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Introduction

Welcome to The Ultimate UTAU Tutorial Megabook portal! As someone who's been in the UTAU community for 6 years and counting, I thought I would share my knowledge here regarding UTAU-related topics, such as voicebank making, tuning, and much more. I'll also share on how I work with UTAU.

This little project of mine has been something I've been wanting to do for since joining the UTAU community. I won't be considering this tutorial GitBook totally complete, as I myself am learning new things when using the UTAU program, and outside of it.

I hope you find these tutorials useful! If there's any mistakes or errors you find when reading this tutorial GitBook, shoot me a DM at Twitter (@iosion_).

Thanks!

HEADS UP: This tutorial GitBook will only cover tutorials using the Windows version of UTAU. However, there will be several tutorials with the UTAU-synth software, which was developed for MacOS.

Contributors

• iosion (GitBook creator)

Changelog

LAST UPDATED: 12/31/2020

Changelog entries are organized in which the top entry is the latest entry. I will only list major changes.

• 12/31/2020: Name changed to "The Ultimate UTAU Tutorial Megabook".

• 04/17/2020: GitBook created.

Things to know

Before we begin, there are some important terms that must be addressed.

What is UTAU?

According to the UTAU wiki, Singing Voice Synthesis Tool UTAU, or better known as UTAU, is program developed by Ameya/Ayame that allows you to use synthesized voices by using wav files to make them sing. UTAU is a shareware software, meaning that this program can be downloaded for free, with the option of buying a shareware license to obtain bonus features within the program. We'll get to that later on in the tutorials.

One of UTAU's most unique features is that it allows for the creation of your very own voicebanks. Because of this, many people have creating their own voicebanks, which has contributed to its surge in popularity. Aside from that, UTAU remains a popular alternative to the commercial voice synthesis software known as VOCALOID, and generally has a much larger selection of voicebanks to choose from.

Common misconceptions

The surging popularity of UTAU has caused some misconceptions to go around, and they happen to share some misconceptions with VOCALOID as well.

Misconception #1: UTAU/VOCALOID is an anime.

This is not true at all. This misconception stems from the fact that there are VOCAUTAU original songs with anime-esque PVs to them, and that there are a ton of VOCAUTAU voicebanks with anime-looking avatars. Keep in mind that both UTAU and VOCALOID are voice synthesis software, not anime.

To expand on this misconception, there is actually an anime musical show that features VOCAUTAU characters and uses their voicebanks (voiced by actual seiyuu) in place of real voice acting! This anime is called Zunda Horizon, in case you are interested in what its name was. Notable VOCAUTAU characters featured anime are Tohoku Zunko (VOCALOID, VOICEROID), Tohoku Kiritan (UTAU, NEUTRINO), and many more.

However, that is not to prove that UTAU/VOCALOID is an anime. Zunda Horizon is simply an anime musical show that uses voicebanks in place of real voice acting in their production.

Misconception #2: UTAU is easier to use than VOCALOID.

To be honest, that really depends on the user itself. Some who are VOCALOID users find UTAU harder to use because they are already accustomed to using VOCALOID, but some can use UTAU within a short amount of time without getting confused and all. Everyone will have a different experience using UTAU and getting the hang of its basics, and that is okay!

So, you want to use UTAU?

If you're a newcomer in the UTAU community with no idea where to start, or you're a returning UTAU user who wants to relearn the basics, then you've come to the right place! A lot of topics will be covered in this tutorial GitBook, so keep on reading!