What makes an UTAU, good?

Damien

Wannabe Worker
Retired User
Supporter
Defender of Defoko
Probably a stupid question, no idea if it's been asked before, but I want to hear all your hoomans' thoughts on this. (Utaforum has also been really quiet lately)

What, in all your opinions, makes a voicebank good?
 

Melomad

Ritsu's Renegades
Defender of Defoko
Technicaly, a good utau is a well executed utau (good recordings, tone, oto etc etc) and also a versatile one on top of that (append, multipitch etc etc).
But for me, a good utau is an utau that I want to use. For example, I have Yamine Renri sitting in my voice folder but I never use her. I prefer using Urone If because I like him more even if he does not have any appends nor multipitch.
I hope that was clear haha
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Nohkara and Damien

Shasta

Professional Lurker
Global Mod
Defender of Defoko
A good utau is determined by the user.

Personally, I prefer stronger, slightly robotic utau voicebanks. Typically monopitch in CV or VCV. I'm learning to use CVVC and I'm starting to like it more, I'm still not 100% familiar with it. I also really like powerful, solid or clear voicebanks. Another thing I really like is a good low range. Most songs are pretty high, so a good low range doesn't really matter, tbh...

I tend to stray away from multipitch banks because they're huge, and don't really do much but take up space. I also don't really like whisper banks, or kire banks. I enjoy being able to hear the robotic aspects of utau, it's almost comforting. I also tend to stay away from utau in languages aside from Japanese. I'm useless in ust/song making, so every ust out there has already been used by every English utau out there and it's pretty boring. I also don't have a grasp on how English voicebanks work, and none of my own.

I am also one of those users who prefers to use their own utau.


Long story short, create whatever bank you want, someone out there is bound to like it.
 

melobuniiP

Queen of Bunnies, Thou shalt not forget.
Supporter
Defender of Defoko
I like UTAU who has an appealing voice and design, a cute design that I'm drawn to, and a nice voice. I am a sucker for robotic and hissy tones, so I am more inclined to use those voicebanks. Yes it means I will not use Ritsu or Renri LOL
 

ryutsu

Teto's Territory
When you record the shit out of your heart, every voicebank is good. EVERY VOICEBANK! Even if it sounds choppy or something like this. If you put a lot of effort in it it's a good VB.
 

Soursop the fruit

✧ Fruity & Happy ✧
Defender of Defoko
From the voice, i consider a clean voice and a pretty clean .oto as a good VB, this goes for all format of VBs.
And from the design side...Its not designed with minimal clothes and not drawn with "no effort/hardwork", i prefer to see the VB avatar as a "icon/photo stock pics" instead of a character if the voicebank manager can't get/make a good art for their voicebank.

Aaand, a plus if the manager is a friendly person and have good passion to work on their VBs, it gives me that positive vibes when using their banks..
 

Arissa

Ritsu's Renegades
Defender of Defoko
It really depends on the user. For me I just need to like the way an Utau sounds and looks(I'm kind of bad at telling how HQ or LQ a bank is, so long as it's not screeching death in my ears it seems good quality 0,0)
(Proper oto is of no question a must)

If a design is appealing with a voice to follow it up I'll like it, if the bank can handle its own without needing a trillion pitches or even more than one, I'm down(has very little computer space)

Really bad pronunciation is a turn off and not very appealing,, I also don't like harsh, robotic voices most of the time, either... Just anything that sounds and looks nice to my senses will do for me tbh ^=^
 
Last edited:

☆彡иα∂ιѕ☆彡

Ash Ketchum
Supporter
Defender of Defoko
Generally speaking people are looking for:

A good oto (dare i say a PERFECT oto)
Clear samples with a mic of decent quality i.e: NOT your
laptop mic
A proper accent (for me personally i don't mind if there is a bit of a western one anymore because a western accent DOES NOT equate to a bad voicebank)
 
