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Ahh, Hatsune Miku, your squeaky, high-pitched voice never ceases to annoy me.

Just kidding. I do prefer Kaito, though.

This is really a question about OCR, believe it or not. Has anyone here ever used the Vocaloid programs? If you don't know what they are: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vocaloid

And would Vocaloids even be considered for use in a video game remix on this site? I mean, I'm not saying no one's thought of it, but I haven't seen any. Is there an unwritten (or even written) rule against it? I am not by any means dissing or..uh...lessening the roles of the talented vocalists already on this site; I consider Vocaloid an instrument, albeit a digital one. It can be played like any other digital instrument.

Well, to get the creative juices flowing, here's some examples from each of the Japanese Vocaloids. Keeping in mind that their Video Game songs are generally not as good as their other material, I've included

Being an avid Kaito fan, I found him singing to the Deku Palace theme, which, while not a Remix, is what got me thinking in the first place. Kaito has a smooth, deep voice. Also: Deku Palace ftw! Here's a very brief song:

Hatsune Miku sings

. They toned down her squeakyness, and she sounds pretty. Here is a non-Video Game song by Miku, in a more 'traditional' rendition of her voice:

Megurine Luka sings the

theme. She is one of the nicer-sounding female Vocaloids, in my opinion, with a softer, more sultry voice. Here's another song by her:

Meiko sings Zelda's Lullaby. This song doesn't do her justice, but is still pretty nice. She has a more mature voice than Rin or Miku, so here's another short song that does her justice: Wedding Wars.

Here are Kagamine Rin and Len singing the Outset Island theme from the Wind Waker. They are the twins with young voices! They are also famous for the Daughter of Evil series, so here's Rin in

, and Len in
.

It sounds a bit silly, since those songs pretty much have them singing 'la la la,' but I think the software has great potential to be used on this site. As one more example, just to demonstrate the versatility of the program in the hands of a skilled user: Kaito sings Take Five. Not a Video Game Remix, but darn cool!

So: thoughts? Comments?

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I can be fairly certain when I say that no, they would not be considered solid remix material alone. Perhaps as part of a larger production, but alone, there is not enough flexibility (at least from what I've heard of Vocaloid). Even then, I only see it being applied to humorous effect, not any serious one.

If you really want vocals, there are some talented singers on OCR you could always ask to give a hand. I don't really see Vocaloid as being the method to achieve this, though.

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I think that teal, centered text with line breaks every sentence for an entire paragraph is annoying to read

You're right. This shall be remedied.

I can be fairly certain when I say that no, they would not be considered solid remix material alone. Perhaps as part of a larger production, but alone, there is not enough flexibility (at least from what I've heard of Vocaloid). Even then, I only see it being applied to humorous effect, not any serious one.

If you really want vocals, there are some talented singers on OCR you could always ask to give a hand. I don't really see Vocaloid as being the method to achieve this, though.

Oh, I'm not saying that they would be 'solid remix material alone.' I was thinking that they would be used--like you said--for humorous effects...but also for serious ones, though not the entire song, no...

I am also not suggesting that the talented OCR singers should be replaced--but Vocaloid is a virtual instrument that can be used just like any other music program, so I thought I should ask about it.

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virt made a song for Blockparty '09 featuring Miku

http://www.biglionmusic.com/music/lorem-ipsum

won the compo [and I got 6th place lol!]

but yeah check that song out it's pretty amazing. Also I have heard vocaloid used pretty effectively. Examples:

Melt

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6QsIRxtszA Last Night, Good Night

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ox5-fEH4Ww Meltdown

Sugar Chocolate Waffle [omg so cute]

Lately almost all I have been doing is listening to vocaloid music, there is some pretty amazing stuff out there, and it tells me a few things:

-Technology is good enough that you can make a computer sound like a heavily autotuned real person

-Vocaloid would not be anywhere near as popular and widespread without the mascots. Giving a machine a cute appearance and persona lessens the uncanny valley effect greatly.

-There's a lot of brilliant musicians and songwriters out there held back by not having access to cute japanese girls that can sing for them. Vocaloid unlocks their potential.

-There's also a lot of people who enjoy having a vocalist that can do whatever they are asked.

I still have yet to actually make a song with vocaloid, but I really suck with lyrics, much less japanese lyrics. Dammit if only someone helped me :D

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I still have yet to actually make a song with vocaloid, but I really suck with lyrics, much less japanese lyrics. Dammit if only someone helped me :D

Kaito sings a mean German: Die Schatten Werden Länger. As someone who lives in a household where German is spoken fluently, I can vouch for him. Meiko can sing pretty good English, which Kaito fails at though! Unfortunately I can't find the video I'm looking for though...so you don't get to hear her. ):

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My wife is actually huge into Vacaloids, and has been listening to stuff where they were used for years... or at least about since their inception. Anyway, I'm not a huge fan, but she showed me a few songs done where I can't help but be blown away by the presentation. Namely this one, and especially this one. It has quite a lot to do with the associated personality of Kaito, but even still, quite entertaining.

Also, as with any instrument/tool, there is a time and a place. Really amazing things can be done if the right tool is used in the right place. Look at

. The dialog in that is totally messed up and awkward, but the presentation makes it amazing.
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