Forgotten Friday #66 - 少しここ / Sukoshi Coco
How is this possible?! If you're just now returning after leaving in 2012, Rev is basically one of the most influential UTAU users of this era. He made Spongebob UTAUs and has really good art, and has a ton of followers. (When I looked him up to get an accurate count, I found out he was featured on a tumblr about toxic famous people. That's how you know you made it.)
Okay, I have to just pause to say that the Wiki page about how awful he was only said that he disliked a specific Pokemon. I was worried there would be damaging information, but nope! Pokemon drama!
Anyway, back to the first sentence. This UTAU would just be your typical Forgotten Friday UTAU if it weren't for the fact that the voice provider of this UTAU collab'd with Rev to make Coco's current bank. Rev drew art for her and configured her bank, and... Not a single video on YouTube in like seven years. No videos with the new design. Unless you look at the Wiki page, there's not even a hint of this revision even existing.
So how does this happen? The new bank has been downloaded twenty times. I even used site search to see how many times Rev brought her up on his main (this was before he made an UTAU only account) and he only brought her up twice. This is all like, huh? What? Why did this thing happen and then everyone forget about it?
Who is Coco Sukoshi?
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| Original icon - I really feel like this design is familiar, and belongs more in the context of this article than the redesign |
Let me start by saying that at first, I didn't like the new design because of how I remembered Sukoshi Coco being. But then I took the time to listen to the bank and I was like, wow. That's androgynous. Seeing that label applied to a female UTAU with a lower voice always bugged me because "lol mae sounds like boy" just because I force myself into a lower register due to dislike the paternal side of my heritage. (Boo Appalachia) But... Coco really pulls off the androgynous and I'd just shrug and nod along with whichever gender was chosen (null is an option here).
So, she's upbeat and likes chocolate. She's twenty-two and I think that's all there really is to say here.
How are Sukoshi Coco's banks?
Coco has two banks - her original one and the Rev one. The original one is just really typical of a 2009 bank. OTOs are wonky, pronunciation is extremely wonky, and the microphone quality is like the sound is hanging out in a wind tunnel. This was all really standard, and the bank being as usable as it is makes it stand out quite a bit during that era.
Her Rev bank, ReNew is like... There's a lot of files. There are stringed VV files in the renzoku folders, and there is an append in there. I think there are like, nine pitches with seven being represented in the prefix map? Other than the stringed VV, it is all CV. That makes it a lot less scary. (Banks that are over a gigabyte intimidate me.)
The pronunciation and microphone quality for this bank are entirely on point. The voice has a bit more force to make it sound more androgynous than the original, but that is an ocean that can float some boats and sink others. You just have to know whether your boat is more dense than the ocean, in which I mean that if you like this voice, your boat will be very... I think... Here's the sample.
(I usually wouldn't point this out, but I'm disillusioned because the OTOs aren't perfect >:( I thought they'd be perfect because of how good Rev is, but this was made in 2018, and a lot has happened since then.)
Where can I download Sukoshi Coco?
You can download Coco from her Wiki page. Androgynous isn't the best descriptor for this. I believe Coco is 100% cis female, but the best way to just pop into your head what this voice sounds like is NB trans-masc. If you want to use that in your projects, the Rev bank is high quality and easy to get great results out of. As far as the original voice, however, I don't hear it as androgynous and just as a lady making an UTAU. It's all a matter of intent.
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