Tematic Elements (Tema's Journal)

[Tema]

Hi there! I've been thinking about making a journal thread for a while and finally decided to go through with it since there's so much vocal synth stuff going on and I could use a place to sort out my thoughts

Just, wow. I am so overwhelmed by the amount of news today especially. I've been trying to wait patiently for CeVIO update news for years and it's finally right around the corner. Plus Yukari used to be one of my favorite Vocaloids, so I'm interested in seeing what she's like on CeVIO. I always believed in the potential of CeVIO and it's nice to see some relatively big name Vocaloid characters make the "switch" to give it a boost. The main downside to the news for me is that it doesn't seem likely the color voice series will make the transition, and I *really* wanted to hear Kasumi and Minato on the new engine. To be fair though, in my opinion they (alongside ONE) play well enough with the old engine that I'm not devastated by the idea, just a little bummed. i kind of hope there's some sort of upgrade discount for previous version owners like the other synths but for some reason I'm a little skeptical? Might just be paranoid though

Speaking of discounts, HELP ME SOMEONE I CAN'T BE A REASONABLE ADULT WITH MY FINANCES AHHH my poor wallet is crying from all these synths coming out. I have a regular source of income now but I'm having a heck of a time budgeting. I've spent half my first month's payment already on more serious stuff, and I really wanted to keep a couple hundred in savings, but these Synth V and V5 sales are sooo tempting... Surprisingly (? to me at least) my position has practically flipped since I made that status a few days ago and I'm leaning towards Synth V. I came up with some headcanons for Genbu and Saki that helped me get a little more attached, heh heh. But honestly, I think I might be leaning towards holding off on actually buying any synths. Between not knowing if V5 will work on my computer and limited English options on Synth V... There's a big part of me that thinks I should be focusing more on studying music than synths. I don't mind making covers, but I really wanted to try to make original songs, and it takes so much time to learn I really feel like I shouldn't put it off anymore if I don't want to fully give up. I'm a little tempted to sign up for Andrew Huang's production class since I've seen glowing reviews from people who have taken it, but I'm still a little hesitant looking at the price tag ($270-something I believe). I thought about just subscribing to Musical U again since I was the most productive with studying when I was active there, but that was back when it was smaller and I'm not sure if it'd be the same now. There's also this site called Groove3 that has video classes with a monthly subscription option, and I already bought a membership to Gratuitous's site that has a bunch of tutorial videos. I should probably focus on his first, as well as going back through my notes in that Coursera class on beginning music theory. Plus I wanted to reread the Hooktheory books and type up my notes from them. I wish I could focus better, I've been saying I wanna do this for months;;;

minor detour into heavy stuff

I know I shouldn't be too hard on myself, since I've been so anxious about my health it's hard to concentrate on anything... I never got tested for COVID and at this point I doubt I'll ever find out for sure if that's what caused my intense discomfort I had two (?) weeks ago, where I was saying I might not be around much. I really need to find a new doctor but phone anxiety and insurance stuff keeps me from actually taking the first step. It's hard for me to remember to do even simple things, so naturally big stuff doesn't fare much better On the bright side, I've gotten a new therapist and I'm optimistic about them, which is a big deal for me since I lean towards "realistic pessimism" hAH

I'd at least like to finish one cover before I buy a synth too, but I can't decide on a cover to do. I downloaded V2 Iroha's trial a day or so ago on a whim (I thought maybe I just "missed Vocaloid" but honestly I think it was more a sudden burst of "wow Iroha is great hey I don't think I've downloaded her V2 yet on this computer LET'S PLAY WITH IT"). I had been thinking about covering Yuzuhiko's "Amore" with her but between suggestive and negative themes and how much I dislike the limitations of the V2 demo (you can't save your work and it makes using the Singer Editor practically impossible since you can't have it open at the same time as Vocaloid it seems???) I'm not crazy about it as I was at first. I was kinda tempted to try editing the vocal in Vocalshifter... I've edited the vsq's lyrics like twice (I converted a UST but apparently V2 doesn't like the romanization the UTAU plugin uses and I have to edit it to make her sing the right thing) but then rage quit and lost all progress closing out lmao. Really the entire thing led me to toying with the idea of buying V4 Iroha DL since I don't know when/if I can ever buy her box (and the thought occurred to me that I don't like Soft's design so why do I want her box THAT bad?) last night. So there's yet another option to take into consideration for my budget I guess. I'm almost tempted to throw caution to the wind and reinstall my Vocaloids because my computer hasn't been acting up like it was for a while there *knock on wood* so it might be okay... but then Yamaha's FAQ showing they're unsympathetic/unwilling to help with hard drive crashes keeps me from taking the chance.

