Unpopular Opinions

[Rylitah]

I miss v2s blue v3s green is a step down in my opinion.

You can change V3/V4's colors by going to Settings -> Preferences, and then choosing from the "Color Type" dropdown list in the first tab. None of the options are V2's blue, but Types B and C are less saturated greens (I think Type A, the default green, is too bright), and Type D is light grey, which I personally use.

 

[DefiantKitsune]

Sometimes I think I'm the only person who likes Neru's newer music better than his older.
(His older is fine, but it's basically normal edgy rock. His newer stuff is much more memorable to me)

 

[Chuchu]

It's sad to say, but I am okay with Vocaloids losing their relevance/popularity and being replaced by new ones. For example, I will always love Luka and she still appeals as a character to many Vocaloid fans.

But her usage has visibly declined from the producers side as the years go by. She doesn't meet their needs anymore, simple as that.
Who knows, maybe the upcoming Luka NT will change this or her downward trend will continue. I'm okay with both.

 

[DefiantKitsune]

I think Luka's still pretty used? Honestly, Meiko and Gackpo are the only "classic" big vocals that have had a noticeable decline (cough cough Meiko losing out to Yohioloid in sales last year)

EDIT: on vocadb, Luka had 1404 originals in the past year, putting her still ahead of vocaloids like Una. She hasn't gone anywhere, she just isn't getting as many POPULAR songs.

 

[Chuchu]

I know she still has plenty use and there will always be fans or producers using any Vocaloid, regardless of popularity.

I just used her as an example, because she used to be the 2nd most popular Vocaloid after Miku. Her usage has declined steadily since her heydays between 2009-2012. Vocaloid like Gumi, IA, Rin, Yukari, Flower and Una have already overtaken her. Some in usage or in popularity. Some in both.

Popular songs are important to maintain a Vocaloid's relevance. Without it, there will be less interest which could further lead to less usage as time goes by, in my opinion. It's one reason why I believe that Meiko, Kaito and Gakupo don't have as much content as they used to during V2~V3 era. Luka is following them on this example. Maybe slower, maybe as fast.

It's just sad to see things, that used to be more popular, slowly decline in relevance. I try to be okay with it, if that happens now or in the future.

Sorry for the long rant haha

Edit: Maybe I'm too dramatic and pessimistic...

 

[DefiantKitsune]

Rin was always ahead of Luka though- she had a solid base by the time Luka released. Honestly, the only vocaloids that ever really passed Luka were Gumi (nearly immediately afterwards) and IA. Kaito still gets a lot of use as well- he's one of Crypton's best sellers, and the most popular male vocaloid (except maybe Len, but tbh Kaito might be ahead of him).

I just...Luka isn't popular anymore isn't really...true? she's still the #5 for uploads, and Miku/Gumi/IA have been at the top for ages. She's lost a little ground to Una/flower but she's definitely still ahead of them- Una is the most popular V4 but honestly, the competition isn't much there. If anything, it's newer(Japanese) vocals that aren't doing well- Una, Fukase, and Akari are the only big successes of V4 (even the Meika's aren't getting a ton of use, which doesn't bode well for sales - while it's possible they're selling well, low use isn't encouraging there).

 

[Chuchu]

I usually check on Nico for new songs and maybe they get buried by covers and such. Maybe, that's how I get the impression that she doesn't appeal to many new and old producers anymore. Ergo less and less original songs.

Another unpopular opinion maybe:

Tone Rion V3 design is better than her V4's. I wish they hadn't change her so drastically. An update to her somewhat futuristic dress would have been cool.

 

[TheStarPalace]

The only Vocaloids I really think of as being "replaced" over time were like Mayu, Yukari, Galaco, IA (to a small extent), Lily, SeeU, Gakupo and many of the V3s/V4s...people go on and on about how V3 was so great but few of the vocals original to it are popular. It is sad to see less people using them for originals...

Even the Meikas have lost the relevance they had outside of being talking synths-gynoid even reduced their price so more people would buy them

 

[DefiantKitsune]

tbh IA is literally the number 3 vocaloid still, she hasn't gone ANYWHERE. same with Yukari, she's just not as popular in the west i think
SeeU/galaco and Mayu are odd cases, because SeeU/galaco were never actually popular (despite getting tons of art)- Bruno/Clara might have outsold SeeU. And as for Mayu, it's honestly hard to tell how popular she ever REALLY was cuz Exit Tunes commissioned so much with her?

(end long ramble)


I think moving to NT is a make-or-break moment for Meiko tbh. Either she picks up a bit, or she's gonna slide even further and never resurge.

