VOCALOID Engloid reviews + opinions

[TheStarPalace]

Hello Vocaloid users of Vocaverse, I had some questions.
I've been planning out what Vocaloids I'll buy and when for some time now, but right now I'm a little stuck. I was planning to buy Gumi English in June, but not only are there so many other options, there are quite a few I'm torn between.
So tl:dr, I need some honest opinions on some Engloids. I don't see many honest reviews of them.
(I currently only own Cyber Songman)

1. Is there any reason to get Ruby? She's just inside my budget(I tend not to get vocaloids that are more than $100 because I'm frugal and not regularly employed) but I also had my eye on Avanna and Daina.
2. Speaking of Daina, how easy do you think she is for someone who's new to tuning Vocaloids? I got the impression that she's better in the hands of an experienced user, so I put off buying her.
3. If I could get input from some Avanna and Gumi users about how versatile their voices are, that would be great.
4. How difficult is V2 to use nowadays? I was planning on buying Big Al and Prima but I was a little wary because i'll have to learn V2.
5. Is Miku English(V4x) really as difficult to use as people say she is? I honestly love her overall tone, even if the clarity isn't great.

Sorry if this post is kind of a clusterfuck, Its just that I found making my "who to buy next list" was tough, because there aren't that many reviews for engloids I can find. So I'm going off of listening to other people's covers/songs most of the time.

Thanks to anyone who tries to answer some of my questions.

 

[khanadee]

I'm your man for this!! Big engloid fan and user, though I can't say much about the V2s because I don't have any (D:).

1. Is there any reason to get Ruby? She's just inside my budget(I tend not to get vocaloids that are more than $100 because I'm frugal and not regularly employed) but I also had my eye on Avanna and Daina.

Cyber Diva is probably better to get as they have the same voice type, but Cyber Diva is better quality.

2. Speaking of Daina, how easy do you think she is for someone who's new to tuning Vocaloids? I got the impression that she's better in the hands of an experienced user, so I put off buying her.

Between her and Dex, I would probably recommend Dex. Daina can be a little hard to work with sometimes and sounds kinda stuffy, but is still pretty easy to use. (not nasally lol...just stuffy)

3. If I could get input from some Avanna and Gumi users about how versatile their voices are, that would be great.

I don't own Gumi but I heard she's not as great for beginners. Avanna is very soft and her constants are sharp, but overall she's wonderful to use and very high quality.

4. How difficult is V2 to use nowadays? I was planning on buying Big Al and Prima but I was a little wary because i'll have to learn V2.

Can't answer this one D: I can ask around about them if you'd like though.

5. Is Miku English(V4x) really as difficult to use as people say she is? I honestly love her overall tone, even if the clarity isn't great.

When I used her demo, she had a few pronunciation issues due to accent, but was good to use! Since you have Songman and already have to work around pronunciation, I wouldn't think it'd be too big an issue.

I hope this all helped! Ask if you have any other questions!

 

[Kona]

From Engloids I've used;

Get Avanna. She's basically the easiest Engloid to use, she has no issues aside from strong S's. She has a soft tone but with mixing, she can get more power. She is amazing for beginners. She also works for all kinds of genres and even languages with phoneme editing (I 've done very good Japanese and Spanish with her)

Gumi Eng is difficult as hell for beginners. She's choppy, and it is so much so that it's so hard to make her smooth. She has a good tone but everything else is not at all for beginners.

Miku V4X English is probably one of the best non-native English VBs. She's very easy to use personally and she's easy to tune and I would recommend. She also can XSY with V3 which is nice

Daina is not that easy for beginners honestly...her pronunciation is probably the hardest to fix from the Engloids I've used. She has a twang that ruins her pronunciation a lot and I just don't think she's good for beginners.

