Forum - View topicINTEREST: Vocalonexus is 2nd Vocaloid Album to Top Weekly Chart
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enurtsol
 Posts: 14886 |
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Haha! Let me start by saying I don't begrudge the Vocaloid system. It is good for those who enjoy the gimmick, but it is not real singing. Rather, its chart-topping sales expose how weak Japan's real music industry that, out of hundreds of groups out there at any time, no real singers or bands could overcome it for a whole week. Either that, or assuming there are good real J-music groups, Japanese music listeners couldn't tell how good some of those real music groups are.
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kazume
Posts: 129 |
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Here's my take on this being a fan of the concept and enjoying the various tracks that the creators spend hours upon hours to create the songs they release from time to time.
If Vocaloid chart-topping sales are a sign of how weak japan's music industry is, then the same can be said about Justin Bieber and the american music industry. There really isn't anything better to talk about for the general public than Justin Bieber? Really!? Seriously tho, when songs from the likes Justin Bieber seems to be the "next best thing" for America, that to me proves that Americas music industry is starting to "fall" just as people say Japans industry is because of these Volcaloids. Don't get me wrong, everyone has their own tastes, but when Bieber started getting popular even to go as far as to being on the most recent cover of Vanity Fair? Please... that right there should raise red flags that something bad is happening to the American music industry when THAT is the next 'in' thing... The way I see it, the future is in these computer synthesized programs that half of America doesn't get and the other half doesn't even care about. To most they do come off as unpolished voices that can't even sound remotely human. But look at how popular they're getting now and have been for a while now. If the concept behind these is to "synthesize the sound from 'vocal libraries' of recordings of actual singers, while retaining the vocal qualities of the original singing voices to reproduce realistic vocals" then they're getting pretty close.- (Definition copied from Yamaha's vocaloid homepage) Giving it 10 years or so and we'll probably have our own American music charts with a Vocaloid or two in tot top 100 and I for one embrace this possible future. In a world where half the industry consists of hundreds of gossip magazines talking about X singer's drinking binge at the club, husband caught cheating with stripper, and "after 6 months in jail, X singer has some fresh new beats to sing or rap about in his/her next album!"(yawn...) and so forth. I myself would rather have a "singer" that does just that, sing, and if turning to a computer generated voice is the way it needs to go, then I'm glad i enjoy the concept now so the transition into it years from now when it really takes off, not just here, but in America as well, will seem like no hassle at all. |
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Taiyz
 Posts: 202 Location: Canada |
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I have to disagree with you, enurtsol. Vocals are only one part of the many things that make up a great song, and I doubt that any song sung by a vocaloid will sell just because a vocaloid sang it. I'm not really an expert on the software, but I'd assume there's also some work involved with getting them to sing the lyrics with the right pitch or tempo, too.
All in all, I have a lot of respect for the creators of vocaloid music. They may have had great tunes and lyrics kicking around for ages, but vocaloids finally give them a voice to get their sound out there. I can't see vocaloids as anything but a good thing. |
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jojothepunisher
 Posts: 799 |
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Perhaps the reason why they are so popular is because Vocaloid is a big sub-cultural symbol for a lot of Otakus? Considering how many Otakus there are in Japan compared to other countries, I wouldn't be surprised if some Vocaloid tops the chart.
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kawaiibunny3
 Posts: 534 Location: Houston, Texas |
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the way I see it, is that a real person recorded their voice for the program and users are just telling the voice where to go. it is like real singing to me, they just take the human contact part out of the equation
sure most examples of vocaloid music don't have the fluidity(?) that human singing has, but others sound very life-like (Megpoid/Gumi in particular is well-known for having smoothness in her songs. and Crypton's new "Vocaloid Append" software is attempting to produce richer and more variety to their vocaloid's voice banks. So theres alot of work that gets put into making a successful vocaloid song, both from the programmers side and the creativity and skill of the users as well. (the same could argument could be said of artwork made on a computer, really) but anyway. i didn't know Matryoshka was on a CD now (Im so bad at keeping up with the CDs that come out ) maybe i'll hafta get this one~
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configspace
Posts: 3717 |
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Well, good music is good music no matter how it's made. And the process is not really much different than most "real" pop bands and some in other genres -- the singer / lyricist may write the lyrics, but the producer / composer / band musicians write the music, including the vocal melody. Besides, this is only a weekly chart that tracks sales, not overall popularity. There are other bands that are much more popular. It's not like people are rushing to buy cds of other bands every single week.
Anyways here are some tracks I like from the album: Paranoid Doll Underworld Cherry Blossom Goodbye Polaris Personally, I don't hate but neither do I actually like a lot of Exit Tunes' stuff, including their non-vocaloid (remix) albums. Most of my faves are from other artists like http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IZXeseLbdo, most of whom don't have cds in the normal retail channels unfortunately
The Crypton Media banks (Miku, Luka, Rin, etc) aren't really designed for realism. Scarborough Fair and The Secrets probably represent best one may get with the phoneme tweaking with the current CM version. IMO the CM vocaloids are better suited for voices that sound like, well, vocoders, which many real singers also use Vocaloids by other publishers are better suited for more realistic work: Let It Be Princess Mononoke Fly me to the Moon Last edited by configspace on Tue Jan 25, 2011 8:59 am; edited 2 times in total |
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Endless∞
 Posts: 4 |
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I think this is a positive thing as well. In the end, the music is still made by people. It is only the vocals that are synthesized. Also, I feel that more recognition is attained for the creator of these songs rather than the vocaloids themselves. The virtual idols serve as a means for songwriters, who may not have had the resources or ability, to get their work out into the world.
