Board Thread:News and Announcements/@comment-35301431-20131018001013/@comment-35301431-20131018001027

When fans attempt to describe a Vocaloid, a list of terms and words is often used as a method of conveying the overall effect of their voice naturally. While manipulation and editing methods can alter this effect, in their default settings some qualities are present. while some descriptions such as "sweet" tend to be more based on opinions as what is pleasing to one person maybe unsettling to another, understanding how a vocaloid sounds can often aid in controlling and editing their voices or allow for easier decisions on which vocaloid is suitable for a song. Different voice types will also have different problems with them, for instance soft voices may need adjustments to the brightness parameter to make them louder.

List of words
Note that some descriptive words may have similar meanings to each other or that the overall effect they are describing is similar. Please note also, some of the more negative descriptions are easier to note in Vocaloids that will share the same language as you such as "muffling". If you do not understand Japanese, you may perhaps be unable to pick out such problems.


 * Accent
 * A accent is a natural style of pronunciation that a particular group of individuals convey in their voice from one particular area that is unique to their group. Vocaloids are effected by at least 3 styles of accent; regional, stress and pitch. Regional is an accent that appears based on country or area and all English capable vocaloids have this form of accent. Stress accents are a natural method of pronunciation seen within the English language itself. Pitch is seen in Japanese vocaloids, although of the 3 accents it is the least noticeable. Only VY1 has a particular accent that has been noted amongst the Japanese Vocaloids. See Phoneme List for more information.


 * Atmospheric
 * Describes how a vocaloid conveys depth to a song with or without lyrics. By manipulating the actual notes and adding layers of vocal effects, some Vocaloids can easily achieve a atmospheric result. Tonio and Prima easily convey atmospheric notes.


 * Bounce
 * Describes a vocaloid whose notes convey much energy. Energetic notes are normally associated with "happiness" as when a person is happy their vocal range is different to when they are sad. The vocals can often also be slightly higher pitched then normal. Both Kaito and Gumi have large amounts of bounce to their voice.


 * Child-like
 * Many very similar words are used to describe a high pitched voice ("chibi", "childish") normally associated with a younger person - either at or below teenage years - rather than older. High pitches are common with young Japanese females portrayed in media and thus such voices are associated with children and young teenage girls. Yuki Kaai has a "child-like" voice.


 * Clear
 * Describes how a Vocaloid pronounces words. The vocalist, Vocaloid engine and quality of samples will have some effects on this. However, clearness is mostly controlled by the skills of the producer working with the program and even unclear or muffled voices can be made to sound clearer.


 * Deep
 * Normally describes a vocalist whose voice comes from deep within the throat and is typically a word used for male voices although mature female vocals can also be described as "deep" since they may not convey the normal feminine qualities.


 * Effeminate
 * A male voice who has properties normally associated with female voices. Leon and Piko Utatane (the latter if not correctly configured) in particular can often unintentionally convey this effect due to the weight of the overall voice.


 * Flat
 * A voice that has little "energy" to the voice, often sound monotone like the singer has put little effort into manipulating their voices. Flat voices must be manipulated to get more natural sounding results from their samples as well as make them sound "alive". Flat voices in music are usually shunned for their lack of emotional emphasis on their notes, however in Vocaloid this may be a preference. For example, Hatsune Miku is one Vocaloid who is considered "flat" yet her flatness has resulted in her being far more versatile than the Vocaloids with more vivid voices.


 * Hallow
 * A hallow voice is normally associated with a sad or depressing voice, often appearing deeper then normal. When a person is sad, they do not put so much energy into conveying their voice, and the sound becomes flatter, losing much of its depth and acquiring a monotone style. Leon and Gakupo Kamui have both levels of of flatness.


 * Harmonization
 * The ability to blend in with other vocals and not stand out. This is achieved when vocals share the same weight properties, however certain Vocaloids can often be used to close gaps in vocal ranges. Both Len Kagamine and Rin Kagamine harmonize well with each other due to their similar weight of voices. Amongst the female Vocaloids, SF-A2 miki is such a Vocaloid who can be used to close the gaps in vocal ranges, essentially leading to further vocal blending. However, Kiyoteru Hiyama is said to be harder to blend in with other Vocaloids and his voice can often be picked out when singing in a group.


 * Husky
 * Husky voices have a combination of the coarse sound of a rough voice and the flatness of a hallow one. The effect they produce is a voice that sounds moody, often with levels of maturity. Such a vocalist is ideal for genres such as Jazz. Luka Megurine was designed with such a voice in mind.


