The Vocaloid Thread That Bladida Named

Oh my blob I LOVE Akiakane's cover of Two-Faced Lovers! She makes me believe that I might be able to keep up with it myself one day ಥ_ಥ

Also, IIRC, there's an "breathiness" or some such setting within the Vocaloid software that adds breaths as well.

I tried and failed miserably at it. Miserably. /sob

Oh really? That's cool, I never realized that!

Manufactured imperfection doesn't count! I don't even really know why the lady in question (Janne Schra if anyone one is interested I know you're not, just let me dream a little) quoted that, since she's perfection itself.

Pretty sure it was about autotune specifically for brushing away small out of key notes and such. Autotune and other voice distorters are fine if used as, well, voice distorters.

Though you can be proud of me! I'm now listening to Necro Carnival (linked by Alligator above) on a loop. That song is channeling some serious Eurotrash, so cool (and hardly any singing yay)

That's another awesome part of the fandom--it's diverse enough that there's a TON of different music styles represented. So even if I ignore all of the Gakupo x Kaito x Len Visual Kei songs (which I do), and the creeptastic stuff (I'm not sure what to call it, but it includes stuff like Rakshasa and Carcasses, Dark Woods Circus, and Fear Garden) I still have a ton of material available to sift through to find something I like.

HAAAA I HAVE CROSSED THREADS!

I am assuming you are referring to the following:

So Len (the boy) has a counterpart named Rin (the girl). They are technically of ambiguous relationship; Crypton (the company that produced them) did not (and explicitly refuses to) define whether they are twins or unrelated. They are the same age and look similar, but depending on the project, their relationship takes many forms.

Also, as Elyscape touched on briefly, there is very very little content where they have a sibling relationship that is also romantic. Enough of the fandom throws a fit when they're not treated as siblings to begin with, so implying a romantic relationship without severing the familial one is generally not looked upon very positively.

Oh, so Vocaloids are vocal software. That makes a lot more sense than I would have expected. I like the collaborative nature of stuff like Vocaloids, but if a voice is inhuman, I like the accompanying instrumental work to be heavily warped with deep tones, so I can't say I like much of the music that's been posted here. Overall I like the general idea, but I'm not sure it's my sort of music.

I was linked to the only Vocaloid thing I'd seen before this by a friend attempting to troll me. He knew I had an incest squick and thought it'd be funny or something. Even if it's uncommon, I'm still side-eyeing Len pretty hard.

I need to find the link to credit, but they ARE defined as a mirror image of the same being/voice as they share the same voice actor. 'Rin' and 'Len' are actually Japanese sound effects for mirror sounds. You could argue they're like alternate reality version of the same person.

And yet it happens. Hard. Squicks me the fuck out too. Not an incest fan either, so you'r enot alone, Eboby.
yeah, I just jumped into this conversation randomly.

I wish my computer would let me know what's already been linked. I have a wide variety of songs bookmarked. Rock, electronic, funny, pop, weird... There's something for everyone.

Sorry fo rdouble post, scanning posts from first page since embeds are wrecking my compy. As for Engloids, Oliver sounds particularly clear and gorgeous for an Engloid to me. I feel like they really took strides in making an Engloid that sounded right and was interesting with him. I looove Oliver. And I'm told that the distorted and unclear way of speaking we often shun in many of the Engloids is actually how the Japanese speaks hear the Japloids too. It makes sense when you bear in mind most NND vids have caption in Japanese to make the lyrics clear while you're listening!

We need more love for Kaito:



(I actually love this song a lot)

Imma see if I can find something that matches that. Or maybe a lot of things. Basically I'm just gonna pick out songs that I know intentionally make the Vocaloids sound artificial, with more digital-sounding backing instrumentals. I'm really terrible at describing music though, so just know that most of these don't really sound similar to each other. And if you don't like anything, that's okay! I've been trying for years to find something that my husband likes, and I still have yet to find a single song for him.

