Kurane Zanda - The Last Living USloid - Recovered!

Who is Kurane Zanda? Where is his voicebank? How can I download 暗音ザンダ?

Kurane Zanda - The Goth USLoid - Recovered!

In writing my Forgotten Friday series, I have realized that almost every USloid died when MegaUpload was seized by the government. If you're too young to remember that, boy howdy, was it a trip. MegaUpload was extremely popular to upload to. It actually paid people to pirate stuff. However, no UTAU users were getting paid. It was just the easiest place to store things with the most storage. My internet was garbage, so I loved their upload manager program. If my internet cut out, it was no big deal. The uploader resumed it like it was nothing. Then the government seized it and everything on it was lost.

I don't think I ever had Kori, Hina, or anyone after that. The only USloid I personally kept on my computer that I could upload is Tomero Chii's beta triphones and original CV bank. (yep, that's how long ago it was. They were triphones.) Zanda was the first overseas UTAU I remember using. He came after Chii but people treated Zanda more favorably as if he was the first.

Who is Zanda?

Kurane Zanda was created by a guy named Zander. His design was extremely cool, even if the art didn't do it justice all of the time. To see how cool his design could be, a simple Pixiv search will yield some pretty awesome results.

Official Artwork Packaged with Bank

It feels insane that both Zander and I are in our twenties, but Zanda's official age is still 15 years old. Granted, Zanda "died" when MegaUpload was seized and was never updated again. So maybe there is some validity to that official age.

Zanda's voice is a bit unique.

He seemingly suffered the same issues with recording as Kenta Chikune, only to a smaller degree. However, new breakthroughs in UTAU technology help smooth over some of those issues.


While he has all required files, he doesn't have the newer additions to UTAU banks like ヴぃ and すぃ.

How can I download Zanda?!

Zanda was 100% dead with all download links removed. He was never reuploaded to a modern sharing site until I asked him for it. He searched his old hard drives and found the bank! You can download it here.

200824 update - I actually never explicitly asked if I could share the link itself. The bank was taken down, but I still had it. I asked permission to reupload it and share, and I got permission! Here's the link to download him!

Hopefully, someone sees Zanda and falls in love. For the first time in nearly a decade, everyone can play with this bank!

Forgotten Friday #1 - 時音タク / Tokine Taku, the Sixth UTAU

Who is Tokine Taku? Where can I download 時音タク? How long has this UTAU been forgotten?

Forgotten Friday #1 - 時音タク / Tokine Taku, the Sixth UTAU

I started my search. I ignored the Defoko clones, Momo, and Teto. The next entry was an UTAU I had never personally heard of. A quick search on YouTube reveals one video when you enter his Japanese name and another when you enter his romanized name. The most recent was posted long ago in 2010. Which is a long, long time ago in the terms of vocal synths as we know them.

Amazingly, I literally have no memory of this UTAU. It's extremely hard to even figure out what the design is supposed to be, so I'll just use the icon of the bot account that is still posting updates to this day.

Taku is owned by Tamago, who apparently hasn't posted since 2010. (However, that date might be later than their actual last posts as older Japanese blogs would use setting the date in the future to "pin" a post.)

The user behind the Taku bot account seems to really like him, seeing as that user made an MMD model for Taku.

What does Taku sound like?

Taku sounds really nice for an UTAU abandoned 2008.

If you want to get nostalgic for 2008 with a cute shouta (his age in his bio is 19, really), Tokine Taku is a great option.

How can I download Tokine Taku?

Quickly, I realized how lucky I was that NicoNicoPedia exists. All of his links and bio are on his NicoNicoPedia page. Two important notes. His OTO file does not come with the bank. The two separate links are for the OTO and for the bank itself. If you want to write your own OTOs, then only download the bank.

The second important note is to always turn your AdBlock on on Axfc. If you're not OK doing that, never open that site around anyone who doesn't want to see indecent images. There is so, so much inappropriate imagery on those ads. 

All you need to do is to type the password (it says PASS: on the NicoNicoPedia page) into the blank next to "キーワード: " on the Axfc page. The next part should be obvious. If your download doesn't start after clicking the text with English on it, click the link that says こちら. Sometimes you'll get errors and you just need to keep trying.

Hopefully someone finds Tokine Taku and falls in love! Out of over six thousand UTAUs, he was only the 6th.