I haven't used V2 aside Sonika so I won't input there. But I still HIGHLY recommend Avanna for ANY beginner and not only because she's my favorite

 

[Hatsune-hakase]

If you haven't already, you should check out Aki's review of all the Vocaloids she owns, in which she breaks them down into beginner, intermediate, and expert. Now she's talking about Vocaloids of all languages, including Japanese, Spanish, English, and Korean. But I found time stamps that will direct you to where she discusses her English voicebanks.

Unfortunately this is from early 2015, so it is out of date (so Daina and Dex didn't even exist yet). She also doesn't directly address the Crypton Engloids, though she does say a few things about them.

Beginner
7:34
YOHIOloid
Avanna
Big Al

Intermediate
14:26
Gumi English (she also talks briefly about the Crypton Engloids, mentioning that while Gumi's accent is much better, she has many more "quirks" than they do)
23:23
Prima

Expert
30:38
Sonika
Tonio
Oliver

Of the Crypton Engloids, I own Miku V3 English and Miku V4 English, Luka V2 English (though I've not installed her) and Luka V4 English. I think Miku V4 English is pretty good, though she does clearly have an accent (it can be mitigated, however). If you don't care about the accent, I think there's nothing wrong with getting Miku V4 English, because she's otherwise got the same high quality and ease of use of other Cryptonloids. But I think Luka V4 English is even better, certainly as far as accent goes. She's really great, to be honest. (But only her "Straight" voicebank; there's really no point in using the "Soft" voicebank imo.)

I also own Gumi English. Haven't used her too much, but how she sounds when you just plug her in to a VSQ compared to others, like Luka or even Miku, it's obvious that she has some issues, especially with choppiness. This is because she ends all her vowels with a glottal stop. The workaround is to always use [-] to extend her vowels rather than just repeating the vowel.

Native Engloids I own and have used at least a little bit are Avanna, Dex, and Daina. I think both Dex and Daina should be fine for a beginner. Avanna would be fine too, but she has a well-known issue with having really strong consonants, especially her S sounds, that can make her a bit more challenging to use if you want to reduce their impact.

Though I don't own her, I've heard the Cyber Diva is very easy to use, at least in terms of pronunciation. Of course, that was the goal in creating her. I've also heard Fukase described as the best JP Engloid, perhaps even better than some native Engloids.

 

[TheStarPalace]

If you haven't already, you should check out Aki's review of all the Vocaloids she owns, in which she breaks them down into beginner, intermediate, and expert. Now she's talking about Vocaloids of all languages, including Japanese, Spanish, English, and Korean. But I found time stamps that will direct you to where she discusses her English voicebanks.

Unfortunately this is from early 2015, so it is out of date (so Daina and Dex didn't even exist yet). She also doesn't directly address the Crypton Engloids, though she does say a few things about them.

Beginner
7:34
YOHIOloid
Avanna
Big Al

Intermediate
14:26
Gumi English (she also talks briefly about the Crypton Engloids, mentioning that while Gumi's accent is much better, she has many more "quirks" than they do)
23:23
Prima

Expert
30:38
Sonika
Tonio
Oliver

Of the Crypton Engloids, I own Miku V3 English and Miku V4 English, Luka V2 English (though I've not installed her) and Luka V4 English. I think Miku V4 English is pretty good, though she does clearly have an accent (it can be mitigated, however). If you don't care about the accent, I think there's nothing wrong with getting Miku V4 English, because she's otherwise got the same high quality and ease of use of other Cryptonloids. But I think Luka V4 English is even better, certainly as far as accent goes. She's really great, to be honest. (But only her "Straight" voicebank; there's really no point in using the "Soft" voicebank imo.)

I also own Gumi English. Haven't used her too much, but how she sounds when you just plug her in to a VSQ compared to others, like Luka or even Miku, it's obvious that she has some issues, especially with choppiness. This is because she ends all her vowels with a glottal stop. The workaround is to always use [-] to extend her vowels rather than just repeating the vowel.

Native Engloids I own and have used at least a little bit are Avanna, Dex, and Daina. I think both Dex and Daina should be fine for a beginner. Avanna would be fine too, but she has a well-known issue with having really strong consonants, especially her S sounds, that can make her a bit more challenging to use if you want to reduce their impact.

