Is Vocaloid dead?

[@Monkyricky]

I think what's funny to me is that the vocaloid I grew up with is the vocaloid that destroyed yours. It's weird that we have passion for the same thing (apparently something rare because I know literally 0 people irl who are into vocaloid) and yet, what that thing is mean completely different things to us

[@vazensenpai]

ayy lmao like me

[@kenni631]

The same thing is happening with the UTAU community, which makes sense since it's a sister community, but it does make me nostalgic for "the old days." There is such a pressure to be competitive nowadays compared to the earlier eras - you need an UTAU voicebank with a great oto.ini, a great and distinctive tuning style, great mixing/mastering, with great art compiled into a great MV. This era of Vocaloid songs looking more and more professional gave the expectation that the 17-year old with a laptop should produce a cover at the same quality as OTOIRO. Not to pull a "back in my day," but I geniunely long for the times that UTAU was just a silly scuffed CV voicebank you made in an afternoon, drew a half-body shot of, and uploaded a song cover with that as a still frame. There was no expectation of looking polished - it was just cool enough to have made a final product. Sometimes you want to write a love letter, but all you have is construction paper and crayon. (Also nice thumbnail. Very cheeky shout out there lol)

[@BreadBoxVideo]

"Sometimes you want to write a love letter, but all you have is construction paper and crayon," is a great line and metaphor.

[@charlesierobison]

I am relatively new to the Vocaloid community, being introduced by a friend during quarantine, she having been involved during the early 2010s. Since then I have been enamored by this community, with every song I hear and every video I see, from the fan MV's to just the slideshows of discredited fanart from 2009, each part of it has resonated with me. I feel nostalgia for a time I never experienced with the old songs, meanwhile I feel a sense of "magic" being able to see the songs coming out of today and thinking "wow, I am a part of this." Of course, I feel something entirely different watching Alluring Secret ~black vow~ than I do seeing a still image in a karaki bear music video, but does that really matter? The experiences are different, but so is the time. The world is changing, and so is the morality of the people in it. No longer are the days of discredited artists and producers, but at the same time, no more is the young producers spending their allowance on Rin Kagamine to write a silly song about a school crush. Vocaloid has changed from an instrument to a genre, where now the only songs that seem to get recognition are the ones that are meant to mean something. I am not trying to say that it isn't important for these stories shrouded in stigma to be told, but at the same time, what happened to the songs of joy and laughter. This is a really convoluted comment, and I don't know where I was going with this, I just have a lot of thoughts and an awful way with words. I guess what I am trying to say is, that the Vocaloid of the past and the Vocaloid of today are two entirely different things, and each one has its pros and cons, and I guess I am just happy to be here now, so that I can see how things change going into the future myself. Who knows, maybe in 2030 someone will make a KZbin video talking about wanting to go back to the days of Nilfruits haha.

[@choux8372]

I was blessed to have found the vocaloid fandom in 2010. I got to watch all the early videos while also experiencing the golden age where every day, there'd be a new banger. At some point, it really felt like Miku was going to break into the mainstream! My favorite release was Colorful World by Hatsune Miku.

[@kay-kay6483]

I definitely noticed a change. I wish people still wrote those big series, though. They don't have to have fancy PVs, but I do miss anxiously waiting for a new song and desperately trying to figure out what it meant for the story. I also miss the special songs made for Vocaloid that you can't find anywhere else, like what you were talking about. I want to go back to that time. I even have Miku's V2 voicebank and I have ideas, but I don't speak Japanese and I can't write music. There's still people making songs like that I think, but it's nowhere near the same as it was. Makes me really sad.

