9 ms·

I went from Vocaloid hater to fan in the span of this year. There are Japanese Vocaloid producers who are pushing the boundaries of pop music in a way that woul

• Semaphor 4y ago
  > disagreeable at first but really addictive. Nope, certainly stays disagreeable to me. I wonder what makes people enjoy weird stuff in so many different ways. I might not like this, but I enjoy white noise artist Merzbow [0] or breakcore from Drumcorps [1] [0]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=przphi3RjeE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=przphi3RjeE [1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXEzn43VITM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXEzn43VITM
  • antiterra 4y ago
    I think people who have never heard Merzbow are likely going to misunderstand your post as being dismissive rather than understanding of either opinion. As a small form of resistance to the surveillance state I partake in, I have taught kids to ask any nearby personal assistants to play woodpecker #2 and they find it hilarious.
• empressplay 4y ago
  This is a geeky song I did in English using Vocaloid singers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2k8EOBL75o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2k8EOBL75o Not great, not terrible.
• oidar 4y ago
  Ungray Days slightly reminds me of oneohtrix point never.
  • fjallstrom 4y ago
    Yeah like this one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UztCDH2xuQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UztCDH2xuQ
    • oidar 4y ago
      This is such an excellent album.
• spywaregorilla 4y ago
  Hmm interesting. I'm not familiar with this scene. I'm not sure how I feel about it. I feel like it feels kind of hollow. Like there's a lot of energy in it, but the vocaloid part just feels so emotionless. Maybe that's a cultural barrier though. Jpop and Kpop make me feel similarly and they're actually singing. On the western side in a similar vein you've got hyper pop coming up from 100 gecs and laura les and what not. This kind of sound, hypertuned and almost as incomrehensible, sounds better to me. You do still get a vein of emotion. I love this sound. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=879ysA4h9r4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=879ysA4h9r4
  • vallanceroad 4y ago
    > I'm not sure how I feel about it. I feel like it feels kind of hollow. Like there's a lot of energy in it, but the vocaloid part just feels so emotionless. In Japan, the term is "denpa" (電波ソング). Denpa music is intentionally strange as it is catchy, and hypnotic as it is awkward. There are many producers creating high-BPM electronic vocaloid music that is chaotic for effect. It is a bit more twee than the western sounds, as you mentioned, but it can be quite enjoyable if you're in the right mood. More on denpa music: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denpa_song https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denpa_song Nanahira playlist, an example of a vocaloid character: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHIyvhJadXM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHIyvhJadXM Explaining Vocaloid in 3 minutes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GODXMGAMpVc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GODXMGAMpVc Also, I think you'd enjoy the Song Exploder podcast. If you haven't heard it already, check out the episode where 100 gecs break down how Money Machine was created: https://songexploder.net/100-gecs https://songexploder.net/100-gecs
    • thaumasiotes 4y ago
      > In Japan, the term is "denpa" (電波ソング) In Japanese, there is no distinction between syllable-final [n] and syllable-final [m]. But in English there is. Traditional romanizations of Japanese will transcribe this as "dempa", for the obvious reasons that (a) that is what the Japanese spelling says; and (b) that is also how the word is pronounced. I often see English speakers get very confused over exotic modern transcriptions such as "denba" or "senpai", believing there must be a reason they are written that way. But I'm not sure what that reason is supposed to be.
• Philip-J-Fry 4y ago
  I don't feel much from that one. But I will drop some of my favorites here in case anyone wants to discover them. CHO-DARI- - Hatsune Miku https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DU1HjAPvHG8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DU1HjAPvHG8 Mum / 雄之助 feat. flower https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjAcngUNiZ8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjAcngUNiZ8 Hana to Nare / Yunosuke feat. KAFU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqKbuEDvaf8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqKbuEDvaf8 IA - Conqueror https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3E5fb39xcs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3E5fb39xcs
  • ztgasdf 4y ago
    Adding to this, I highly recommend works from nulut[0] and niki[1]. [0] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sEptl-psU0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sEptl-psU0 [1] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgHbvHpT5ww https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgHbvHpT5ww
    • capableweb 4y ago
      All of the examples linked so far sounds highly artificial, so much that I'm guessing part of the charm for the listeners is the artificial and robotic sound/voicing, so the producers make it extra so in order to giver higher satisfaction. Is there any examples of songs out there going the opposite way, trying to use something like Vocaloid to make the voice and singing as realistic and human-like as possible?