"KiLLER LADY" by Gumi
"Glasses of Curse" by Rin feat. Gakupo
"Hello, Planet" by Miku
"Nebula" by Miku
"Chip Tears" by Miku
"Our 16bit Warz" by Gumi
"Stomp The Enemy" by Miku
"We are POP☆CANDY" by Miku
"Eazy Dance" by Miku
"Ref-Rain" by IA
"Falling Apart" by IA (long song, skip to 1:30 or so for vocals)
"Baby Maniacs" by Miku

I think I prefer Miku in that particular song, but this the Kaito material I like:

"Harmony of Two" (with Meiko)
"Imitation Black" (with Gakupo and Len, pretty much the only Visual Kei song I like)
"Acute" (with Miku and Luka)
"iNSaNiTY" (with Miki)
"Chillyditty of February"
"No Wintry Wind" (with Meiko)
"What's COLOR?"
"Demon and Daughter"
"Cendrillon" (with Miku)
"Byakkoya no Musume" (with Rin?) (probably my absolute favorite Kaito song)

Thanks for those, Alligator. I liked KiLLER LADY, Stomp The Enemy, Falling Apart, and Baby Maniacs.

I'm wondering how much credit the people who make the songs and art generally get. In some of the videos you linked the content creators are credited, but in others they aren't.

Depends on the source. I do most of my exploring on Youtube since Nico Nico Douga is harder for me to navigate (being unable to read Japanese and all), and NND requires a login to view videos (I seem to have lost mine, whups). When they get reprinted on Youtube, most of the time you'll see the creators credited or linked back to the original NND video, but as they go through different hands (for translations, romaji lyrics, reprints of reprints, etc.) the information can get left out. It's usually not difficult to find the producer info when it's missing, though.

ETA: ANABANANA THIS IS FOR YOU.

I'm actually more into the utaite fandom than the Vocaloid fandom proper, but I'm sad that there isn't more love for VY1 and VY2.

Can we talk about producers here too? Because ManbouP is one of the awesomest producers ever. He makes you feel emotions you didn't know you had. Even though his song titles all sound completely ridiculous, for example:
Via Stingrays, My Proposal Bends Iron

Ah, I thought you meant visually. Hah, I'm the opposite. When I first heard about Vocaloid, my initial thoughts were "Oh cool, robot singers!" My favorite *UTAU (Uta Utane/Defoko) also happens to have a completely computerized voice rather than a human voice provider. I just like the way they sound and the whole idea of it fascinates me.

But Vocaloids can have flaws in their singing too, just like humans. Part of it can be from the recording of the voice bank, and part of it's the ability of the user, but they're far from perfect. There are plenty of songs where they're singing out of tune, or their pronunciation is off, etc. And while there's things a Vocaloid can do that humans can't, it goes the other way too, with things human singers can do that a Vocaloid can't.

I can understand why it can be off putting, though. And if you think that's creepy, did you know? There's a private Vocaloid called Ueki-loid, who was made with audio samples from this famous Japanese singer. They had to use the audio samples because that singer passed away years ago. I think they made it mostly just to show that they could (I can only find one song by him, and it's not great), but still. Zombieloid~

*UTAU is basically a freeware version of Vocaloid, but instead of being produced by companies, people make and distribute their own voice banks.

I love Big Al. x3 And I think he's probably the most popular English Vocaloid over in Japan, though Oliver seems to have hit it off as well.
3, 2, 1, gooooooo!

I think it was just the artist, KEI, who said that. The only thing Crypton's said is that they were a young married couple, which was a joke to poke fun at the people who argue about it...which they of course didn't get it.

I love Oliver more! That's true, generally speaking. Again, it's partly the recording, and partly the skill of the user. Sonika, for example, sounds really muffled and is apparently hard to use, but she can sound good if you know how to work it right. Also, Japanese Vocaloids are probably a little easier to use because Japanese is a syllabic language, whereas English is...clunky. xD

Defoko songs done well are really RAD.

He's also the only Vocaloid to currently have an American accent I think. My info on Vocaloids is mostly out of date since all the new releases though, I could be missing someone.

I'm sure I've seen it in multiple sources, but had no idea I'd be having this conversation someday and didn't think to bookmark it. But Crypton lives for making things ambiguous and feeding the flames of the lucretive fandom, so I can see that being correct too.