[@kageprofan1234]

to me, i think there's still a lot of small producers around tht give the same vibes as older producers from vocaloid's "golden age". even if u have to look for it more then u used to they ARE there. i think it's sad tht there's this idea tht because vocaloid has become more commercialized, songs have lost their narratives and stories, and most importantly the feelings the producer is trying to convey. i think vocaloid at it's core has the same motivations behind it as when it first started, and as everything, of course it will evolve and become bigger and more popular as it becomes less of a small community. i think kagepro, is in it's own way, a show of the same love even without incorporating the vocaloids themselves. because vocaloid was used to tell this narrative, and to explain these characters, it almost gives the idea of miku telling the story, expressing words they couldnt express themselves. vocaloid, in my eyes, was made to express ideas, emotions, stories, and whatever else tht could be expressed in song, using a different voice tht could make more of an impact then ur own. and any vocaloid producer big or small is still doing that. even if miku or rin or luka arent the face. idk if i misunderstood ur video though and i agree tht the older vocaloid community really had smthn special tht can feel like it's missing sometimes, to say vocaloid is dead is unfair. because vocaloid is still being used to do exactly what it was being used to back then, express emotions and messages through the vocaloid. but yeah sorry if this sounds dumb lol. good video though i always love hearing u talk abt vocaloid and kagepro u always have good stuff to say 🎉

[@rogelioperezenriquez4862]

Could you name some of those small producers please?

[@happiighost9783]

Wow, so it wasn't just me feeling like everything changed after I stopped following Vocaloid 2015. It's sad to see the stuff I grew up with being phased out. It will have a place in my heart for getting me into other music and anime via Flipnotes on the DSI.

[@tsukodome6132]

I'm actually got into vocaloid since 2019 and it was a giantic blast and though I missed out the old vocaloid era, missed out the stories because I was born as a little kid and didn't understand vocaloid back then. I'm still glad I gave vocaloid a chance and explore the world of it. I don't know where my vocaloid phase will be over at this point it's kinda scary I loved vocaloid and I loved the producers who make the songs with them. I may be sad that I missed out but it's not too late, cuz I've getting started to the vocaloid community 💙💙💙💙 ( I loved the people who make FAN PV's of it too :] )

[@rogelioperezenriquez4862]

I started listening to vocaloid in 2018 and i can relate to missing the old era because I was a little kid, I did not even have internet in that era LOL

[@97Syahmie]

This made me cry, you perfectly described my feelings for vocaloid and the changes its gone through since i got into it back in 2011 to now. I guess its also why I feel such an affinity to smaller or "odd" producers and their music especially if it gives off the old era vibes, and even big producers like kikuo, nayutalien and inabakumori to name a few are the ones i feel who still give off that old era vibe where its just simple vocaloid music with nothing all that fancy. That said, i hope one of these years we get another true happy birthday song for miku like we used to get every year back in the day 😭🥲

[@arcadiacomet]

you've explained my thoughts better than i ever could. such a wonderful, inspiring era of vocaloid lost to time. that outro definitely made me tear up haha

[@ArthurLopes39]

Loved the video, this made me understand more what people mean when they say that "vocaloid is dead" despite producers getting more views on youtube and niconico that never before - It's not that the voice banks are fading into obscurity, but that the community who was once deeply involved with the works has been slowly being put back into the passenger's seat as a passive consumer. I didn't live the hey day of vocaloid at the late 2000s as I was barely 8 years old when that happened - only found out about it in 2014 - but I remember how even those who couldn't directly contribute to the works would go out of their way to translate PVs to multiple languages so they could reach wider audiences, which is the reason why I was even able to come into contact with it in the first place. This issue of communities being less intertwined with the works they are so fond of in this day and age isn't exclusive to vocaloid, but does feel like it is where its most accented. A bit unrelated to the point of the video, but when you played Hajimete no Oto at end it really struck a note with me as I vividly remember playing it on Project Diva 2nd. I may not have understood the lyrics perfectly when I was a little kid, but it is without a shadow of a doubt a beautiful song and that fact carried out to little me despite the language barrier.

[@stevefan8283]

vocaloid never dies it's already a legend

[@ri____h3nr628]

Legends never die...

