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 the user needs the following;


 * A Computer PC or MAC
 * VOCALOID and VOCALOID2 are only PC compatible, but Windows version is important with VOCALOID being buggy post Windows 7, with some bugs known for VOCALOID2 in Windows 8 and 10.
 * VOCALOID3, VOCALOID4 and VOCALOID5 are PC and Mac compatible though be aware the license for these versions only covers either and not both.
 * Physical copies of any version of the software also require a CD or DVD
 * The VOCALOID software and at least 1 voicebank
 * VOCALOID3 and VOCALOID4 and their respective voicebanks can be purchased separately.
 * VOCALOID, VOCALOID2 and VOCALOID5 always came with at least 1 vocal
 * Piapro Studio is compatible with VOCALOID3 and VOCALOID4 vocals, it comes with any VOCALOID3 and VOCALOID4 Crypton Future Media, Inc. VOCALOID.
 * For users of Cubase, there is also VOCALOID Editor for Cubase
 * A DAW (Digital audio workstation)
 * Recommended DAWs include Steinberg's Cubase or Presonus's StudioOne software.
 * ReWire and VSTi supported DAWs are recommended for certain versions of VOCALOID such as VOCALOI5 can use them. An $80.00 ReWire & VSTi add on can be bought for StudioOne Artist versions 3 and 4.
 * Audio editing software
 * Many DAW have their own editing software included.
 * Being able to at least mix VOCALOID vocals with instruments is a required skill, but it is important to also be able to add various vocal effects such as vibrato, echoing, etc.
 * Various instrument producing plug-ins
 * Samples, plug-ins and other software for use for creating music.
 * The DAW may come with some of these to begin with depending.

Other set up notes
For music making in general, a MIDI keyboard can also be an option. The user should also have a decent set of headphones for playback reasons as a good headset will allow hearing delicate levels of sound and it is useful for helping them listening to their music as it is being created.

It may be a prejudice to be tempted to spend a lot of money when they first start out and instead focus on a few things such as a percussion, a lead instrument, etc. Many modern bands consist of members that are a keyboard pianist, a lead guitarist, a bass guitarist, a drummer and a lead singer; back up singers and rhythm guitarist roles being optional extras. So a basic guide of which instruments to invest in can vary from this but will be the same sort of style.

Other styles require different set ups. For example, classic jazz will greatly vary the instruments and use some such as a saxophone, a trombone, a trumpet, a cello or double bass, as well as a classic piano. Opera style music will usually work with orchestra style instruments such as harps, classic pianos and other traditional style orchestra instruments. If the user seeks for this music style, then companies such as Zero-G Limited often have sample packs covering this and seeing what studios have to offer is a good reflex to have. The genre of music will likely cause the user to have to consider what type of VOCALOID voicebank they may also purchase.

Remember that music can be made itself with only a single instrument such as a piano or a guitar and a singer alone can create a cappella style songs. While it is noted that other instruments may be needed for diversity reasons, having 50 plug-ins for a guitar may be unneeded if the user is only going to use one or two of them.

In addition, due how pricey a VOCALOID set up can be, taking advantage of "freebies" may also be a help for starting. For example, the VOCALOID PHRASE PACK SERIES for VOCALOID5 is a free download. Haruno Sora was later supplied a free "Attack Release" function for her that, while it mostly works with just her vocal, was revealed to also work with other vocals. Clara, Bruno and MAIKA all had language support plug-ins for VOCALOID3 and VOCALOID4 that converted VSQ and VSQ files from Japanese phonetics to Spanish, allowing the Spanish Vocaloids to sing "Japanese" via Japanese - Spanish conversion. These freebies may often be minor, but they should not be skipped over.

Music terms and music theory
Music theory is the collective knowledge on the technics and technicalities on how music works. For example, a basic terms "silence" and "pregnant pause" and though both involve a lack of noise, they are different from each other. When someone learns about music theory, they are taught these basic differences which will help when writing music or just learning about it in general.

It becomes essential in music writing and making. The reason for the basic 7 notes (A,B,C,D,E,F,G) is because each has a specific frequency able to be picked out from all others, an "A" note on a violin string vibrates at about 440 Hz for example. So if a musician works with that instrument over time they can learn how an "A" sounds and can recreate that note on demand whenever needed, or learn how to correct the violin when the strings loosen and the note changes.