Even certain animators and artists (huke) get a chance to showcase their work at times. I've also heard plenty of fan dubs that have been just as good, if not better than the originals. So in that sense, it gives aspiring vocalists a chance to get recognition as well. As for the album, seems like a good choice of songs. Definitely love Matryoshka and ggrks. |
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Mohawk52
 Posts: 8202 Location: England, UK |
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50% of Itunes downloads out side of Japan are Vocaloid music. That alone should tell you it's not as ambiguous as one would seem. With Cryptons advent of the appends for Miku and Luka, and now Rin & Len it's even more harder to tell the difference between real and synthesised. Even Miku's original voice sample was so close to her real live person, Fujita Saki, who they used for sampling that it is hard to tell the difference and here is a duet by both to prove it,( they duet half way through the stream). Vocaloid is not a "replacement" for real singers, on the contrary I find it's a complimentary to real singers when some have digitally changed their voices to sound synthisised, what difference does it make now whether it's Cher, Annie Lenox, or Hatsune Miku, or Megurine Luka? As long as the music and song is excellant, brilliant, inspiring, and makes you cry with ecstasy at the gracefullness that is blessing your ears, by artists that would have never been heard by the any other means, because they did not have deep pockets, or were rejected by the likes of the Simon Cowes in the music industry, I say there isn't enough, and I pray that when the English version of Miku comes out it will throw open the doors to even more undiscovered sound scapers to bath our ears with glorious brilliance. I have purchased up to 6 filled CDs of various new artists from Japan that have used Miku and Luka to make what I call brilliantly talented music and that have made it available for sale, or offered it up for free. I'll recommend WinterMute, aka likeadaydream on youtube, Seiko-P, or Sei_Peridot, same person. To me her quite spiritual and soothing compositions has made the best use of Lukas's voice I've heard yet. Another is AVtechNO! An eclectic mix of virtually every genre of musical style and brilliant use of Miku, Luka, Len/Rin, etc. All available on Amazon, or from their own blogs. I have recently found a Miku Append piece that for me is without a doubt the best Miku I've heard to date. I can tell you that I've hardly made a purchase of any "new " music in years, but since I've discovered Vocaloids, 6 x 18 tracks in as many weeks. Don't tell me it's just a fad.
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ssgOverlord
 Posts: 91 |
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Oh, Exit Trance! They make fantastic music and remixes. I'm interested in checking out this album just on that.
The Vocaloid part is cool too, it's amazing how the software and 'Virtual Idols' have come so far in recent years. I mean a CG concert blows my mind! Searching Youtube can get fantastic music of all genres, and Vocaloid is spurring that creation wonderfully. |
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P€|\||§_|\/|ast@
 Posts: 3498 Location: IN your nightmares |
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Not to be confrontational enurtsol, but I find the existence of Vocaloid to be an expression of just how developed and advanced Japan's music industry is compared to that of other *cough*USA*cough* countries. The fact is on a global and international perspective America, in terms of talent and industry innovation, has the one of the most cryptic, nationalized and self-absorbed music industries in the world. We care less of how other countries appreciate American artists because of taking pride in our own talent, and more because there is a abysmal lack of it. Heck I think even Sri Lanka has more internationally popular artists than the U.S.A (not to take jabs at Sri Lanka, by any means).
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soft-n-fluffy
Posts: 25 |
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There's an error in this article: the song Matyroshka feaures both Gumi and Miku, not just Gumi. Also, Matyroshka is spelled wrong in this article. Check these facts before you post a story, really now.
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Egan Loo
Posts: 1349 |
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It's actually Matryoshka, not Matyroshka. |
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toyNN
 Posts: 252 Location: Seattle, WA |
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Right - music is music. Is it only music if its played on *acoustical* instruments? No. Vocaloid is basically just another instrument. Its one thing to just not like it but those making generalizations seem short-sighted.
Thanks for the links to the other songs - all very good.
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gwdone
 Posts: 272 |
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I bought the live DVD along with the CD re: Package, and really like both!! The live projection of Miku is great and very in sync. Plus the band is awesome! I just wish I could check out the 2011 concert in February.
Miku Hatsune/DVD Miku no Hi Kanshasai 39' Giving Day Project DIVA |
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enurtsol
Posts: 14886 |
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If these songs were released but nobody knew they were Vocaloids, I wonder how well the sales would be?
(You know what, they should do just that - as a social experiment. A new song by an unbeknownst singer, you can do it Japan! )
And why stop at singing? A decade from now, all the seiyuu will be Vocaloids. Oh the sub and dub wars that would be!
Y'know the difference between a machine playing Beethoven's symphonies (and those have been available for years) and a maestro, I'd rather have people who develop and sacrifice themselves for their craft. 
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