      • Shared404 4y ago
        You could make a case for SOOOO in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OOWWNFTguY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OOWWNFTguY. I don't know if it's intended to be as realistic/human sounding, but portions get close. Most vocaloid definitely leans into the robotic quality.
        • hatsunearu 4y ago
          Vocaloid sounding robotic is kind of the appeal to me.
• knaekhoved 4y ago
  The rapper/producer Deko has been doing some very interesting stuff with adding vocaloid synth characters to rap/hyperpop music. He has two vocaloid "characters", Lil Yammeii and Lil Hard Drive. Most vocaloid rap I listen to is terrible but this stuff is super well produced. He'll even do things like add breathing noises to the vocaloid tracks, which improves the sound a lot. https://youtu.be/usRDtHjYKzU https://youtu.be/usRDtHjYKzU He also has some funny parodical bits he does, like rapping about having a lot of money/jewels/etc and then the vocaloid characters rap about having a lot of RAM.
• bambax 4y ago
  I'm not sure I understand what Vocaloid does? Does it generate vocal parts "from scratch" / just from lyrics? Or is it more like a vocoder? The track you reference sounds like chipmunks sped up 2x; it's not unpleasant to listen to, and fun, but I feel it could be made just like that (record at 80bpm, high pass filter, maybe transpose 1 octave, and speed up to 180), no "AI" involved.
  • Arnavion 4y ago
    It generates audio from phonetic lyrics.
  • recursive 4y ago
    The chipmunk effect isn't even necessarily part of it. Most vocaloid music is in a more "normal" range. It's a synthesizer. It's an alternative to human singers. I can imagine someone seeing a digital piano for the first time. "I'm not sure what it even does. I could just use an acoustic piano. It sounds the same."
    • bambax 4y ago
      Yeah fair enough. I have no problem with Vocaloid -- but I do have a problem with the over the top marketing copy (sorry if that was unclear).
  • makeitdouble 4y ago
    A slightly more natural sounding track for reference: https://youtu.be/9vyIPWBeRes https://youtu.be/9vyIPWBeRes This one if an official track for a popular vocaloid rythm game. Also, at this point the “chipmunk” sound is part of the brand and will be kept to some extent for tracks labelled as vocaloids (it’s kind of a market on its own)
  • YurgenJurgensen 4y ago
    Look at the upload date on the video. It's 2 years old. No AI was involved, as that's being touted as a new feature of V6.
  • sithadmin 4y ago
• fullstop 4y ago
  It gives me Splatoon vibes.
• jancsika 4y ago
  It's a random-walk of blues riffs over a stock diatonic chord progression with a slow (and predictable) harmonic rhythm. The only conceivable surprise is a crude chromatic key change to the minor version of the raised mediant. You'd think the precision of those dynamic envelopes and timbral games would push the artist to venture out and explore that mediant relationship to create quicker and more jarring harmonic progressions and modulations. But no-- it turns out to be less inventive than the mediant chains emanating from, say, Joni Mitchell and her acoustic guitar over fifty years ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3q2jiRUVLgI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3q2jiRUVLgI (I find some of the lyrics apt, too.) Compared to the cookie-cutter harmony and melody of the music you linked, even Mitchell's augmented triad in the melody at the end of the chorus sounds like the musical equivalent of solving fast homomorphic encryption. It's the the audio tech that is on display in the music you linked, so every other musical consideration shifts to the background to illuminate that tech. I get that. But holy shit why does that baseline have to be stuck in the fucking 1650s? While I love the "electrified Vivaldi" hack that is heavy metal from the late 70s/early 80s (Master of Puppets et al), I question whether we really need more than one musical genre based on that parlor trick. It would be like every stand up comedian ending their set with increasingly theatrical pyrotechnic pull-my-finger jokes. I could laugh my ass off at the absurdity for a year, maybe two. But forever?
