Is Utau dead?

FeatheredFinch

Ritsu's Renegades
Defender of Defoko
I remember in 2012 the community was blooming and there was always new content and tons of engagement, now I see very nice people on here but on youtube a lot of the people I followed on my Utau youtube have stopped posting and or only get 10% of the views they used to

How can we revive the UTAU community? I personally might make a really simple tutorial series to help new users to start Utau

Utau is just a hobby for me and not what I mainly do but I love it so much and it holds good memories and nostalgia in my heart and I don't want it to completely die.
 

Kiyoteru

UtaForum power user
Supporter
Defender of Defoko
UTAU isn't dead. Sure, people from the past may not be around anymore. But there's so many people who have joined in the years that you've been absent. I don't mind the fleeting nature of the community. Heck, I can hardly remember who I used to hang out with in 2012. So I think it's about embracing the changes that have happened.
Great places to be are not only this forum, but also Soundcloud, Twitter, and Discord. I run a very active Skype group, if you're interested! http://tubs.moe
Please be warned, though, we're almost lawless. If you hop in for a moment and decide it's not for you, that's fine.
 

Hazu パワ

Weeaboo yet not Weeaboo
Defender of Defoko
I remember in 2012 the community was blooming and there was always new content and tons of engagement, now I see very nice people on here but on youtube a lot of the people I followed on my Utau youtube have stopped posting and or only get 10% of the views they used to

How can we revive the UTAU community? I personally might make a really simple tutorial series to help new users to start Utau

Utau is just a hobby for me and not what I mainly do but I love it so much and it holds good memories and nostalgia in my heart and I don't want it to completely die.

UTAU is not dead- It's just that the hype for Vocal Synths is dead(Mostly)- Also- Alot of the community has moved to posting mostly on Soundcloud then on Youtube- I do know what you mean though- quite a lot of UTAU(and Vocaloid) people who were really popular on YouTube have stopped posting as much as they use to- But also a lot of the newer videos that they are posting that aren't getting views are non-Vocal Synth related (Not naming specific or everyone one of them but I've seen a lot of them do it)
 

Junjou Ko

Teto's Territory
well technically, yes. The source coding used to make UTAU won't be able to work sometime around 2020 or 2030 or some time like that. It's highly likely that when that date reaches, people won't be able to use UTAU on newer PCs
[doublepost=1494122090][/doublepost]this of course means we need to start making a new Vocal Synthesis software if we want the community to stay alive after that point
 
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HoneyPai

Defoko's Slaves
Defender of Defoko
I don't think it's dead really
Maybe on youtube it is kind of I noticed
Most content is being posted to Soundcloud and that includes ust distribution. And I can see why. Youtube kinda sucks now, so you can't really hype people up and get them to move completely back to Youtube because
Tbh it's only going downhill especially with certain utau covers getting restricted
 

KNΞMΛTCS

Just an UtaForum user
Defender of Defoko
I remember in 2012 the community was blooming and there was always new content and tons of engagement, now I see very nice people on here but on youtube a lot of the people I followed on my Utau youtube have stopped posting and or only get 10% of the views they used to

How can we revive the UTAU community? I personally might make a really simple tutorial series to help new users to start Utau

Utau is just a hobby for me and not what I mainly do but I love it so much and it holds good memories and nostalgia in my heart and I don't want it to completely die.
I'm going to be honest here, some people like to sugarcoat it but the truth is the Utau, Vocaloid, and wider vocal synth fandom is on decline. You can't argue that, really - the boom is over, here comes the bust. Good news is, I highly doubt it's going to completely go away. Rather, it will find itself tucked away in it's own little niche where it belongs.