Forgotten Friday #0 - Introduction

What is Forgotten Friday? Why is this an article series? Where can I find old UTAUs?

Forgotten Friday #0 - Introduction

There are a lot of UTAUs. When ruto dot yu stopped keeping track in 2013, there were over five thousand UTAUs in existence. Of those, the modern user only knows a fraction. Users often say that they want to find new banks, so this feels natural. Showing the fandom banks that feel brand new despite being nearly a decade old seems like something that would help benefit UTAU as a whole.

What are the rules?

The first requirement for being in Forgotten Friday is that all links must be easily accessible and live. If the links were difficult to find or get to, the bank would qualify as a "found" bank and not as a forgotten bank. 

The second requirement is the time since the last video. My rules are a bit flexible. I have every right to break them in the future if it feels right to, but I'll try to stick to them. For banks that are meh, the time requirement is five years of non-use. This is because regardless of how unlikely it is the bank will be used because of the article, being unused for nearly half of UTAU's existence is quite an achievement. For banks that are either really good or have a really awesome design, the time requirement is three years. For banks that I love and I want to scream loudly about, the time limit is just one year.

I will write a lot of these articles at once and then schedule them to come out over a period of time so that anyone who follows this blog doesn't get twenty articles thrown at them at once. That means that there is a chance that right before my article on a forgotten UTAU goes live someone will post a video with that forgotten UTAU. I won't pull down the article in light of that, but part of me doubts that will happen often.

The third requirement is just that there are no novelty banks. 巣派娘無墨命値根子出不子輪意音ス hasn't been used in about eight years because I literally went out of my way to make it impossible to use her. When I say novelty banks, I don't mean UTAUs where the designs are jokes. I mean banks that are impossible to use for normal songs. These also include banks that are only meant to make animal noises. My litmus for if a bank belongs on Forgotten Friday or not is if you can understand it when it reads the hiragana chart. (note, you can make beautiful music with Donka Fjord. But you can't make him sing Romeo and Cinderella.)

The rule that will get the most complaints is how I determine the time between the last usage of an UTAU. This blog is aimed at Westerners specifically. Where have Western UTAU users always posted their finished products? YouTube. At some point, I may write about an UTAU that is still being used to this day on Nico Video. That feels irrelevant to the people this blog is intended for, though. This means I'm ignoring SoundCloud, Twitter, and whatever else people are using these days. I'm only using YouTube because, well, that's what feels right with my history in the fandom. 

Where are these banks coming from?

I'm using this. And once that is done, I'll move to '10, then '11 . . . and I have five thousand banks to check doing that alone!

If your UTAU hasn't been used by yourself or anyone else for five years, you can write to me in the comments or @ me on Twitter. If all of your download links are valid, I will actually write about your UTAU. Having nothing posted for your UTAU for five years is pretty impressive considering that's almost 50% of UTAU's lifespan. Again, Nico, SoundCloud, Twitter, DeviantART, and whatever else posts don't count towards the usage. Only YouTube videos count.

When do these articles come out?

Hopefully, every Friday! I'm looking forward to showing everyone cool UTAUs they probably don't remember.

Kiru, Zena, and Lorelei - Rukia's UTAUs - Found!

Where can I download Hakune Kiru? Who is Raon Zena? Who is Lorelei? 

Kiru, Zena, and Lorelei - Rukia's UTAUs - Found!

Merry Christmas!

Let me start by saying that Rukia has explicitly stated that redistribution of her UTAUs is prohibited. That means that even if I have them all, I'm not allowed to upload them to share them. If you love these UTAUs, save them in a special place so that if 4Shared dies off, you still have them. (If you secretly send someone a RAR in an email, no one will ever know.)

Rukia was a Korean UTAU user who spoke English well enough to interact with the Western fandom a bit. Or, at least to the degree that I OTO'd some of her banks! I loved her voice, but I loved Lorelei the most. I loved her to the point of making her duet with my number one favorite overseas UTAU in an original song!

The one with the rose on her eye is Lorelei - it's a bit exaggerated with official art just having the rose inside the iris of the eye.

One important distinction to make is that Rukia's UTAUs have never been dead. They've continuously had their 4shared links up and valid since the upload of the banks. However, their distribution page is in Korean. I had to use Google Translate to figure out how to get to the right page! The fact that these banks are hard to find for Westerners is why I'm writing about them here.