Though I don't own her, I've heard the Cyber Diva is very easy to use, at least in terms of pronunciation. Of course, that was the goal in creating her. I've also heard Fukase described as the best JP Engloid, perhaps even better than some native Engloids.

I saw this video, but I forgot she talked about her English vocaloids! I only remember her saying Mew was really good for beginners.
Also thanks for replying everyone! You've given me a lot to think about, and I mean that in a good way!

 

[Move->Forward]

Hopefully I can help with some of your questions as well:

4. How difficult is V2 to use nowadays? I was planning on buying Big Al and Prima but I was a little wary because i'll have to learn V2.

You should be able to easily import Prima into whichever VOCALOID4 Editor you use (even Piapro Studio). You'll just need to email Zero-G about it when the time comes. I'm not sure about Big Al right now. I've heard PowerFX is no longer providing import codes, or at least was.
To quote Robin below:

PFX actually acquired more import codes for their voice banks, so they have more codes available! I would still inquire about it before buying just to be safe, but they did recently get more import codes for both Big Al and Sweet Ann

So you don't have to use them in the VOCALOID2 Editor, but if you want to, I imagine it won't be too different from your VOCALOID4 Editor experience. Obviously there will be some differences.
AHS has trials available of their VOCALOID2 voicebanks that come with the VOCALOID2 Editor (JPN demo ver.) if you'd like to try it out.

If you're just talking about using VOCALOID2 voicebanks in general, though, and not the VOCALOID2 Editor, someone else may be able to better help you with that than I. I only have Luka V2.

5. Is Miku English(V4x) really as difficult to use as people say she is? I honestly love her overall tone, even if the clarity isn't great.

I don't have Miku V4 English, but I do have her V3 English. She was my first one, actually.

But I think the trial of Miku V4 English that lasts for 39 days will be the best way to know (unless you've already tried it).

She's available with and without Piapro Studio + Studio One. So if you want Piapro Studio and/or a DAW, she may be a great one to get. If you don't, though, she's available for less on her own. (Piapro Studio is included with the Miku V4 English trial if you want to try it out.)


If you do get Dex and/or Daina, they both have workaround guides. Ruby, Dex and Daina also have a chart available for their phonemes. (I believe these three are all by Lupin (formally Kenji-B).)
If you decide to get a Zero-Gloid, I'd definitely suggest getting a Zero-Gloid during one of Zero-G's sales. They happen often, and you can get a Vocaloid for a really good price.

 

[TheStarPalace]

Hopefully I can help with some of your questions as well:

You should be able to easily import Prima into whichever VOCALOID4 Editor you use (even Piapro Studio). You'll just need to email Zero-G about it when the time comes. I'm not sure about Big Al right now. I've heard PowerFX is no longer providing import codes, or at least was.

So you don't have to use them in the VOCALOID2 Editor, but if you want to, I imagine it won't be too different from your VOCALOID4 Editor experience. Obviously there will be some differences.
AHS has trials available of their VOCALOID2 voicebanks that come with the VOCALOID2 Editor (JPN demo ver.) if you'd like to try it out.

If you're just talking about using VOCALOID2 voicebanks in general, though, and not the VOCALOID2 Editor, someone else may be able to better help you with that than I. I only have Luka V2.

I don't have Miku V4 English, but I do have her V3 English. She was my first one, actually.

But I think the trial of Miku V4 English that lasts for 39 days will be the best way to know (unless you've already tried it).

She's available with and without Piapro Studio + Studio One. So if you want Piapro Studio and/or a DAW, she may be a great one to get. If you don't, though, she's available for less on her own. (Piapro Studio is included with the Miku V4 English trial if you want to try it out.)


