General Discussion Thread

[uncreepy]

Rin and Len are going to be guests on Numa ni HAMAtte Kite Mita like Miku was last year.

Here are posts about last year's for reference:

General Discussion Thread

It says that 3,600 people participated in a poll to say which Miku songs they wanted to hear, so the very best of that list will be playing for the TV show. I don't know how to translate the title properly, but it's basically about what you are addicted to at the moment. The show is aimed at...

vocaverse.network

General Discussion Thread

Character items take me back! I noticed they started dying off around the time Lily was originally released on V2, and nobody could decide what her character item should be. I think the organic/meme nature of character items really trailed off by that point, because everyone was trying to assign...

vocaverse.network

 

[uncreepy]

This collab is really random, but Calne Ca is making an appearance in the Nanbaka comic for her 12th birthday:


This is the page for the Nanbaka manga, any time you see 無料 on the right, it means the chapter is free (need to create an account). Calne Ca won't appear until chapter 356-357, which requires coins to read.

Also, she has her own novel called Nou Shikake no Rakuen (translates to "Brain Mechanism Paradise") with the 1st 2 chapters for free.


By the way, Nanbaka has an anime which has 25 episodes and is really funny, very actioney (has long/cool fight sequences), and it's on Crunchyroll. I really recommend it. The plot is about the most dangerous prisoners living in a maximum security prison on an island, the prison is split into divisions with different guards (most of the prisoners and guards get along/reluctantly are like a family). They are all generally stupid despite having incredibly dangerous skills and they have number names (nanbaa = number, baka = idiots). So from the looks on it, Calne Ca is going to be a fellow prisoner?

The comico_jp Twitter shows a tiny preview when a new chapter comes out. This is Calne Ca's official Twitter, and this is the artist of Nanbaka's Twitter.


I checked out the 1st chapter of Nou Shikake no Rakuen. It's violent right off the bat due to loss of limbs + death and destruction. She has amnesia and there is a war going on to steal people's brains for harvesting magic ability. By the way, the bug on her head is a wharf roach and it's somehow important to her.

 

[Hentai]

Not sure if this is the appropriate thread but if anyone is interested in a little bit of Vocaloid history I dug up these from the storage:

The Original Vocaloid Kickstarter, successfully funded back in 2012, Koda-P and I produced "The BIG ALbum" an original Vocaloid CD featuring exclusively BIG AL. Anyways I found 15x CDs and 3x USBs in storage that I didn't even know I had left. I am looking to find them good homes and am making them available some 9-ish years later if you missed the original release.

DM me here or see my twitter thread for more.

 

[lIlI]

Random hypothesising: I think UTAU would be the most popular vocal synthesis engine, if only it were slightly modernised.

The amount of support is insane, people pouring hundreds of hours into incredible voice banks covering by far the widest range of languages and voicetypes on any engine. And it's free: how do any alternatives even compete?

The reason seems to be simple, old-fashioned wonkiness. Having to change your locale to Japanese isn't hard, but it's an instant red flag that the software is outdated and not intended for Western use, which is more than enough to drive your casual software user back to its more professional-looking alternatives. And that's not even going into the early 2000s interface. Its many non-Japanese voices are tragically well made, but gather dust due to the technical challenge of using them.

So, the vast majority of people willing to jump through UTAU's hoops are those who want to use it's unique capabilities: namely the ability to create your own voicebank. But this means there's very few people that download UTAU primarily to use other people's voicebanks, resulting in ridiculously unbalanced supply and demand. Hundreds of people putting their heart into incredible voices, but not many people waiting to use them. Everyone's on the stage, no one's in the stands.

UTAU is like a jewellery store where talented craftspeople pour their souls into creating beautiful pieces, but the jewellery is thrown to customers in a paper bag. Despite it's quality, the store will have a shaky reputation, and passers-by will gravitate to options with more alluring presentation. If the vocal synth space ever gets a project like Blender, that's free, customer supported, and constantly updated: its will stomp the competition. But UTAU isn't that product — yet.