So that leaves Synth V and UTAU. I've been toying with a cover of "Goodbye to Alice" with Kaji Yumir for a while now that I wouldn't mind revisiting. I was also considering Makune Hachi for it because I don't dislike how she sounded when I plugged her in as a test. I recently finished the latest chapter of Higurashi on Steam, so I was considering a "(Dear) you" cover. I tried making Eleanor sing it (I posted the "wip" on Soundcloud to document the most time I've spent on synth work in ages rofl) but I was also considering Genbu. Another song I'd like to cover is "Retrospectre" but I have no idea who best to cover it with. I tried Genbu and the old web Synth V Saki, and I didn't think they sounded bad but I'm not sure how i feel about it. Another one I thought about is "WAVEFILE" because Mio's cover with KYO really cheered me up one day and I've since been super attached to the song, so I thought about trying it out with Genbu (because while I know I love him character wise I'm not 100% on his voice so I was looking for something to make with his free version to test the waters).

Phew, I think that's everything I wanted to cover. (Well i can think of a thing I didn't mention but I'm tired rofl Might post again later since I've still got a week-ish to think about it) Thanks if you read all/any of it, and replies are welcome if you wanna comment! (And as you've probably seen I included a poll about the cover thing so any votes would be appreciated <3)

 

[Tema]

The thought occurred to me that I completely forgot CeVIO as an option when I was considering covers to do rofl. I mean I only have IA English but hey, she might not sound too bad singing Retrospectre...

The other thing I forgot to mention yesterday was I kind of feel pressured to buy SOMETHING SynthV before the 29th since according to that screenshot of the Anicute email it sounds like anyone who buys something from them before the Quadimension girls come out qualify for a discount on the banks and I do have some interest in buying one or two of them so... Only problem is there’s no way of knowing for sure if the discount’s gonna be steep enough to dump half my bank account into buying the 4-in-1 now like I'm tempted. Also don’t know how long the discount lasts but I would think it would be long enough for me to get my next payment. I was thinking about just buying the editor since I think it’s a safe bet I’ll want to use Eleanor when her lite bank comes out and I can get paid voices next month if I want them. If I end up deciding I like Genbu and Saki enough they still have the 3-in-1 voicepack, or I can just get Genbu and Saki separately since I don't really want Aiko that much outside of plans to use her to get accustomed to working with Chinese phonemes. I mean, with the 4-in-1 you could consider it getting Aiko practically for free since Saki + Genbu + editor > 4-in-1 pack. (by $2 but still)

Speaking of prices, I wanted to make a list of prices of all the different things I'm considering buying, so here goes:

Vocaloid
- V5 Premium upgrade : 180.18 until 31st, 216.22 normally
- V4 Iroha DL, both banks : 166.08 (AHS bring back that sale I have money now)

Synth V (prices until 9/15 if I'm assuming correctly)
Editor alone : 79.78
4-in-1 : 210.49
Editor now, 3-in-1 later : ~242.74
Editor + Genbu + Saki : 212.18
Editor + Genbu : 139.19
Editor + Saki : 152.77

CeVIO (haha wasn't even considering this until just now but I had the thought "What if they stop selling the old banks sometime soonish???")
Minato : ~40
Minato + Kasumi : ~70

I still feel like V5's actually not THAT bad a deal until you consider just how often you're reallyyyy gonna use all those banks and will it even work right on your computer... but I just can't bring myself to give up on buying it sometime because I've heard multiple people say Ruby does better in it than in V4, and I would like to add VY2 and Diva to my collection. I don't know if Dad's going to help me get a new computer or not still, and I don't have it in me to ask outright X'D I thought about just trying to save up for a really strong laptop by myself but ohhh that'd take a while.

I thought typing that list out might give me a revelation but nothing yet. Other than that remembering the AHS New Year Bundle makes buying separate AHSloids feel more expensive than it should roflmao. Ehhh should still probably focus on trying to get myself to study and doing a cover first. "you" with Eleanor has a vote and "Amore" with Iroha has a vote... if I start now guess I should try "Amore" first then since there's a time limit. It just occurred to me that I can change the UST and then resave it as a new VSQ so if I do lose my work at least I don't have to be typing in lyrics every time I try again rofl (though I still might go with the Vshifter tuning for it... OR MAYBE, I'll buy Sonika so hopefully I can save my work then (does it work like that or would I still not be able to save since iroha herself is a trial too? /shrug))

 

[Tema]

Wellll I ended up buying the SynthV editor. Probably should've gone ahead and bought the 4-in-1 like I was talking about in my status update earlier but I guess my nerves got the best of me and I couldn't bring myself to commit to spending half my money. It was 99.9% impulse buying and I feel like I might regret it a little later but, oh well! Beating myself up won't help. As long I'm not wrong about qualifying for a discount on the Medium5 banks with this purchase (and reading that email I don't see how with the "OR completed an order" bit) I don't think it's that bad, since I want Cangqiong more than anyone else if I'm being honest with myself, lack of experience with Chinese synths be darned.