If you do get Dex and/or Daina, they both have workaround guides. Ruby, Dex and Daina also have a chart available for their phonemes. (I believe these three are all by Lupin (formally Kenji-B).)
If you decide to get a Zero-Gloid, I'd definitely suggest getting a Zero-Gloid during one of Zero-G's sales. They happen often, and you can get a Vocaloid for a really good price.

Thanks for the advice. Also, do you know where I can buy Miku English without Piapro/Studio One? I thought that wasn't an option.

 

[uncreepy]

I feel like if you lean toward a certain Vocaloid's voice, you'd probably power through trying to use them, even if they had annoying phoneme or nasal problems.

The only English-compatible Vocaloids I have is Gumi and Rin/Len. I know you didn't ask about Rin/Len, but I assume all Cryptonloids are the same in this, but they way they pronounce A's and I's has problems. There are 2 types of Vocaloid A's and I's (@ and V and I and i:), but they LITERALLY sound exactly the same. The way around this I found is to cut the "i" very short (so for example, "swimming" sounds like "sweeming" for Rin/Len, but if you cut the "i" before it gets a chance to sound like "ee" then it sounds like the "i" you're going for.

I just got Gumi recently, so I haven't been able to test her like I normally would (I have other song-making commitments), but plugging her into old tests with Rin/Len that I did, she has some problems. (She sounds SOO cute, though.) For example, for Rin I wrote "start" as "s t Q Q@ t", but when Gumi says that, there's a mechanical click noise between Q and Q@ (deleting the Q made her pronounce it normally).

I also plugged in Gumi into an Arianna Grande "Focus" cover, but she gets that mechanical jitter noise when there are 2 of the same vowels next to each other. For "Focus", the song was broken up in two notes next to each other as "V V" ("a" sounds) where it got messed up (I had to delete one of the V's to fix it). It seems like her R's are less Japanese-accent sounding than Rin/Len, though. For plugging her in to "Tell Your World", she messes up on combined vowels (like "aI" + "-" to extend for some reason) A LOT (the cover was basically unlistenable). I have to investigate more, but she does NOT seem plug-and-play friendly, if that's what your goal is, to be honest.

I personally feel like Gumi and Ruby sound sort of similar (high and cute), so if you want to just write English words easily, maybe consider her.

Thanks for the advice. Also, do you know where I can buy Miku English without Piapro/Studio One? I thought that wasn't an option.

HATSUNE MIKU V4 ENGLISH（初音ミク V4 ENGLISH） | SONICWIRE
It's the 2nd option:
HATSUNE MIKU V4 ENGLISH / LIBRARY ONLY
DOWNLOAD PRICE ￥12,960 (about $120)

 

[TheStarPalace]

I feel like if you lean toward a certain Vocaloid's voice, you'd probably power through trying to use them, even if they had annoying phoneme or nasal problems.

The only English-compatible Vocaloids I have is Gumi and Rin/Len. I know you didn't ask about Rin/Len, but I assume all Cryptonloids are the same in this, but they way they pronounce A's and I's has problems. There are 2 types of Vocaloid A's and I's (@ and V and I and i:), but they LITERALLY sound exactly the same. The way around this I found is to cut the "i" very short (so for example, "swimming" sounds like "sweeming" for Rin/Len, but if you cut the "i" before it gets a chance to sound like "ee" then it sounds like the "i" you're going for.

I just got Gumi recently, so I haven't been able to test her like I normally would (I have other song-making commitments), but plugging her into old tests with Rin/Len that I did, she has some problems. (She sounds SOO cute, though.) For example, for Rin I wrote "start" as "s t Q Q@ t", but when Gumi says that, there's a mechanical click noise between Q and Q@ (deleting the Q made her pronounce it normally).

I also plugged in Gumi into an Arianna Grande "Focus" cover, but she gets that mechanical jitter noise when there are 2 of the same vowels next to each other. For "Focus", the song was broken up in two notes next to each other as "V V" ("a" sounds) where it got messed up (I had to delete one of the V's to fix it). It seems like her R's are less Japanese-accent sounding than Rin/Len, though. For plugging her in to "Tell Your World", she messes up on combined vowels (like "aI" + "-" to extend for some reason) A LOT (the cover was basically unlistenable). I have to investigate more, but she does NOT seem plug-and-play friendly, if that's what your goal is, to be honest.

