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General Discussion Thread

morrysillusion

v flower enthusiast
Jul 14, 2018
768
25
Socal
morrysillusion.wixsite.com
... Like, the vocal synth scene is all about creative freedom, and collaborative art, and nearly all of the content is fanmade. Meanwhile, these virtual "influencers" (not to be a boomer but I think I'm really beginning to really hate this term/concept) are pure corporate artifice that lack any of the community and creativity that actually made Hatsune Miku et al. the icons that they are today.

Just a lil ol' rant from lil ol' me! :oops:
funny to see this come up since i was just thinking about it today after seeing some videos about it in the last week. to put it lightly, i absolutely hate them lol. as you mention- they are completely made up. i mostly hate the use of buzzwords like "robot" "AI" "virtual" etc etc for a thing that is more often than not... none of those things other than being represented by a virtual avatar. it is, at most, a virtual avatar being played by an actor with a written script to go by- all perfectly directed towards trends and going viral, by some corporation jumping on trends. there may be some level of AI written songs perhaps, maybe. regardless, the methods to which they supposedly use AI becomes pointless with the methods of its actual presentation (acted by/voiced by a human, for one). Overall the vagueness of them is annoying to me in this regard, bc it leaves a huge grey spot in the legitimacy anyways, while the companies go off to have solemnly voiced interviews of the characters talking about being ~real~ or ~born~ or whatever.

some of the stuff i see people say in regards to it like 'bringing together... the virtual world and the real world' are just... it is just nonsense. it doesnt mean anything at all, not really. so many words twisted into meanings and ideas all hyped by companies wanting to make money. in the end its a cash grab with little to no heart, and lies or vague truths to pull interest from people who don't know anything about the prospect of a "virtual artist".
 

Tortoiseshel

Aspiring Fan
Aug 23, 2021
54
You reminded me of how bored I am of all these virtual singers- including actual vocal synths!- who really play up their "virtual-ness" and make it a major part of their character. Like, when Vocaloid was first getting big, and somewhat convincing voice synthesis was pretty new and novel? Okay, that makes sense, although honestly even back then I thought it was a little overdone. But in 2022? It is well and truly old-hat at this point. Come up with something new! Kokoro was 2008, Disappearance of Hatsune Miku was 2007, it's been done!
 

morrysillusion

v flower enthusiast
Jul 14, 2018
768
25
Socal
morrysillusion.wixsite.com
the thing that stands out to me most about these virtual corporate singers versus something like miku, and the overal vibes of "virtual VS real life" is the intent and origins. while its generally a thing of the early fandom's in terms of themes, the whole "miku is of the virtual world and here are songs that make a meta stance on that" and why it doesnt feel out of place or flat is obviously because it originated with vocaloid but more importantly that its origin in the vocaloid fandom is the complete opposite of the origin of things like Polar and FN Meka. Vocaloid, and more obviously Miku, work because the songs are 'made by the people, for the people' in the most literal way possible. You dont have a big faceless entity looking down on the popular trends of today thinking "hmm, how can i used this to profit?"

But i think the larger intent behind WHY we (vocaloid artists) chose to tell that 'narrative' with Miku/vocaloids versus why companies do is the more complex but more important part of the whole...formula. Like, as i said "lies or vague truths to pull interest from people who don't know anything about the prospect of a "virtual artist"" is i think the main reason these things pop off online in spaces like tiktok. For them (companies), the buzz words, the loose definition of "virtual reality singer", allows them to string along the narrative purely to manipulate (maybe too strong of a word?) viewers into this strange world where metaverse and whatever other words mean something entirely fake and unachievable- while making it seem totally real and achievable. there is no 'border between the virtual world and the real world'. there is no 'bringing the two together'. but they are, imo, maliciously bending the deifinitions to make it seem that way. its some kinda dream concept of a virtual singer that they are passing off as completely real. its kinda... weird.

but on the other hand, when you take the meta songs of the vocaloid fandom, you wholly just have artists telling a story thats been influenced by the impression miku/vocaloid left on them. thats it. and honestly if companies got into virtual singers with a more obviously fictional, meta narrative i wouldnt mind but... obviously no one would care nearly as much if its just another fictional character. vocaloid was (i think in some ways unintentionally) crafted perfectly for just this. miku is really the most virtual you can get. and artists have used this to their advantage for storytelling. but miku also being a product, and instrument, with no "official" context provided by Crypton, makes it incredibly blatant that there is no intention to uh.... lie? and make up interviews and bs about her as a virtual pop star. she was an instrument first, and has grown into the image she has because of fans more than anything.

i realize i wrote a bit of an essay here.. oop.
so i guess, yay to us for having such a great format for this ideal version of "virtual singers", while also being obscure enough of an interest for it to (hopefully) not be overrun by the more bland and basic of corporate companies creating things like Polar. the vocal synth community really is as fantastic as it is because it is individuals making the content out of their own passion.
 
