Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-53539-20160707115408

So in recent years we've begun to form an idea of the "generic Vocaloid". So I thought we'd exchange our ideas on what it is.

To me generic means;

In terms of design, it kind looks like it was inspired by those same tropes that spawned Miku. The schoolgirl... The basic clothes being similar in shape. Basically a typical anime girl in idol form. There is absolutely nothing about the character we've not seen at all in another vocaloid. This was the argument I put forward for Ruby at the time... The character we got for her has elements that other vocaloids have used sine V2. Her original design had it flame hair as the only new element of design, but was Sonika's design in red and black. It had 1 unique element at least which the final design did not. Una gets away with her design be stand out because of her hat, otherwise we've seen her overall design before. But the real crunch is when a vocaloid looks like another to the point it could be mistaken for said character in a different outfit, the worst offender of this was Ring who looked like Miku to the point if she had been in the Project Diva games as a alternative outfit, nobody would have been the wiser no doubt.

In terms of vocal, I feel there is two common types. First is the mid-tone or mature sounding vocal, which Meiko pretty much is an example of. The second is seen within Otomachi Una, being we have a cutesy vocal overall. One appeals to professionals, the other to otaku. If not for XSY, Una's two vocals would have nothing to separate them from the vocals we've had, and if not for the two vocals together we'd have a generic release of a cute-sounding girl. Basically, if the vocal could easily swapped out for another vocaloid for a song and it handles it (quality aside) just the same as the other vocal with little to make the song stand out more then the vocal it replace... Its generic... Take Chika and Gumi... Chika has slightly bigger vocal range and a slightly different tone. Thats it. Remove the fact Gumi now has 10 other vocal and Chika is just Gumi mark2. 