I personally feel like Gumi and Ruby sound sort of similar (high and cute), so if you want to just write English words easily, maybe consider her.


HATSUNE MIKU V4 ENGLISH（初音ミク V4 ENGLISH） | SONICWIRE
It's the 2nd option:
HATSUNE MIKU V4 ENGLISH / LIBRARY ONLY
DOWNLOAD PRICE ￥12,960 (about $120)

Thanks for the link! Yeah, even if Ruby is similar to Cyber Diva, there's something about her tone I just like better, personally.
Also I was wondering about how Rin and Len English were, so thanks for that.
I'm a little less sure about getting Gumi now I'm all honestly, there are just some way better options within her voicetype.
Though I'm not really a plug and player and I'm mostly making my own VSQs if that helps.

 

[RawBeansP]

A vocal's difficulty usually depends on some factors, a lot of which surrounds what you plan to use said vocal for. For example, Avanna is not great for hard rock esp if you're a beginner, and Prima is not good for pop. There are other factors like your own personal tuning style as well as the general quality of the bank. Tbh what it really boils down to is Do you like your vocal? You don't wanna end up with an Engloid deemed easy that you're not thrilled about and hate them later.

also I can't really say anything on Ruby since I don't own her sooooo... but I own everyone else you listed so here's my review for a beginner

Daina - Not gonna lie I've had some difficulty with Daina. Sometimes the way she enunciates her words is a little wonky and she can be kinda muffled. She is great for pop songs and softer ballads and despite her problems I think if Daina has stolen your heart she is definitely a good fox girl lol. But if you're not so head over heels for her she will give you a hard time esp if you're still learning the curve of Engloids

Avanna - She is a very soft, arguably the softest, somewhat mature English vocal that slides so easily into ballads and pop songs. Personally Avanna has been the easiest to use in my experience but that's just bc she fits my style of music so darn well lol. She holds pitch very nicely and was once deemed as one of the clearest English Vocaloids on the market (she still kinda is too). However, she isn't very versatile and can't do harder genres, and her only major technical flaw is that she kinda whistles her constants, and on top of that as a V3 title she does not come with growl or any of the extra phonemes the V4 Engloids have. If you want something similar to Avanna but with a bit more flexibility Daina or Gumi are better options in that regard (Avanna is great tho 10/10 lol)

Gumi - She is a more middle of the road in terms of power voice type with some very good clarity and is exceptionally very popular. Her voice is cute and I've haven't had much problems throwing her into harder and softer songs. She does have a bit of a choppy quality where her notes cut off between each other with these strong glottal stops, but that's really the only major downside to Gumi and in my experience isn't as bad as other make it out to be. She is also a V3 title so she doesn't have extra phonemes or growl. If Avanna was too soft and Daina scares you, Gumi is a pretty good beginner's loid I think. She is a fan favorite and she's one for a reason!

Big Al - He is one of my favorites and time has been very good to Al! He stands out in his great quality, which is better than some of the English vocals of V3 (coughcoughKaitoandHio). You can import Big Al into the latest engine by contacting PFX after purchasing him. As a vocal he is very powerful with a bassy kick to him. He's meant more for harder genres like rock, but he can fit into other genres too. He is very clear and has one of the best ranges of any male loid ever. However, his accent is over enunciated and can sound a bit silly, his higher range is kinda crap and he shifts into a really awkward falsetto, and his breaths are so bad they're a meme amongst English fans lol (his breaths actually make for a great laugh!). Big Al is very a very simple title with no bells and whistles of V3/4. But if you really like his voice I say he makes a great addition to any collection at any given time