[@kylemarlonlikesavocaship1810]

I got into vocaloid recently when the lockdown started...but if you ask me, my own version of vocaloid I'd love would be the old one. The vocaloid where the characters, the stories, the emotion mattered, the concept was beloved just as much as the music. That era was the one that created the niche of the vocaloid genre but the new vocaloid could very well be any jpop song, just sung by inhuman robots

[@user-kai_fuu]

今の自分に英語はわからないのでいつか勉強してこの動画を理解できるようになります！ VOCALOIDについての動画を作ってくれてありがとう！

[@wilmhosenfeld1777]

I didn't get into Vocaloid until 2014 and, in hindsight, I feel like I still arrived late into the scene. Just past its "golden age" so to speak. Never had a chance to appreciate the collaboration between multiple individuals, producers, artists, fans all working as one. Even the silly stuff like the "item wars" or giving eccentric traits and relationships to vocaloid mascots was something I wish I could have reveled in with the rest of the fandom. But alas, I was too late and all that stuff was ancient history by the time I became a fan. I suppose all that stuff going wayside is a given, the whole movement that was sparked by Miku is nearing 15 years now. The novelty of singing androids has long worn off and people move on. Regardless of how increasingly closed off and commercialized vocaloid is now, I'm still a die-hard fan and I'm continually impressed with how enduring it still is. Miku and gang are still around and there's no shortage of producers or talent. Vocaloid will still be around for a very long time and now matter which direction it may go, I'll continue to wave Miku's banner forever.

[@whatever5401]

Back when the fandom was super active, whenever there was a new Vocaloid release, whether it be an English or Japanese Vocaloid, people would still create discussions about them, make memes about them, give them character items, etc., I feel like this shows that the fandom back then actually cared about the characters themselves. But nowadays I don't see the same kind of energy towards any new voicebank release

[@Cherrytartzzzz]

YOU SAID IT. Like, I can’t get into SynthV the same, despite more people buying it now, because the characters aren’t treated like CHARACTERS, yk?

[@fevernight123]

I'll always miss the days where Vocaloid was just about creating and showing what you made, not for popularity but for the love of vocaloid as a whole and wanting to share your project and creation! I saw it rise and saw it slowly change to something new, Vocaloid may be dead but vocal synths has not, we are now living in a new era of synths the AI Synth V era... Teto and now Gumi been a part of it will pave a new path to a new era. I was a 10 when I got into Vocaloid and it's been 16 years for me now I saw my baby Miku grow and she saw me grow up with her I will always love the community and what it ment at the time.

[@megarotom1590]

I appreciate both the old and the new, every song still exists and even often gets brought back into relevancy by covers. I have songs I love of different eras, especially vocaloid. And even in the modern days, you still get those unexpected gems that aren't made by major contributers that appear from time to time. At least...I think so, I don't exactly always know if an artist or even a song is new or old

[@MT_TOASTER]

I used to be in the vocaliod community I've noticed the change. I used to love songs like rolling girl or Alice human sacrifice they were older songs and great for their time with great storys to tell. Now more modern vocaliod is much different it's mostly groups of people rather than one person conveying a story. I miss older vocaliod and know it won't ever be the same as it was back in like 2012-2017. Thank you for reading my comment have a good day or night. :)

[@LoraCoggins]

I remember first being involved in the community in 2013, and I was starry-eyed with nearly every song I discovered for years. I was researching and recording everything I needed to know about every Vocaloid that came out so I could show my friends and get them into it too. Then Vocaloid 5 released and pretty much everything suddenly fell silent. I got slightly disillusioned at how bad Chris and Amy were, and then I started noticing how poor quality the English Vocaloids in general were and how the popular English Vocaloid songs were based on horror and revenge, and I just couldn't get into it the way I once did. Nowadays I just feel desensitized, in a sense. It's probably because of the pandemic and everything that happened a couple years before it. But also the music seems to have just stagnated. There aren't really many new exciting things happen in the Vocaloid community, especially overseas. Now the future of vocal synths is Synth V and CeVio and AI, and becoming more centered in China. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the new programs and the Chinese vocal synths, I just wish the original creators of Vocaloid hadn't disappeared so suddenly.

[@aksghazi868]

Amazing video, sucks that I couldn't watch it when it came out. Anyway, there's a debate in the wrestling community, which is pro-wrestling vs sports entertainment. Basically the idea that whether wrestling itself or the entertainment aspect of wrestling matters. In the same way, I think there needs to be a debate in the Vocaloid community on whether the music or the characters matter. And in both aspects, I'll choose the latter. As much as I love wrestling itself, and as much as I love the music in Vocaloid itself, without character and storytelling, they're both empty with no soul.