  • Like
Reactions: Nohkara and Damien

HixaiU

Ruko's Ruffians
Defender of Defoko
Its good to me if:
>pronounciation is on key
>the toneality is unique
>if its fexible enough
>doesn't sound bored
>I like designs that are unique
>the microphone isn't a blue of some sort(personal preference)
> this oto is workable (I tend to play around with peoples otos when tuning anyway to get what I want out of the bank)
> hasnt got a 10 page backstory on how its a miku weeb.
 

kimchi-tan

Your local Mikotard
Global Mod
Defender of Defoko
Imo, rather than internal qualitative factors such as microphone quality, oto, etc. it is external factors such as the usage of the voicebank through tuning and mixing that make people realize how much potential a voicebank can reach.
An example would be Sora Denatsu. She was recorded with an iPhone microphone yet despite not having studio mic quality, she's one of the most popular overseas utau thanks to her amazingly-tuned and mixed demo songs.
 

Sors

Local Guppie & UTAU Korean Advocate
Tutor
Defender of Defoko
Welp, for me:
>Top pronounciation
>Little to no accent
>Interesting design (Although only the voice matters, the design is what catches your interest!)
>Expressional (idc what as long as its not a bored one)

But like kimchi said, majority comes from how you use it
 
  • Like
Reactions: Nohkara and Melomad

RaccoonButler

Founder of The Church of Mawarine Shuu
Defender of Defoko
Love

That sounds like a joke, but I have noticed that when people are really excited and passionate about their UTAU, they do the best they can regardless of what they have access to, in terms of recording equipment, and it always shows. Even if they aren't so great at pronunciation or don't really know much about otoing, they'll keep coming back to try to learn and improve their bank as much as possible. And, they'll experiment with flags and mixing to find what brings out the best in their UTAU's voice, even if they don't have access to a good quality mic. You can usually hear it in the tone of their UTAU when the creator has a lot of passion and enthusiasm for their creation as opposed to when they have a sort of dead, formulaic tone.

I personally think that that tone/the sound of their recordings/the personality that their voice has is the most important part. All of the other things like clarity and oto can be fixed or worked around, but if they sound dead inside, that's how they're always going to sound no matter what you do.
 

Damien

Wannabe Worker
Retired User
Supporter
Defender of Defoko
Thread starter
Love

That sounds like a joke, but I have noticed that when people are really excited and passionate about their UTAU, they do the best they can regardless of what they have access to, in terms of recording equipment, and it always shows. Even if they aren't so great at pronunciation or don't really know much about otoing, they'll keep coming back to try to learn and improve their bank as much as possible. And, they'll experiment with flags and mixing to find what brings out the best in their UTAU's voice, even if they don't have access to a good quality mic. You can usually hear it in the tone of their UTAU when the creator has a lot of passion and enthusiasm for their creation as opposed to when they have a sort of dead, formulaic tone.

I personally think that that tone/the sound of their recordings/the personality that their voice has is the most important part. All of the other things like clarity and oto can be fixed or worked around, but if they sound dead inside, that's how they're always going to sound no matter what you do.
I think this one is my favorite
 

수연 <Suyeon>

Your friendly neighborhood koreaboo trash
Supporter
Defender of Defoko
For me, a "good" UTAU has something unique in terms of the voice. I've heard so many "omgz dis voice iz sugoiiii desuuu~ slay! Nlahblahblah" and to me... It's just another generic voice in a sea full of generic voices.

I try not to be a quality snob, but it's hard for me to like voices that are thin or muffled because of the mic quality (I've made libraries that are ear piercingly thin and marshmallow eating muffled, so I can't judge people that make do with the best equipment they have at hand). If you can make the best with what you have, then more power to you!

I prefer an attempt at decent pronuniation (not expecting perfect fluency, but sounding like an American with them R's is a no).
 
  • Like
Reactions: Mitt64 and Damien
P

partial

Guest
I think the general standard is a decent mic, multipitch, and VCV.

But for me personally, my idea of a good UTAU is one with a fun design, since I enjoy drawing, and is also capable of VCCV.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Shasta

Similar threads