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Vocaloid/UTAU, an introduction | ||
 Language Learning Forum : Music, Movies, TV & Radio |  | |
| Sizen Diglot Senior Member Canada Joined 4341 days ago 165 posts - 347 votes  Speaks: English*, French Studies: Catalan, Spanish, Japanese, Ukrainian, German | Message 1 of 1 03 November 2013 at 7:42pm | IP Logged |
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Today’s post is about a program that will hopefully interest you linguistically and
musically. I’ll provide a little information on the program itself for those who are curious. If you’re not interested, just skip to the links below. There are plenty of languages to see and I’ve tried to cover a large number of musical genres. We’ve got from Screamo to Opera. Seriously, I know you’ve all been waiting to hear Mozart’s Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen with a heavy Japanese accent. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erXtRFnY83g So what is it? A rather popular program whose development started in March 2000, but only started gaining popularity in late 2007. Maybe you’ve heard of it: the voice synthesizer, Vocaloid, originally by Yamaha. I think most people who have heard of Vocaloids will recognize the name Miku Hatsune, as she is the most popular of all the Vocaloids. She is however not the first, nor the most advanced in terms of the technology used to make her vocal database. There are many more Vocaloids that were released before and after her, and there are plans to release many more in the future in a wide variety of languages. I think an important point to remember about Vocaloids is the role they play in the music industry. Many people dislike Vocaloids, be it for their popularity, their often high pitched voices or the stigma associated with the general fan base. One must not forget, however, that the main purpose of Vocaloid is to provide a platform that facilitates the creation of music for aspiring artists who might not otherwise have the means to make their music. As one of my favourite Vocaloid artists, Sangnoksu (See Cheon Nyeon Ui Si), put it in the description of one of his pieces: “One of the biggest criticisms that Vocaloid receives is the question of how Vocaloids are different from idol music with autotune plastered all over it. I wrote this song in order to provide my answer to this question. At least I wanted to show that songs such as these can come from Vocaloid music, that unlike popular music, where marketability cannot be ignored, the Vocaloid genre is where you can really practice the music that you want.” (Altered for better English) Within the Vocaloid community are all the same genres you find in music sung by real voices. There are artists make music for money, others who make it simply to entertain and others whose passion is to make music from the heart, just like in the regular music industry. A wonderful aspect of Vocaloids is how easily one can find new music. Want to find a tune? Just type in the name of a vocaloid on YouTube, or any video site and you’ll get hundreds if not thousands of hits. Keep browsing and you’ll run into dozens of genres and hundreds of artists. Before we begin, it’s worth mentioning that Vocaloids aren’t perfect in that they don’t sound good right out of the box. A certain knowledge of musical theory, the human voice and of the program itself are required if a product of decent quality is desired. Not all Vocaloid songs are created equal. So here’s a little introduction. Hopefully you can find one of your languages here, and even if you can’t, maybe you’ll find something of interest. 日本語 - Japanese - 初音ミク Hatsune Miku 椛 (Momiji, Autumn Leaves) - Focus on vocals. Pretty piano with flute of some sort. This was released only a few months after the release of Hatsune Miku. In terms of the quality of the control of the vocals, it’s quite impressive when compared to other works from the same year. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1Dqb6uJ8WY 恋は戦争 (Koi ha sensou, Love Is War) - Rock. Well known to early fans of Vocaloid. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJd_rmWAYzY アスパラガス(Asuparagasu, Asparagus) - A recent song using Miku’s new Vocaloid3 voice bank. Noticeably mellower since the original voice actress has matured since the last recordings. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAUvFUq1oEE Aria for Death, THE END - A movement of the modern opera, THE END. It’s already played in Japan, and will be playing the 12, 13 and 15 of November at le Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris. The entire opera is not available on the internet. All the more reason to see it live! (More info: http://theend-official.com/) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjpwFbRzo0E Some other Japanese vocaloids: 鏡音リン (Kagamine Rin), 鏡音レン (Kagamine Len), 巡音ルカ (Megurine Luka), 結月ゆかり(Yuzuki Yukari), IA, GUMI, KAITO... But we’re not done. In the last years, two new Vocaloids have been released and are worth mentioning. SeeU, the Korean Vocaloid, capable of singing in both Korean and Japanese, along with Luo Tianyi, the Chinese Vocaloid. Vocaloid China originally wanted to provide her with a Japanese voice bank as well, but those plans have either been postponed or cancelled. 