[@BreadBoxVideo]

I will never apologize for using irony as b-roll. Also to be clear, I think there are 3 phases of Vocaloid. The old era, the transitionary period that happened with the song projects, and then the modern era once the projects finished / died.

[@IcePhoenixMusician]

I find both forms very very dear to me at this point. KagePro, and the older stuff. I got into vocaloid personally right as the transition just before the transition was taking place, and as such, feel that I have a balanced view. While I miss the older stuff the newer stuff definitely has it’s place. What I think is missing rn are the very things you said. HOWEVER! I think that will change fairly soon. There are more and more hobbyists entering the scene due to the more “mass produced” nature of current vocaloid attracting new people. Basically I think the pendulum will swing back and forth and probably land somewhere in favor of individual producers, only slightly, and only due to the somewhat niche nature of it. I frankly don’t think it will ever be as mainstream as 80s rock for example, and as such I don’t think it will have the same overwhelming commercialization/de-individualization in the genre. I do want to be sure to emphasize this though… most of what I personally listen to was made between 2008-2016 because of the connection I can feel to them, in contrast to the newer ones that feel meh to me comparatively.

[@marsilxa39]

In fact, we are working on something, a song, based on a game, the song is about Solaria trying to get Miku to lose fascination with her bucket and come to her instead. Solaria is trying to become Miku's "Bucket" because she loves her because she can keep the rain at bay, she is the light of day, and she can be her knight in shining armor. (Armor is a bucket that you wear) Eleanor Forte will be featured in the song as well. The idea sounds pretty dumb without the context. However, if you played the Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe, it would make a lot more sense. The idea is crazy but amazing.

[@someguy181]

I remember when I was a teenager. I had an English class presentation where we had to present a song and analyze/explain it to the class. Being in love with Vocaloid at the time, I chose one of the songs I enjoyed and shared it. That probably didn't do well for my social standing at the time, but I still don't regret sharing it regardless. I really miss those times.

[@JJ5_dragon_heart]

What song was it?

[@neopessimist7326]

As someone who was back then in the community i agree. I've always whined about the fact that vocaloiid became quite a, for the lack of better words, comercial. The old days where amazing, coming home from school and someone had on their bedroom create a new masterpiece, the internet would go wild, and before you know it there where already covers and fanarts and whatever. Back then we werent worried about if vocaloid was the new big thing on the internet, it was the wacky program we all had fun with. We werent concerned with if it was financial viable for the artist, we were more concerned with making more crappt artwork for a crappy music video. And with the loss of the community i wholeheartly agree. I had recently a conversation with someone about "when we started to refer to producers instead of vocaloids themself?" Which kinda show the lack of dedication to the vocaloids themselfs. And i think thats whats lost.

[@amethyst4578]

sometimes i wish a new producer would come into the scene whose songs actually bring light to these problems. of course there ARE vocaloid songs that talk about this but none of them are very popular...

[@unisangalaxystudio]

Vocaloid or Miku to be is like Rome 2011 was the beging like Romulus, Vocaloid music was amazing so much great memories popipo and tribe baka where my favorite. 2014 was the peak of the vocaliod fandom it was such a great year... 2018 was the start of the decline, most songs are not as great as it use to. 2019 empire of miku collapse and the fandom started to shirk by 2021 fandom is not what it was and It's like when Rome no longer had a emperor but a king that king are Vtubers that surpass Miku, am sad vocaliod not as amazing as it was

[@WinkusWonkus-l9j]

Another important aspect of this shift is that early producers also got better and better at their skills, I mean if you do a hobby long enough you simply get good. So even established and loved producers / Utaite who started out casually raised the standards by turning more skilled over time, which of course makes polished projects an achievable goal 👍🏽

[@hamerugumiandthevocaloidfa8654]

Tbh...... I think it's very overdramatic to say that vocaloid is DEAD. Sure I miss the old feel of the Vocaloid community too but I mean, there are more people making music with vocaloid now than ever before, I would say just maybe search a bit harder and don't completely write off current vocaloid, because you're inevitably missing out on a LOT of new music and content that you could really like. I'm a really nostalgic person and I love listening to golden age era vocaloid, but I also love finding new vocaloid music and new producers and supporting the current community just as much. Vocaloid will only die if you let it die!

