Unpopular Opinions

[Scarlet Illusion]

Alright, I know I'm about to spout something that's very blasphemous to a lot of the fandom but... Gumi really isn't an HQ vocal--she's more MQ, imo. Where she is in terms of MQ vocals, I'm not sure--she's got some issues but I think it'd be harsh if I put her as a lower MQ vocal. Don't get me wrong, I love Gumi, and I actually enjoy working with her a lot but, uh... how can I say this nicely? Sometimes she sounds like a singing vacuum cleaner because of how breathy she can be, especially in her eyes.

Also the sound quality is a bit iffy, tbh. I'm not sure how to describe it, but I feel like her samples are a little on the noisy side. Also, she's quite hoarse, which I find kind of ironic considering I think Megumi Nakajima actually has a thicker timbre and strong voice?
(And when I say Gumi, I'm referring to her V4 Native vb in particular--I don't have tea on the rest because I haven't used them as much.)

 

[aru ii]

She doesn't sound outright moe to me, but she's definitely a lot more youthful than people like to admit to. People say that she sounds really mature, but she's never sounded mature to me, just like a mid-teenager.

That what I meant to say

 

[DefiantKitsune]

Also the sound quality is a bit iffy, tbh. I'm not sure how to describe it, but I feel like her samples are a little on the noisy side. Also, she's quite hoarse, which I find kind of ironic considering I think Megumi Nakajima actually has a thicker timbre and strong voice?
(And when I say Gumi, I'm referring to her V4 Native vb in particular--I don't have tea on the rest because I haven't used them as much.)

Actually, I think that might only apply to V2 and the Native banks since they match v2) in particular? V2 Internet banks have pretty awful recordings so it's possible that's just a Native-related artifact of that. (I agree Gumi isn't that special fwiw)

 

[Prism]

I will die on the hill that Gumi v4 fixed all the problems with Gumi quality issues with the new banks. Native fat is the perfect amount of breathy yet useable with a rich tone. Natural sweet is a sweet bank but without the too high pitched nasally tone. And soft whisper is the best whisper bank. I will admit that Internet co. recording set up is not the best and the samples can sound lower quality than other japanese vocaloids but it's a lot better than English v4 era.

VOCALOID4 Megpoid V4 Native [NativeFat]

2015.11.5発売の歌手・声優「中島愛」の声をベースに制作した『VOCALOID4 Megpoid V4 Native』に収録のライブラリ「NativeFat」のサンプル音声です。 http://www.ssw.co.jp/products/vocaloid4/megpoid/products/index.html#native

soundcloud.app.goo.gl

VOCALOID4 Megpoid V4 Sweet [NaturalSweet]

2015.11.5発売の歌手・声優「中島愛」の声をベースに制作した『VOCALOID4 Megpoid V4 Sweet』に収録のライブラリ「NaturalSweet」のサンプル音声です。 http://www.ssw.co.jp/products/vocaloid4/megpoid/products/index.html#sweet

soundcloud.app.goo.gl

 

[Scarlet Illusion]

Actually, I think that might only apply to V2 and the Native banks since they match v2) in particular? V2 Internet banks have pretty awful recordings so it's possible that's just a Native-related artifact of that. (I agree Gumi isn't that special fwiw)

Wait, is Native just an edited version or port of her V2? I don't know why but for some reason I thought it was new recordings!

I will die on the hill that Gumi v4 fixed all the problems with Gumi quality issues with the new banks. Native fat is the perfect amount of breathy yet useable with a rich tone. Natural sweet is a sweet bank but without the too high pitched nasally tone. And soft whisper is the best whisper bank. I will admit that Internet co. recording set up is not the best and the samples can sound lower quality than other japanese vocaloids but it's a lot better than English v4 era.

VOCALOID4 Megpoid V4 Native [NativeFat]

2015.11.5発売の歌手・声優「中島愛」の声をベースに制作した『VOCALOID4 Megpoid V4 Native』に収録のライブラリ「NativeFat」のサンプル音声です。 http://www.ssw.co.jp/products/vocaloid4/megpoid/products/index.html#native

soundcloud.app.goo.gl

VOCALOID4 Megpoid V4 Sweet [NaturalSweet]

2015.11.5発売の歌手・声優「中島愛」の声をベースに制作した『VOCALOID4 Megpoid V4 Sweet』に収録のライブラリ「NaturalSweet」のサンプル音声です。 http://www.ssw.co.jp/products/vocaloid4/megpoid/products/index.html#sweet

soundcloud.app.goo.gl

I don't know much about Native Fat or Natural Sweet since I haven't used them much, but I will saw (normal) Sweet is a very nice vb! I quite like it!