But, I finally found the page. Scroll down to the bottom for the link if you're not here for details.

Who is Hakune Kiru?

Hakune Kiru is Rukia's flagship UTAU. His design is adorable!

Art by Rukia

Kiru has CV, VCV, and a Korean bank. Sadly, I don't know how to do Korean USTs and all of the links to samples on Rukia's blog return something other than actual samples. 

Thankfully, I do know how to make a sample using a Japanese UTAU!

Rukia usually used the bank in the third octave to give the voice more of a huskier sound. However, it is up to you to decide which octave you want Kiru to sing in.

Who is Raon Zena?

Raon Zena looks really cool, also.

Art by Rukia

Ok, that's not a very great description. However, you can tell she is meant to have some similarities with Kiru. But that's not the thing that's great about her. Listen to this sample that Rukia created:

I always say I should be more professional when I do this, but AAA I LOVE IT!!

She has a clear and powerful voice with a slight accent to make her unique. She also has a Korean bank, just like Kiru. It isn't listed (as far as I know) that her most recent bank has VCV . . . but she does! Apart from being only one pitch, I don't see anything bad to say about Zena's bank.

Who is Lorelei? 

Lorelei basically has no resemblance to the other UTAUs.

Art by Noel

But I love her. I love her with a passion. She has a sweet voice while still packing a bit of a punch, as you may have heard in the original song I posted above. However, without me knowing it, Rukia went and created the Rosemary append.

If I had known about the Rosemary append, I would have never searched for WHITE and started this blog. The Rosemary append is soft and sweet without the punch Lorelei previously packed.

Where can I download them?!

The distribution page is on Rukia's blog. If you want to go straight to the download links, search (CTRL + F on windows) for "4shared". Rukia uploaded each bank twice. Some of the backup links are dead, but all of the 4Shared links work. Alternatively, once you are on her 4Shared page, you can access all of the banks from there.

I hope I've helped someone find a bank that they love! I always welcome comments with the awesome stuff you've made. 😃

Tsukino Suki - Partially Recovered!

Who is Tsukino Suki? How can I download them? What banks are available?

Tsukino Suki - Partially Recovered!

Note, in this article I am going to use "they / them" pronouns for Suki and "he / him" pronouns for Elliot. 

Tsukino Suki is an UTAU made by Elliot way back in 2013. I really, really like both Suki and Elliot's voice.

Suki has went through multiple design changes over the years. One of their earliest designs was the one I used in the video for an original song featuring Suki.

The most recent Suki design by Ame is a lot more cute than the way I drew them, however.

Usage of fanart approved by Elliot

What does partially recovered mean?

Right before I quit UTAU in 2013, I met Elliot. He was pretty awesome and worked with me to make a really cool CV bank for Suki. I was always pushing for VCV banks, but recording those takes quite a bit of time and effort. By the time Suki had a VCV, I was off to California where I didn't have much time alone with my laptop.

Because of that, I never had the VCV bank in my possession. That meant that I was never able to obsessively preserve it. However, I did have the CV bank!

That's why this UTAU is considered partially recovered. The CV is really, really good.

However, I do understand that some people don't want to use something unless it has at least CVVC capabilities.

What's in the future for Suki?

Sadly, Suki is and most likely will remain a retired UTAU. You can use them and love them, but you can't expect a new bank for them. Elliot has moved on to new banks, such as Elis. 

If you want to love on Suki and make them sing, download the bank here.

I hope that someone finds this little CV bank and loves it as much as I do. Always feel free to leave comments with the awesome stuff you create! 😃

Vy Onnarashikoe / VY ReDUX - Found!

Who is Vy Onnarashikoe? Where can I download VY ReDUX? Is Vy a girl or boy?

Vy Onnarashikoe / VY ReDUX - Found!

I tore my room apart trying to find a flash drive where I backed up my old UTAUs recently. Amazingly, it didn't exist. Despite my old PC only having about 30GB of UTAU stuff on it, flash drives that giant weren't really available back in 2012 as far as I remember.

Of course, I did it mostly to find another bank I'll write about later. The reason this is going first is because, well, I don't have to completely overhaul this OTO file! (Also, of course, I don't have to grapple with the concept of the morality of uploading the work of others.)