 

[Chuchu]

I think moving to NT is a make-or-break moment for Meiko tbh. Either she picks up a bit, or she's gonna slide even further and never resurge.

True. It's interesting to see how things will turn out. I think she will turn profitable enough for Crypton to justify supporting her for more years to come.

 

[Mika]

As a Mayu fan who has been in the fandom for a long long time (since Rin and Len released, hah...) I can say that back when Mayu released she was very popular among Vocaloid fans, but she wasn't popular among producers. The only producers back at the time who were commissioned but actually kept working with her for a bit were 164, Utata-P and Yucha-P. They didn't make many Mayu songs, but they are the only ones who made more than 2 or 3. We actually have more Mayu producers right now than back then, a lot of them just are unown producers, Sedo Sounder being the most known. So Mayu really is an odd case, because she is very very slowly gaining back popularity.

 

[Scarlet Illusion]

As someone who also likes Mayu a lot I can confirm that Mika is right. Fans seem to love her, but she isn’t used often by big producers—pretty much only unknown ones. Kind of a shame that these producers go relatively unnoticed.
——
On a semi-related note, while the vocal synth scene is definitely not a “sand planet” as Hachi put it, it doesn’t seem to be very easy for new producers to get noticed. There are some that make it very big but others who are also extremely talented tend to go unnoticed and it tends to be the same set of producers who get the attention.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I feel like the environment of Vocaloid’s early days was better for smaller producers because it seems there were a lot more who got big and popular.
(I may be wrong since I’m a much newer fan and wasn’t around for the early days.)

Also, don’t get me wrong here, I love Miku and the Kagamines, but I feel like they still kind of “hog” all the attention in the original songs scene. It seems to be a more difficult task to find new and interesting originals for other synths compared to those three. I’d like to see other synths get the same kind of love and attention.

(Apologies for the long, rambly post!!)

 

[cafenurse]

There are some that make it very big but others who are also extremely talented tend to go unnoticed and it tends to be the same set of producers who get the attention.

I kind of feel this when people say "Vocaloid is dead" and their reasoning is to reference how many legendary producers left the Vocaloid scene years ago. Like sure, those big names left, but that doesn't mean no one makes Vocaloid music anymore. Lots of new people popped up in the time they've been gone.

 

[DefiantKitsune]

To be fair, it was mostly the same set of producers getting attention back then too- some producers might have had one popular song, but you don't really see anyone talk about BucchigiriP anymore

(kokone also seems to get a lot of use among smaller producers, interestingly enough- more than she did on launch)

 

[DefiantKitsune]

I do wonder

Eleanor seems to have nearly the exact same strengths and issues as Cyber Diva

So why does Diva get bashed for the issues (speak singing, nasalliness) but never Eleanor? At least Diva is a finished vb.

 

[___]

I do wonder

Eleanor seems to have nearly the exact same strengths and issues as Cyber Diva

So why does Diva get bashed for the issues (speak singing, nasalliness) but never Eleanor? At least Diva is a finished vb.

When it comes up to fixing those issues and overall ease of usage Cyva and Eleanor are like night and day.

 

[peaches2217]

I do wonder

Eleanor seems to have nearly the exact same strengths and issues as Cyber Diva

So why does Diva get bashed for the issues (speak singing, nasalliness) but never Eleanor? At least Diva is a finished vb.

It's largely due her ease of use being so high, I'd say. I may be biased here, as my only experience with Cyva was when I had her for V5, while I use Eleanor a lot more, but she really is extremely easy to use for an English bank. On top of that, she's free, so she's a highly enticing option, and for her price point (or lack thereof) people don't mind so much that she's monopitch.

 

[DefiantKitsune]

tbh Eleanor's speak singing and nasally sound can't be "fixed", they're always issues just like with Diva

EDIT: obviously she can sound quite nice (as can Diva) with tuning, and she is easy to work with. but speak singing seems to be nearly impossible to remove with tuning regardless of engine, and nasally artificats seem to affect all synth engines from time to time (especially with powerful female vocals it seems)

 

[peaches2217]

tbh Eleanor's speak singing and nasally sound can't be "fixed", they're always issues just like with Diva

Truthfully I kinda agree: you can pour tons of love into her and she'll still sound a bit flat and speaky. Again, I think the reason she gets less flack for it is just because she's free, so expectations for her aren't as high for paid banks like Cyva.

 

[DefiantKitsune]

Truthfully I kinda agree: you can pour tons of love into her and she'll still sound a bit flat and speaky. Again, I think the reason she gets less flack for it is just because she's free, so expectations for her aren't as high for paid banks like Cyva.

The free contrast is fair, I agree. Too bad there doesn't seem to be a coming commercial English SynthV to contrast her with...