Music theory therefore teaches the producer how to write at certain tempo paces, what the terminology involved with music is and essentially the difference between general noise and actually producing something that sounds like it has direction. In short, they have to learn how each of the instruments work together to create a song, but they also have to learn how to write the song to begin with.

As VOCALOID is a music-based software designed to allow musicians to have a professional singer for their works at their disposal, it becomes important the user needs to understand at least the basics of how to write music. VOCALOID being considered as a vocal instrument, consider they should understand how scales or vocal ranges work and what they are (such as bass, baritone, tenor, countertenor, contralto, alto, mezzo-soprano, soprano, boy soprano). Knowing music theory specifically related to the human voice above all other things may thus be helpful.

The more idea of how music works the user going into VOCALOID has, the better understanding they have of how to make it. If they do not know at least some basic theory information, it is recommended you either take a course with a local educational institute such as a high-school or college, read theory books or look up on-line tutorials lectures and other informational pages. There are many mistakes newbie musicians make that can easily be fixed with the right knowledge and they have to start learning to be a musician.

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 are 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 minimum 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 necessarily essential that they learn how to use the phonemes, as well as technically using VOCALOID without lyrics. What is essential is that they try to learn how to create the vocal arrangement and use it in conjunction with their DAW, having a basic understanding of how to mix correctly with the other instrumentals of the song (VOCALOID being considered as a music instrument itself).

In addition to create non-lyric arrangements, if the producer has issues to create lyrics, VOCALOID can be created for basic Loop arrangement. VOCALOID5 includes 1,000 phrases in Japanese and English for such arrangements, and in addition VOCALOID PHRASE PACK SERIES was created to add more.

Users need to have basic understanding of how save files are made within VOCALOID and all relevant software, how to load them. Saving a work in progress is essential and a reflex to learn. For VOCALOID3, the VOCALOID-P data series was created to act partly as examples of different VSQ and VSQX arrangements with various materials being made available within its releases.

Magazines such as DTM MAGAZINE have included tutorials while other books and mooks have existed such as the ボカロＰになりたい！ (Vocalo-P ni Naritai) magazine. Almost all examples, however, are in Japanese.

One other thing to note is that even if a producer may not be leaning towards music involving a piano, VOCALOID and most of the modern software have a piano roll. This is because most modern music based software is designed to be used with a MIDI keyboard, or expects those who use it to have the basic knowledge of the piano itself because of how common a MIDI keyboard is in music making. In short, whether or not a producer wants to, they are going to have to learn a bit about the piano or keyboard just to know where the keys are within VOCALOID and its piano roll. VOCALOID5 also supported the MIDI keyboard allowing for real time editing and for anyone working with that version it is really advisable that they purchase a MIDI keyboard, if they haven't one for use integrated within their DAW.

Choosing a voicebank
While there are many ways to approach the purchase of your first Vocaloid, it is best to ask basic questions and form an idea of basic planning especially if wishing to buy further vocals in the future. Several of these factors can limit the direction of Vocaloid purchases and usage.

Engine Version
One of the factors at play when choosing a voicebank is the engine you at looking at and the options available for that engine. The engine version is a huge factor in which vocals can be purchased, for example if an user own VOCALOID3, it is not possible at all to use VOCALOID4 or VOCALOID5 vocals, and purchasing voicebanks working with the engine is thus required.

A brief summer of the engines;
 * VOCALOID - not recommended. The engine acted as a standalone software separate from all versions. It was very basic and was retired on January 1, 2014. LEON, LOLA and MIRIAM have not been updated to newer engines.
 * VOCALOID2 - was compatible with VOCALOID3 and VOCALOI4 but is retired as of March 31, 2016. Most voicebanks, however, were replaced with VOCALOID3 or VOCALOID4 versions, except for SONiKA, Sweet ANN, Utatane Piko, BIG AL, Prima and Tonio. Unless an user is specifically after these vocals, VOCALOID2 is not recommended most of time.
 * VOCALOID3 - the oldest of the current engines available, with vast improvements over VOCALOID2.
 * VOCALOID4 - mostly identical to VOCALOID3 with additional features such as XSY and GWL. This is often recommended over VOCALOID3 and accepts both VOCALOID2 (importation is required for these) and VOCALOID3 vocals in addition to VOCALOID4 ones.
 * VOCALOID5 - the current engine, having the most general improvements for any engine since VOCALOID3, however, swaps XSY and GWL for "Styles" and "Colours". It is compatible with VOCALOID3 and VOCALOID4 vocals. Has issues with E.V.E.C. used by the V4x range of vocals by Crypton Future Media.