As for why it's shrinking, there's a few factors:
  • Vocal Synthesis is/was a fad: You can't deny this. Especially in Miku's heyday, Vocaloid was the thing for dare-I-say-it weeaboos. That coolness has died off somewhat, and vocal synthesis is dropping down into a lower, steadier state of popularity.
  • People have grown up: There's another important aspect you can't deny, and that's a lot of the group is/was teens. As these people get older, their life takes them to other things. However, there are always new kids joining to replace them, just not the people you knew.
  • The creative outlets are stagnant: There is little "new material" being released. Now don't get me wrong, there's plenty of producers and artists creating vocal synthesis work. However, it seems much of this just re-treads the beaten path: the songs aren't really unique and new, the art looks like something you've probably seen before... Now there's always exceptions, but I see a lot of work falling into this.
  • Utau is abandoned: This hasn't been in issue so far, however it may be in the future as newer versions of Windows break compatibility with Utau's old codebase, as mentioned above. This also means there's no stream of new features besides what the community gives (which is quite a lot).
It's not all doom and gloom though. I'm highly confident that vocal synthesis will be alive and well for the foreseeable future, and I have high hopes of it seeing wider adoption as a creative tool.
 

Parapa-kun

Ruko's Ruffians
Defender of Defoko
"Is utau dead?" yes xD
I mean the utau community on SoundCloud is very much alive but aside from that, yeh pretty much, the engine itself doesn't get any updates so...??
Wich is sad, cause I really wish I could have experienced a vivid utau community :'^D
 
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jellophish

Ruko's Ruffians
Defender of Defoko
(I can't speak for the Japanese UTAU community tho)

I think the thing was, back in 2009 - 2010 or so, UTAU had such a much smaller community that I think is why people sort of just knew everyone more? As it grew, everyone had their own little groups.
Those groups grew off each other and people bounced back ideas, collaborated more, and shared their work and passed it around. Sometimes, the person would get so big you'd be like "Oh yeah that's ___ who has this UTAU named ____"

I really don't know what it was that caused it to die off, but my biggest guess is that as those people got older (like, when I started out with it, I was 13. I'm 20 years old now, so a lot of time with it has passed) and once you get older, you go through college, jobs, etc. the like, you get a lot of responsibility.
Making a voicebank can be tough on some people, and for others UTAU just started to drift apart from them.

For me, it kinda just stopped being rewarding. I love my UTAUs, I still love them a lot, and I've almost converted them into simply OCs now although they still have voice banks. The thing is, with the community dying and most of my friends moving on, it felt like my work with UTAU was pointless. I still loved making the art since art is something I did already, but I didn't feel a point in doing covers and what not. So I stopped but that's just me.

UTAU used to kind of feel like UTAUs had a personality through their voices, and I'm sure they do, but I just can't keep up anymore bc I'm older I guess.

I feel like it definitely had it's time, and to be honest with you I kind of miss it too. Buut as Kiyoteru said above, I'm pretty sure UTAU does have its other places where it's more active. Maybe as a whole it's not how it used to be is all, but I'm sure it'll still be there.


On the topic of how to revive it, I wouldn't know where to start really other than as you said, starting more tutorials? I think that'd be wonderful. I remember back then there would be a bunch of tutorials, but I still stumbled around.

I think one thing to keep in mind is that in this time, CV style of recording is like good and dead so I hear. That was a really simple way to make an UTAU which felt like very doable for someone who's never done it before. VCV seems to be the new standard now, and if people really get into UTAU these days, they do voice banks with more than one set of recordings.

EDIT: I think KNΞMΛTCS was pretty spot on. Along with what I said before on UTAU no longer feeling rewarding, it did start to get boring.


I'm sorry if I sounded so doom and gloom the majority of this post LOL It's just, everytime someone brings up on whether or not UTAU is dead, I get all nostalgic I guess. I've been seeing this same question since like 2014 - 2015 too.
 

HoneyPai

Defoko's Slaves
Defender of Defoko
(I can't speak for the Japanese UTAU community tho)

I think the thing was, back in 2009 - 2010 or so, UTAU had such a much smaller community that I think is why people sort of just knew everyone more? As it grew, everyone had their own little groups.
Those groups grew off each other and people bounced back ideas, collaborated more, and shared their work and passed it around. Sometimes, the person would get so big you'd be like "Oh yeah that's ___ who has this UTAU named ____"

I really don't know what it was that caused it to die off, but my biggest guess is that as those people got older (like, when I started out with it, I was 13. I'm 20 years old now, so a lot of time with it has passed) and once you get older, you go through college, jobs, etc. the like, you get a lot of responsibility.
Making a voicebank can be tough on some people, and for others UTAU just started to drift apart from them.

