I'd say CV japanese with vowel blends. really short and simple to record, easy to use, and not a ton of lines to oto. The only downside would be that there would be some choppyness, and unlike vcv oto you can't have a uniform oto and just drag the start point.
VCV is only practical for Japanese and similarly simple languages, while the concepts learned in CVVC can be applied to other languages.
Additionally, the reclist for CVVC is much smaller, and has less to OTO as a result.
While more effort has to be put into using the banks, there's tools available that make it just as easy (or easier) than using a VCV, like presamp.
Though, doing the editing by hand has the advantage of giving you more control over things like the timing of consonants, which can be useful for tuning.
The tradition of doing "CV first, VCV second" is only because of that being the order in which they were invented in the past. However, that doesn't mean it's the best order for people now to be following.
VCV is only practical for Japanese and similarly simple languages, while the concepts learned in CVVC can be applied to other languages.
Additionally, the reclist for CVVC is much smaller, and has less to OTO as a result.
While more effort has to be put into using the banks, there's tools available that make it just as easy (or easier) than using a VCV, like presamp.
Though, doing the editing by hand has the advantage of giving you more control over things like the timing of consonants, which can be useful for tuning.
CV is a good start, it gives you time to master the oto, and then you can move on to VCV because it's just like CV oto wise, only you have a vowel before the consenant. However recording wise i'd also reccomend CVVC because it takes wayyyyyyy less time to record and the banks takes up less space
CV first - gives you a chance to learn how to oto, learn how to pronounce things without rage-quitting. If you can master this, then you're set for life as far as other styles of configuration.
CVVC second - If you plan on ever trying more than Japanese, then move onto this style. More people will be hesitant to dl your bank (saying "idk how to use it") but it's easy to use if you can get presamp to work or convert with autocvvc (if you experience slow rendering cause you use fresamp or w/e then download nmasao1's resampler patch to speed things up).
VCV - only useful for Japanese and other really simple languages. I wouldn't recommend this method, esp. not for beginners.
I attempted to go from CV to VCV when I was a bit younger, but found it was too big of a jump for me (I was a lazy little preteen that didn't wanna spend so much time recording a VCV and figuring out how the hell the oto works) so I took a break for a while and went back to CV and transitioned from there to CVVC then VCV then eventually CVVC English since that was still a thing. Months ago I even felt comfortable enough to record VCCV English. Take your time and find what makes you comfortable.
Is it weird that I find otoing VCV easier than CV and CVVC?
My friend's very first voicebank was VCV but that was because she was already experienced with UTAU and has helped oto many others' voicebanks in the past (mostly VCV) so she had no trouble creating it. But for a fresh UTAU user, CV is definitely the most suitable. Otoing doesn't take too long (it can take as fast as only 30 minutes for experienced otoers) and because of the time and skill to oto CV, it's easy to ask around for help.
Although I proceeded with VCV after trying CV (because of moresampler), CVVC isn't a bad option to go through next either since it's faster to record and fine-tune the oto compared to VCV's many, many strings and thousands of sounds in the oto.
Ok, let's play that we have a CV, CVVC and VCV reclist which all contains exactly same sounds.
a i u e o n
ba bi bu be bo
cha chi chu che cho
da di du de do
fa fi fu fe fo
ga gi gu ge go
ha hi - he ho
ja ji ju je jo
ka ki ku ke ko
ma mi mu me mo
na ni nu ne no
pa pu pu pe po
ra ri ru re ro
sa si su se so
sha shi shu she sho
ta ti tu te to
tsa tsi tsu tse tso
wa wi - we wo
ya - yu ye yo
za zi zu ze zo
bya - byu bye byo
gya - gyu gye gyo
hya - hyu hye hyo
kya - kyu kye kyo
mya - myu mye myo
nya - nyu nye nyo
pya - pyu pye pyo
rya - ryu rye ryo
"-" means that that sound is impossible in Japanese.
All sounds in total: 134
For JP CVVC, there's two "main" style which I will call in this time as "full" and "lite". Full's recordings style is basically like EVE and has following oto settings: "- CV" "- V" "CV" "V" "V V" and "V C". And in other hand, "lite" can be recoded longer mora than 2 and doesn't contain "- CV" and "- V" but otherwise has same than "full" one.
With a RAW* calculation, each of type has following amount of oto strings:
CV: 134 (if no "- V" or "* V" settings like in Defoko. If also "- V" and "* V" included in then it's 146)
"Full" CVVC: 462
"Lite" CVVC: 334
VCV: 938
*sorry if I made any little calculate error with CVVC but I know surely that size range is correct, tho! ^^;
and recording time? Well, it depends of several factors: how long is each sample (in CV), how many mora and tempo (in CVVC and VCV). But I can say that one CV takes around 30min, CVVC (depending of style) 20min-40min and in VCV 1.5h but this is just how much time takes from ME who has done UTAU for 3 years!