Prima - She is the Sachiko of Engloids in almost everyway-- she's gorgeous, there's nothing like her. she's an amazing experience to work with, and she fits in only one genre-- opera. Some people have used her for rock, people mostly use her for fancy oohs and ahhs in the background. Prima is gorgeous but she is tricky to throw into songs, and she will not into the vast majority of projects. Unless you're planning on using her for slow ballads or opera-type songs then I'm strongly against getting Prima as a second Engloid. I think she is more of a 4th or 5th Engloid type

Miku V4 English - I honestly really liked working with her? I used her trial and she is a very fun time indeed. I love her tone, she is so much cleaner than her V3 and she's great in a plethora of genres. As Move said Miku does have a trial version available that you can download and mess around with yourself. Honestly if you like vocals like Gumi or Ruby then Miku is a really good one to take a look at

Other Vocals I think you Might Like:

Macne Nana - I'm a huge fan of Nana and i loved using her trial. She is like a softer Miku that's a tiny bit clearer but has a worse accent. She is great for pop and ballads and a plethora of other genres, tho I don't think she works too well in harder songs. Much like Miku Nana has a trial available too if you wanna mess with her a bit!

Kaito - I'm not so sure how you feel about Kaito, but given that you like Big Al and Songman, I'd like to recommend Kaito as well! Kaito is a softer, more robotic Japanglish male that's a bit deeper in tone. He's very clear for a Japanese accented Eng bank and doesn't have that cotton mouth feel that other Cryptonloids have, like his counterpart Meiko. He comes with 3 Japanese banks which can XSY with each other. Kaito's downsides is that he doesn't really sound like his original V1 bank, he is a bit more robotic sounding, all 3 of his JP banks are soft, and as a V3 title he can't growl. But if you want to use him for soft songs he is great! He works really well in pop as well and he is a pretty clear English title. I'ma huge fan of Kaito's English and it really shows lol

Hopefully I can help with some of your questions as well:
I'm not sure about Big Al right now. I've heard PowerFX is no longer providing import codes, or at least was.

PFX actually acquired more import codes for their voice banks, so they have more codes available! I would still inquire about it before buying just to be safe, but they did recently get more import codes for both Big Al and Sweet Ann

 

[TheStarPalace]

A vocal's difficulty usually depends on some factors, a lot of which surrounds what you plan to use said vocal for. For example, Avanna is not great for hard rock esp if you're a beginner, and Prima is not good for pop. There are other factors like your own personal tuning style as well as the general quality of the bank. Tbh what it really boils down to is Do you like your vocal? You don't wanna end up with an Engloid deemed easy that you're not thrilled about and hate them later.

also I can't really say anything on Ruby since I don't own her sooooo... but I own everyone else you listed so here's my review for a beginner

Daina - Not gonna lie I've had some difficulty with Daina. Sometimes the way she enunciates her words is a little wonky and she can be kinda muffled. She is great for pop songs and softer ballads and despite her problems I think if Daina has stolen your heart she is definitely a good fox girl lol. But if you're not so head over heels for her she will give you a hard time esp if you're still learning the curve of Engloids

Avanna - She is a very soft, arguably the softest, somewhat mature English vocal that slides so easily into ballads and pop songs. Personally Avanna has been the easiest to use in my experience but that's just bc she fits my style of music so darn well lol. She holds pitch very nicely and was once deemed as one of the clearest English Vocaloids on the market (she still kinda is too). However, she isn't very versatile and can't do harder genres, and her only major technical flaw is that she kinda whistles her constants, and on top of that as a V3 title she does not come with growl or any of the extra phonemes the V4 Engloids have. If you want something similar to Avanna but with a bit more flexibility Daina or Gumi are better options in that regard (Avanna is great tho 10/10 lol)

Gumi - She is a more middle of the road in terms of power voice type with some very good clarity and is exceptionally very popular. Her voice is cute and I've haven't had much problems throwing her into harder and softer songs. She does have a bit of a choppy quality where her notes cut off between each other with these strong glottal stops, but that's really the only major downside to Gumi and in my experience isn't as bad as other make it out to be. She is also a V3 title so she doesn't have extra phonemes or growl. If Avanna was too soft and Daina scares you, Gumi is a pretty good beginner's loid I think. She is a fan favorite and she's one for a reason!