Thankfully, my old laptop still booted after half a decade. While looking through my folders, I saw a name that felt familiar. I tried to place it, but I really couldn't. I tried to figure out if I had personally known the person who made it or if it was from one of my download binges.

Vy Onnarashikoe

Art by Riki/Ree

The surname is peak 2010. It means "Woman-like voice" and definitely isn't a valid Japanese surname. I don't mean that to come off as an insult when the naming method is just so darn nostalgic. That stuff really doesn't happen now that everyone takes UTAU way too seriously. 

I've done as much research I can when it comes to pronoun usage. It really all comes down to Riki's icon on Photobucket. It's the default avatar for people who report their gender as female. I will use female pronouns for Riki, Vy's creator, and male pronouns for Vy.

Vy was created nearly a decade ago by arrogantchild632 with his distribution sites and YouTube page using his name. When I was first looking at Vy, I was 100% sure that Vy was a 100% dead UTAU. Every link given in his Read Me was dead.

Usually when someone leaves a fandom, they leave all of their old accounts to just rot. You'll hop onto their dA and see that they haven't logged on since 2010. This is the thing that made me think Vy was 100% dead.

But Hark! The UTAU Wikia!

Googling Vy's name got me to the UTAU Wikia. There, I found that you can download all of his banks! And boy howdy is it worth it.
Other than some problems that can likely be fixed with OTO modification, I see nothing wrong with this voicebank beyond being a basic early 2011 one pitch. I legit love the voice!

In addition to that, the design is really adorable.

Art by Riki/Ree

As a note, the voicebank design is gendered male despite how the voicebank sounds. It was done as a joke and Riki seemed to be resigned to the misgendering. I'll save my politics talk to the DMs, but just be aware of the voice provider's wishes.

I was already drafting the outline of this article in my head as soon as I found the Wikia page. Cute UTAU dies sad death when voice provider disappears. But then . . . I found it.

Wikia 2.0 - Vy ReDUX

I can't exactly tell you how I got to Vy's updated voicebanks. I kind of just start googling and opening tabs like a hurricane as opposed to carefully noting what I search. Regardless, I found his Wiki 2.0 page. That lead me to this:

I should be more professional, but AAAAA I LOVE IT.

Such a pretty and clear voice with a cute accent!

Sadly, there are a lot of UTAU users like Riki. There is really no end-game to UTAU, really. Once it stop being fun, there's really nothing that can make putting all of that effort into making new banks feel worth it. I hope no one takes it the wrong way - I bailed hard when it stopped being fun, also. Her last update was in 2016. There's a good chance she will eventually come back and update Vy. However, part of me doubt it with how less and less fun it becomes over time. (Until Ameya pushes out VC support. Then it will be 2010 all over again.)

If Riki comes back in full force, Vy will get a multi-pitch VCV and a good number of non-Japanese banks. The existing demos for those unreleased banks are posted on the missRee soundcloud and linked on the Wiki 2.0 page.

Along with the Wiki 2.0 page is the weirdest little detail.

His new concept art is hosted on Photobucket! That either means Photobucket has stopped being a jerk or Riki is paying money to host art of her UTAU. If she's paying money to host her UTAU's art, she'll surely come back . . . right? We can hope.

Downloads

If you skipped the entire article, which I don't blame you for, here are the pages to download Vy's banks.

The original CV and VCV for Vy Onnarashikoe are on his UTAU Wikia page which can be found here.

All available Vy ReDUX banks can be found on his UTAU Wiki 2.0 page here. 

I hope that someone finds Vy and falls in love with him! Feel free to leave a comment with the things you create using him. 😊

Marine Yuzuriha and SKLK's UTAUs - Found!

Who is SKLK? What are these UTAUs like? How can I find Marine Yuzuriha?

SKLK's UTAUs - Found!

The story of how I learned about these UTAUs is a little funny. I actually was just trying to get a link to show off the UTAU Visual Archive to someone who might have needed to find a new UTAU to use when I saw this:

The name of the UTAU put through Google Translated amused me, but the design and her voice on the database really spoke to me. However, the only link provided was dead as a doornail. So, here comes the Way Back machine!