And configuring (oto) each style? CV in a day. CVVC (lite and full) takes me 1-3 day(s) and VCV takes for me 3-5 days in average(?)
Surely, when VCV oto is generated (in moresampler, OREMO or SetParam) you can do VCV way more quickly (I personally prefer to do with hand even it takes time). But CVVC and CV oto are the best do ALWAYS with hand! None generator is good with those two!
My answer is that CV is best for beginners even tho CV sounds as defaul choppier than CVVC or VCV. The simple reason is a count of oto AND recording time. I think that CVVC is the best next step because same or shorter recording time than in CV but has just 1/3~1/2 amount of VCV's configuring settings plus sounds less choppy than CV and IMO multipitch is the most ideal for CVVC style.
Sure, VCV is "easiest" to oto than CV CVVC where you need to know&understand what you do but once you trulely understand what all settings stands for, it isn't actually that hard!
And I'm sorry that my post became ridicilously long, hopefully you guys don't mind me :""DD
Ok, let's play that we have a CV, CVVC and VCV reclist which all contains exactly same sounds.
a i u e o n
ba bi bu be bo
cha chi chu che cho
da di du de do
fa fi fu fe fo
ga gi gu ge go
ha hi - he ho
ja ji ju je jo
ka ki ku ke ko
ma mi mu me mo
na ni nu ne no
pa pu pu pe po
ra ri ru re ro
sa si su se so
sha shi shu she sho
ta ti ti te to
tsa tsi tsu tse tso
wa wi - we wo
ya - yu ye yo
za zi zu ze zo
bya - byu bye byo
gya - gyu gye gyo
hya - hyu hye hyo
kya - kyu kye kyo
mya - myu mye myo
nya - nyu nye nyo
pya - pyu pye pyo
rya - ryu rye ryo
"-" means that that sound is impossible in Japanese.
All sounds in total: 134
For JP CVVC, there's two "main" style which I will call in this time as "full" and "lite". Full's recordings style is basically like EVE and has following oto settings: "- CV" "- V" "CV" "V" "V V" and "V C". And in other hand, "lite" can be recoded longer mora than 2 and doesn't contain "- CV" and "- V" but otherwise has same than "full" one.
With a RAW* calculation, each of type has following amount of oto strings:
CV: 134 (if no "- V" or "* V" settings like in Defoko. If also "- V" and "* V" included in then it's 146)
"Full" CVVC: 462
"Lite" CVVC: 334
VCV: 938
*sorry if I made any little calculate error with CVVC but I know surely that size range is correct, tho! ^^;
and recording time? Well, it depends of several factors: how long is each sample (in CV), how many mora and tempo (in CVVC and VCV). But I can say that one CV takes around 30min, CVVC (depending of style) 20min-40min and in VCV 1.5h but this is just how much time takes from ME who has done UTAU for 3 years!
And configuring (oto) each style? CV in a day. CVVC (lite and full) takes me 1-3 day(s) and VCV takes for me 3-5 days in average(?)
Surely, when VCV oto is generated (in moresampler, OREMO or SetParam) you can do VCV way more quickly (I personally prefer to do with hand even it takes time). But CVVC and CV oto are the best do ALWAYS with hand! None generator is good with those two!
My answer is that CV is best for beginners even tho CV sounds as defaul choppier than CVVC or VCV. The simple reason is a count of oto AND recording time. I think that CVVC is the best next step because same or shorter recording time than in CV but has just 1/3~1/2 amount of VCV's configuring settings plus sounds less choppy than CV and IMO multipitch is the most ideal for CVVC style.
Sure, VCV is "easiest" to oto than CV CVVC where you need to know&understand what you do but once you trulely understand what all settings stands for, it isn't actually that hard!
And I'm sorry that my post became ridicilously long, hopefully you guys don't mind me :""DD
CV first - gives you a chance to learn how to oto, learn how to pronounce things without rage-quitting. If you can master this, then you're set for life as far as other styles of configuration.
CVVC second - If you plan on ever trying more than Japanese, then move onto this style. More people will be hesitant to dl your bank (saying "idk how to use it") but it's easy to use if you can get presamp to work or convert with autocvvc (if you experience slow rendering cause you use fresamp or w/e then download nmasao1's resampler patch to speed things up).
VCV - only useful for Japanese and other really simple languages. I wouldn't recommend this method, esp. not for beginners.
Ah well thanks! At least now I know where to go after my CV vb...and yeah I did see the reclist xD...(and no, Im not ready for that thing xD I bet if I made someone OTO that they'd make me pay a high amount and im broke TT^TT)