 * Light
 * Vocalists who sing more in the mouth than the throat have lighter sounding voices; this effect is also referred to by the term "thin" (as opposed to "thick" for voices which have nasal or throaty qualities). These voices lack depth, but are often easier to manipulate for the same reason as the weight of the voice is less. Leon and Kaito both are vocaloids with a light sound of voice.


 * Mature
 * As a person ages, their voice changes with them. A "mature" voice is one that sounds more like an adult and is normally used for Vocaloids to describe females. The most notable vocaloid with a very mature voice is Lola. Mature voices are often rougher, but commonly deeper. This mature voice can also disappear during elderly years, so the typical age is seen for such individuals is 30-50.


 * Muffled
 * Used to describe Vocaloids that are naturally unclear. This can also be affected by the Vocaloid engine itself and Vocaloid era voicebanks sometimes. Muffling is usually affected by the vocalist who provided the Vocaloid's voice, usually due to high levels of softness or a particular accent held within the voice. As the vocaloid software blends the vowels and consonants an apparent lack of distinction occurs, causing a voice that is hard to understand, in other words not "clear". Sonika in particular is noted to have this effect. It is easier to hide the Japanese Vocaloids with such an effect as no blending of the diphthongs occurs so becomes more apparent in English Vocaloids than Japanese, although the original Len and Rin Kagamine were subject to hard criticism on such an effect and Lily may also experience this as well. Muffling can be removed with careful editing of the vocals, so therefore muffled results are often considered a sign of bad editing.


 * Nasally
 * Both the nose and mouth are capable of doing the task of breathing. As a person speaks, air will pass through either one or the other depending on the control of the singer. A nasally singer is one who sounds like they are allowing much of the air in their lungs pass through their nose as they breath. The throat vibrates to allow speech, but some passing air through the throat carries the sound out of the nasal cavities rather than the mouth. Depending on listener's opinion, nasally voices can often be an undesirable trait as it shows the singer has less control over their voice, or because it is how a person with a cold sounds, or because the voice is often less clear. However, vocaloids with this effect can often be desirable for songs that require more focus on the musical note rather then the spoken word. Vocaloids with a notable amount of such effect are Tonio, Meiko and Gakupo Kamui. Also note with vocal editing, this effect can be removed.


 * Powerful
 * Describes a voice that comes off as very definite overall in its capabilities and very confident in its strengths, usually sounding louder than what one expects overall and appears dominate against other voices. The voice for the task it does comes off with very few weaknesses when used correctly. Powerful can also be a method to value one voice against another (Tonio is more powerful than Big Al for instance), to state overall who is the better singer. However be aware power isn't always equal to clearness. Both Prima and Tonio have powerful voices, although Tonio is less clear than Prima.


 * Robotic
 * A voice that is robotic has a very machine-like quality sounding less like a natural human and sounding very obvious that they were gained by a synthesizer. The result is caused by unnatural blending of the language, and by more noticeable effects of the Vocaloid engine attempting to smooth out the notes. Vocaloid era voicebanks often convey a high level of digital sound. However, Vocaloid 2 era voicebanks will convey robotic-like tone when they are stressed to use notes they are not so well at accomplishing. Essentially, the sound they end up producing is a "twang" effect similar to the sound gained when plucking a elastic band. Careful editing and note of the strengths of a Vocaloid, settings of the voice can often over come such a result, although some users will seek out to create this effect specifically. Variable degrees of roboticness can also appear in Vocaloids that are not smooth sounding, such as Lily.


 * Rough
 * A rough voice describes a vocalist whose natural blending of words is not constant, this gives them a very coarse sounding voice. This does not always mean smooth blending within the Vocaloid engine does not occur but means their voice has a particular sound to it. This voice is often achieved when vibrations from the voice box are effect by moisture within the throat. Big Al and Gakupo both have a level of roughness to their voices.


 * Sharp
 * Sharpness is how a vocaloid pronounces words, and the overall outcome is a word that appears abruptly spoken. This can often be associated with a clear word, but does not always mean the Vocaloid is clear. VY1 and Rin Kagamine are both sharp voices.


