Unpopular Opinions

[First Sound Future]

For better or for worse, I think a cute (sounding/looking) Engloid is eventually going to happen because there's only so much voices you can do within Vocaloid before you start running out of ideas or if the Vocaloid you're making sounds the same as a previous one. We still don't have a cutesy Engloid made by a English company actually aimed at the English speaking fandom so I guess if such a Vocaloid were to release, it would still be original in some way even if it would maybe copy some elements from a Japanese Vocaloid.

I don't remember how exactly Juby sounds like right now, but after the drama that happened with the secrecy of Dex and Daina's voice providers back when the vps were yet to be revealed... I think I'd rather English Vocaloid's voice providers be unrevealed from now on because the drama was really stressful back then and I just don't want anymore Engloid drama. Like seriously, the only "recent" Engloid that didn't have much drama to them is Ausgris and we don't even know if they're going to be a thing now...

 

[DefiantKitsune]

Well get a cutesy engloid around the same time the Japanese get a bass guy. In other words, way later than likely (yes VY2 is close but not quite)

Also, i get the feeling the Spanish vocaloids are dead in the water due to getting really poor sales, which is sad.

 

[ThatGirlMyra]

Also, i get the feeling the Spanish vocaloids are dead in the water due to getting really poor sales, which is sad.

That is honestly really sad. I really like Clara and Bruno together.

 

[Eviltreat16]

Agreeing with that cutesy vocal will happen for Engloids. Hell, if they make a cutesy guy vocal somehow, I'll take it.

I'd imagine with more companies looking at Europe, we're likely to get more foreign Vocaloids within the next five years. Probably another Spanish (one day), and either French/German.

 

[RawBeansP]

I wouldn't say it's an unpopular opinion to want a cutesy female native Engloid, I think most Engloid fans have been waiting the Miku of Engloids for years with the only vocal aimed at the fandom that really took off being Oliver (that isn't to say more recent Engloids aren't popular, but in terms of popularity Oliver is essentially the Miku of Engloids right now). Sonika was really the first attempt to give the fandom a super cutesy voice and avatar, but zero-g missed their mark when they made Sonika an absolute sub par bank that was difficult to use and understand

I think that Engloids have been leaning more and more towards the style of the JP loids for years now and I think it's high time we got a cutesy Engloid aimed directly at the fandom. I also think that Engloids have been trying to pander to both the fandom and the professional indie musicians esp with vocals like Dex and Daina. While that isn't inherently a bad thing, I think Engloid companies fail to realize that Vocaloid has been claimed by the fandom and the biggest profits they are going to get is from the fandom. Vocaloid is a joke to musicians outside of the fandom, and while that isn't to say there aren't any non-fandom musicians picking up Engloids-- the vast majority of people interested in and buying the software are going to be Vocaloid fans. And tbh they'll probably get a lot more sales from the fandom than trying to get some extra from the standard indie musician

so yeah basically, I think it would be a very good call for someone to finally just go all in and fully pander to the Vocaloid fandom with a good quality cutesy voice bank and design. let there be frills and pastels and pigtails and ribbons and squeaky cuteness that makes your heart melt lol

 

[DefiantKitsune]

I wouldn't say it's an unpopular opinion to want a cutesy female native Engloid, I think most Engloid fans have been waiting the Miku of Engloids for years with the only vocal aimed at the fandom that really took off being Oliver (that isn't to say more recent Engloids aren't popular, but in terms of popularity Oliver is essentially the Miku of Engloids right now). Sonika was really the first attempt to give the fandom a super cutesy voice and avatar, but zero-g missed their mark when they made Sonika an absolute sub par bank that was difficult to use and understand

I think that Engloids have been leaning more and more towards the style of the JP loids for years now and I think it's high time we got a cutesy Engloid aimed directly at the fandom. I also think that Engloids have been trying to pander to both the fandom and the professional indie musicians esp with vocals like Dex and Daina. While that isn't inherently a bad thing, I think Engloid companies fail to realize that Vocaloid has been claimed by the fandom and the biggest profits they are going to get is from the fandom. Vocaloid is a joke to musicians outside of the fandom, and while that isn't to say there aren't any non-fandom musicians picking up Engloids-- the vast majority of people interested in and buying the software are going to be Vocaloid fans. And tbh they'll probably get a lot more sales from the fandom than trying to get some extra from the standard indie musician

so yeah basically, I think it would be a very good call for someone to finally just go all in and fully pander to the Vocaloid fandom with a good quality cutesy voice bank and design. let there be frills and pastels and pigtails and ribbons and squeaky cuteness that makes your heart melt lol

Avanna wasn't aimed at the Fandom at all and she's still outselling newer vocals

 

[First Sound Future]

Well I think "non-Vocaloid fans" do buy Vocaloids, we just don't know since it's highly unlikely some of them will outright say it like the Vocaloid fandom says it, Sad Machine's description is a good example of this. Some buyers see an instrument, not the character. As was mentioned above with Avanna not aimed at the fandom, she's also barely noticed within it and she's still doing very well. So I'm not sure if the Vocaloid fandom is the one that brings the most sales to Engloids, especially when you have cases where some Vocaloids are pocaloided more than 5,000 - 10,000 times because the fandom only sees a character they like and the one pirating is probably too young to be able to afford it.

It's sometimes a mystery how some Vocaloids do well and some don't. Take PowerFX and Zero-g Vocaloids for example. Despite both being English companies and both having Engloids, PFX Vocaloids sold average and ZG's still sell good.

If we had a cutesy Engloid, I think it would depend how nice the voice is to listen to and maybe how easy it is to use for it to succeed with the buyers that aren't buying just because they like the character or something. To succeed within the Vocaloid fandom, it has to have presence. So basically, it needs to have known original/cover songs, which will be made if the voice is pleasant and lots of fanart, which will exist if a good design drawn by a good artist exists too.

