good if he had a smaller goal. I'm really interested in seeing what it ends up being.
I just hope it works out, because GENBU standard isn't... great, and an AI update would do WONDERS for him.
I'm hoping this works out not from the standpoint of a Genbu fan, but as a lover of male vocal synths! If he can succeed, it really does set an important precedent; this'll be an interesting one to keep tabs on.
I am really rooting hard for this. I’m not a super fan of any particular masc vocal synth character, but masculine vocals simply need to exist on voice synthesis engines and it’s always a treat to hear them used. It’s always unnerving not knowing whether a crowdfunding goal will be reached, but it would be seriously awesome to see GENBU reach it. The VirVox people seem to be doing a great job so far.
The announcement video is on YouTube now and has English subtitles!
"Even this video uses the aforementioned TALQu and full-body illustrations."
I'm not sure what I expected from the announcement video, but Genbu acknowledging that he's nothing more than computer software and illustrations without so much as an existential crisis was not one such thing.
Anywho! I'm happy! I'm hoping that the inclusion of English subs right out of the gate means they're gonna try to include the Western fandom in the crowdfunder. God, the more I hear, the more excited I get.
Interesting! I won't be donating personally, as I'm not a huge fan of GENBU, but I hope for the best for his crowdfunding and am still pretty interested to know what he'd sound like with an AI voicebank. New AI voices are always welcome in my book.
Oh my goodness looks like this is a big And I Oop moment.
Apparently Genbu AI hasn't yet been approved, or VirVox hasn't actually contacted Dreamtonics about Genbu AI.
and the crowdfund date was changed...
also Volor deleted their tweet supporting its campaign...
Apparently Genbu AI hasn't yet been approved, or VirVox hasn't actually contacted Dreamtonics about Genbu AI.
and the crowdfund date was changed...
also Volor deleted their tweet supporting its campaign...
This… this is the first thing that’s genuinely shocked me in a while.
Whoa.
Whoa.
Oh, wow. That certainly... wasn't expected. I originally just saw these two tweets and wondered what was up, but that seems a lot more serious than initially thought orz. Still, it sounds like they're trying to figure it out. (Also unrelated to Genbu, but... guess it's confirmed now Rikka's friends are getting Synth V banks soon. Unless that was officially announced before and I missed it)