Singing Computers

     (Note: Sorry this is a bit late. I was working on the post for Saturday and it got really long so I didn't get to this one. It's a Recommendation, the most interesting one yet. I think I might even do a different post on Saturday and keep working on that for next week.) IA -ARIA ON THE PLANETES- Company: Made and distributed by 1st PLACE Co. CeVIO Talk: IA Talk Trial , Sample Voice donor: Lia Engine: V3 Release date: January 2012 Additional voicebanks: IA ROCKS (Vocaloid), released June 2014, CeVio talk VB released March 2017, CeVio English VBs, Natural and Powerful, released June 2018 Language: Japanese, English Voice type: IA has a mid- to high- ranged powerful voice, slightly metallic but expressive. Strengths: In general she’s a high quality voicebank. IA is most suited to rock, but very versatile as well. Weaknesses: Her versatility has limits, so she can’t do slow, soft songs very well. IA ...

     This is an essay/account/story/I don't really know about how and why my musical influences are much different than my musical inspirations .      I have listened to classical music all of my life. It is, I very much think, my biggest musical influence. From preschool to fifth grade, I would spend the 20 minute car ride to school listening to WCPE, The Classical Station, and after school, I would be picked up and listen to it again. I went to concerts. I learned to play classical violin. I joined an orchestra. A quartet. Et cetera.      The point is, I’ve been playing music from these classical composers all my life, and I listen to other people playing it too, at concerts. They have influenced  my musical style far more than anyone else. But do these composers and musicians inspire me to make my own music, play my own songs?      Absolutely not.      They were geniuses, legends, prodigies; lived a hund...

Maika's official boxart (that hair would be a nightmare to cosplay) Maika Voice donor: No information Engine: V3 Company: Made and sold by Voctro Labs, S.L Release date: December 2013 (download), January 2014 (retail) Updates and/or additional voicebanks: Nope Language: She has only a Spanish voicebank, but has extra phonemes to allow her to sing in other languages. Mainly Catalan, but she manages Japanese and English as well, albeit with a heavy Spanish accent. She has an alternate avatar, ONA, who represents her Catalan usage. Voice type: Alto to soprano. Her lower range is softer and her higher range is brighter. Strengths: Maika can reach very high notes without relying on falsetto. Her unique voice range allows her to fit into many different genres. Weaknesses: Some people overestimate her language capabilities, like saying she can do Italian or Portugese just as well as an Italian- or Portugese-dedicated Vocal...

     I've been throwing a lot of Vocaloid-related stuff at you guys lately. I mean, that is supposed to be most of the blog, but I figured I might take a break for now and test my storytelling skills.      One of the weird things I inherited from my family, other than double-jointed fingers (although I did not inherit the tongue you can touch your own nose with; one of my cousins has that), is the ability to hear slightly higher frequencies than the average person. In high school my dad was tested up to 40 kHz (the normal limit is 20 kHz). He has, of course, lost some of that over the years, but I would estimate that I have about the same range as he did at that time, along with my siblings.      Some of the things I can hear are: - Cathode-ray tube TVs - Flute overtones - Some chargers, specifically the ones that have one thing that plugs in, then several outlets of different types - Probably some other things I can't remember - The u...

     (Note: It seems that I'm doing all the poor un-updated V2s in a row. Hmm, I don't care. Also, if you're confused, his voice donor's stage name is Piko, and the Vocaloid's name is Utatane Piko, which means "sound of singer Piko.") Utatane Piko's official boxart- did you know that it was inspired by the design of an electric guitar? Utatane Piko Voice donor: Piko Engine: V2 Company: Made and sold by Sony. Yes, that Sony. Release date: December 2010 Updates and/or additional voicebanks: Nope. Language: Japanese Voice type: His voice donor became famous for being a Ryouseirui, a person who specializes in singing in both typically male and female ranges. Piko the Vocaloid has the same voice type. Weaknesses: Released on V2, so isn’t as realistic, he has a nasal tone in lower notes. Strengths: He is an authentic high-ranged male vocal, unlike Len, and quite good in his higher notes. ...

You may be wondering what the Introduction (Please Read!)  thing that went up on Tuesday on the sidebar was all about. Well, it was because I was poking around in my Blog settings and noticed that there was this thing called a "page," and I didn't have any pages yet. I was a bit confused at first, but I eventually figured out that they were basically the equivalent of un-dated posts that didn't get buried under all the other ones. I thought that would be a great place for my Introduction to Vocaloid. So, instead of actual content on this Saturday post, I have that instead: a new-and-improved Introduction.       (You wouldn't believe how tempted I was to put the Vocaloid cover of Never Gonna Give You Up as one of the examples)      *coughs* I would also like to take this opportunity to thank my viewers, who used to not exist. While I was poking around in the blog settings, I also found this:      That kinda surprised me. I didn'...

Fukase's offi cial boxart ( he has a skirt, a scarf, high heels, leggings, and a dress, but still looks like a boy somehow XD)       Fukase Voice donor: Satoshi Fukase Engine: V4 Company: Made and sold by Yamaha Release date: January 2016 Updates and/or additional voicebanks: Fukase comes with three voicebanks: Normal, Soft, and English. The Japanese ones, Normal and Soft, can be cross-synthesized. Language: Japanese, English Voice type: Middle-ranged, clear young male voice. Weaknesses: He has a slight Japanese accent... Strengths: ...but it’s certainly much less pronounced than some of the other Vocaloids (Rin+Len, Luka, Miku, Kaito, Meiko, Gumi). You can tell that his voice donor worked really hard on his English. I’ve also heard that he’s relatively easy to use. Examples: The Best That You Can Be , All Star (yes), Paradise , A Happy Ending That Nobody Knows , Near , Never Gonna Give You Up (no seri...