[@alicewonderland748]

I'm honestly pretty sad that I missed out on the "old era" of vocaloid music. Honestly, I found vocaloid through danganronpa, during 2020's quarantines, and I instantly fell in love with it. The first vocaloid songs I listened to were the classics, such as rolling girl, servant of evil, aishite, etc. Before vocaloid I was never really into music, because the western genre of it( namely American) has always seemed so...soulless to me; just being songs in the same tone, singing the same message. I felt like the only music I truly enjoyed were musical songs, because they meant something! When I listened to vocaloid my first thought was, " This is amazing! I've never heard anything like this before!" The passion, from both the creator and the fans alike was amazing! The stories it told were so good, I never thought that music could convey such powerful messages! And even though it was vocaloids singing, I still felt like everything from the creative and expressive fan base, to the vocaloid characters and they way one could mold and shape them for any story, to the absolute pouring of the creator's heart and soul into their song, these literal ROBOTS still felt more human to me than most singers today! I felt myself being hooked to every song because of the story and messages it told! But then, it being 2020, I began to listen to modern vocaloid and.....I liked it, but something still felt missing. The story/ message was now secondary to the music, and the music secondary to the MV. The fan base now just boiled down to miku art....popular vocaloid art....and UTUA/Vocaloid covers. The most people contributed to the community was covers. The messages felt...empty? It just began to seem like vocaloid turned from the ultimate device for story telling to "sad person does [insert edgy action]" or " Just believe!" It's almost as if they forget their roots and left them behind to be more "mordern". So many good and amazing vocaloids such as Mayu, Gakupo, Oliver, etc. were left in the dust in pursuit of more popular vocaloids like Luka, Miku, Gumi (although I fear she's going to fade away to soon, like only a handful of people still use her) etc, to get a quick buck from their iconic producers. I mean, did we just forget these other vocaloids existed?! When did we begin to care more about who makes what and base how good it is on that? It hurt so much to join the community at a time when all the things I fell in love with in the community were left to burn a long time ago. I was lucky to begin with the classics, but I know many start with modern ones, which are not bad, but remove what made vocaloid "vocaloid". I just have to watch knowing that the new generation of vocaloid fans may never experience the same stories that stuck with me, that I may talk about a vocaloid and I hear, " Oh, I only listen to [insert producer], you mean there's other one's besides [insert generic vocaloid]". The whole situation reminds me of the anime boom caused be AoT; the work became soulless and the fan base became full of a bland one where a strong one stood. Sorry to relate this to danganronpa, but it kinda reminds me of one of the big themes of V3; the slow deterioration of an amazing thing due to popularity and repetition of the same things over time. Soon, once you forget what made something so great, it becomes what it was trying to stand against in the first place. Vocaloid went from the tool to passion projects into something that unless you had a a flashy MV and big popular name/vocaloid, would be meaningless to the fans.

[@whatever5401]

Honestly your comment captured my feelings about Vocaloid. I discovered Vocaloid through an article when I was like, 6 or 7 or something and only got into it 2 years ago. I feel sad for missing out on the golden age of Vocaloid, and how I couldn't experience all the good memories like the character item wars, or the excitement whenever wowaka or some other famous like mothy dropped a new song. Looking at the traces of how active the community once was just makes me sad that I wasn't even there to experience it

[@rogelioperezenriquez4862]

LOL I found Danganronpa in 2020 too (and Vocaloid in 2018)

[@rogelioperezenriquez4862]

@@whatever5401 well, at least there's still a lot of old and new producers that still release new works such as Pinocchio-P and 23.exe I wonder how the item wars went but I did not even have internet during that era :(

[@whatever5401]

@@rogelioperezenriquez4862 till this day I still wonder what it would've been like if the Item Wars never died and every Vocaloid had their own character item

[@victoriabell9546]

I actually agree with you about the loss section. Obviously, because of song series and how everything was being made professionally in the 2010s and how community contributions and recreations declined because of the professionalism of current producers. The fact that there were many PVs for certain songs is what I miss about old vocaloid. It allowed for the fans to interpret a song in a different way and not with one interpretation and I miss that. I wish there was more of that now. But, alas, that era is either dead or dying.