Big Al - He is one of my favorites and time has been very good to Al! He stands out in his great quality, which is better than some of the English vocals of V3 (coughcoughKaitoandHio). You can import Big Al into the latest engine by contacting PFX after purchasing him. As a vocal he is very powerful with a bassy kick to him. He's meant more for harder genres like rock, but he can fit into other genres too. He is very clear and has one of the best ranges of any male loid ever. However, his accent is over enunciated and can sound a bit silly, his higher range is kinda crap and he shifts into a really awkward falsetto, and his breaths are so bad they're a meme amongst English fans lol (his breaths actually make for a great laugh!). Big Al is very a very simple title with no bells and whistles of V3/4. But if you really like his voice I say he makes a great addition to any collection at any given time

Prima - She is the Sachiko of Engloids in almost everyway-- she's gorgeous, there's nothing like her. she's an amazing experience to work with, and she fits in only one genre-- opera. Some people have used her for rock, people mostly use her for fancy oohs and ahhs in the background. Prima is gorgeous but she is tricky to throw into songs, and she will not into the vast majority of projects. Unless you're planning on using her for slow ballads or opera-type songs then I'm strongly against getting Prima as a second Engloid. I think she is more of a 4th or 5th Engloid type

Miku V4 English - I honestly really liked working with her? I used her trial and she is a very fun time indeed. I love her tone, she is so much cleaner than her V3 and she's great in a plethora of genres. As Move said Miku does have a trial version available that you can download and mess around with yourself. Honestly if you like vocals like Gumi or Ruby then Miku is a really good one to take a look at

Other Vocals I think you Might Like:

Macne Nana - I'm a huge fan of Nana and i loved using her trial. She is like a softer Miku that's a tiny bit clearer but has a worse accent. She is great for pop and ballads and a plethora of other genres, tho I don't think she works too well in harder songs. Much like Miku Nana has a trial available too if you wanna mess with her a bit!

Kaito - I'm not so sure how you feel about Kaito, but given that you like Big Al and Songman, I'd like to recommend Kaito as well! Kaito is a softer, more robotic Japanglish male that's a bit deeper in tone. He's very clear for a Japanese accented Eng bank and doesn't have that cotton mouth feel that other Cryptonloids have, like his counterpart Meiko. He comes with 3 Japanese banks which can XSY with each other. Kaito's downsides is that he doesn't really sound like his original V1 bank, he is a bit more robotic sounding, all 3 of his JP banks are soft, and as a V3 title he can't growl. But if you want to use him for soft songs he is great! He works really well in pop as well and he is a pretty clear English title. I'ma huge fan of Kaito's English and it really shows lol


PFX actually acquired more import codes for their voice banks, so they have more codes available! I would still inquire about it before buying just to be safe, but they did recently get more import codes for both Big Al and Sweet Ann

Thanks for all the info! I think I'm a little closer to deciding everything. I was actually considering buying Nana and Kaito as well-how'd you know? I was actually considering getting Nana English because of her lower price.

 

[GreenFantasy64]

Pssst~

If you are thinking of getting Kaito v3, he's 'on sale' in Amazon. It says $158.00, but two has him listed as $139-ish with free shipping here. (It's around how much I got for Kaito, but maybe a little less than that, I think. ) If not, you can try getting him later on when the price drop happens again for him. (^_^)/

 

[RawBeansP]

Thanks for all the info! I think I'm a little closer to deciding everything. I was actually considering buying Nana and Kaito as well-how'd you know? I was actually considering getting Nana English because of her lower price.

I could tell bc you seem to like softer vocals which both Kaito and Nana are (you also have the same tastes as meee~ lol) you also seem to like deeper more mature males which Kaito fits the bill for.

