OMG wait! can I be a little bit negative for a second?
I do not care for the faceless voicebanks on either SynthV nor Vocaloid.
Of course I like VY1, and the ones that fill a niche vocal type like Chengxiao, maybe Fengyi etc., but everyone else I could not care less about. When I'm using or listening to a virtual vocalist, I need them to bring something to the table that I couldn't just get from a real singer, or have a unique and fun character that I can latch onto. Who the fuck is an Akito or a Michelle? Sheena? Riku? Danny?! Get out of my face, that's the guy who works as a cashier down at the corner store, not a Vocaloid/SynthVloid.
Akito, to me, is the quintessential preppy dweeb. He keeps extensive rankings of different vocal synths that only he cares about, and places way too much stock in popularity
Less formal than a "review" but I wanted to share my thoughts on the V6 banks I have and have used. Ngl it's primarily positive, and y'all may have noticed I tend to use V6 more than I use SynthV just because I have more fun with Vocaloid. These are more or less gonna be in order by when I used them. I also might add to this post if/when I acquire new banks.
Anyways here goes:
Allen
I really enjoy the tone of his bank, it's a sort of RnB/trap/rap-esque voice and that's not common in vocal synths so I appreciate it
English is really clear and the Japanese accent is also passable - mandarin isn't so good but I also barely use mandarin so
Goes falsetto when he goes high which in the right song goes hard
Probably my favorite of the four "default" banks
Sarah
A nice, solid, more mature sounding voice with is always welcome imo
Dunno if I've ever finished a whole song with her in english but I like her in Japanese just as much tbh
Once again, the mandarin needs work. I'm wondering if that's not just all of the V6 banks that were recorded for english
Unfortunately her voice tends to lose power in the higher range which makes her hard to use sometimes (but, most AI banks, not even just vocaloid ones, also have this issue.)
Tied with Haruka for second favorite default bank
Haruka
She kinda leans into the "cute little girl" voicetype but, it's still unique and has a rich quality to it
Once again I've never used her in full for english but I can't complain about her english really, I just have other banks I'd rather use for english??
Her mandarin is pretty good actually! I've noticed banks recorded for japanese handle mandarin better.
She also loses power when she goes high but it's less noticeable than with Sarah, since Haruka's less powerful to begin with
As stated previously, she's tied with Sarah for second place in the "default bank" category
Akito
So mid it hurts
Seriously he's not bad but he is the most Generic Male Voice on the market
Literally just "the Kaito we have at home"
I almost forgot he even existed and went straight to the next vocal on my list before realizing my mistake
I pretty much only ever use him for backing vocals, like octave down harmonies that are out of the main singer's range
Gumi AI
Gumi is love, Gumi is life,
Far higher quality than any of the default banks, like not even in the same league. Literally she's better in every conceivable way
The english accent is a little worse than the V3 english bank but by far more natural sounding, so it makes up the difference
Her mandarin is decent. Not much else to say, and I think Haruka's might be a little bit better???
Pretty much the only bad thing is that once again, the bank loses power in the higher register and that's hard to compensate for.
Regardless, easily my favorite voice for the engine. Period. Every time I tune her I have a blast.
Fuiro
I bought her while she was on sale and she was worth every penny
Seriously she sounds like a youtaite and I love love love her mature warm tone
Her english is also very clear and natural sounding. I've used her more in english than in japanese (which is funny since she was recorded for JPN lol)
In general, she feels more expressive than the others because her tone varies a lot depending on pitch
With that said, her range feels a lot more limited - she switches into falsetto almost immediately upon hitting C4 (C5 in UTAU) but she also can't go too far below C3 (C4 in UTAU) without starting to sound robotic
Even so, she's probably my second favorite V6 bank after Gumi
Una (Spicy)
Finally finally finally a voicebank that doesn't lose the powerful tone in the upper register
Her english is good but it's the only one where I've had to use extensive phoneme editing like you would in a V3/V4 non-native bank
Sometimes the english phonemes sound a little weird, especially [e], [I], and [V]
Still, it's the Una Spicy tone we all know and love
The styles Una comes with kinda suck actually, Gumi and Fuiro both had style presets that make them sound great but idk what's up with Una's
I still love her tho, especially having a powerful vocal that can also go high and stay powerful
Una (Sugar)
Soft, but still has Una's solid, cutesy tone
English is a bit better than Spicy's but still not great (what happened here? the others cross language synth just fine)
The Sugar styles are also better than Spicy's styles but still not great (again not sure what happened there)
Still, the tone is great and it's very fun to tune
DISCLAIMER: I literally got Una's banks yesterday so my opinions on them are not fully formed.
