#IS VOCALOID 4 BETTER THAN 3 SOFTWARE#
Modern Vocaloid technology dates back to 2000, when development for commercial use began, although in its early days it was still a niche concern appealing only to music producers and software engineers.
In 1962, Bell Labs’ IBM 704 became “ the first computer to sing” when it performed a very proto-Kraftwerk-sounding rendition of “Daisy Bell” (to which Stanley Kubrick paid chilling homage a few years later in 2001: A Space Odyssey). One fan-written history of Vocaloid explains: “Human voices are recorded in short samples, and these samples are stored in a database which becomes a software for songwriters and producers to use as an alternative a singing voice.” Cutting edge as it sounds, this technology is actually not that new. Miku is what’s known as a Vocaloid, an avatar of voice-synthesizing software (also called Vocaloid) - roughly, Siri–meets–GarageBand. Indeed, last month, shortly after she made her much-discussed American-network debut on The Late Show With David Letterman and shortly before her two headlining shows at the Hammerstein Ballroom, a New York Times headline wondered, “Does Hatsune Miku’s Ascent Mean the End of Music As We Know It?” (Don’t even think about calling her a cartoon.) She is, depending on whom you ask, a harbinger of a radically collaborative future in pop music or a holographic horsewoman of the apocalypse. But both of these are the kind of misnomers that are liable to send her legions of die-hard fans - and there are 2.5 million of them on Facebook - into cardiac arrest. If you’ve heard of her, you’ve probably heard her described as a “hologram” maybe you’ve also heard people say she doesn’t exist. She has opened for Lady Gaga, collaborated with Pharrell, and sung more than 100,000 songs, dabbling quite literally in every genre imaginable. She wears her cascading aquamarine hair in pigtails that skim the ground when she dances, and according to stats offered up on her record company’s website, she stands five-two and weighs about 93 pounds. I spent about $170 for one editor and one voicebank, but the Standard edition for V5, which is approximately $250, comes with the editor and four voicebanks, so I believe you are getting your money's worth.Hatsune Miku, one of Japan’s most famous pop stars, has been 16 for the past seven years. I know you say that V4 is cheaper but do keep in mind that V5 comes with voicebanks along with the editor. If none of these apply to you, then I would go ahead and purchase V5.
#IS VOCALOID 4 BETTER THAN 3 UPDATE#
In fact, I'll probably get an update myself when they start releasing more V5 voicebanks. But I think purchasing V5 is also a good decision if you don't have an editor yet, from what I've seen the look of the editor is very modern and it seems to have a lot more capabilities compared to V4. Personally for me, since I got V4 pretty recently, I'll stick with it for now. I'd say getting either editor depends on what you want to use with it. I actually purchased V4 shortly before the release of V5.