Strongly agreed on all points.

Defoko is hard to use, but yeah, when she's done right, I think she's sounds great.

Ah, the English 'loids seem to come from everywhere. Oliver's British, I think Sweet Ann or Miriam is Australian...the rest I'm not sure about. Most of them don't have their voice providers listed, so it's anyone's guess. As for the whole Len/Rin thing, the wiki has some good info on it. Apparently, a bunch of people have said different things, but nothing's official. The mirror image thing is definitely a part of their design, though. I honestly don't care myself what they are, except when some fans are all "twincest is wincest", in which case I want to reach through the computer and slap them.

Anyhoo, that whole can of worms aside, time for more song links and cover stuff!

Kaito is my favorite male Vocaloid, so:
Byakko no Musume
I haven't honestly heard the original, because I love this one so much.

PONPONPON
Original, sung by Kyary VS Cover, sung by Len
I like Len's a thousand times better.

SLEEPING BEAUTY
Original, sung by Miku VS Cover, sung by Akiakane
Akiakane, hands down. (Her cover of Bye Baby Sayonara is also amazing. But, uh, don't have your speakers up too loud, she screams at the start.)

Mm, I admit I don't particularly like the way Vocaloid voices sound kind of distorted at times. Maybe that's why I generally prefer the later Vocaloids (Gakupo, VY1, VY2) etc over the earlier ones (Miku, Rin, Len, etc), since their voices are much clearer and sound robotic without being weird.

Depends on which part of fandom you look at, I guess. From what I've seen, most of the English fandom is all about the Vocaloids themselves, while the Japanese fandom (plus the corner of fandom I usually hang around) is much more focused on the producers, artists, etc.

And more song links! Now with epic plots! I am totally not just trying to advertise my pet translation project what are you talking about
Destruction / Love Suicide - VY1, VY2
Seven Days of Flower - galaco
Ammobium - VY2V3

I'd like share Rin and Len's Gemini It's my happy song, does wonders to me when I'm down. Alluring Secret ~Black Vow~ is strangely addictive. I love Spinning song because of the Chinese influence. :3

Thank you Alli! I love most of these! I think I just like the male vocaloid since they are less prone to high pitched sounds.

Michiyuki sounds amazing. <3 As for the covers, I heard the original PONPONPON multiple times and scarred multiple people with it so Kyary's is kind of imprinted onto my mind. Her sugary voice adds a layer of wtf to it (which goes with the video). That said, I liked Len's version if it's just the song by itself.

and holy cow, Akiakane cover is sooo much better. Her high notes just made the whole song!

THAT ART. omg. It's very nonsensical. I liked the songs you put up, they are things I'd listen to on repeat. I probably need to go back to watch the video properly to get the epic plots though. Oooh, and thank you for translating them. Have a cookie!

Speaking of PONPONPON... here's Gero's version. Linking that is obligatory on every PONPONPON discussion.

And thanks for the cookie~

My favorite Kyary cover is probabaly Gumi's version of Candy Candy, followed by Miku's version of Cherry Bon Bon.

Bumping this thread up with news~! There's gonna be a new male Vocaloid soon, voiced by this Swedish guy called Yohio...and the voicebank is going be both English and Japanese, since the provider is apparently fluent in both. (I guess throwing in his native Swedish would be too much work? Iunno.) No design or demos yet, but supposedly it should be released in a couple months.

Yes, a Vocaloid threadddd.

I read Swedish and I got all excited about the prospect of a Swedish Vocaloid; gosh, I love that language. Oh well.
In any case, I google'd Yohio and oh, oh. It's that guy. Can we get a crossdressing Vocaloid now? Please please please.


Anyway, have some V3 Kaito which you've probably already heard already if you briefly browsed around for V3 Kaito stuffs. I hope nicosound is okay.
黄金木の葉が舞う頃に (ShigotoshiteP)
loops and loops (頑なP)
Femme Fatale (same P as above, with English I can't understand)
Star dust (たっつん)
安常処順 其の弐～蒼盤～ with Meiko (shu-tP)
Caged Flower (Re:nG)

Still waiting for a ShinjouP song. Where are you.