Other options may include:
 * VOCALOID Editor for Cubase - currently the most up to date version is 4.5, which is capable of using VOCALOID5. The engine is currently only VOCALOID4 despite this.
 * Piapro Studio - comes with any Crypton Future Media VOCALOID3 or VOCALOID4 vocal. Can register all VOCALOID vocals from VOCALOID2 to VOCALOID4, but has issues for registering the VOCALOID5 ones.
 * Mobile VOCALOID Editor - an iOS version of VOCALOID. Has a number of vocals for it and is recommended as an alternative to the main engine version. Its main draw is it is mostly for Japanese voicebanks and has only 4 non-Japanese vocals in English; CYBER DIVA, Fukase, Megpoid English and CYBER SONGMAN

It can be noted that VOCALOID is not worth more than the price of the current most recent release of the VOCALOID software. For example, it is highly unrecommended to pay $1,000 for the VOCALOID engine if the current version is $400. Unless the user is collector looking for older versions of the engine, they should not be seeked. For example, while XSY may be absent in VOCALOID5, the function is not worth $1,000, this was the price some units of VOCALOID4 were sold at after the release of VOCALOID5. This can be the issue with seeking older versions of VOCALOID.

Language + Phonetics
One of the most common mistakes made is not taking language into account. As many of the western VOCALOID fandom may also be 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 "English" 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

Other than this, it is notable that the Japanese vocals were greatly improved over the case of the VOCALOID2 vocals. The later engine vocals gained a better quality compared to the older ones. Japanese VOCALOID3 and later vocals are superior to their VOCALOID2 counterparts in every way. The next major improvement to Japanese vocals is found in VOCALOID4. From Chika onwards, VOCALOID began to appear using a new recording style that captured more traits of the vocalist. This was due to an issue with VOCALOID3 vocals, reported to sound too alike.

English vocals saw a vast improvement in VOCALOID4, having been set back by Yamaha selling a faulty Dev Kit which contained errors. Pre-VOCALOID4 vocals in general have more errors as a result.

Spanish vocals have not seen a release since MAIKA in the VOCALOID3 engine.

The Korean ones have only two vocals: SeeU and Uni, with SeeU being released for VOCALOID3 and Uni for VOCALOID4.

For Chinese vocals, some are currently available for VOCALOID3 and VOCALOID4 and this is currently the 2rd most well supported language.

When buying a Vocaloid in a particular language you are not familair with, it is recommended a producer take time to learn that language and improve their skills in this area. Otherwise a producer essentially brought a software for a lot of money but can never fully utilise correctly.

However, not everyone can pick up phonetics straight away and even using a language that they are familiar with can be hard. This is true for more complex languages such as English and Spanish. Despite this, VOCALOID usually can be used with limited knowledge of phonetics and how each phonemes works, there is often a library to save words for languages such as English. VOCALOIDs in those respective languages usually have several thousand of the most common words within their libraries and the limiter is mostly encountered when a producer has to write a uncommon word, which requires working out how to get the voicebank to say that word using its phonetics.

See Phoneme List for more details.

Multilingual
If an user is unsure about things, there are a number of multilingual options. These are recommended especially for those who wish to buy a VOCALOID for one language but wish to have a back up language in case they cannot use the desired language. In short, these vocals are a form of safety net that insures a mistake purchase is not a complete loss. However in many cases, the vocals in one language are not equal to another and the two will not work in the same way. For example, the Kagamine Rin & Len V4X release is quite a bit different to their English release.