  • tuesgloomsday 4y ago
    It’s possible you’re stuck on the first slope of the dunning kruger graph. My (possibly wrong) impression of your comment is that you seem to have made the mistake of associating complexity with quality in music which is extremely common in those who’ve just started looking into music theory. Most music needs only the smallest dash of novelty to achieve the perfect mix of the new and familiar to its target audience. If you start attempting to evaluate popular music on what about it is inventive or new, you’re likely to find yourself unable to appreciate most of what people are enjoying and cut yourself off from loving a broad spectrum of musical expression. You might also find yourself unable to express why you enjoy the music you do like in a way that doesn’t come across as if you’re arguing an objective scientific point——an approach which might undercut your argument by making you unintentionally come across as someone who has just learned a lot of fancy theory jargon and is eager for an excuse to wield it.
• nineteen999 4y ago
  I've gone from being Vocaloid indifferent to a Vocaloid hater. Being the father of a 12 year girl who is obsessed with imaginary Japanese Vocaloid artists, I'm totally over the sound of it, although I agree the histrionics produced by these things can be fairly amazing to hear from time to time. What I did find more interesting was the AI "sung" version of Joelene that was doing the rounds a few days ago, based on the voice of Holly Herndon: https://youtu.be/kPAEMUzDxuo Interested to see where that goes, although I've got to admit, I'm a purist, and any type of digital vocalist is going to make me go "meh" sooner or later when compared to even a half decent human singer.
  • smaudet 4y ago
    There is definitely a element to high energy music which appeals to younger crowds. Same reason clubs tend to turn music up to levels capable of causing hearing damage. I even exploited this fact as a way of staying awake a couple times while taking long road trips, as a stand in for caffeine. Having high energy music is OK, allowing it to disturb the peace is not, time to teach the lessons about manners and being considerate, I suppose (buy a pair of headphones for her, limit her volume so she doesn't suffer early onset hearing loss). No guarantee she won't turn out to be obnoxious as an adult, but that's the genetic lottery, I'm afraid.
• IAmGraydon 4y ago
  I'm sorry, but come on. Being a musician myself, I always try to keep an open mind and fully realize that not all music is supposed to give you the warm and fuzzies, but IMO nothing about that is interesting. It sounds like mathcore on fast forward with a chipmunk incomprehensibly chattering over it. No interesting harmonic structure, no interesting instrumentation or arrangement, rhythms straight stolen from other genres. I'm being genuine when I say I'm interested to hear what about this moves you. I almost always get it even if I don't like it. This...I don't get it.
  • sithadmin 4y ago
    Try listening to what passes as mainstream J-pop/J-rock. By Japanese standards, the vocaloid scene is actually pretty innovative.
    • cmehdy 4y ago
      I'm not up to date on J-pop/J-rock as of 2022 but things of past years like King Gnu's Hakujitsu or LiSa's First Take performance seem pretty decent as far as fairly popular music goes, and I'm sure I am missing a lot of stuff due to my musical interests having shifted a fair bit over the years. [1] King Gnu - Hakujitsu: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ony539T074w https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ony539T074w [2] LiSa - Gurenge: https://youtu.be/MpYy6wwqxoo?t=45 https://youtu.be/MpYy6wwqxoo?t=45
      • lstamour 4y ago
        Hah. I was just about to post how that song earlier reminded me a bit of LiSA https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CwkzK-F0Y00 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CwkzK-F0Y00 or the Dorohedoro opening https://youtu.be/_nsNWzypHHg https://youtu.be/_nsNWzypHHg
    • numpad0 4y ago
      Innovative by mathcore(TIL this is a genre tbh) standards. Frankly I'd think GP is spot on, even though I love Vocaloid songs.
  • 4y ago
• timoth3y 4y ago
  Thanks for turning me on to that. It's definitely not my thing, but Tsumiki's use of vocals is interesting and well executed.
• GoblinSlayer 4y ago
  IME addictive music is the worst.