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Ibis

Did someone say UTAU?
Jul 7, 2022
60
the time out corner
Today I randomly thought of what ice cream flavors Utauloids would order (and made it way too headcannon-y)
Defoko/Uta :defoko_ibis:- Vanilla. A default ice cream flavor for the default Utau voicebank. They were really just there to drive everyone else and didn't want to waste time picking out a flavor.
Teto :teto_ibis:- Mint chocolate chip. They didn't even consider trying out a new flavor, they just went right ahead and ordered their favorite.
Momo :momo_ibis:- Bubblegum or peppermint. They wanted to go the the candy store instead, but kept it inside to avoid conflict. They also tried to offer some of their ice cream to Defoko to thank them for driving everyone, only for Defoko to eat the entire thing. Momo cried all the way home.
Ruko:ruko_ibis:- Chocolate. They spent the whole time trying to decide what flavor to get, and ended up just picking something that was guaranteed to be good. Then they spent to next five minutes trying to muster up the courage to actually ask for it.
Ritsu :ritsu_ibis:- Dark chocolate cherry. They're extra and they know it. They probably also tried to make a claim about it being healthier and boasted about how they were more mature for picking it over the other flavors.
Tei :tei_ibis:- Salted caramel. They were originally going to get a banana split to try and give to Len, but Momo convinced them to try and think about themselves for once.
Yowa :yowa_ibis:- They were too shy to order anything. They spent the entire time hiding behind Ruko, but by the time Ruko actually picked something and ordered it, Defoko was fed up with everyone lollygagging and demanded everyone to get in the car.
 

pico

robot enjoyer
Sep 10, 2020
528
Sort of unfocused news update, didn't feel like there was a good place to put it as it stands (but I will probably write a VOICEVOX OP if nobody beats me to the punch.)

Shigetaka Kurita and Hyakka Ryoran are both getting A.I. VOICE and VOICEVOX TTS libraries. Sige will release on A.I. Voice and Hyakka will release on VOICEVOX in spring 2023. Then, Kurita will get his VOICEVOX and Hyakka will get his A.I. VOICE in summer.

If you don't know them, Shigetaka Kurita is the current executive managing director of Dwango and Niconico's direct representative. He also invented the NTT Docomo emoji set, but that's not really related. He is really active on Twitter and is super up-to-date on niconico's newest content, memes, and culture. Kurita isn't really a normal "chief" figure online. He talks to everyone, from big names to people with zero wide-reaching presence simply commenting or sharing thoughts on stuff in the niconico twitter sphere.

Hyakka Ryoran is a popular MC on Niconico. He's in basically every officially sanctioned livestream, particularly niconico info. He recently took part in the mint oil challenge, live on stream, which makes him a perfect fit for the existing VOICEVOX cast.

Kenzaki Mesuo is evilly laughing and proudly proclaiming about how, in the VOICEVOX world, the hierarchy is determined by the order everyone joined, which makes him Kurita's senpai. I laughed so hard.

They are both quite net famous, so I am sure these libraries will be abused beautifully!
 
Hey folks, long time not seen!

Can somebody point me to that one moment when Mitchie M worked with BloodPop? In 2018/19, I read about Mitchie M having been involved in a BloodPop song/album somehow, somewhere on this forum. Could have been the General Discussion thread even. Really curious what that was about!



Yeah, I just logged in for the first time since 2020 just to ask this. Might return to this site soon. The last two years of my life were the most chaotic and I feel like I finally caught up to everything and can spend sometime outside of the VOCABERLIN eco-system now. I recently even interviewed Tomohide Ogata from AHS on video and did lots of other stuff too and I'm excited to share that soon!
 

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peaches2217

Give me Gackpoid AI or give me DEATH
Sep 11, 2019
1,930
26
Arklahoma
On the topic of Voicevox, four new vocals have just come out, including No.7 my beloved from Neutrino, as well as the previously-announced WhiteCUL! (I don’t remember if we already had character info for 7 or not, but according to Voicevox’s website she’s 23, and I for one am happy to have a youthful character over the age of 20 for once!)

 

Luxie

Kagamine Rin and Len cover artist
Aug 3, 2022
59
Eastern USA
On the topic of Voicevox, four new vocals have just come out, including No.7 my beloved from Neutrino, as well as the previously-announced WhiteCUL! (I don’t remember if we already had character info for 7 or not, but according to Voicevox’s website she’s 23, and I for one am happy to have a youthful character over the age of 20 for once!)

7 supremacy
 
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Rylitah

kiyoteru enthusiast
Staff member
Moderator
Apr 8, 2018
575
Due to leaving his label which owns the copyright to his works, doriko will be deleting his website and Youtube channel at the end of the month.

If you plan on one day covering one of his songs, it'd be best to download the off vocals and everything you may need now.


Note that he'll be making a new channel and won't stop producing music - he says he'll reupload some of his Vocaloid songs, but not all of them. Since there's no clarification on which ones he isn't reuploading, I think it's better safe than sorry. (I think he's only reuploading the songs before he joined that label - Romeo and Cinderella will certainly be one of them and everything before that, but I don't think any he posted after will be restored. I'm not sure which song is the first he uploaded after joining.)

 

aru ii

Your Neighborhood Tianyi Enthusiast!
Feb 12, 2021
1,010
VOCALOID4 Editor
Yuzuru’s SeirenVoice released
56C662BD-DF9D-45AC-982B-0F626E5EDC9B.jpeg
 
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