 

[Prism]

All internet co native banks use the v2 recordings. I don't know if it's a straight port or an update to the vocaloid database like rin and Len v4

 

[Scarlet Illusion]

I don't think it's wrong to use a popular synth as the singer for an original because it wouldn't get many views otherwise. If you worked hard on something, well, why shouldn't your hard work get recognized? It's fine to want recognition and to do things to get it, even if it means being a "sellout" by using a popular bank; as long as you're not negatively going about things, there's really no harm, imo.

Also, I think the mentality of "x producer only used x popular synth because they want views!!!!!" needs to decrease a bit; why must the conclusion be someone only used, say, Miku because they want their song to be popular or in Diva/MM/etc.? Maybe they just like Miku. (Also vocal synths aren't cheap, so there's that factor, too.)

 

[nachodorito]

1. CUL deserved better. Yeah she's nasal on her higher pitches, but she wasn't made to be used like that. Hell, people misuse most synths, making them sing songs WAY out of their ranges.
2. MIRIAM update pleaseeeeeeeeeee

3. I hated that South American Spanish never appeared in VOCALOID and in professional synths in general... hell, only Maghni AI has support for it, if it ever releases.

4. People that care too much about VOCALOID piracy are privileged snobs. Piko didn't flop because Juanito Perez in South America decided to pirate him, Sony was trash at marketing.

5. Fukase is a scam. His voice is of medium quality, overpriced, and with weird licenses. Sachiko, who has a similar issue, at least is of high quality and showcases an unique singing style.

6. SYNTHV SUPREMACY!!!!!!!!!

 

[ruffe]

SynthV supremacy is probably more of a popular opinion than anything—at least on the western side of things.

 

[peaches2217]

Miku's Chinese bank isn't bad. It's flawed for sure and I won't deny that, and she's definitely not as flexible as, say, Tianyi. But find her niche, and she's And ever since her update she's better than ever!

 

[Blue Of Mind]

Also, I think the mentality of "x producer only used x popular synth because they want views!!!!!" needs to decrease a bit; why must the conclusion be someone only used, say, Miku because they want their song to be popular or in Diva/MM/etc.? Maybe they just like Miku. (Also vocal synths aren't cheap, so there's that factor, too.)

People need to stop asking surprised that a lot of producers continue to use Miku in their originals. She's long been the most visible Vocaloid (she's moved engines now, but she's still heavily associated with Vocaloid); she's the VB people have experimented the most with (as in, people using her outside of her intended genres); and she still gets marketing support (i.e. Project Diva). It's easier to get a foot in the door in an extremely niche corner of the music industry if you use the most well known and popular VB.

2. MIRIAM update pleaseeeeeeeeeee

Pretty sure that's a popular opinion lol. At this point, I regularly dream about a new Miriam Stockley-based VB on another synth (SynthV?), but I think pigs will fly before that ever happens.

4. People that care too much about VOCALOID piracy are privileged snobs. Piko didn't flop because Juanito Perez in South America decided to pirate him, Sony was trash at marketing.

While I agree that Sony's marketing was horrendous (not to mention the weird restrictions surrounding his trial), I remember seeing a lot of kids pirating Piko back in the day because he was in the same niche as Len (a shota-type VB) and they just really wanted to use his voice for random stuff. Looking back, I think Piko being dismissed as fangirl bait by some producers hurt him in the long run. (For the record, I dislike Piko's voice type, but I still think he got treated like crap by Sony and some corners of the fandom).

 

[___]

3. I hated that South American Spanish never appeared in VOCALOID and in professional synths in general... hell, only Maghni AI has support for it, if it ever releases.

It's prolly cuz of the rampant piracy in the spanish-speaking circles. I vivdly remember how I, as a non-vocaloid fan back in like 2012-13, was just checking out vocaloid stuff out of curiosity and w/o even looking for it, I found sites distributing pirated Bruno and Clara.

5. Fukase is a scam. His voice is of medium quality, overpriced, and with weird licenses. Sachiko, who has a similar issue, at least is of high quality and showcases an unique singing style.

I honestly don't think 126 USD is a bad price for 2 japanese vbs and 1 eng vb, the vbs would be roughly 40 USD each which is pretty good. I agree his quality is little overblown in the community but he's still 100% perfectly usable and fine vb with no glaring issues so I still think the price's fair.