 

[RawBeansP]

Avanna wasn't aimed at the Fandom at all and she's still outselling newer vocals

she was more of a middle ground, where she was trying to make some Vocaloid fans happy but also trying to appeal to non fandom artists. I think she had some weird luck bc Porter Robinson picked her up and gave her a huge boost in popularity. Tbh tho from a technical standpoint Avanna has always been my favorite Engloid as she still is the clearest and easiest (for me anyway) to date, despite being on an older engine. So like, I'm not super surprised that she's relatively popular from a technical standpoint, bc even tho she still outsells Dex and Daina I don't see as much usage of her as they get (I think Prima was also the same in the V2 era where she sold a ton but there's not much usage of her available)

 

[ThatGirlMyra]

Agreeing with that cutesy vocal will happen for Engloids. Hell, if they make a cutesy guy vocal somehow, I'll take it.

I'd imagine with more companies looking at Europe, we're likely to get more foreign Vocaloids within the next five years. Probably another Spanish (one day), and either French/German.

I’m so up for a German VOCALOID.

 

[First Sound Future]

It actually seems that Avanna was successful way before she was used in Sad Machine. From the Vocaloid Wiki:"In 2013, AVANNA was Zero-G's most popular product for the entire year, and the first VOCALOID to do so. She was also the only VOCALOID to appear in the company's top 25 products for the year 2013." (Sad Machine was released on May 12,2014 on Soundcloud and May 21, 2014 on YouTube)

She did lose some popularity later on, but still managed to be in top 10 products in 2017, along with Dex and Daina. The three were also often in the 5-10 postion. Don't know what place they are now but I'm guessing in similar place since 2017 wasn't that far?

 

[BenHo]

^ Yeah, Porter Robinson definitely helped make her MORE popular, but she was already a big success.

Personally, Vocaloids that try to appeal to the fandom with their designs while still focusing on voice types that would be suitable for general music producers (Oliver, Big Al, Avanna) are my favorite kind.

 

[First Sound Future]

I think Oliver and Big Al's voices weren't really suppose to be for general music producers, but they were altogether aimed at the fandom. Don't know about Yohioloid but Ruby was similar I believe, with the guy who made her wanting her to be aimed at the Vocaloid fandom. So I guess since Big Al, PFX was aiming their Vocaloid at the existing fandom and not really to those who aren't in it (but they wanted to change that with Ruby).

The only Vocaloid companies/developers that seem to currently have Vocaloids with designs aimed at the fandom that have voices that are aimed at the producers are Vocalomakets (who work with AHS) and Zero-g. I'm not sure about other companies, maybe there's some that I'm forgetting, but I'm sure ZG is currently the only English Vocaloid making company still aiming their Vocaloids at the fandom while also making sure the producers will like the Vocaloid's voice... At least, until we hopefully see a Vocalomakets English capable Vocaloid one day or another similar company joins the Vocaloid scene..

 

[DefiantKitsune]

Gumi English is MQ at best and tends to be suuuper hard to understand unless you're an experiecned tuner. Miku and Luka (V4s) are probably better for newbies, all they really lack is range?

And Internet isn't going to fix her unless she stops selling.....

 

[Eviltreat16]

I wish they had a larger range mostly Luka... Instead of that softer english voicebank, they should've made a power-like one, or something with energy.

Internet better make a new Gumi English. Her design was actually cute, even though her art is a tad derpy, but that's fine.

 

[DefiantKitsune]

I saw a tweet saying they weren't planning to update her to V5 rn.

When I said range, I meant in terms of note range. Miku (15 notes) is a bit worse off than Luka (17 notes), although both of those are workable.

I actually think with a little parameter editing, Luka V4X can sound good quiet (like in Parallel Lines) or have some power to her (like in Last of Me). Soft is kinda worthless but that just puts her even with all the other English voicebanks without extra banks.

New unpopular opinion: As someone who mostly wants to use either English or unpopular vocals, I'm not too upset about XSY disappearing... of the 15 vocals I'm pretty sure I'm gonna buy only Luka can use it. Add in the maybe's, and a few AHS loids (Iroha is the only of whom actually has multiple voicebanks I'd buy) can do it.

 

[BenHo]

I think Oliver and Big Al's voices weren't really suppose to be for general music producers, but they were altogether aimed at the fandom.

Maybe "general music producers" wasn't the right term, but I'm trying to say voices made for music producers who aren't already necessarily Vocaloid fans. Big Al was originally put into production along side Sweet Ann and while he DID change voice providers when his original voice provider refused to record more samples, they still meant for his bass-heavy voice to appeal to the same audience they aimed Sweet Ann at, and Oliver was is a young male choir voice. Those aren't exactly voice types the fandom was asking for.

 

[DefiantKitsune]

It wasn't that he refused, he was just on tour and they couldn't get in contact with him.
Carry on.

 

[Eviltreat16]

A healthy balance of what the Vocaloid market does need based on feedback, and just random surprises here and there I think is the ideal lookout for the future.

I'm kinda sad about XSY being gone because it sounds nice, but I don't think anyone outside of cover artists used it. I think AHS's XSY between their vocals was awesome though...

 

[First Sound Future]

On the topic of XSY, I find it disappointing that only some people were able to mess with it, namely those that owned Japanese Vocaloids.

What I think was fun seeing is XSY between different characters, legally of course. It would be interesting to see what would people do with the AHS English XSY group had there been more English AHS Vocaloids...

 

[ThatGirlMyra]

This has nothing to do with anything, but I’m just throwing it out there...

I really don’t like the new V5 VOCALOIDs. I had high hopes and they’re pretty mediocre to me.