Vocaloid Wiki:Sandbox/First steps into Vocaloid

Note this is not a guide to how to make Vocaloid music, this is a tutorial on the essentials of getting to the point wherein you can begin to make Vocaloid music.

Essentials
To begin you need the following;


 * The Vocaloid software and at least 1 voicebank
 * VOCALOID3 and VOCALOID4 can come without vocals, be aware of this
 * VOCALOID, VOCALOID2 and VOCALOID5 always came with at least 1 vocal
 * Piapro Studio is compactable with VOCALOID3 and VOCALOID4 vocals, it comes with any VOCALOID3 and VOCALOID4 Crypton Future Media, Inc. Vocaloid.
 * A DAW (Desktop Audio Workshop)
 * Recommended DAWs include Yamaha's own Cubase or Crypton Future Media's StudioOne software.
 * Audio editing software
 * Many DAW have their own editing software included

Music terms and music theory
As Vocaloid is a music based software designed to allow musicians to have a professional singer for their works at their disposal, music theory itself is essential. A user needs to under at least the basics of how to write music. This is from the basics of the 7 notes (A,B,C,D,E,F,G), to what scales are, to even an understanding of the vocal ranges (such as bass, baritone, tenor, countertenor, contralo, alto, Mezzo-soprano, soprano, boy soprano). How "noise" or "silence" works and other things such as what rhythm, cords and basics such as names of instruments or where they sit in their families (wood, percussion, wind, etc), to how to make an arrangement using various types of instruments. Even basics such as identifying musical symbols are important things to know.

The more idea of how music works you have going into Vocaloid, the better understanding you have of how to make it.

Software knowledge
In addition to musical terms and theory, the user will at least have to know the basics of how all software works they are playing to use. Often there is on-line tutorials, in some cases the software comes with a tutorial or example works to examine.

The user should be at a point when they begin wherein they know how to use all their software for basic music production, i.e. writing a song with the bare minium knowledge. Since many things within a software are learnt with usage, a producer does not have to know every last thing a software does, though they should be working towards learning many of its tools available. For example, within Vocaloid itself, it is not nesscarily essential that you learn how to use the phonemes, as technically you can use Vocaloid without lyrics, but it is essential you learn how to create the vocal arrangement and use it in conjunction with your DAW, with having a basic understanding of how to mix correctly with the other instrumentals of the song (remember that Vocaloid is considered an instrument itself).

In addition, users need to have basic understanding of how save files are made within Vocaloid and all relevant software, how to load them. Saving your work is always important.

Choosing a voicebank
While there are many ways to approach the purchase of your first Vocaloid, it is best to ask basic questions.

Language + Phonetics
One of the most common mistakes made is not taking language into account. As many of the western Vocaloid fandom are also into J-Pop and anime/manga, it is common for them to snap up the chance to own a Japanese voicebank. However, without a basic understanding of Japanese, this means the producer is limited to cover songs, basic vocal arrangements or "Englis'h" with a Japanese voicebank.

The following is a list of available Phonetic information that the Wiki supplies on the 5 major languages Vocaloid has produced vocals for;
 * English Phonetics
 * Japanese Phonetics
 * Korean Phonetics
 * Chinese Phonetics
 * Spanish Phonetics

''Important; despite the myth, you cannot get high quality English results from Japanese Vocaloid voicebanks. You can get understandable results, but each Vocaloid is only made to work with their respective languages in mind.''

You can also use the following pages to get an idea on how to convert phonetics from one language to another;
 * Phoneme List
 * English - Japanese
 * English - Korean
 * English - Spanish