/leek/ - Vocal Synthesizers

>>934
>In this timeline it's possible thar Vocaloid is actually seen as the serious vocal synthesis tool it was originally meant to be, therefore more big name producers in the music industry end up using it
Nah, I think that realistically in that timeline Vocaloid would be almost never used at all and probably eventually get discontinued or something. It’d probably become abandonware and maybe even lost media. Without Miku, the only thing Vocaloid it has going for it is that it’s developed by Yamaha which is known for it’s instruments. Either that or SVCs would be in the place vocal synthesizers currently are (and I agree it’d be normies using those instead of developing a fanbase like Vocaloid did.) Didn’t even Kanru Hua discover Vocaloid through Miku? Both his projects prior to SynthV were both UTAU resamplers (Rocaloid and Moresampler), which means No Miku → No UTAU → No SynthV, and no SynthV means there’d be no vocal synths people in the West take seriously. There’s ACE which is way more popular with normies and AIbros than actual VSynth enthusiasts, but even that was developed by otaku which means no Miku = No ACE as well.

In the no Miku timeline Vocaloid itself probably ends up like E_CANTOR as some forgotten early 2000's novelty. Some producers (especially most ENGloid producers: Circus, Crusher, Ghost) never become producers. Kikuo continues producing for Touhou doujin circles until he eventually starts releasing dreamy, trip-hop solo albums, probably ends up composing for a Silent Hill game later on. BTS (the kpop boyband) probably never forms as a result of SeeU not existing in this timeline, leading to kpop as a whole remaining a niche as it was before they popularized it in the west. 39chan is either never created or exists in its original form before it became a fully vocaloid website.

>>936
Woah I didn’t even realize the BTS thing (despite being aware they were SeeU’s backup dancers pre-debut), you’re totally right though. Had no idea Vocaloid was that influential outside of Japan.

>>936
>CircusP
Assuming MikuMikuDance doesn't exist in this timeline, he never becomes a producer. CircusP discovered Vocaloid from MMD and since MMD is named after Miku it's likely that in the "no Miku" timeline it either doesn't exist or is called something else.
>CrusherP
Also discovered Vocaloid from Miku. Doesn't become a producer in this timeline either.
>Ghost
Definitely still an artist in this timeline but probably not a producer. She wrote stories before Vocaloid so in this timeline she is either a writer (creepypasta maybe? since it was popular in 2014) or still a producer albeit not a Vocaloid one.
>Kikuo
Definitely still a producer in this timeline but he'd primarily be known for his Touhou doujin work. Yume no Kane and the KIKUOWORLD albums still exist in this timeline but the Kikuo Miku series doesn't.

The collaborations with si_ku would still happen since they've known eachother before the Vocaloid era and it's likely that she'd still sing and illustrate his albums. Not sure about KikuoHana though, if Hanatan and Kikuo still know eachother in this timeline it's likely that those albums would still happen and the project would become a priority over Kikuo Miku. If not then those albums would still happen but with si_ku on vocals.
>HACHI
Exists in this timeline but as Kenshi Yonezu. All of his popular Vocaloid songs would have probably still been written but he would have used his real voice.
>Wowaka
Probably never quits his original band in this timeline and as a result of Wowaka not being a Vocaloid producer, Hitorie never forms.

>>937
tbh even if SeeU didnt exist, they would still be backup dancers for Glam and eventually form BTS but im not sure they'd be as popular as they are today in this timeline

>>935
I thought people only cared about ACE for Ritsu and Luo Tianyi

>>940
You’re right in a way because vocal synth fans don’t give a fuck about it, but I run into it a decent amount in normie spaces (90% of the YT vids on it post-2022 are AIbros and promo from normie music producers), they have a partnership with Audacity and Soundcloud and AIforMusic, and I’ve seen it used in commercials. Kind of like what Yamaha originally intended Vocaloid to be. It’s kind of funny Soundcloud of all companies collaborated with a software that has Tianyi

>>948
Probably has something to do with the fact that the majority of their voicebanks are literal who stock photo engloids while the rest are chinaloids. It reminds me a bit of early vocaloid with Tonio, Prima and all those stock photo boxarts but those were at least memorable.

>>951
Nah, it’s because of moralfags lol. Western fandom loves wholoids (ZOLA, Piko etc.) and if you look at old demos (before around mid-2022) reception was positive prior to people finding out there was a lolicon on the dev team

SynthV is also majority chinaloids + wholoid engloids if you ignore Gumi, Teto, and the AHSloids and it’s currently surpassing Vocaloid

This actually makes me curious how drastically Vocaloid culture would change if Miku moved to a new engine (that isn’t Piapro)

>>956
Well damn i genuinely had not heard of ACE until i found out Ritsu was in it. But honestly from the pov of someone who doesn't give a shit about community drama, ACE's wholoids aren't even that great. At least SV's ENloids have unique voices and designs. ACE's have nothing going on, just a few chinaloids and Ritsu's missile tits. And as much as i love some of the stock photo 'loids from the pre-Miku era, Solaria's design is much more appealing than random dude photograph #4000 for example. There's a couple of faceless voicebanks, yes, but usually with those people give them a design, most notably Kevin and Yi Xi.

>>956
>>959
Ritsu being on so many engines makes me wonder what'd happen if he was in SV. It's definitely not impossible, Canon seems to be willing to port him to as many engines as she can so if DT were to hit her up she'd most definitely accept.

I can totally see discourse over his gender on the western side of the fandom if he becomes popular again tho. It was already bad a decade ago, it'd be 10 times worse now.

There's a New York Times article about Vocaloid which predates Miku's existence by 4 years which features the following quote:
>Michael Stipe of R.E.M. heard a Vocaloid version of "Amazing Grace" online, and he said he was impressed. (The Yamaha Corporation includes samples with a recent press.) But he wasn't prepared to rush out and have a font created. "I would hate to think that 250 years from now Altria would use the Michael Stipe voice to sell organic soy to a Mars landing," he said. "It's intriguing in 2003. I'm not sure about 2303".

Part of me thinks that in a timeline in which Miku never existed they would have attempted to make voicebanks out of popular vocalists in the future. They already sort of did that with YOHIO and Porter Robinson but i feel like things would've been a bit different without Miku.

>>960
Unfortunately it might be impossible because I hear SV’s devkit is ridiculously expensive, as much as 5× more than Vocaloid’s (https://x.com/Minstrel4/status/1376582693920591872, https://x.com/colstone6/status/1821101787174334729, a Maghni AI dev said the same but I can’t find the tweet) although Canon could maybe crowdfund? I feel it’d be a hit especially since Teto already has one. Normally I prefer concatenative but SV Ritsu, Ruko, and Gahata sound nice. It’d be awesome to reunite all the Vippers on SV.

>>972
I pray for a Ritsu SV. It would probably sound like vidrel.

Gorillaz would probably still be doing hologram concerts and be known as "the one band that uses holograms on stage"

Vocaloid as a whole took off because of Miku so they likely would've never ever done V3 if Miku hadn't existed, and Vocaloid would've been forgotten like its predecessors

>>935
>Vocaloid would be almost never used at all
Not really. I think it would've been used, just not in the same way as it is used now. Keep in mind that when Vocaloid came out it was the best vocal synthesis engine in the market. So it would likely have been used more than Cantor, Lala and other vsynths which became forgotten with V1's release. If you want to imagine how Vocaloid would've been used in a timeline where Miku doesn't exist just listen to Light + Shade by Mike Oldfield which was made in 2005 (pre-Miku) and uses MIRIAM/Lola.