Also, Kanzentaicell's is the best PONPONPON.

I'm conflicted on vocaloids. I think it's great that people can use them to create music if they don't have the vocal talent/money to do it themselves. However, I've always hated computer-generated singing. A real human voice beats out synthesized stuff every time. So I compromise by listening to covers of vocaloid songs sung by real people.

For a really illustrative comparison of vocaloid vs person, here's one of my favourite voicaloid songs.

Miku version of Rolling Girl



Akiakane version of Rolling Girl

Ooh, new Vocaloid. Except I've already stopped keeping up with Vocaloid releases after VY2, haha.

On a different note, can anyone rec me some Piko originals? I've been kind of hesitant to listen to Piko-the-Vocaloid songs since I really like Piko-the-singer, but I'm curious if Piko-the-Vocaloid has both male and female voicebanks too.

I actually much prefer covers myself, too. I rarely listen to Vocaloids nowadays unless there are no (good) covers of a song. Some Vocaloid songs I haven't even heard the original with the Vocaloid singing in it.
But, I guess you could say this is what I really like about the fandom: the great songs people are able to make, and in turn, the art and covers that result from it.

I am also happy with all of this Akiakane posting in here. I looove her.

Anyway, more Rolling Girl? Yes, let's have more Rolling Girl. We can never have too much Rolling Girl, right?
Let's compare ^ with a male cover! Sung by 終太, I'm not sure how to read his name. His is my favourite male cover.



Today, I brought YouTube.



edit:

I'm not too sure on the female voicebank, but he has a bit of a higher-pitched male voice in general. I know for sure that you can find songs where he's tuned with a deeper voice; tagged 低音ピコ, I believe it is.
Well, I think I read that wrong. No, he does not have an official female voicebank to my knowledge, and I don't think he's marketed as something like the VYs that can sing as both genders either. I'm sure with enough tweaking he can sound like a girl, just like with any other Vocaloid.

Anyway, I can only recommend Play of Color for now. I will try to get more later. And I hope nicosound is okay.

Yohio is a prettier girl than I am. ಥ__ಥ
You could probably make it sing in Swedish, but I don't know how well it would turn out.The only Swedish I know is "bork bork bork", so I'm not sure how different the sounds are.

He doesn't have separate voice banks for each gender, but he does have a good range.
Rolling Girl: because moar Rolling Girl Here he's higher pitched and more feminine sounding, I think.
Plastic Cage: And here he's deeper and more masculine.
Remember: And I think this the range that most people use.

And speaking of even moar Rolling Girl, Kaito Rap Version <3
Annnnd speaking of human covers and singers who can sound like both genders, SENKA! <33
The original Miku version is pretty good too, but that voice, with that video...FEELS. Every goddamn time.

That's supposed to be a guy?! Actually, I like that version better than the Miku original. It still sounds artificial but it's less...rigid. I mean, you can hear where the creator added some variation to make it sound more natural. Real singers don't sound exactly the same from chorus to chorus. Also, I've noticed that vocaloid songs usually go overboard on the vibrato. Not all held notes must have vibrato, especially when you factor in if you have enough breath to do it (though robots don't have to breathe, so there's a weird disconnect). That version, though, strikes a good balance and the really high notes are cool to listen to. I still refuse to believe that's supposed to be a dude though.

I take it you've never heard Piko sing? xD
(Piko as in the singer who provided the voice bank for Piko the Vocaloid... this is confusing.)




Not Piko, but I figured this is worth linking to (watch it all the way through):

Are there any other genderbending utaites that have done live performances, other than Sekihan and Piko? I'd really like to see more.

Anyway, my favourite cover of Piko's is his version of buzzG's Shiwa. Because he sounds really pretty in it and I am super biased for this song. (But Kanzentaicell's is my favourite Shiwa of them all.)

I guess I should not share pictures of crossdressing utaites here.
Oh, just like how Sonika can sing every language out there, too? xD

Yes oh my god Senka is my favourite genderbender. Plus, RAHWIA's PVs are amazing. It's also why I am more partial to his cover of BadBye.



