Folks, I’m probably going to get a bit sentimental here. Long post about something very special to me and the past 8 years working with the UTAU software. So look out lol.
I can’t really believe this but it’s going to be around 8 years that I’ve been using the software UTAU and have been a part (if a small one) of the community. Never did I think that a software voice synthesizer could change my career or my life.
When it was 2009/10, I was around 13 years old. I was big into anime and manga and especially into Vocaloid. I loved languages even before that but it never crossed my mind to be someone whose life revolves around languages. I learned about UTAU because it was practically “make your own free singing anime character,” and how could a kid refuse?
But soon it became much more than a little silly computer program. I joined communities based around improving the quality of synthesized voices. I learned about phonetics and phonology, inspiring a lifelong love of linguistics. Heck, I even taught myself Japanese in order to study the intricacies of the program. Before I came to college I had never taken an actual Japanese course—I was self taught, going to Saturday classes and summer camps as my only regimented study. I came to college and skipped an entire level of Japanese due to what I learned by myself and the program.
Over the years, I made a lot of friends, lost contact with those friends—some I even gained contact with again after the early days! I still miss the multitude of people I met and wonder how they’re doing. I remember Circus-P and Empath-P and KenjiB before they made it big. I came of age at the same time as them, met my first transgender friends in the community, who inspired me to come out as trans later in life.
I never thought I’d actually go to Japan, but here I am, having gone twice in two years. I never thought I’d be able to use what I learned about Japanese phonology but now, it makes learning and speaking the language so much easier. I turned my UTAU knowledge into an ability to create a small text to speech bank capable of speaking the indigenous Ainu language as part of an internship. I took an independent music creation course here in college, used UTAU as part of my study in creating a multilingual voicebank with the Arpasing framework, and got an A+. Soon, I’m going to be graduating college with a degree in Japanese language and linguistics.
Over these past 8 years, I’ve recorded over a hundred voice libraries in over 5 languages, designed character icons, created recording lists, song covers and originals — for myself and others, many which I deleted because they didn’t live up to my standards. But today, I found some work on an old USB—about 6 unreleased and unfinished voicebanks from 2010, a mountain of downloaded musical files, concept art, works by my friends in the community. And that just touched me.
I’ve learned so much from that community and even if the software stops updating, I know that more people will learn about UTAU like I did. I hope to come back to the community and end up making more content in the future.
Until then, I hope to look at all the work everyone does with pride, and be happy to be a community elder.
Thank you, UTAU community and all the friends and family that have supported me through the past 8 years.
I can’t really believe this but it’s going to be around 8 years that I’ve been using the software UTAU and have been a part (if a small one) of the community. Never did I think that a software voice synthesizer could change my career or my life.
When it was 2009/10, I was around 13 years old. I was big into anime and manga and especially into Vocaloid. I loved languages even before that but it never crossed my mind to be someone whose life revolves around languages. I learned about UTAU because it was practically “make your own free singing anime character,” and how could a kid refuse?
But soon it became much more than a little silly computer program. I joined communities based around improving the quality of synthesized voices. I learned about phonetics and phonology, inspiring a lifelong love of linguistics. Heck, I even taught myself Japanese in order to study the intricacies of the program. Before I came to college I had never taken an actual Japanese course—I was self taught, going to Saturday classes and summer camps as my only regimented study. I came to college and skipped an entire level of Japanese due to what I learned by myself and the program.
Over the years, I made a lot of friends, lost contact with those friends—some I even gained contact with again after the early days! I still miss the multitude of people I met and wonder how they’re doing. I remember Circus-P and Empath-P and KenjiB before they made it big. I came of age at the same time as them, met my first transgender friends in the community, who inspired me to come out as trans later in life.
I never thought I’d actually go to Japan, but here I am, having gone twice in two years. I never thought I’d be able to use what I learned about Japanese phonology but now, it makes learning and speaking the language so much easier. I turned my UTAU knowledge into an ability to create a small text to speech bank capable of speaking the indigenous Ainu language as part of an internship. I took an independent music creation course here in college, used UTAU as part of my study in creating a multilingual voicebank with the Arpasing framework, and got an A+. Soon, I’m going to be graduating college with a degree in Japanese language and linguistics.
Over these past 8 years, I’ve recorded over a hundred voice libraries in over 5 languages, designed character icons, created recording lists, song covers and originals — for myself and others, many which I deleted because they didn’t live up to my standards. But today, I found some work on an old USB—about 6 unreleased and unfinished voicebanks from 2010, a mountain of downloaded musical files, concept art, works by my friends in the community. And that just touched me.
I’ve learned so much from that community and even if the software stops updating, I know that more people will learn about UTAU like I did. I hope to come back to the community and end up making more content in the future.
Until then, I hope to look at all the work everyone does with pride, and be happy to be a community elder.
Thank you, UTAU community and all the friends and family that have supported me through the past 8 years.
