Talk:PowerFX Systems AB./@comment-76.16.147.163-20161005190908/@comment-53539-20181204012913

UTAU isn't "Vocaloid" to be blunt, but its also a dead software. IT ceased development in 2013 and has seen a decrease in its production of songs and voicebanks greater then any comparable result to the other synths we have such as CeVIO and Vocaloid. Its been on the slow and steady decline since 2014. Its gone from 1,000+ uploads and beyond a month to about 400+ a month uploads on Nico Video. ITs not as easy to use as you think as plenty of westerners in particular have made buggy voicebanks with it. So you often produce a poor result without realising it, other things such as basic mispronunciations, over pronunciations and incorrect tones where, all contributing to produce an unnatural result. Without a quality checker or guide from a native speaker, you won't know how bad the sounds in that voicebank are. So while its an option, you can't ignore whats the situation with it right now, or that it will be a uphill struggle to produce a decent result. The engine also doesn't compete with Vocaloid5, CeVIO and by the looks of it Synth V right now because of the ceased production of development. Its still going to last while users produce voicebanks and use it, but its not going anywhere as a engine for the moment. It may never pick up again. :-?

UTAU wasn't set up for English, it is missing some sounds and the best you can do is the 40% core sounds. Even in Vocaloid, thats enough to be understandable, see Luka English v2. However, it means you don't have all the combinations possible and that leaves gaps. "Clarity" must never be regarded as the soul reason a voicebank is HQ unless your after a particular sound that has to sound odd such as the Chipspeech vocals. Their HQ because they sound like the synths their based on and some lack clarity entirely.

Even though the right tuning can make UTAU sound decent, all 3 of the alternative engines at this point... Basically now are either out shining it or look to be doing that. Thats UTAU's problem its never been the best at what it does. Sure... If we compare it to alter/ego, I would say UTAU may indeed be better, but the engine for Alter/ego was meant to be adaptable, not really great. Its the same engine Chipspeech uses and Chipspeech uses multiple methods of synthising sound, whereas all previously mentioned engines don't. Even CeVIO has a separate engine from what I recall for speech and singing, but this is the only example that comes close to Alter/ego.

Your better off likely using Synth V and supporting a fresh new engine thats upcoming and promising at this point. Making a voicebank of your own sounds nice but UTAUs got time against it. We know sometime in the mid-2020s, its likely to be taken out by the next OS update.

Plus... Bare in mind you did reply to a comment from 2016, that user may not be around and a lot has happened in 2 years. :-?