For me, it kinda just stopped being rewarding. I love my UTAUutaustill love them a lot, and I've almost converted them into simply OCs now although they still have voice banks. The thing is, with the community dying and most of my friends moving on, it felt like my work with UTAU was pointless. I still loved making the art since art is something I did already, but I didn't feel a point in doing covers and what not. So I stopped but that's just me.

UTAU used to kind of feel like UTAU had a personality through their voices, and I'm sure they do, but I just can't keep up anymore bc I'm older I guess.

I feel like it definitely had it's time, and to be honest with you I kind of miss it too. Buut as Kiyoteru said above, I'm pretty sure UTAU does have its other places where it's more active. Maybe as a whole it's not how it used to be is all, but I'm sure it'll still be there.


On the topic of how to revive it, I wouldn't know where to start really other than as you said, starting more tutorials? I think that'd be wonderful. I remember back then there would be a bunch of tutorials, but I still stumbled around.

I think one thing to keep in mind is that in this time, CV style of recording is like good and dead so I hear. That was a really simple way to make an UTAU which felt like very doable for someone who's never done it before. VCV seems to be the new standard now, and if people really get into UTAU these days, they do voice banks with more than one set of recordings.

EDIT: I think KNΞMΛTCS was pretty spot on. Along with what I said before on UTAU no longer feeling rewarding, it did start to get boring.


I'm sorry if I sounded so doom and gloom the majority of this post LOL It's just, everytime someone brings up on whether or not UTAU is dead, I get all nostalgic I guess. I've been seeing this same question since like 2014 - 2015 too.


This right here
I agree
A lot of people that started out were young and now they have simply grown up and have begun to do other things. I personlly still like to experiment with making new vbs and covers but my utau, like Jello's is more of a regular oc. Utau just isn't really a main hobby to many anymore.
 

Arissa

Ritsu's Renegades
Defender of Defoko
I don't think Utau is 'deaf' per say, after all so much people have joined the community! Yeah, there was tons of hype in the early days, but that hype sort of just died down. Like with Vocaloid, there's been a decline in popularity and whatnot compared to the olden days, and Utau is no exception.

As a result some people may have stopped bothering with it to continue their own lives, but for every one person that uo and leaves like thirty more(might be an exaggeration lol) pop up in their place. The community is always growing, and tons of new things are being discovered even still!

But, yeah, I did hear about how Utau won't be supported anymore starting around 2024 or so... But there are plenty of vocal synthesizers, Sivo being one of them that claims to be a new stand-in for Utau(don't know the details so I can't trust it right off the bat,,,) But Utau is still thriving for now ! ^=^
 
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FeatheredFinch

Ritsu's Renegades
Defender of Defoko
Thread starter
UTAU isn't dead. Sure, people from the past may not be around anymore. But there's so many people who have joined in the years that you've been absent. I don't mind the fleeting nature of the community. Heck, I can hardly remember who I used to hang out with in 2012. So I think it's about embracing the changes that have happened.
Great places to be are not only this forum, but also Soundcloud, Twitter, and Discord. I run a very active Skype group, if you're interested! http://tubs.moe
Please be warned, though, we're almost lawless. If you hop in for a moment and decide it's not for you, that's fine.
Can you give me some active users on youtube and soundcloud to follow? and thank you all for your responses, I guess I should do this for my nostalgia and enjoyment, I'd just love at least some people to see my covers haha
 
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수연 <Suyeon>

Your friendly neighborhood koreaboo trash
Supporter
Defender of Defoko
I generally agree with the sentiments being stated here:
- The community is getting older, therefore, creation is in decline/creativity in work is stagnant. The teens that started churning out banks left and right now have more important things in their lives going on: college, jobs, relationships, familial and financial responsibilities. The producers that made the songs we covered left and right have also moved on: many are now producing works for companies like Avex, or for established musicians/up and coming artists. These avenues are far more lucrative than vocaloid and the creative process could actually be faster (any singer worth their salt can take direction from the producer on how the result is supposed to sound; vocaloid just doesn't have the same capacity of expression that a human voice can give - not even for the better recreations such as Gakupoid/Sachiko - and you more or less have to spend days/weeks hammering such things in). Once people establish a sound that gets them popular, they proceed to beat a horse into dust. We can see that in current pop music.

