After a particular discussion, I found myself wondering how things would be different now if the whole idea of the “Character Vocal” series hadn’t become a thing. If vocal synth software was just released as voicebanks with a name and maybe an illustration. If artists using vocal synths never associated a character with their music. They just treated it like any other VST plugin.
Merchandise and concerts wouldn’t be a thing. New voicebanks would probably live and die based on their demo songs. I guess the PVs would be more generalized. Would sharing VSQ files really be a thing like it is?
Many of us today might not even be here talking about vocal synth software at all if Miku hadn't blown the roof off of this niche product and brought it into the public consciousness. Her success really was a perfect storm of circumstances that caught lightning in a bottle.
I think about times when I’ve browsed independent artists on Soundcloud and similar sites. I’ll look up stuff by genre and maybe associated artists. But I honestly never had a clue where to start or how to choose music to listen to. Often clicking on songs based on random thumbnails.
It’s problematic when the characters seem to eclipse the producers. But these characters are just as much of a marketing tool for artists as they are for the companies developing the software. I wonder how many producers would have come up with their own original characters to use for similar purposes? And how many such characters would gain any traction? I could see some adopting a voicebank to be the “voice” of an existing character, like Touhou covers and stuff like that.
I guess it’s sort of like toys and games; whether they’re generic or licensed or develop their own brand identity. Maybe vocal synth developers would just outright license anime or game characters to be the face of their product? Then they’d have to pull the product off the market once the licensing deal ran out.
Who knows, maybe some producers could have built enough of a following to create an equivalent vocal synth subculture to what we have now?
Merchandise and concerts wouldn’t be a thing. New voicebanks would probably live and die based on their demo songs. I guess the PVs would be more generalized. Would sharing VSQ files really be a thing like it is?
Many of us today might not even be here talking about vocal synth software at all if Miku hadn't blown the roof off of this niche product and brought it into the public consciousness. Her success really was a perfect storm of circumstances that caught lightning in a bottle.
I think about times when I’ve browsed independent artists on Soundcloud and similar sites. I’ll look up stuff by genre and maybe associated artists. But I honestly never had a clue where to start or how to choose music to listen to. Often clicking on songs based on random thumbnails.
It’s problematic when the characters seem to eclipse the producers. But these characters are just as much of a marketing tool for artists as they are for the companies developing the software. I wonder how many producers would have come up with their own original characters to use for similar purposes? And how many such characters would gain any traction? I could see some adopting a voicebank to be the “voice” of an existing character, like Touhou covers and stuff like that.
I guess it’s sort of like toys and games; whether they’re generic or licensed or develop their own brand identity. Maybe vocal synth developers would just outright license anime or game characters to be the face of their product? Then they’d have to pull the product off the market once the licensing deal ran out.
Who knows, maybe some producers could have built enough of a following to create an equivalent vocal synth subculture to what we have now?