 

[DefiantKitsune]

I'd add onto that metaphor and say that this jewelry store also has buckets and buckets of stuff made with those fake gems kindergartners use, and besides a few display cases, it's all mixed together. Additionally, all of this jewelry uses completely different fasteners, some of which don't work that well (think CV) and some of which are really hard to clasp (think english reclists). There's also almost no guides on how to use these fasteners. (UTAU has so many guides on how to MAKE stuff, but almost none for actually using it!)


This jewelry shop isn't gonna be full even if the merchandise is free, and well, I'm not going to feel too bad for just going to Kay's. Sure, I might miss something creative and pay more, but what I get will definitely have a quality threshold and I'll have someone to contact if there's a problem with it.

 

[___]

I personally think the metaphor is flawed, as in it's assuming UTAU is trying to be a jewelry store. Instead I would say: Vocaloid/SynthV/Cevio etc. are fully made figures, ready for display, UTAU and Deepvocal are garage kits. Both are similar and can attract the same niche but still have different crowd and a figure collector doesn't necessarily have to be into garage kits and vice versa.

 

[peaches2217]

Random hypothesising: I think UTAU would be the most popular vocal synthesis engine, if only it were slightly modernised.

The amount of support is insane, people pouring hundreds of hours into incredible voice banks covering by far the widest range of languages and voicetypes on any engine. And it's free: how do any alternatives even compete?

The reason seems to be simple, old-fashioned wonkiness. Having to change your locale to Japanese isn't hard, but it's an instant red flag that the software is outdated and not intended for Western use, which is more than enough to drive your casual software user back to its more professional-looking alternatives. And that's not even going into the early 2000s interface. Its many non-Japanese voices are tragically well made, but gather dust due to the technical challenge of using them.

So, the vast majority of people willing to jump through UTAU's hoops are those who want to use it's unique capabilities: namely the ability to create your own voicebank. But this means there's very few people that download UTAU primarily to use other people's voicebanks, resulting in ridiculously unbalanced supply and demand. Hundreds of people putting their heart into incredible voices, but not many people waiting to use them. Everyone's on the stage, no one's in the stands.

UTAU is like a jewellery store where talented craftspeople pour their souls into creating beautiful pieces, but the jewellery is thrown to customers in a paper bag. Despite it's quality, the store will have a shaky reputation, and passers-by will gravitate to options with more alluring presentation. If the vocal synth space ever gets a project like Blender, that's free, customer supported, and constantly updated: its will stomp the competition. But UTAU isn't that product — yet.

Honestly, that's... that's really well-said. Utau is surprisingly innovative, and its customization abilities are second to none. (It's got probably the best pitch-bend method out there, and I say this as a SynthV stan.) But because it looks hardly different than it did when it launched, and because there's so much intense fine work you can do with it, people are put off or even intimidated. (Just last night Patuk had to basically hold my hand and tell me how to use the envelopes appropriately, and before I had her to help me I didn't dare approach it.)

Part of me really hopes it'll get a sleek new interface and simplified controls, but another part of me worries that might also be its downfall. Just look at how people reacted to V5's changes (not taking into account the legit arguments about its price and size, just the interface). I guess only time will tell.

I personally think the metaphor is flawed, as in it's assuming UTAU is trying to be a jewelry store. Instead I would say: Vocaloid/SynthV/Cevio etc. are fully made figures, ready for display, UTAU and Deepvocal are garage kits. Both are similar and can attract the same niche but still have different crowd and a figure collector doesn't necessarily have to be into garage kits and vice versa.

Ah, that's really good too! Personally I think they both work, especially when you give said metaphors liberties. Whatever the case may be, Utau is a beautiful, if not fully ready-made, program, capable of putting out some of the most wonderful results if you take the time and care to do so.

 

[lIlI]

I personally think the metaphor is flawed, as in it's assuming UTAU is trying to be a jewelry store. Instead I would say: Vocaloid/SynthV/Cevio etc. are fully made figures, ready for display, UTAU and Deepvocal are garage kits. Both are similar and can attract the same niche but still have different crowd and a figure collector doesn't necessarily have to be into garage kits and vice versa.