Clicking around will quickly show you how dead it is. The only page I could get to show up (as far as I could remember) was the main page. That means that all we have is the Japanese name, English name, and designs of all of the characters. However, the database link posted earlier had almost all of that information also, along with the release videos. 

That meant that I had to google names and see what came up. Truth Acknowledgement Blade's (Joking, Yuzuriha's) voice provider was 手ブラP. Having such a name made trying to Google her too risky to mess with. I did find what would supposedly be her twitter page through googling "真理音譲刃". A bot twitter account showed up with her defunct username in the sidebar. 

This was no use. It was time to turn my sights on SKLK, or すこるこ. I was able to turn up a few different defunct twitter handles, but ironically, simply googling some of SKLK's UTAUs names turned up her BowlRoll. 

And that was it!

I had found all of her UTAUs!

Who all is there?

• 真理音譲刃 - Marine Yuzuriha
• 卒音メル - Clarine Mel
• 飽音モネ - Ane Mone
• 雑音イズ - Zatsuneno Iz
• 真理音緋炎 - Marine Hien
• 神音ノノ♂♀ - Kamine Nono Male / Female
• 燐音イオ - Rinne Io
• クレム - Clem
• 九重深櫻 - Kokonoe Miou
• 九重黎人 - Kokonoe Akito
• 名無しさん (this is a joke I think)

Despite the vast majority of the UTAUs being there, there is one that is still lost as far as I know. 真理音霊羽, Marine Reu, isn't on the BowlRoll with all of her UTAU brothers and sisters.

Was the search worth it?

YEAH!

The UTAU that truly caught my eye was Yuzuriha, so I downloaded her VCV and WOW!

She's an older bank, which means that she doesn't have multiple pitches or end breaths. But I really don't care because she's adorable with a clear voice.

Some of SLKL's UTAUs are a bit of an acquired taste, but some of them legitimately should be more well known.

In Summary,

The UTAU Visual Archive has links on Yuzuriha's page to the design and demos for all of SKLK's UTAUs. When you find one you want, hit up SKLK's BowlRoll to download them!  

What is UTAUSNR?

What is UTAUSNR? Why isn't it UTAUSaR? What will be on this blog?

What is UTAUSNR?

UTAU Search and Rescue is a blog dedicated to bringing dead UTAUs back to life, along with short stories about the efforts taken to find them.

Why SNR? The "N" stands for "And" and reminds me much less of a deadly disease.

Redistribution bad!

I don't personally fully subscribe to the idea that redistribution of banks is wrong at all times. If a bank has no rules attached to it, there is no solid proof that the bank is prohibited from being redistributed. (The counter-argument is that unless the bank included a licence that allowed redistribution, there is no proof redistribution is allowed.) 

My personal thoughts on the subject is that the main reason to follow rules is to not get in legal trouble. Uploading and sharing an old copy of a Yoko Itone bank won't get me in legal trouble because Yoko Itone's creator and voice provider has been missing for a number of years. 

If a bank is explicitly prohibited from distribution, I won't post links to it. Period. However, if my networking skills allow it, I will hopefully be able to find people willing to privately share the banks in question. That will require privately contacting the people with the bank and getting a private link that isn't posted anywhere public. Matsudappoiyo is my biggest example of why I believe this isn't patently illegal. That guy was loved and the fandom was heartbroken when his links passed on. However, people shuffling downloads between themselves kept him alive.

And what's wrong with that?

But some UTAUs be 100% Dead by Choice, not by time

There are some UTAUs that have been taken off of the internet were taken off for reasons that make even private distribution iffy. If I can find proof that the creator legitimately wants their UTAU to never be used again, I won't go to the effort of trying to even find links. Matsudappoiyo, again, is the exception that proves the rule. His creator allowed private redistribution and even reuploaded the banks briefly at one point. Other than in cases of Rubies and Namidas (i.e., taking down the banks for legal reasons) I can't think of many UTAUs that fall into the category of the creators violently disavowing them. 

I may be too caught up in hunting down links and Mediafires to find information pointing to why the UTAU was taken out of circulation. If it is brought to my attention why, I will follow the creator's wishes ASAP.

How can I get you to find an UTAU?!

At me on Twitter or leave a comment with the name of the UTAU and as much information as you can come up with. I'll get to it as soon as I have the free time!

This blog might never pick up, but I'll have fun sharing what I learn and how I learned it.