[@shadowwolfx_mega3250]

As someone who discovered vocaloid fairly recently (1.5 years ago) with most of the songs that I like being from 2017 or later, I actually became a fan of vocaloid because it was really fun to try to understand the story behind the songs. It was really nice how a lot of the songs had very unique compositions and melodies, and actually told stories that were interesting (unliked the mainstream songs which in my opinion have boring melodies and even more boring lyrics). Since I came to the fandom for the songs and not the vocaloids my least favorite era of Vocaloid was the very first one. I have only very recently started to listen to older stuff (still no older than 2012) thanks to Project Sekai. Still it's very interesting to see someone who preferrers the first era compared to the others.

[@coaledison7157]

it's good that I still see someone who still enjoy MOTHY's works.

[@thekagepro24]

i'm not sure what the song series have to do with the decline exactly? i feel like the fact that Wannyanpu had been able to make official Kagepro MVs because she'd made a fanmade one of Kagerou Daze in the first place was omitted even though it seems like a big point towards the impact of fanmade things, not to mention the fanmade Jinzou Enemy MV you used being one that pretty much every Kagepro fan I've seen regards as canon. I guess if it's an argument that back in the day, fan MVs kinda fought for the position of canon due to the OG usually lacking one, it makes sense, but I don't think song producers wanting an official MV to convey the narrative they wanted to tell is a loss. (Producers make 1-off songs with non-Vocaloid characters as well, so I don't think series would hold all of the blame for not sticking to Vocaloid characters.) ~~~ If anything I feel like the big change that happened was that most of the producers we know as big-names now were just getting started in old Vocaloid times, and their production value (along with many MV artist's talents) grew vastly over time. And on the other hand, some producers of Vocaloid songs that we'd regard as old classics just didn't do much beyond it, for whatever reason. And so we know the names of famous producers that make more well-known songs that grow in technical quality easier than the names of producers that made a classic song forever ago. There's many small producers doing good work today, it's just tougher to hear about them because Vocaloid's grown to an immense level that it feels like no one can even so much as agree what songs would count as 'classic's anymore. ~~~ altogether I get what you're getting at for the most part, but some parts don't make much sense to me (not mad btw)

[@thekagepro24]

also, i feel like the big fan involvement in Vocaloid nowadays seems to be Vocaloid/UTAU covers of Vocaloid songs rather than fan MVs, so it still feels engaging from what I see on KZbin.

[@alicewonderland748]

On the topic of MVs, I think they were trying to get across how that portion of the community died due to them. Of course it wasn't directly their fault, but before then, anyone could listen to a song and think, " Hey, this story is really good! I wanna make a mv for this!". And it wasn't like it was a battle ground for what is or isn't the canon one, but instead a bunch of artist just drawing the story for the song they love. Once the series mvs started, producers began to include it in their songs, and they were really good! But...then those who used to make mvs would mostly think, "Wow! This is so good! I can't make a mv like this" or " Well there's no need for me to make one now." It basically just killed the spirit of that portion of the community. Also with mvs, vocaloid songs slowly took a turn from conveying a powerful message through the lyrics and the song, to having half baked lyrics that try to cover it with a flashy mv.

[@JeronisLeror]

This. This. Thank you!

[@Gremory_666]

Used to fan 2010-2018 with kaito profile pic and name.

[@itsawof2796]

i don't think vocaloid will ever properly die sure it may change but i don't think it will die. i believe there will always be another time when it goes back to small projects and then back to large projects and it will continue to loop like that. id like to refrence to indie video games being that even though they started out soley as big company propertys in recent memory most of the big games have been small indie projects( omori, undertale, among us... etc) not to mention the flash area. i don't think either of them are wors or better than the other, they both have positives and negitives hust like indie and non indie titles. thanks for listening(reading?) to my rambles.