I think that brings up a good distinction: UTAU has many creators and they all have different aims. However, a large portion of UTAU creators do release their voicebanks like products; they promote them, and aim to attract as many users as they can. For some, it's a fun singing OC for their own enjoyment. But many think deeply about usability and marketing. It's just a shame that effort often goes unnoticed because of UTAU's 'packaging'.

Not everyone who makes an UTAU wants to be niche, difficult to use, or tricky to find. But right now, the best new UTAU struggles to gain the traction of a new Vocaloid or Synth V because of all these little difficulties. A lot of people would love to have a voicebank on a commercial engine, even if they think UTAU is already great. In most cases, the honest answer why would be: 'exposure'. If things were slightly different, I think UTAU could become the most popular software out there. Whether that's good or bad is subjective, but my theory is that it could happen.

Speaking of, I agree that software like UTAU would definitely benefit from a centralised hub where creators could submit voicebanks, and users could search by category/specs/rating, and submit reviews. For those that are serious about promoting their UTAU for wider use, this would be a good way to get exposure and feedback. And from a user's point of view, it would be a godsend. (Obviously not intended for the casual fan who's just playing with the software for fun.)

 

[___]

I think that brings up a good distinction: UTAU has many creators and they all have different aims. However, a large portion of UTAU creators do release their voicebanks like products; they promote them, and aim to attract as many users as they can. For some, it's a fun singing OC for their own enjoyment. But many think deeply about usability and marketing. It's just a shame that effort often goes unnoticed because of UTAU's 'packaging'.

Not everyone who makes an UTAU wants to be niche, difficult to use, or tricky to find. But right now, the best new UTAU struggles to gain the traction of a new Vocaloid or Synth V because of all these little difficulties. If things were slightly different, I think UTAU could become the most popular software out there. Whether that's good or bad is subjective, but my theory is that it could happen.

Speaking of, I agree that software like UTAU would definitely benefit from a centralised hub where creators could submit voicebanks, and users could search by category/specs/rating, and submit reviews. For those that are serious about promoting their UTAU for wider use, this would be a good way to get exposure and feedback. And obviously from a user's point of view, it would be a godsend. (Obviously not intended for the casual fan who's just playing with the software for fun.)

I think it's putting too much emphasis on the software itself and not the sheer oversaturation of the "market".

 

[DefiantKitsune]

fun with the metaphor and OG Cevio

CeVIO is a mall kiosk with IA, Sasara, and ONE on giant displays, and everything else is on the bucket on the side. The bucket is a mix of stuff arguably better than the displays and used chewing gum.

 

[cafenurse]

looks like niki is releasing an album? maybe?
he posted this remake of FACE but the image in the video looks like an album tracklist so perhaps an album is in the future.

 

[Rylitah]

Yep, the album's actually already out! Looks like it released last month on the 12th.

(edit because I'm dumb and didn't realize that I linked the US page LOL so yeah, it's available worldwide, but just on iTunes it seems? Before my edit I wrote that it's only on iTunes Japan orz)

 

[___]

I don't think this needs a new thread ( at least yet ) but:


Saw someone asking him to turn Rev into DV earlier so I guess this is where he's coming from I think.

 

[frankensalad]

Ooh, that's interesting. If this comes to fruition, it will be the first time REV has had a voicebank, right? or did he have an Utau or something I don't know about?

 

[___]

Correct! Very 1st vb of his iirc.

 

[frankensalad]

That's what I thought. Either way, we're always in the need of more male voices in my opinion, so I'd be happy if he got one.

 

[Mika]

I don't want to make a new thread for this since it's already.. tomorrow so uhh
If anyone here is interested in watching Vocamerica live in an online livestream, then be prepared because that's gonna be happening tomorrow
on the 22nd of May.


from 6 to 7 pm CEST on this Twitch channel (as far as I understood?)
And right after that is going to be a Q&A with Takanashi Kiara for any Hololive fans here

 

[___]

Rev now appears to have a TTS vb

 

[Prism]

Oh they are using that modified version of japanese taco Tron

 

[scott]

seems you can already download his talqu voicebank from booth, and his mmd model from kio's blog. (it was previously located on vocarevo's now defunct website)

here's hoping the deepvocal drops soon!