What's your opinion of Vocaloids?

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I recently acquired a fascination with Vocaloids, a trend in Japan that uses software to create new music using featured characters (like Hatsune Miku). I was wondering if anyone else like them. For those who don't know what Vocaloids are, here's a music video.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRQTZC3uNW4[/youtube]

Being an anime fan, I see them on a lot of websites I visit, but I don't feel strongly about them one way or another. I think they're cute and I like some of their songs though.

A lot of the Vocaloid songs I've found on Youtube are comedy/novelty numbers, but there are some genuinely talented people out there who are using the software for 'serious' compositions. Ryo of Supercell is the biggest name, but I picked up a copy of Unformed by Doriko and was quite impressed with it. Most of it is still straightforward electro- Jpop, but they're catchy and the software's clever. The 'live' shows are pretty attention-grabbing too.

I actually have the software for the Megurine Luka Vocaloid installed on my PC and have been meaning to learn how to use it properly! I prefer her voice over Miku's - it's more 'grown up'-sounding and I think it would be better suited to a wider range of music.

Has anyone heard vocal samples for the newest ones BTW? I noticed the announcement about Vocaloid 3 being released, but I'd be interested in hearing how different it sounds compared with the older versions.

^ When are they releasing it?

I also agree about Luka, I like her voice better than Miku's, but Miku's songs are kind of cute.

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@MakaylaTheAspie: Vocaloid 3 was out really recently - in the last few weeks I think - so I guess not many people have had chance to make many songs with them yet. The technical side fascinates me though, so I can't wait to see what they do with it.

@nat4200: another interesting thing about Vocaloids is how the songwriters make use of the 'artificialness' of the voices...for futuristic-sounding electronica, for instance. I know autotune is over-used these days, but if you're familiar with the Jpop group Perfume they've taken it onto a whole new level. The vocals are deliberately autotuned to such a degree they sound very robotic and vocoder-y...almost like human vocaloids themselves actually. Someone wanted to take this to its logical conclusion and did a cover of their Night Flight single using Miku's voice...and it's actually very good!
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eU2i9EidsU0[/youtube]

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