#ametro

Reviewing the Ameuta family is now a longstanding tradition on this blog. Eventually I might review every single one of them, though I will admit making each of those posts unique is a little challenging...

This review was requested anonymously.

*Art by Otsuki Metro (大槻メトロ)

Hear a Sample of Ameuta Niko

Bio

Name: 飴唄仁胡/Ameuta Niko Species: Demon Gender: Male Age: late teens Height: 160 cm Likes: Noodles, museum tours Dislikes: Magic, losing  Theme: Purple Chitose Ame candy

Official Site

Here is Niko’s official page! The voicebank I’ll be talking about today is 砕/Kuda, which was released in 2016. It’s 31 MB when unzipped and has fully generated frq files. Also, here’s a list of what extra samples are included in his reclist, shared among the modern Ameuta UTAUs. You Probably won’t need this, but it’s nice to know what’s included.

First Impressions

Niko has a slightly androgynous, boyish voice. Like Niriya, who I reviewed before, he has stringed audio samples that are CV aliased. One fun thing about him is that instead of his given name being written in hiragana like the other Ameutas, it uses the kanji  胡 for ko, which means barbarian. I also think it’s cute he’s themed around a specifically Japanese candy and is pastel purple despite being a brash anime teen, I think that’s cute.

Configuration

Niko is a monopitch CV recorded at A3. He has a range of D3-A4, but can go a bit over that comfortably. He also has extra pronunciations, end breaths, vocal fry, and combined vowels. One thing I wish the Ameutas had is samples for more vowel combinations. They already have “ai” “ae” “ao”, and “au”, but not many others! The lack of smoother vowels is the main reason why I don’t use CV much. The stringed samples ultimately don’t do that much in terms of making a more natural sound.

The mic quality is pretty good here, but the voice just doesn’t translate well into the engine. Overall, he’s at about the same quality as the other Ametro UTAUs, not bad but not super special.

I like to add the g10 flag to him for a voice that better suits his character.

My recommended flags: g10H20F3E10

My recommended resamplers: fresamp12, EFB-GT

Final Thoughts

Niko is an above average CV with a cute, flexible voice and a lot of potential. I highly suggest you check out the other UTAUs in his series.

Hello again! Since I have a lot of downtime nowadays, I’ve decided to work on more reviews! I’ve been spending more time working on my own UTAUs lately. The new Lycoris update is about half otoed! Today I’m once again going over an UTAU from Otsuki Metro. This review was requested by @plakythebirb​.

*Art by Otsuki Metro (大槻メトロ)

Hear a Sample of Ameuta Niriya

Bio

Name: 飴唄ニリヤ/Ameuta Niriya Manager: Otsuki Metro Species: Moray eel Gender: Female Age: Early 20s Height: about 165 cm Likes: junk food, narrow spaces Dislikes: Spicy things, pranks Theme: Brown Gummy candy Voice type: Clear/bright 

A noisy and energetic female voicebank.

Official Site

Since Ametro’s official site is all in Japanese, I’ll directly link to Niriya’s page. There is only one voicebank linked under the “ver1.0″ banner. 1.0 is about 21 MB when unzipped and comes with .frq files.

First Impressions

Like most of the Ametro UTAUs, Niriya is a CV voice with a grainy robotic tone. Interestingly, her samples are stringed (recorded multiple sounds at a time), but she is still aliased like a CV. If you prefer using VCV, you could try adding some V-CV aliases in. Niriya stands out by being capable of power and having a bright, cutesy tone.

Configuration

Niriya is monopitch and recorded at F#4. Her ideal range is from B3-G5. She uses a less comprehensive reclist than Ameuta Nipo, with 85 samples in the one pitch. It wasn’t until This Post that I learned ametro has a list of what extra samples are included in their voicebanks, so here it is! Most of the differences are just alternate pronunciations of certain sounds, e.g. softer N vs louder N. There are also throat clearing/coughing samples with Niriya intended to be added during mixing. Her end breaths sound Extra good too, with an atmospheric quality. Like Nipo, they are aliased with kanji.

My recommended flags: F0C10h20

My recommended resamplers: EFB-GT, doppeltler, f2resamp

Final Thoughts

Niriya is a fun addition to the Ametro cast and easier to figure out/use than most of their UTAUs. Use her if you like powerful UTAUs!

Hello again! I have a bit of free time before midterm season starts, so I decided to complete some requests! (My inbox is always full it seems like :D)

This review was requested by Plakis Morakis.

Art by Otsuki Metro/大槻メトロ

Hear a Sample of Ameuta Nina

Bio

Name: 飴唄ニナ

Voicer/Manager: Otsuki Metro/大槻メトロ Race: Humanoid Robot Gender: None Age: Early teens Height: About 165cm Like: Pretty specimens, beads Dislikes: Small animals, powdery things Image: White, rock candy

Official Site

Nina’s site is all in Japanese, so I’ll make this a little easier. This link takes you to their page, scroll down click on the link that says “ver 1.0″ for the download.

First Impressions

I’m so glad someone recommended one of the ametro UTAUs for this blog!! Back when I first got into UTAU I used to be obsessed with them, especially Nipo and Nirechi. All of the ametro UTAUS are themed around a candy, and Nina’s is rock candy. I like their design a lot, it’s quirky. Nina’s voice has a boyish, artificial sound with a dark tone.

Configuration

Nina uses a custom CV reclist with a lot of extras like vocal fry (at the beginning and end of a note!), 4 kinds of breaths, and a few extra phonemes. It’s a more comprehensive CV UTAU than most.

Nina was recorded on a mic with no pop filter and has loud consonants. Yet, somehow...they still sound very good? Like, very artificial and crunchy, but also smooth and tight. I’d chalk that up to Metro’s otoing skills.

Their ideal range is tenor or alto (B2-G4), which was a nice surprise. Nina is only monopitch, so pushing them too far outside of that gets mixed results.

My recommended flags: B30Y0H0F1

My recommended resamplers: EFB-GT, model4, EFB-BS

Final Thoughts

Nina is a quirky and unique voicebank with a specific niche. Within that niche, they shine very well. Even if you don’t usually use CV, I would recommend using Nina.

Hello again! School is almost done for me, so I have a lot of time to use UTAU and write reviews. I was glad to have so many requests to get through!

I tried including just the icon this time as an image and not the full body art. Even though in the case of UTAUs it’s usually okay to repost/reuse official art, I still don’t like doing it. Tumblr also doesn’t let me change the image size so they often end up being way too big (or sometimes, too small). I hope it doesn’t look funny.

This review was requested by Plakis Morakis. 

*Art by Otsuki Metro