But I heard that he's retired now? Well, he hasn't had a new cover in ages. . . I still need to snag Time for Heroes.

IIRC, Senka quit utattemita already. He said he'd be starting non-utaite activities under a different name, but no one seems to have found him yet...

Yeah, that's what someone told me. . . that he was interested in producing songs.

BUT I AM IN DENIAL.

If he's really gone, I'm sad.
I'm still trying to figure out where Bibi suddenly disappeared to without a trace.

There's che:Sakurai, who is probably the most well known female one.



Other than that... several have, but there's no footage available for most. There's this yearly event called Niconico Kansai, which is basically a live featuring male genderbending utaites, and aaah I want to go watch it so bad.

I've read through all of the thread now and I'm ashamed of myself that I didn't find out about this earlier I'm disappointed.

No mention of 96Neko or vipTenchou?
Here's their version of Matryoshka.
Don't take it seriously.

No mention of Nico Nico Choruses*?
Here's a wonderful Band Arrange & Nico Nico Chorus of Mozaik Role.
This one gives me shivers every time I hear it.

And because I can, I'm linking you all to the first actual Vocaloid song I heard back when I was still young and 14 years old.
No, it's not a song by Rin & Len (though they are in it).
It's Honey by Nanamue All Stars.

Also, has anyone heard "Alice in Musicland"?
It has the Crypton Vocaloids portraying Alice in Wonderland as a musical.

*A Nico Nico Chorus is different covers from NND mixed together. The original singer of the song is also in it, but mostly they don't start to sing until near the end.

I really really love Honey Honey, but I still don't understand how Teto got in there and Luka didn't >3>

...maybe because it was made before Luka was released?
Megurine Luka was released on January 30 in 2009.
The original PV was uploaded on NND on November 27 in 2008.
It's kind of impossible to use a Vocaloid that hasn't been released yet... (>.<)

That's when the video came out? Damn I thought it was newer than that.

FAIR ENOUGH.

Oh god Honeyyy. This nostalgia. Oh geez, I remember watching it when it was first uploaded. And it's a cover of a Chinese song by Cyndi Wang, jsyk.
My first Vocaloid song was Alice Human Sacrifice, I'm pretty certain.

Ohh, a che:Sakurai live. I personally prefer Hitori's genderbending for girls, though.

And hanycham in general. I thought she was a boy at first. Seriously.
Her cover of DATEKEN'S Ur-Style had me convinced she was a boy. Then I saw her blog and realized she wasn't. It was the first time I was ever gender confused about an utaite. I will never understand how people think Lon is a boy, though.
And here's her cover of loops and loops, one of the V3 Kaito songs I linked earlier. Which was originally a song for Luka, actually. And hanycham still sounds a lot like a boy to me.

Oh god that live event sounds wonderful. Though I don't know enough genderbending guys for there to be. . . Uhh, Piko, Sekihan, Senka (though he wouldn't do a live), vipTenchou, Irobun, Madotsuki. . . that's like all I know off the top of my head, and I feel the last two are grasping for straws.

Meepy I know it's actually a cover of a Chinese song. I just meant that it was the first song I had heard that actually had them singing. (^_^") (Because Miku's version of Ievan Polka is NOT a song with her singing in my book. But it IS sort of how I discovered Vocaloid. So, eh, thank you, Miku?)

Pffft, Alice Human Sacrifice that is sung by other Vocaloids than Rin & Len that my BFF actually likes. (she only listens to Rin & Len...)

But now I'm curious: Why are there so many songs with and AiW-theme? Or with Alice in the title? What's so interesting about AiW? (Besides, you know, the story line...) Why does exactly that story fuel so many songs? The only other fairy tales that have inspired something, that I can think of at the top of my head, are Snow White, The Little Mermaid and Beauty & the Beast. But none of them have fuelled so many songs. So why AiW?

Japan is fascinated with Alice in Wonderland in general. I'm not sure why, but I see it all the time in like anime and stuff.

This was my first Vocaloid video. It's goddamn adorable. *w*
I had no idea what it was at the time, though. I figured it was from a video game or something, until a some time later a friend showed me "Love is War" and I was like, "Hey, it's that one girl!"