Versions of Vocaloid
Note, I am shortening any instance of VOCALOID# into V#. Also, what I call Vocaloid 1 was actually called Vocaloid, but as you can imagine, using that term would be very confusing. Also note that you probably don't know any of the stories behind these names, that's because I'm doing this before starting the Vocaloid Descriptions section, so you know what I'm talking about when I mention which engine of the software Vocaloid so-and-so runs on.
V1 was the first engine of Vocaloid. The synthesis was not realistic at all, especially with multiple consonants, and it struggled with low notes. It was intended to be more of a prototype engine, however, and there were only 5 Vocaloids released on V1: Leon, Lola, Miriam, Meiko, and Kaito. The Vocaloids "Jodie" and "Ronie," intended to be V1 Vocaloids, were instead released on V2 as Sweet Ann and Big Al- although Al changed design once and voice provider twice during the process!
V2 directly followed V1, releasing its first vocal, Sweet Ann, on June 29, 2007. This new engine improved vastly upon the previous one, especially in terms of synthesis, but it still struggled with low notes. When V5 released V2 was discontinued, meaning you couldn't (legally cough cough cough) use V2s on any other engine any more. Most V2s have been updated since then, so it was fine... except for poor Utatane Piko, SONiKA, Big Al, Sweet Ann, Prima, and Tonio. Oh well. Six of the eight most famous Vocaloids were released on V2 as well: Hatsune Miku, Kagamine Rin, Kagamine Len, Megpoid: Gumi, Megurine Luka, and Gackpoid.
Announced on June 8, 2011, V3 followed V2. The main feature that V3 added was triphone (or "triaphone," I haven't found out the correct spelling) support, which made the voice more realistic and smoother. V3 fixed most of the issues with low tones as well. Most V3 Vocaloids have not been updated since their release, except for the most popular ones, but that is actually fine. Firstly, V3 is pretty realistic and not much has been added since then. Secondly, it isn't discontinued like V2, so you can import V3s into later engines.
As I said earlier, not much has been added fundamentally since V3. V4 added the growl function, which is slightly difficult to explain in words. An excellent example of its usage is in kyaami's cover of Fairytale with VY1V4, found here, at 0:40 and 3:22. It can be overused, however, such as in this song, so people need to be careful. V4 also added cross-synthesis, which I might give a whole post of its own, but basically you cross two voicebanks together, either from the same Vocaloid or sometimes different ones.
V5 is the newest engine of Vocaloid so far. It added the vocal fry effect, which is much like growl in its usage, it can easily be overused or misused. It does have some performance issues, apparently, so it has not been widely adopted yet. Only a few new Vocaloids have been released on V5 so far: Amy, Chris, Kaori, and Ken, the Yamaha V5 starter pack; Haruno Sora; and MEIKA Hime and Mikoto. By the way, go give Hime and Mikoto some love, they are precious babies and deserve it.
Announced on June 8, 2011, V3 followed V2. The main feature that V3 added was triphone (or "triaphone," I haven't found out the correct spelling) support, which made the voice more realistic and smoother. V3 fixed most of the issues with low tones as well. Most V3 Vocaloids have not been updated since their release, except for the most popular ones, but that is actually fine. Firstly, V3 is pretty realistic and not much has been added since then. Secondly, it isn't discontinued like V2, so you can import V3s into later engines.
As I said earlier, not much has been added fundamentally since V3. V4 added the growl function, which is slightly difficult to explain in words. An excellent example of its usage is in kyaami's cover of Fairytale with VY1V4, found here, at 0:40 and 3:22. It can be overused, however, such as in this song, so people need to be careful. V4 also added cross-synthesis, which I might give a whole post of its own, but basically you cross two voicebanks together, either from the same Vocaloid or sometimes different ones.
V5 is the newest engine of Vocaloid so far. It added the vocal fry effect, which is much like growl in its usage, it can easily be overused or misused. It does have some performance issues, apparently, so it has not been widely adopted yet. Only a few new Vocaloids have been released on V5 so far: Amy, Chris, Kaori, and Ken, the Yamaha V5 starter pack; Haruno Sora; and MEIKA Hime and Mikoto. By the way, go give Hime and Mikoto some love, they are precious babies and deserve it.
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