- The effort vs reward just... doesn't make it worth it now. It takes a lot of man hours to create and refine reclists, record voicebanks, and configure them. It takes even more man hours to promote them, make people care about them, and keep them relevant. Given that the community on youtube is on life support and soundcloud's future is in question (their financial situation does not look good), putting yourself out there is a struggle. There's also the issue that you're competing with thousands of other people at the same time for the same attention. You may never get that attention. People are lucky if they even crack 200 unique views. After several years of that, people just... stop. Some stop out of depression. Some stop out of induced apathy. Some figure that this scene just isn't for them. Some go on/go back to being utaitte because (as stated above) results are faster and people listen to you more.

- The UTAU software is a ticking time bomb.
Ameya hasn't stated any plans in lieu of VB6 officially being laid to pasture. No other shareware/freeware synth has come to replace it (sharpkey's quality is comparable/exceeds it, but it's audience and voices are only in Chinese and IDK if the tools for voice creation have been made public). Some people may leave it all behind for that alone. Only the most dogged of individuals will stay with outdated OS to run a software that's been abandoned. It can be compared to those who run Windows XP just for Leon, Lola, and Miriam.

Things aren't truly dead until whatever future iteration of Windows 10 comes around... and you can't install it through conventional means. Until then, the "death" will be coming from changes within the community.
 

Arissa

Ritsu's Renegades
Defender of Defoko
I generally agree with the sentiments being stated here:
- The community is getting older, therefore, creation is in decline/creativity in work is stagnant. The teens that started churning out banks left and right now have more important things in their lives going on: college, jobs, relationships, familial and financial responsibilities. The producers that made the songs we covered left and right have also moved on: many are now producing works for companies like Avex, or for established musicians/up and coming artists. These avenues are far more lucrative than vocaloid and the creative process could actually be faster (any singer worth their salt can take direction from the producer on how the result is supposed to sound; vocaloid just doesn't have the same capacity of expression that a human voice can give - not even for the better recreations such as Gakupoid/Sachiko - and you more or less have to spend days/weeks hammering such things in). Once people establish a sound that gets them popular, they proceed to beat a horse into dust. We can see that in current pop music.

- The effort vs reward just... doesn't make it worth it now. It takes a lot of man hours to create and refine reclists, record voicebanks, and configure them. It takes even more man hours to promote them, make people care about them, and keep them relevant. Given that the community on youtube is on life support and soundcloud's future is in question (their financial situation does not look good), putting yourself out there is a struggle. There's also the issue that you're competing with thousands of other people at the same time for the same attention. You may never get that attention. People are lucky if they even crack 200 unique views. After several years of that, people just... stop. Some stop out of depression. Some stop out of induced apathy. Some figure that this scene just isn't for them. Some go on/go back to being utaitte because (as stated above) results are faster and people listen to you more.

- The UTAU software is a ticking time bomb.
Ameya hasn't stated any plans in lieu of VB6 officially being laid to pasture. No other shareware/freeware synth has come to replace it (sharpkey's quality is comparable/exceeds it, but it's audience and voices are only in Chinese and IDK if the tools for voice creation have been made public). Some people may leave it all behind for that alone. Only the most dogged of individuals will stay with outdated OS to run a software that's been abandoned. It can be compared to those who run Windows XP just for Leon, Lola, and Miriam.

Things aren't truly dead until whatever future iteration of Windows 10 comes around... and you can't install it through conventional means. Until then, the "death" will be coming from changes within the community.

I can see all your points. After all, it doesn't seem like Ame/Aya even seems to care about the program anymore... Hope I'm not the only one that sees/perceives it that way. If I could, though, I think I'd hold onto the utau program. But that's in the future...

I think I'll continue trying, even if things are sort of hopeless,, I guess it doesn't really make sense >=< I think that, even after Utau dies and is dead, it's still not dead (?) completely, I mean. Like with how people can reminisce on the olden days and the happiness and whatnot, plus such great voice banks and successions have been made, ie. Xia Yu Yao, the vippers, and tons of Utau that have made their creators proud. Not everyone is looking for fame, lots of people find mixing fun and whatnot,, like with drawing and whatnot,,, I'm tired rn lol I need sleep,,

Anyway, enough with my rambling. Do you think Utau could be preserved in any way, is there anything Ame/Aya can even do at this point?
 