The following is a list of options for those who want Japanese and English;


 * MEIKO
 * MEIKO V3 comes with a English vocal alongside Japanese ones
 * KAITO
 * KAITO V3 comes with a English vocal alongside Japanese ones
 * Hatsune Miku;
 * Hatsune Miku V3 was released also in a joint package with the Hatsune Miku V3 English, both were otherwise sold separately.
 * Hatsune Miku V4X was released also in a joint package with the Hatsune Miku V4 English, both were otherwise sold separately.
 * A Hatsune Miku V4 Chinese voicebank exists, but is a standalone option.
 * Kagamine Rin & Len
 * Kagamine Rin & Len V4X can be purchased with Kagamine Rin & Len V4 English, both were otherwise sold separately.
 * Megurine Luka;
 * Megurine Luka VOCALOID2 version was released as a primarily Japanese voicebank, but had a English vocal released alongside it.
 * Megurine Luka V4X has both Japanese and English vocals
 * GUMI
 * Megpoid English could be purchased on its own or with the complete V3 Megpoid and V3 Megpoid - Native package
 * YOHIOloid
 * The vocal is a primary English vocal with a Japanese voicebank
 * Macne Nana
 * Her original release had two voicebanks one in Japanese and one in English. Both could be purchased together.
 * Macne Nana V4 is an updated version of the release with greatly improved results in both vocals, in addition a vocal for her sister Macne Petit could be purchased with these vocals though was a Japanese voicebank only. All were available separately or as a joint package.
 * Fukase
 * The release came with a English vocal alongside its 2 Japanese ones.

Overall, the most recommended vocals are "Fukase", "Megpoid", "Macne Nana" and "Yohioloid". There are issues among a number of the Crypton Future Media, Inc. English voicebanks due to some technical issues of which are highlighted on their related pages and they are not always put forward for recommendation for this reason.

VOCALOID5 also includes in both the standard and Premium versions come with voicebanks in English and Japanese. For the standard release, Amy, Chris, Kaori, and Ken are present, while the premium version includes the aforementioned in addition to VY1, VY2, CYBER DIVA II and CYBER SONGMAN II.

Other language options;


 * SeeU
 * The release contained Korean and Japanese voicebanks.
 * Luo Tianyi
 * Her VOCALOID4 vocals consist of Chinese voicebanks and Japanese voicebanks but can only be purchased separately.
 * Xin Hua
 * She has a VOCALOID4 Chinese voicebank and two Japanese voicebanks that are only available as separate purchases.

Phonetic conversion
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
 * Japanese - Korean
 * Japanese - Spanish

''Important; despite the myth, it is not possible to get high quality English results from Japanese VOCALOID voicebanks. Some understandable results can be obtained, but each VOCALOID is initially meant to work only with their respective languages. In all cases, there are always missing sounds, including basic essential phonemes, needed for high quality results. It is important to remember this has it has been witnessed over time a number of even veteran fans recommending purchases such as Japanese voicebanks for English results.''

As a beginner the user would not be expected to refer to these charts as they are considered "advanced" techniques. It is not recommended relying on the existence of this knowledge when they purchase a VOCALOID as it requires general knowledge of phonetic manipulation. In short, it is generally unrecommended buying VOCALOIDs in languages such as Japanese and presume they can simply be used for "English" later as the user may not be capable or skilled at this manipulation.

A few plug-ins work with VOCALOID3 and VOCALOID4 that can auto convert languages, such as MAIKA's one. There are several unofficial ones as well, but there is always a risk factor with unofficial plug-ins and that only the ones from recommended sources should be downloaded. However they are not perfect and will make mistakes from time to time, so it is recommended to check all results.

Haruno Sora also has a supplied function called "Attack Release", allowing her to convert phonetics into "V" and "R", two sounds Japanese speakers generally struggle to pronounce. This allows her to say some words from foreign languages, particularly European languages such as English or Spanish, though it is not a substitute for either of them.

SeeU's Korean voicebank and MAIKA also both come with extra phonemes that can expand their language capabilities. This is once again not a substitute for an entire voicebank in the language they can recreate, but it does mean that they have more chance of being able to say words not in their intended language. MAIKA's extra phonetic data allows her to say Catalan, though can be extended to say languages such as English. SeeU's extra phonetics are designed specifically for English recreation. In both cases, there is no supporting library of words, so even though SeeU has extra phonemes for English, she doesn't have a library of the most common English words. Knowledge of phonemes and how phonetic data works becomes essential for use of these voicebanks extra data. Other VOCALOIDs such as Prima or Sonika also have a thrilled "R" sound.