한국어 - Korean - 시유 SeeU 천 년의 시 (Cheon Nyeon Ui Si, Poem of a Thousand Years) - An epic piece following the progression of the four seasons. Sixteen minutes of traditional Korean music, modern guitar riffs, gentle melodies and acapella. The composer, who was only 17 at the time, claims that his intention was to provide an explanation for the existence of Vocaloids in the modern music industry. A recommended listen for all. Out of the ordinary, even for the Vocaloid community. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIeZP06uOT4 Run - SeeU’s first demo song. A catchy pop tune. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1yoe8u5Tf8 Alone - A fun techo/dance song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMB-t2j02XQ Silent Dream - SeeU’s Japanese voice bank at work. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Du5beWJbcDY 中文 - Mandarin - 洛天依 Luo Tianyi 三月雨 (Sānyuè Yǔ, March Rain) - A kind of mix of traditional Chinese music with rock. Luo’s voice bank is one of the largest due to the phonetic complexity of Mandarin. As such, producer have found her difficult to work with, and tuning in many songs is not always spot on. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O81obkiajKg 空待 (Kōng Dài, Waiting in Vain) - A cool lament with a guest appearance: a human singer! The crescendo towards the ending is full of emotion; the mix of vocaloid and human voices is very interesting. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6-8Oczaqwg 韶音赋 (Sháo Yīn Fù, <translation needed>) - As promised, the selection is diversified as possible: Screamo Rock. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztqLjIaU0B4 惜春去 (Xī Chūn Qù, The Memorable Spring Has Gone) - Another somewhat traditional sounding piece. Luo Tianyi has a lot of these. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyeLNBMINws You think we’re done here? Oh, ho, ho. How wrong you are. Asia isn’t the only market for Vocaloids. Spain is also in the voice synthesizer game. Español - Spanish - Bruno/Clara A quién le importa (Who cares?) - A fun duet. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGTItCcoeAE#t=102 Juntos Tú y Yo (Together, You and Me) - A dance song. The video kind of makes me chuckle. Bruno is a bit of a creeper in the background. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvCXTDr-LbM There’s also a new vocaloid that’s planned to release soon named Maika. She’s not the first Spanish Vocaloid, but she’s the first to sing Catalan. Español/Català - Spanish/Catalan - Maika Cruz de navajas (Cross of Daggers) - A mid 80s song by Mecano. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fI5oSzTWtuw No habrá nadie en el mundo (Nobody in the world) - One of the latest looks at Maika. A wonderfully delightful tune with impressive vocals. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFbHzuVRuRg Fantasia (Fantasy) - The first look at Maika’s Catalan. I can’t vouch for the pronunciation, but someone in the comment says “Els fonemes estàn perfectes!!” so I can only imagine it’s decent. This song appears to be from a Catalan musical. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJFFA7X_fHs So now that that’s out of the way, we can get to serious business: UTAU. UTAU is a program that facilitates the production of voice banks. In other words, anyone can make their own voice bank with a little knowledge of phonetics and computer know-how. Most of the time the results are cringe worthy, but every now and then the result are absolutely mind-blowing. עִבְרִית/English/日本語 - Hebrew/English/Japanese - 妹poid Meipoid Meipoid is being developed by an Israeli high schooler and is voiced by his 11 year old sister. Wait till you hear it. נערת המצולות or 深海少女 (Naarat Hametsulot or Shinkai Shoujo, Deep-Sea Girl) - A Japanese title for a Hebrew song? Yes, it’s a cover of a Japanese song originally sung by Miku, but it’s worth the listen. Although I do not speak Hebrew, when I compared the transliteration in the details section with the voice, I was surprised at how fluid her voice seemed. It puts regular vocaloids to shame. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFVdYwnSDIY Run - You might remember this from the Korean section. Well now it’s in Hebrew. I dare say this will be the first time you see a video with Hebrew and Korean subs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sie0JpT6toM WAVE - Another cover, this time using the original Japanese. Her accent is super cute, especially the T’s and U’s. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXi0hqiUfqM There are also plans for the release of a French Vocaloid, awaited by many with excitement. There’s very little information about the project as it is in its embryonic stage. There is, however, a survey on the expectations of the French Vocaloid community. Take a look if you're interested and wish to participate. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1q9Nbcv-8oA0F0ikimX98KymUvmb 49VRGGIghLfVM870/viewform Bonus: Prima, the Italian Vocaloid. Arguably the hardest to use, but when used correctly… damn. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VseHlKR4Ew8 So while in theory I can read at least a bit of most of the languages mentioned here (except Hebrew), I can’t be 100% trusted with romanization, as Japanese Romaji is the only system I actually know how to work. Since I don’t speak all of these languages either, I can’t be completely trusted with translation, though in some cases English titles were provided. Feel free to correct me and help me with the one title I couldn’t translate. 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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