I tried working on that V2 Iroha cover a bit tonight. Honestly? If I could just SAVE MY WORK, V2 probably wouldn't be that much worse than V4. The color scheme of V2 is a bit harder on my eyes, so I keep wanting to take more breaks, but I'm afraid to step away for too long lest my computer decide to do a spontaneous update/restart. I might try to get as much done as I can tonight, render it, and if somehow I lose my work I'll just try editing the render in external programs. I'm already thinking of trying pitch correction software anyway because without pitch rendering I don't feel comfortable messing with PIT and note bending doesn't seem to be working well for this song. I've mostly done some editing in DYN with a little BRI (and a pinch of OPE for like one note). I'm hoping I'll eventually get into a flow and finish it sooner rather than later. Wish me luck! ;P

 

[Tema]

It finally happened. My computer went to restart itself and closed V2, so I lost any work I might not have rendered yet. On the bright side, I'm prettyyyy sure that my last render had everything, but... eh. So I did a rough mix just to see how I feel about it, and... I don't hate hate it but I know it's not great. I should probably try to mix the higher octave version too but really, I think that even though this is too low I still like this version a little better X'D I might try to keep working on it if the mood strikes me/I feel better.


Serious mode incoming: I'm getting really concerned about my health again. That's part of why I put this up now, because I want to show I did do SOMEthing, even though it's not much, in case I don't get back to it for whatever reason

 

[peaches2217]

I’m sorry about the random restart... my computer does that every so often. Won’t even warn me. Just shuts off to run updates. “Sir that’s illegal I was working on something”

That said, it sounds really good so far!! It sounds no more rough than your average unmixed vocals; I enjoyed it greatly, and you’re doing great!

And I’ve been praying for your health, if I can be honest. Things will be alright! I have faith in that!

 

[ThatGirlMyra]

Oh my gosh I feel the random shut downs! My computer did that to me today. No warning. No reason. Just because.

Anyway, sorry that happened. :/ But I'm sure you'll be able to pull through. I believe in you!

 

[Tema]

Thanks so much you two! I'm more motivated to keep trying now. Though I might still take a break for a little and review some Mixing 101 stuff beforehand because whew it's been a while since I genuinely tried to mix anything X'P

(I just wish I could have added some pitch bends to it... I tried drawing them in with Vocalshifter's pen tool but it's not easy jklfsf)

 

[Tema]

Apparently I was wrong about that Quadimension discount, it’s only for VIPs/the first gen buyers. If I had properly read the post two down from the email screenshot I would have known that and I feel so dang stupid. I feel childish to admit it but I was really upset when I found out because I just feel like I wasted so much money and I have practically no motivation to buy any banks now, though I guess it’ll come back once I get over the disappointment. It’s just not gonna be today because I got a bit of a 1-2 punch... a new health issue has come up at the same time and it’s one I’m very uncomfortable dealing with. Worse timing than Momoko, honestly. /mobage reference

Blehhh I’d hoped to avoid negative posts in here but I guess that was an unrealistic expectation. On the bright side, fun tidbit from RL: my new therapist knew about Yuri on Ice and that amused me greatly XP Dunno if they actually watched it or just heard about it before but their reaction when I brought it up was priceless

 

[peaches2217]

Holy shit, that’s low! I’m so sorry. They should have been a LOT more clear about that, because that’s just not fair at all.

 

[Tema]

To be fair, I didn’t get the email myself, I just saw the screenshot in the thread, so maybe it was an email sent exclusively to VIPs and Anicute didn’t expect people to share the email with anyone. Or maybe the screenshot cut something out that made it clear. I could understand if that were the case.