I hear you when you say it makes him harder to use commercially overseas but ultimately he's a japanese product and these licenses are set up by their respective companies to prevent misuse of said vbs and to protect their va's and they're in the right to do so, I don't think it's atrocious such license exist, especially with extremely famous va's involved.

 

[ikaroll]

protect their va's

why even make voicebanks of them in the first place???/j

I know people have already said this but the Meikas don't sound like a V5 product. Hell, they sound more like the MQ UTAUs (no disrespect to either the people working on the UTAUs or the people working on the Meikas) Hearing a V4 vb and then hearing the Meikas is weird since the V4 bank will most likely sound a lot clearer and it doesnt make sense to me

 

[___]

I know people have already said this but the Meikas don't sound like a V5 product. Hell, they sound more like the MQ UTAUs (no disrespect to either the people working on the UTAUs or the people working on the Meikas) Hearing a V4 vb and then hearing the Meikas is weird since the V4 bank will most likely sound a lot clearer and it doesnt make sense to me

I think that's just Gynoid for you

and yeah I cringe when I hear "lolol the Meikas are like the only reason to get V5" like...nooooo.....they're prolly one of the wrost modern vocaloids bnhjmk,l.

 

[ikaroll]

Another opinion (no idea if its unpopular or not)

I don't see the need for Miku sweet to exist. It just sounds like,,,soft on lower gen. Its one of the things about her banks that perplexes me to no end

 

[Blue Of Mind]

I don't see the need for Miku sweet to exist. It just sounds like,,,soft on lower gen. Its one of the things about her banks that perplexes me to no end

To be fair, I long questioned the existences of both Vivid and Light when they were still available, considering that they both sounded the same to me (with Light having slightly stronger consonants, and even then, it still sounded like a subpar version of Solid). I can see why they were initially scrapped for Miku V4.

Controversial opinion time: Kanaria has quickly become one of the most overrated current producers. While there are a couple of tracks by them I like (and neither of them is 'King', easily their most overrated song by the sheer amount of covers that exist of it), most of the time, I lose interest in their songs pretty quickly. Needless to say, I'm always baffled as to why people run in a scramble to cover their songs as soon as a new one drops.

 

[___]

It's really just cuz their songs are short and just catchy enough thus easy to make covers of for clout.

 

[morrysillusion]

was just typing as Patuk commented and yeah, i said something like that on a recent status too- theyre short and simple and its easy to cover which also helps spread the song. Kanaria is an artist who's really been popping off in a way i totally "get" no matter if i like them or not and it has led to an overrated feel. is it weird to compare the short length and simplicity to like. tik toks? bc i get that vibe a lot. theres a rise in 'bite size' content that doesnt take long to look at and i would say Kanaria's music fall in that category (short, repetitive). which is why i (and i assume many others who are not a fan) dont like Kanaria's stuff at all.

like i *have* covered two Kanaria songs. i do like them? not really. theyre okay. why did i cover them? because they were popular and it got me views lol. i completely knew what the bandwagon was, so i hopped on it. and people just continue the trend. i think the length is really what gets people so easily into their songs tho. none of this rambling means anything to me liking Kanaria's stuff but i think looking at why is definitely interesting and explains how theyd pop off as an artist so quickly.

 

[peaches2217]

I am here for this Kanaria bashing! Okay okay I kid, their songs are genuinely pretty good and catchy, but "overblown" is the perfect way to put it. I'm glad I'm not alone in thinking that. And my one attempt at hopping on the bandwagon resulted in one of my worst covers yet, one that I quickly deleted and that will never see the light of day again, but for that I have no one to blame but myself.

Remaining on topic: V5 gets a lot of flak for its price, but for what you get, it's no different from any of the other big names. For just over $200, you get four voicebanks, an editor that doubles as a lite DAW, and the ability to start making music for profit. Just over $200 for CeVIO nets you a singing editor with laughably miniscule editing options and a single VB. SynthV has its Lite system, perfect for hobbyists! But for anyone wanting to make money from their covers?Go through Anicute and the price of V5 plus an extra $40 nets you the commercial editor, two Japanese VBs, and a Chinese VB (keeping in mind it's part of a package deal; if you wanna pick and choose, it'll cost extra). I do again wish that V5 had some kind of lite option, but for what it is? I think its price is one of the most fair on the market.

 

[Prism]

I only dislike when a producer uses a popular voice bank when it doesn't fit the song ie flower for a soft ballad. I do wish you could get the English banks in bilingual vocaloids cheaper like half of the banks will get unused. I also feel that v5 needed to have a English and a Japanese set where you get the cybers Cris and Amy in the English and vys and ken and katori. Especially if they were going to promote it in the west.