Wiki Wednesday #19 - Kimi Yamamoto / 山本君

Guys, please ZIP banks that are already inside of folders please. My folder just got flooded with samples, and I'm like "oh dang, the heck."

Wiki Wednesday #19 - Kimi Yamamoto / 山本君

This is actually a really interesting case! According to her voice provider's deviantArt page, Kimi had existed for six years before she was publicly released. I was really confused at how an UTAU that felt 2010 ended up in my Wiki Wednesday spreadsheet, but now I know why. Though I assume the samples were rerecorded or remastered at some point, as the date modified says 2016 on the samples.

I'll get into why this bank is a delightful find for an UTAU nostalgia enthusiast in the "How is this bank?" section. However, let's start by talking about Yamamoto Kimi.

Who is Yamamoto Kimi?

Official Artwork Packaged with Bank

The first image of Kimi was released on the twenty-second of December, 2011. She has a really adorable personality - she's shy, but she's caring once she gets comfortable with someone. She is Japanese-American and has a Japanese catch-phrase that translates to "I love singing!"

And if you know me well, you know I'm just really happy on the inside when I read all of this. I really miss 2011, and anything that feels 2011 makes me really happy.

Before using Kimi, make sure you read the Terms of Use included in her voicebank. 

How is the bank?

Very 2011!! 

No one mentioned this on the UtaForum for some reason...

It's a bank that represents the very center of when times were a-changing. The "r"s are just a little off, but the 'u's are still rounded. The "o"s are slightly diphthongized, but not enough that anyone who wasn't looking for it would find it. The OTOs are actually pretty decent... If you just swapped the red and the green. (The technical way to remember it is that left blank is cutoff, overlap is how much preutterance bleeds into the preceded sample, and preutterance is the top of the note. The easy way is 'You go on green and stop on red!')

Because of the reason the OTO is really wonky is just confusion over which line does what, this isn't too hard to fix. Open SetParam and a spreadsheet program. Copy Overlap, paste it in a spreadsheet, then copy Preutterance and paste it in a spreadsheet. Then copy the Overlap from the spreadsheet into the preutterance column in SetParam and vice-versa. 

yay!!

Before listening to the voicebank, you need to know that it is a beta voicebank and not a finished voicebank. There are some errors, outside of just the OTO file, that may eventually be fixed. One may ask why I am publicizing a beta voicebank. To that I respond with "I like this UTAU a lot and the only way to get a VCV is if enough people tell Princess Cillerenda we love Kimi and want a VCV."

Being a one pitch beta aside, I actually really like this UTAU's voice. And to boot, any little errors I found I was able to OTO out. I didn't find any cut off consonants!

Where can I download Kimi Yamamoto?

Kimi's download link is on her UTAU Wiki page.

I really, really hope that Kimi gets more versions in the future. To be completely honest, I think only having CV is completely fine. But there's still a part of me that just really likes a VCV version existing. Princess Cillerenda is likely a busy person with a demanding job, so I'd understand if VCV wasn't in Kimi's cards. But, hey, you can hope!

Even if Kimi never gets VCV, I hope that more people see this and try her out. Once you get past the OTO issues, she has that nostalgic early 2010s Overseas Sound that I miss so much.