Still, it is a bit of a bummer since had I realized earlier I would have just waited and got the 4-in-1 next month. I’m not sure what I’m going to get now. The 3-in-1 is a good deal but it’s not like the 4-in-1 that’s cheaper than buying Saki and Genbu with the editor, so I’m not as inclined to buy it, especially since the main reason I was getting Aiko was to test out working with Chinese phonemes before I got a Medium5 bank. I might still do it anyway since it’s still better than buying Cangqiong/Haiyi only to discover I hate working with them (seems unlikely but who knows X’D)

 

[peaches2217]

To be fair, I didn’t get the email myself, I just saw the screenshot in the thread, so maybe it was an email sent exclusively to VIPs and Anicute didn’t expect people to share the email with anyone. Or maybe the screenshot cut something out that made it clear. I could understand if that were the case.

Still, it is a bit of a bummer since had I realized earlier I would have just waited and got the 4-in-1 next month. I’m not sure what I’m going to get now. The 3-in-1 is a good deal but it’s not like the 4-in-1 that’s cheaper than buying Saki and Genbu with the editor, so I’m not as inclined to buy it, especially since the main reason I was getting Aiko was to test out working with Chinese phonemes before I got a Medium5 bank. I might still do it anyway since it’s still better than buying Cangqiong/Haiyi only to discover I hate working with them (seems unlikely but who knows X’D)

Hey, just remember: running the numbers, you really aren't losing much money. I'm still sorry thought... Anicute REALLY should have been more clear about it.

 

[Tema]

Thanks Peaches <3 I'm starting to feel better about it. Honestly I almost thought about buying it earlier but that would super defeat the purpose of buying the editor separately so I'm still gonna wait for payday rofl

 

[Tema]

(AHS bring back that sale I have money now)

AHS is clearly reading my journal so HI AHS!!! *waves* (I'm kidding... of course... shifty eyes)

Also HOW ABOUT ALL THOSE LITE BANKS??? Bless them for releasing so many. The Chiyu one definitely makes up for the discount misunderstanding XP I just installed her and I'm running her through Circus/Cheezits' Rumor SVP and WOW I didn't think I liked Chiyu this much but she sounds great just plugging and playing this (granted it's super tuned and everything but still). I even have a cover idea for her already... maybe... I told myself I wasn't going to cover anything from this series after leaving the fandom but I still love the music so much so idk if I can stick to that X'D (Plus I *had* been working on a Lily and Mayu cover of another song from it ages ago that I didn't really want to give up on...)

Wow I'm so bad at decisions. Literally last night before I went to bed I was thinking about taking a break from the fandom and now I'm talking like I've got sooo many plans sjflsdjfsdjlkf (I don't really want to go into it much but it basically boiled down to health stuff and wanting to focus on learning music. I should probably chill out with the haunting social media anyway and try to be more productive somehow LMAO)

 

[Tema]

Well there is one bright side to the disappointing CeVIO news, and that’s that my wallet is no longer trembling in fear quite so much. All that I really need to decide now is what SynthV banks I’m gonna buy lmao. Well that and if I’m gonna buy Iroha during the sale. I feel like I might as well since I don’t know for sure if they’ll do the New Year sale again and I really do want a copy of Iroha. If it does come back out, well, either it won’t be as tempting or I get a physical backup copy of her, seems like a win-win to me. I do like most of their other banks so I might still go for it if I can bring myself to save up for it and then actually take the plunge.

Honestly a part of me is tempted to splurge on the Quadimension bundle come payday but I should probably... definitely... do some genuine work with Chiyu Lite before I consider that for real

I need an accountability partner lmao

 

[Tema]

Well I started working (again, I guess you could say) on the Eleanor cover of "(Dear) you." I feel like I'm doing this to procrastinate on (re?)learning to mix roflmao I reached this one spot and something felt off, so I imported the original on a new track and started to worry when some of the timing sounded all wrong. I closed it in a bit of a panic thinking, "OH NO I'VE HIT A SNAG I WILL NOT RECOVER FROM THIS," which, honestly, is what happened a lot of the time when I tried to make stuff that's even the slightest bit challenging in the past. I don't know what got me over it for sure, maybe remembering that people actually voted for it in the poll (I'm still a little surprised tbh but I appreciate it~), but eventually I reopened it and starting tweaking it. I think I got it close enough for now that I can go back to converting/editing the rest of the phonemes. I'll double check it after I finish that and then do tuning (or what I call tuning sjfldks). For the harmonies I'm probably just going to have Saki sing them because frankly I am SO LAZY when it comes to harmonies. (It helps that my ear for them is not the greatest I guess... Anyhoo, I mostly just don't want to have to go through the whole process of converting phonemes again heh)

Now my biggest concern is my laptop seems to be acting up a bit. I guess I should get back to shopping for a new one at some point... and making sure everything's backed up...oh boy