Nana has a great price! I recommend getting her trial to see how you feel about her. I imagine her soft voice type would work well with Songman as well!
and as Green Fantasy said above Kaito also has some pretty good prices! if you don't mind shelling out another $40 for him he's a really solid addition!

 

[ZAR-PARTY | ЦАРЬ-ПАРТИ]

To answer your 5th question, I don't understand what people mean about Miku V4E being difficult to use. After all, she has less accent than me, hahaha. There even is a screenshot by CircusP of what he used to tune her in "Our Broken Anthem". When I worked with her, I never felt like "Boo! Sing in English!", though my works are not the best examples because my mixes suck. The only issue I encountered is the accent on syllables like "ful" from words like "colorful" but you can fix it with a little editing.
There is a 39 days trial available on Sonicwire. Miku V3E also has one, so you can compare how the quality improved.

 

[TheStarPalace]

Well, since this is a reviews and opinions thread...might as well put some of my own. I downloaded Miku V4x's and Nana's English trials and I have a lot of opinions already. Robyn was right about Nana's accent, it's very noticeable without editing. Though, comparing the two, there are some things that Nana pronounces better than Miku; like Zar-Party said, some of Miku's vowels don't sound right at first. I had trouble getting her to say "aI @r z" correctly in words like "fires".

Also, I generally like stronger, brighter voices, but I'm a lot less picky when it comes to English Vocaloids. Miku's clarity and tone I generally like, though something about her timbre has always bugged me (I think it's those vowels...)
Nana's voice has a nice tone, it reminds me of Gumi English's in that it's very mellow. The accent still bugs me.

Though, Robyn was 100 percent right about Nana and Cyber Songman sounding good together! Miku and Songman wouldn't be nearly as good for duets, I'm afraid.

Also, just for funsies, I made both of them sing in a tenor range. While Miku's tenor range sounds a little more natural(and is suitably dark and calm sounding), I kind of liked Nana's lower range better. It's a lot more expressive and I kind of like it better than her recommended range.
So I think I'm not any closer to choosing between them...they are comparable, but each is more suited to something different.
(Also I'm waiting for another Zero-G sale to get Avanna)

 

[uncreepy]

You should sign up for Zero-G's newsletters, they announce sales on their Vocaloids. Some of their sales are flash sales, so they only last a day or two. It seems it's always about $10 off for a Vocaloid when they are on sale.

 

[ZAR-PARTY | ЦАРЬ-ПАРТИ]

(Also I'm waiting for another Zero-G sale to get Avanna)

Bestservice.de has her on sale a lot. Like three times a year or something. It's mentioned in their newsletter anyway. I don't know where you are from but they ship worldwide anyway. Download goes faster, of course.

 

[DefiantKitsune]

For the record Luka doesn't seem to have the issue with the A's that rin/len have from my usage with her.

Rin/Len have like, a lot of problems.

 

[TheStarPalace]

It's been a long time since I've revisited this thread, I mostly left it since I got Nana. But I just bought Avanna, and I'm excited to seriously use her for something! Nowadays she seems kind of hit or miss with people, like Oliver, but I like her a lot. I don't have that many fleshed-out opinions, though.

 

[AmazingStrange39]

To answer your 5th question, I don't understand what people mean about Miku V4E being difficult to use. After all, she has less accent than me, hahaha. There even is a screenshot by CircusP of what he used to tune her in "Our Broken Anthem". When I worked with her, I never felt like "Boo! Sing in English!", though my works are not the best examples because my mixes suck. The only issue I encountered is the accent on syllables like "ful" from words like "colorful" but you can fix it with a little editing.
There is a 39 days trial available on Sonicwire. Miku V3E also has one, so you can compare how the quality improved.

HAHA YES HER "U" PHONEME IS SUCH A WEIRDO

It's kind of amusing to hear her say stuff like "happoon" and "colorfool"

There are some things V3 handles better so I guess you could try cross-synthesizing?