[@Omgsuchacreativenamehuh]

Now that I think about it,I never experienced the older vocaloid songs not because I didn’t get a chance to but… I never really knew it existed,like I was a bit aware but it’s not like I know the names or anything about the songs.Whenever I heard vocaloid i think of well…a tool than a person due to the fact that people don’t use the original vocaloid characters anymore…

[@amethyst4578]

i respect harumaki gohan for still doing those big stories, genei and futarino are amazing!

[@NelsonStJames]

As much as we talk about communities and the indie creator, it's amazing how quickly those communities kick those creators to the curb as soon as corporations get involved and start pumping out content. Soon what started out creative friendly spaces turn into some of the most anti-independent sites around where you're lucky if you can even make a ripple let alone even get into the pool. Another thing that lead to the downfall of vocaloid was it's inaccessibility to newbies. For a software that should have been a boon to independent song writers, it was damn hard to master because there was no where you could go to systematically learn to use it. Not even a Udemy beginner course, and now all those potential users are moving to AI.

[@pixelated.peachyangel]

I want fan PVs again I want stories with vocaloids again But I guess I wouldn't trade it for the fame it has now.

[@jamespaguip5913]

“ No king rules forever “

[@victorianlimens5055]

Damn, I'm sorry that the songs I've come to enjoy came into existence out of the destruction of something you enjoy. It's the worst part of the whole media evolving thing, that good or meaningful experiences get left behind. If it's any condolence, I'm sure something like what you've described exists out there win the modern day, or will in the future. If people have proven anything it's that they'll always be looking back and bringing with them meaningful things from the past. So don't give up on vocaloid or anything you once enjoyed for that matter. Someone out there probably agrees, and maybe they even have the drive to do something about it.

[@jamespaguip5913]

Don’t be sad that’s it’s over be happy because it happened.

[@broccolinyu911]

I think another thing to consider why Vocaloid might not be as prominent anymore is due to competition and shifts in the general public's choice of entertainment. I definitely feel like while Vocaloids were popular about 5-8 years back, nowadays, virtual entertainment in the form of (for example) Vtubers are taking more of the spotlight.

[@oh-seecreations6308]

while that era of "vocaloids as characters" is most certainly dead (along with the nnd culture that influenced it at the time), vocaloid (and vocal synth as whole) fandom is most certainly not. there are still active producers, both jp and en, making great songs, ranging from the inexperienced to the professional. there is more of a focus on the music/production and vocal synth as a instrument, which is healthier overall for the indie genre, allowing it to flourish and be accepted into the mainstream. but i share the same sense of nostalgia as you do when i was able to remember every vocaloid's name and their widely accepted fandom personality. even vocaloid as a software has been left in the dust by CeVio and Synth V bc of yamaha's mismanagement. only crypton has been really successful at marketing vocaloids as "virtual idols" (in the sense that you could attend concerts and buy merch) as a result of the "vocaloid as characters" era. nevertheless, i would say that the current era is still enjoyable with the wider range of vocals available and that it's only natural for the fandom to have evolved over the years.

[@dizzy_eevee]

damn, you're just a bad take machine, it's almost impressive

[@blackmage471]

You all sound like a bunch of old people going, "back in my day..." I would say, Vocaloid hasn't "died," so much as it has lost a lot of its momentum. It was new in 2007, Ryo set a gold standard with _Melt,_ and we were all very excited. Then Vocaloid got normalized; its got the seven year itch. Sure, a lot of the earliest producers have left, but some are still around, like kz and DECO*27. Even so, nostalgia is not a valid excuse to brush off new producers. Old people leave, new people come in. Sounds change. Styles change. The world keeps spinning whether you like it or not. They're producing. What are you producing? Or are you too busy judging and reminiscing like an old person?

[@ThorenTravels]

the amateur collaborative aspect has been lost

[@SIEGEmotovlog]

Bro why are you talking so fast. What's the hurry? 😭

[@xraeynex]

Getting back into vocaloid following covid after experiencing vocaloid's golden age has been an interesting experience. I find myself time and time again just listening back to the older songs, not caring to look into anything new and just hoping the next time I see a Miku concert, there will be something older that I'll recognize. Being that I'm in the states though and that Miku isn't coming anytime soon, it's likely anything they sing will be something I don't know.