Welcome to Vocalo-Melonland!

We're a guild focused on all things Vocaloid and Vocaloid related! Games, software, figure collections, music, you get the idea.

Resources

• VocaDB
• Vocaloid Lyrics Wiki
• Utau.us
• Quite A Playlist - deleted youtube video finder
• Various MMD Tutorials
• VocaVerse Network Forum

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Vocaloid?

Vocaloid is a vocal synthisizer created by Yamaha in 2001. It's also somtimes used as an umbrella term for all vocal synths, their associated characters, and the fandom for said vocal synths and associated characters.

Are Vocaloids/Vocal Synths AI?

It's complicated. For the most part no. The youtube channel JOEZCafe has several videos that go into detail on the topic, but the tl;dw is that all older vocal synths use vocal samples and piece them together like any other instrumental synthisizer, while modern AI vocal synths generate a voice based on samples from their voice provider. AI Vocaloids are, in a technical sense, generative AI, but they do not have the enviromental impact or ethical issues associated with other forms of generative AI such as LLMs or image generators. All vocal synths require human effort and skill to create a vocal track, regardless on how their voice is produced.

What's the Community's Stance on AI?

Due to the Vocaloid's highly collaberative fan culture, AI is not allowed in most spaces. The exception is for AI vocal synths, though check in with individual communities. RVC use in particular is a hot topic due to being in an ethical and legal grey area. Most threads in Vocalo-Melonland do not allow RVC use.

Who is Hatsune Miku? Is She From an Anime?

Hatsune Miku is the most well known Vocaloid, originally released in 2008 for Vocaloid 2 by Crypton Future Media. She quickly developed a fanbase of musicians, artists, video editors, and general music lovers because of her design and voice. She has made apperances in anime, including staring in the Project Sekai movie (MAL, Sekaipedia), but saying she's an anime character is like saying Hello Kitty is an anime character - you're not wrong, but fans will look at you funny.

Common Fandom Terms

• Character Item: An item associated with a particular vocaloid or utau. Fandom-wide wars were waged over a new vocal's character item, but they're rarely used nowadays. Popular character items are Miku's leek/negi, Teto's baguette, and Len's banana.
• Fanloid: A portmanteau of "fan-made" and Vocaloid, fanloids are comunity made characters, typically based off an existing vocaloid. Popular fanloids are Akita Neru, Yowane Haku, and Sakine Meiko.
• Jinriki Utaus: Utau voicebanks that use vocal samples from pre-existing songs or other audio tracks. These audio samples can come from video games, tv shows and movies, or even politicians.
• MMD: 3D animation freeware. While initially developed for Vocaloid fans, models have been made for various other fandoms and communities.
• MV/PV: Short for Music Video and Promotional Video. They can be either fanmade or officially released by a producer.
• Odoraite: A dancer who does dance covers, typically refered to as odottemita.
• -P: An honorific(?) designating someone as a vocloid producer. Historically they were given to producers by fans as a way to say they make good music (like a proto-verification badge), though now producers give themselves a -P name. Some producer's -P name is just their name with a P (such as Giga as Giga-P), while others used a diffrent P name from their producer name (such as Neru as Oshiire-P). P names can be writen with or without a dash. Adopted from the IdolM@ster fandom.
• Producer: Someone who makes vocaloid songs. Sometimes refered to as Vocaloid-P(s), Voca-P(s) or Vocalo-P(s) to seperate them from non-vocaloid music producers.
• Tuning: The vocal manipulation used on a voice bank. Each producer has their own unique tuning style, and experianced fans can often tell producers apart from tuning alone. Vocalo-Ps who specialize in tuning are refered to as tuners, such as Orebanana-P.
• Utaite: A singer who does vocal covers, typically refered to as utattemita. Some utaites have become professional singers, incliding Reol and Ado. Utaites who post to YouTube are sometimes refered to as Youtaites. An utatie must use their own voice to be considered an utaite. Cover artists who use vocal synth software are considered Vocalo-P, not utaites.
• Utau: Freeware vocal synth released in 2008. Some popular Utaus include Kasane Teto, Defoko/Utane Uta, and Momone Momo. OpenUtau is open-source software that uses Utau vocals and has modern QoL features such as not requiring your system to be set to the Japanese locale.
• Vocal Synth: Software that allows users to manipulate a singing voice to produce a unique vocal track.
• Vocaloid: Yamaha's vocal synth software, originally realeased in 2001. Popular Vocaloids include Hatsune Miku, Gumi, and vFlower. Slightly contested as a term for the fandom as a whole. Check back in 2028 and see if we're still arguing about it (we will be).
• Voice Bank: The individual voice used by a software. Standard voice banks are a set of individual phoneme recordings from their voice provider, while AI voicebanks are a generated voice model based on their voice provider. Often they have a character attached to them, though it's not a hard and fast rule.