 * Smooth
 * Smoothness is conveyed by the quality of blending between the phonetics of a word per note and how the Vocaloid is able to maintain a constant transaction from note to note, from word to word. Several things may affect smoothness, the most notable is the quality of samples used for the Vocaloid recording. The second is the natural control that the vocalist who provided the voice had and how well they kept their voice constant during recording. Thirdly, the vocaloid engine also has to blend the phonetics together on top of this and depending on how well it manages to achieve this can sometimes also convey a more smoother voice. This is particularly noticeable on notes the Vocaloid is naturally good at singing, often sounding rougher or more robotic on the note the Vocaloid engine is forced to improvise on when the samples do not cover those notes.


 * Soft
 * Describes a voice whose pronunciation is very gentle coming off quieter than someone with a strong or powerful voice, but less firm and solid than someone with a sharp voice. Though this does not mean they are unclear, it does mean they do not put much emphasis on the actual word itself. Yuki Kaai and Gumi are Vocaloids whose voices are very soft. Soft voices are usually easier to control, edit and blend in with other voices, however they suffer from being easily drowned by more powerful voices. Thus, to achieve perfect harmonization in such scenarios, soft voices usually need to be strengthened to match the over powering voice, or the over powering voice needs to be softened to match the softer Vocaloid.


 * Static
 * Static sounding voices have a level of odd sounds and metallic noises. It appears when voices are not recorded well or smoothness of the vocaloid is absent, but can also appear when the Vocaloids are incorrectly edited. The vocaloid with the most noted amount of such static sounds is Sonika although it does not appear unless the producer raises her voice to make it clearer without compensating for any form of vocal clean up as a result. Such a result is separated from "robotic" because it is not the effect of software itself but the recording of the samples alone. Static can also describe a monotone voice within a song that remains constant or unchanging, often not drifting too far between notes.


 * Stylistic
 * Refers to Vocaloids who were designed for a specific task and style of music. Such Vocaloids excel at their design but produce difficult or unusual results when used outside of their intended style. However since they are designed for a specific task, while it may be harder to use them for their unintended style, it may be easier to understand how their voice works by studying the music they are intended for. Leon and Lola, Tonio and Prima, Yuki Kaai and Gachapoid are all intended for a target style of music (soul, opera and children's songs respectively).


 * Sweet
 * Sweet is a term used for a tone of voice designed to a vocal that is gentle, but not always soft, who puts much emphasis on their words to reflect an overall sincere voice that is aimed to be pleasing to listen to. As the vocalist speaks or sings, their voice is pitched up slightly, sometimes putting much emphasis or exaggerations on the vowel sounds rather than the consonants, without sounding like the vocalist is forcing the tone onto the voice unnaturally. The muscles within the throat control the air flow so the overall vibrations of the voice occur within the top half of the throat. Sweet Ann is such a vocaloid, and is achieved because of how her accent effects her voice. "Sweet" can also be used to describe cute sounding, high-pitched voices like Miku Hatsune and Yuki Kaai for sounding child-like.


 * Thick
 * Thick voices have very definite attributes about them as they sing. Usually notes an accent or depth of voice. Thick voices are very profound at doing the task they were invented for, however they are often harder to manipulate because the weight of their voices are very definite and it is hard to lose the attributes or disguise them. Both Gakupo and Big Al have thick voices.


 * Tone
 * Tone is the overall effect of a voice per note. It reflects the mood of the singer. The best example of tones can be heard from the Append voicebanks such as Miku. Tones however can be changed by altering the vocal settings or through file editing.


 * Weight
 * When two Vocaloids are used alongside each other they must share a level of common value within their voice in order to to successfully blend together. This indeterminable value is referred to as a weight and is determined by the overall attributes of the voice. Two Vocaloids with very different voices can in theory work together if they share a similar value with each other within their voice. For example, Gumi's soft voice is equal in weight to Big Al's roughness, thus the two will harmonize with each other. However, Miku's vocal weights are much different to Big Al's and this the two often sound awkward singing together. However weight can also aid in layering the vocals together to overcome this, allowing vocals to undertake specific roles when singing alongside each other. By allowing Big Al's voice to sink into the background, allowing him to become a background vocalist instead of a co-singer, Miku can sing over him as a lead or main singer without fear of her voice weight conflicting with his own. Even with two vocaloids whose weights are very different, this will not prevent them singing alongside each other.


 * Youthful
 * While a Vocaloid may not be particularly high-pitched, it is possible for them to have a young-sounding quality to their voice. Iroha Nekomura is a prime example of this: even though her voice is quite deep, it has a fresh and young feel to it and isn't "over-mature" like some Vocaloids (particularly Lola) are considered to be.