The Voice
One thing to note about VOCALOID voicebanks is that each has its strengths and weaknesses and each is catered to a particular direction. Even if the user narrows it down to half a dozen voicebanks, there may still have trouble choosing the first vocal they wish to invest in.

It is not safe to presume that because an user likes a voicebank they can work with it, as not every VOCALOID is easy to use and VOCALOID itself was designed to be a professional grade software. It is very easy to hear a result of a VOCALOID they like and take this vocal as being the one they should go after as a form of confirmation bias. Likewise, it is very easy to also listen to a bad VOCALOID result and have it confirm that the VOCALOID is bad via this same bias as in both cases, good or bad, the result confirms user's belief on the vocal.

One argument is that if they like the VOCALOID, they would easily enjoy using it, since the vocal appeals to it. However, the downside of this idea is that if they cannot get a good result from their favourite VOCALOID, the user may feel they have made a mistake and may stop using VOCALOID or that vocal. It is better to have a balanced view on a VOCALOID before buying it, even if they like it, and understand the best they can as to what to expect from it. In the end, the VOCALOID that may suit the style of music the user wishes to create, may not be their favourite, so it may be best to keep an open mind and not dismiss all VOCALOIDs they dislike or miss some diamonds in the rough. There are plenty of other things that can be considered.

The VOCALOIDs usually come with a list of tempo and vocal ranges. The tempo covers the genre of music the VOCALOID is considered as the best at. For example country and rock music are generally a 70-140bpm range, so for the most part GUMI can cover this range easily as her own tempo is 60-175 BPM, making her a suitable option for these type of songs. After tempo, the next thing to consider is tone. "Natural" has a vocal more suited in tone for pop music, so an user would be looking at "Adult" or "Power", while ignoring her "Whisper" and "Sweet" vocals.

This will work for all VOCALOIDs. If an user was to focus on the choice of Yukari instead for country and rock music, they may have to consider what her VOCALOID4 voicebanks have to offer and work from there. Her normal JUN vocal is recommended for ballads as it has a 60bpm-120bpm range. While she can cover rock and country music, she cannot do double tempo (140bpm) and her vocal will only be able to handle the genres slower tempo of 70bpm. By looking at "ONN", it may theorically be better for moodier slow songs such as jazz and she is ideal for slow-medium tempo jazz genres because it is even softer then the "Jun" vocal. But if the user really wish pursuing these music types for Yukari, then her vocal "LIN" with its 80-200bpm would be a better option.

While music tempo ranges are not as solid as this and live performance do vary at times (a song can vary in tempo from 73bpm-78bpm if the musicians are trying to match a 75bpm due tonatural errors and variations), for DTM and EDM musicains the tempo is much more fixed and the user does not have to worry about this.

When it comes to constructing a song's layers of music as well, it is important to remember what a VOCALOIDs recommended vocal range is. This tells if the voicebank is suited best for a soprano, mezzo-soprano, bass, etc. vocal range. Often a song has to be catered for and it is important to be careful when mixing the vocal with music. The VOCALOIDs range impacts the frequency of the vocal, which means that the user will have to pick out instruments suiting it. The vocal range also impacts the role the vocal can take at times, for example a soprano singer can be used for haunting atmospheric effects while a bass vocal for lyrics may sound powerful and deep.

Note that even if the user chooses a vocal that doesn't fit their style, once their skills are good, it is possible to push VOCALOIDs out of their limitations and expand their vocals beyond their limits. However, this requires knowledge of where a voicebank's short comings are in order to fix them. In addition, though VOCALOIDs recommended tempo range is their best range, they do not immediately fail when drifting just 10bpm outside of it, as it normally means the tone is wrong for the genre of music. However some VOCALOIDs experience pronunciation errors outside of their recommended tempo and vocal ranges. In addition, it may often be better to make music that fits the VOCALOID, rather than making the VOCALOID fit the music.

