VOCALOID Megurine Luka's 10th Album

[sour_supreme]

okay so i don't wanna jump the gun and say that the songs in the 10th anniversary album use new VBs for Luka, but i kind of think they do.


right away with "Never Die" by yuyoyuppe, that english voicebank sounds brand new! it sounds like a mix of her V2 and her V4 english straight banks, it definitely has a softer tone to it, but it seems to have crisper pronunciation like in her V4 bank. and several of the JPN songs sound like they are using new banks as well, more polished versions of her V4 perhaps.

the reason i feel like this is possible is because i believe wat has tweeted several times about updating luka again, and recently mentioned something about a jazz style VB for luka and meiko (i may have misunderstood these though). it would also make sense for her new VBs to be announced/released on her 10th anniversary, it'd be a perfect gift to her and her fans.

HOWEVER, i may just be crazy and these could all be using her V2 and V4 with various parameter changes as opposed to using her banks at default settings. what do you all think? as far as i know, there is no official statement that there is a luka update on the way or is being used on this album, but in my opinion it sounds like there is.

 

[uncreepy]

I've been keeping up with Wat's tweets for a total of 2 years and made a spreadsheet you can look at if you're interested that summarizes the voicebank/Piapro update features that I believe are coming. (All of the Cryptonloids are getting updates, not just Luka.) He never mentioned touching their English voicebanks, though, but that doesn't mean it can't happen. Wat talking about jazz with Luka was for a Jazz event she sung at with her new voicebanks (I don't think there is footage of the event, but a Japanese user said her voice was very powerful and emotional).

It makes sense to use Luka's updated voicebanks for her anniversary CD, because Wat made it sound like the updated voicebanks for the Cryptonloids are coming out "for Luka's anniversary". I skimmed the comments in Japanese on the YouTube video you posted, and some people said that the English was really good, the quality was high for the CD, they couldn't believe it was Luka singing (especially the last song), and her voice seems humanish and mature. I am not good enough at identifying Luka's voice types because I don't own her, so I'm not sure what I think, but I like what I hear!

 

[sour_supreme]

I've been keeping up with Wat's tweets for a total of 2 years and made a spreadsheet you can look at if you're interested that summarizes the voicebank/Piapro update features that I believe are coming. (All of the Cryptonloids are getting updates, not just Luka.) He never mentioned touching their English voicebanks, though, but that doesn't mean it can't happen. Wat talking about jazz with Luka was for a Jazz event she sung at with her new voicebanks (I don't think there is footage of the event, but a Japanese user said her voice was very powerful and emotional).

It makes sense to use Luka's updated voicebanks for her anniversary CD, because Wat made it sound like the updated voicebanks for the Cryptonloids are coming out "for Luka's anniversary". I skimmed the comments in Japanese on the YouTube video you posted, and some people said that the English was really good, the quality was high for the CD, they couldn't believe it was Luka singing (especially the last song), and her voice seems humanish and mature. I am not good enough at identifying Luka's voice types because I don't own her, so I'm not sure what I think, but I like what I hear!

okay wow!! i appreciate your work on that spreadsheet, that makes everything so digestible! thank you for that.

in regards to the ENG voicebanks, i would be surprised (and disappointed) if they were not also updated, or if these plugin/features were not compatible with them. logically i would think they would want to focus on clarity and pronunciation with the ENG banks rather than the JPN banks as they seem clearer by default. but i could be wrong cuz it seems like some of the times pronunciation is mentioned its in direct reference to japanese pronunciation. (i think a Miku english update that uses voice data from her original V2 beta bank would be especially interesting, i think it would be a lot more MIKU-like.)

i guess the way i'm understanding the updates is that they are all (except MEIKO for some reason) based directly off their original versions, so KAITO V1, MEIKO V3(?), Miku V2, Rin/Len ACT1 V2, Luka V2. this also leads me to believe that any append voicebanks (Miku Append or KAITO V3 non-STRAIGHT VBs) would not be included. from there i hypothesize that the additional tones would either be left out, updated at a later time or perhaps recreated by editing the base ORIGINAL VB (so "Miku_V5_SOFT" would be based off of Miku_V2_Original, not Miku_V2_SOFT).

i feel like at this point the append VBs are just as important as the base VB, so if crypton would not include them i would be surprised. but also if they are cheaper then i guess that'd be fine.

okay, so in regards to the video/CD again, i agree with those people that Luka (ENG) sounds amazing! again, i think she sounds clearer but also more true to herself, as opposed to V4_English_STRAIGHT, which i felt was much more tense and mature than Luka_V2. it does sound like she might have some adjusted parameters to make her sound cuter, but again, i think the first song sounds like a mix (pronunciation-wise) of English_V2 and English_V4. for the rest of the songs, about half sound like Luka_V2 and half sound like Luka_V4X, but none sound bad, even the latter. it sounds like a lot of Luka_V4X's choppiness was fixed.

i don't know if any of this made any sense but i sure hope it did!! either way i am real excited for luka's anniversary and the potential these updates have!