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FeatheredFinch

Ritsu's Renegades
Defender of Defoko
Thread starter
I can see all your points. After all, it doesn't seem like Ame/Aya even seems to care about the program anymore... Hope I'm not the only one that sees/perceives it that way. If I could, though, I think I'd hold onto the utau program. But that's in the future...

I think I'll continue trying, even if things are sort of hopeless,, I guess it doesn't really make sense >=< I think that, even after Utau dies and is dead, it's still not dead (?) completely, I mean. Like with how people can reminisce on the olden days and the happiness and whatnot, plus such great voice banks and successions have been made, ie. Xia Yu Yao, the vippers, and tons of Utau that have made their creators proud. Not everyone is looking for fame, lots of people find mixing fun and whatnot,, like with drawing and whatnot,,, I'm tired rn lol I need sleep,,

Anyway, enough with my rambling. Do you think Utau could be preserved in any way, is there anything Ame/Aya can even do at this point?
Ame could just update the interface and find a way to update the coding, maybe a update to resampler to be higher quality, this was probably just for fun for her and she probably didn't expect it to blow up
 

Sors

Local Guppie & UTAU Korean Advocate
Tutor
Defender of Defoko
I don't think UTAU is dead. Rather, the community has changed, and correct me if I'm wrong but the last time you were here was back in 2012,right?
In those 5 years, a lot has changed. Back then, UTAU was still blooming, but now it reached the status of "poor man's vocaloid" again. But the community rises and falls, just like every community. Back in january when I joined, the community was on a high; many new introduction posts, many new and/or updated UTAU. Like, the showcase page grew so much, I had to literally search to find mine. Right now, the community is on a fall, but...who can blame them? Most of us are teens, and well have a lot of exams. I have 3 next week lol. So I expect the community to rise again in summer and early fall. And on your question for active SC Users, just go see who is active in the chatbox; we usually share our covers there.
 
P

partial

Guest
In developmental terms, it appears so. UTAU hasn't seen an update in years, and it's unknown if it will see an update again. VB6, the language UTAU is written in, is said to become unsupported by 2024. If it weren't for the people creating plugins for the program, it would be pretty lacking in features and seriously outdated.

I was never around during the big 'UTAU boom' in the community. When UTAU was experiencing a lot of talk and success, I was focused on Vocaloid. I didn't really get into UTAU until this year, though I'd heard of it and liked the concept since 2011. But there are still people using UTAU, maybe the same amount of people or more than before, we're all just sort of hidden on corners of the internet and not on one site, which does make it a bit harder to find old contacts or friends.
 

Arissa

Ritsu's Renegades
Defender of Defoko
In developmental terms, it appears so. UTAU hasn't seen an update in years, and it's unknown if it will see an update again. VB6, the language UTAU is written in, is said to become unsupported by 2024. If it weren't for the people creating plugins for the program, it would be pretty lacking in features and seriously outdated.

I was never around during the big 'UTAU boom' in the community. When UTAU was experiencing a lot of talk and success, I was focused on Vocaloid. I didn't really get into UTAU until this year, though I'd heard of it and liked the concept since 2011. But there are still people using UTAU, maybe the same amount of people or more than before, we're all just sort of hidden on corners of the internet and not on one site, which does make it a bit harder to find old contacts or friends.
Welcome back!! >=<
 

FeatheredFinch

Ritsu's Renegades
Defender of Defoko
Thread starter
In developmental terms, it appears so. UTAU hasn't seen an update in years, and it's unknown if it will see an update again. VB6, the language UTAU is written in, is said to become unsupported by 2024. If it weren't for the people creating plugins for the program, it would be pretty lacking in features and seriously outdated.

I was never around during the big 'UTAU boom' in the community. When UTAU was experiencing a lot of talk and success, I was focused on Vocaloid. I didn't really get into UTAU until this year, though I'd heard of it and liked the concept since 2011. But there are still people using UTAU, maybe the same amount of people or more than before, we're all just sort of hidden on corners of the internet and not on one site, which does make it a bit harder to find old contacts or friends.
I feel the Japanese community is advance enough to where they'd probably update Utau by themselves since it's not going too be supported by Ameya anymore.
 

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