Older voicebanks versus Newer
One last thing to consider, is about older voicebanks, with which there can be issues. They can have less quality overall, either due to the technology at the time used for recording being less advance, or because standards were lower. They were made by developers who may have not been as experienced at producing VOCALOID voicebanks. Generally a number of these issues can be minor, but overall the best example is when comparing Megpoid and V3 Megpoid - Native. Currently as of 2019, the only voicebanks who do not have modern alternatives from VOCALOID and VOCALOID2 are the following:
 * Prima and Tonio - the closest "Opera" like vocaloid is IA but she is Japanese and they are English.
 * Sweet Ann - there is no perfect match for this voicebank in English, with possibly her closest match being MEIKO English.
 * Big Al - VOCALOID in general has a lack of deep, mature masculine vocals and Big Al has no vocals that come close to him at all currently.
 * MIRIAM - the closest two vocals to her are Macne Nana and Daina, both lack the mature tone that Miriam has in her vocal.

All other voicebanks have have modern alternatives to them.
 * SONiKA is not needed if the producer has both OLIVER and AVANNA
 * Utatane Piko has several alternatives such as ZOLA PROJECTs "Yuu" vocal or Yohioloid,
 * LEON or LOLA can see modern replacements with Amy and Chris.
 * All other voicebanks from these eras were updated, with VOCALOID3 and later engine vocals being much higher quality than their previous VOCALOID and VOCALOID2 versions.

In addition, many VOCALOID3 vocals have issues with sounding similar and not standing out from each other. A new recording style was used in VOCALOID4 for Japanese VOCALOIDs, creating more chance of two similar vocals behaving differently and generally VOCALOID4 and beyond voicebanks tend to be more unique. With this comes the note that they can often be harder to use instead because of the recording style.

Final notes
One of the final things to note is that you can often ask Producers and fans about their opinions on existing VOCALOIDs or recommendations. The reason it is tempting to ask advice is because it is normal to ask to vouch for a product as good before a producer buys the product and VOCALOID itself owed part of its popularity to "word of mouth". Since information is coming out all the time the more knowledgeable fans often will know where to start in sifting through all the information on voicebanks and they can be helpful.

However, this had proven to be both a good and bad idea. While producers can talk from experience on the problems on voicebanks, they can also be biased or misinformed. It has been witnessed in the past situations where incorrect recommendations were made due to bias.

Earlier in this tutorial, it was noted there have been incidents such as recommending a Japanese voicebank for English and this is just one of many examples of bad recommendations. But there have been plenty of examples of other ad recommendations and it mostly owed to the divide in opinions or approaches to the VOCALOIDs. For example, due to the fact there is so many choices available and it is the most well supported and developed version the Japanese voicebanks are often viewed as an entirely "safe" recommendation for starter voicebanks. So often newbies will focus on them over all other Vocaloid even if they cannot use Japanese phoentics, or for that matter, speak Japanese. In particular the voicebanks by Crypton Future Media, Inc. are often the most focused on due to their popularity with other VOCALOIDs not even getting looked at because less is known about them. However, baring in mind VOCALOID itself can be a complex software, it is also not certain that a producer can use it at all, this is because VOCALOID is made to appeal to professional musicians as well as amateur ones.

It is best to never take the opinions of one person's word as speaking for all who have used the same voicebank. Some producers may not respond to questions at all. Unfortunately not every producer has the time to help a newbie, can help nor want to help them nor even notice that a question has been asked, though this is not necessarily mark that they are a bad person. Not everyone feels safe recommending a specific voicebank and it is not a good idea to harass a producer for an answer if they don't answer. This is why it is recommended to use a trial version of a voicebank if one exists. Even professional reviews may be biased towards a certain voicebank type. Outside of this, the best locations to find advice is from within VOCALOID fan specific communities where a greater diversity of opinions can be found.

Ultimately, no amount of recommendations by anyone can force the produce to buy a particular voicebank and it is the judgement of the producer who ultimately decides what they want to start out with. While this page is designed to help people know what they need to set up a VOCALOID working environment, it too should not be taken literally. Others have differing opinions on what that basic set up should be and the different situations of a producer can vary. The set up described on this page is for an amateur or indie musician working from their private studio or even bedroom and is not meant for a highly professional set up inside a studio. It is also subject to change as other editors add more information to it, as well as the conditions for the modern "Indie VOCALOID set up" changing due to progress of technology or of VOCALOID itself.