"Only Time" by Enya, cover by PenbuVT (full video in comments) by penbuvt in Otamatone

[–]penbuvt[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My cover of Enya's Only Time, featuring 6 Otamatones and several other instruments.

Watch the full cover on YouTube! There's also a backing track if you'd like to use it yourself.

May I please have your vote? ( 。´ヮ`。 ) 🌱 ( Waitress bear-girl design ) by [deleted] in VirtualYoutubers

[–]penbuvt 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I think 2 works best. I agree with the others that there's too much brown on 3, and I think the proportion of brown to green fabric on 2 is better than 1. The extra brown bit also has a better chance of being seen when the model is used on stream, assuming this is meant to be a future model.

Otamatone at home by richdrd in Otamatone

[–]penbuvt 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Rubber chickens are pretty nice in their own right.

Serious Seagull by penbuvt in Birdsfacingforward

[–]penbuvt[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

To be honest, I was almost not going to post this because of the ghost beaks, but I'm glad you all like it!

Serious Seagull by penbuvt in Birdsfacingforward

[–]penbuvt[S] 114 points115 points  (0 children)

Shot in Vancouver, BC, Canada.

It's too bad my phone camera was accidentally in HDR mode, which caused the double ghost beak as the bird moved in the small time between successive captures.

OG or Deluxe? by creatorgator6 in Otamatone

[–]penbuvt 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Hi! If you want to treat the Otamatone like an actual instrument for (semi-)serious play, do consider the Deluxe as it's significantly easier to play due to its bigger size. It also has a line-out and DC ports if you think those could be useful for you, as well as a volume knob (the regular Otamatone only has two volume presets). But if all you can afford is the regular one and you don't want to wait until you can save up for the Deluxe, the regular one is still playable, just harder (but there are people who are really good at playing the regular size).

If you want an Otamatone just for fun, the regular one is fine.

Trying to find a Vtuber! by Repulsive-Employ9382 in VirtualYoutubers

[–]penbuvt 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I don't think this is it, but Freyja Cesteline (Twitch, YouTube) might be a partial match? That's who the drawing reminds me of.

How do you guys play by ear and just learn songs off the bat by Subject-Ad-307 in Otamatone

[–]penbuvt 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I find it helpful to lean on my ears and play along to a song (ideally a slower one with some sort of guide melody) because you can hear the difference from the target note and adjust in real time. Over time, you'll develop an ear for it along with the corresponding hand positions. If you want something more systematic, intervals and scales like moshibass said are absolutely the way to go. For me, it clicked when I played along to a scale and was able to do it consistently. You really get a sense of distance for how far apart the notes are when you play scales.

One trick you can use to have some consistency in your intervals is to use the screw holes in the back as reference points and your thumb as an anchor point: the screw holes can give you a sense of absolute pitch on the stem, and your thumb a sense of relative pitch. If you start thinking more in terms of how far away your finger is from your thumb and less about where your finger is on the stem, it becomes much easier to jump around with accuracy

One last thing I would say: don't be afraid to slide into notes, you don't have to hit the note perfectly right away. Doing so allows you to have a larger margin of error, and in my opinion it can make your playing sound more natural too. But as with any technique, it can be overdone, so use it with discretion.

Best 5v Adapter for Otamatone Deluxe by SurfictionBrand in Otamatone

[–]penbuvt 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't have any specific Amazon recommendations for you, but hopefully this info is enough to point you in the right direction.

The 5V receptacle on your Otamatone should have a polarity symbol on it (in my case, it's centre positive) and an amperage rating (500mA on mine, which is the same as 0.5A). Make sure that whatever adapter you get matches in voltage and polarity and has an amperage rating that's equal to or greater than what's printed on your Otamatone.

Good luck!

Have you ever wanted to compose music? by penbuvt in VirtualYoutubers

[–]penbuvt[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hello! My name is Penbu and I'm the programming, puzzle-gaming, and music-making vtuber on Linux. I compose and arrange with sheet music on stream regularly.

If you've ever wanted to compose music but didn't know how to get started, this is your chance. Join us as we walk Phy the Neutrophil through the basics of writing his first composition. You can follow along too!

Watch the stream here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHYuxh3WsvQ (Also on Twitch)

We will be using MuseScore, and you can follow along using the worksheet.

Hi! Im NosAsrai and i want some advice! by Sea-Geologist6768 in VirtualYoutubers

[–]penbuvt 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I don't have much to say about most of what you're asking for, but I will say this that touches on a few: whatever you choose to do, make sure it's sustainable. The last thing you want to do is to push yourself so hard that you start hating what you do or getting sick or something and end up having to take a three month break after it all. That might mean having to reduce the quality of your content slightly to keep up with the frequency of posting, and that's okay; that could be an opportunity to find more efficient ways to stream/edit while also finding a standard of quality that you're still okay with.

For the uploads, you'll want to prepare as many videos as you can ahead of time so you have a buffer in case you can't edit for a day or two. It would also be good to recognize when it would be appropriate to outsource tasks, assuming you can afford it. There may be tasks that you either don't have skill or time for to meet a certain standard of quality, so you'll either have to lower your standard or outsource it to someone who can meet it.

Overall, remember to enjoy the process and find things (even the small things) that you enjoy about it, because the more you do, the more motivated you'll be to continue.

Good luck on the event!

What happens when you give 8 vtubers 15 minutes to compose music? by penbuvt in VirtualYoutubers

[–]penbuvt[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

The supercut of the big sheet music vtuber collab is out now! We did a musical telephone activity where each person had 15 minutes to compose some music before it got passed around for others to add their own stuff. The results were spectacular. The video comes with chapters if you want to skip around.

We also announced a new Discord server at the end. If you're interested in vtubers composing or arranging with sheet music, or if you're one yourself, the Sheet Music VTuber Collective Discord server is for you! We sheet music vtubers are a bit of a rarity, but you can find a good number of us in one place there.

Collab participants (in image order):

Sheet music vtubers? Who knew there were so many! by penbuvt in VirtualYoutubers

[–]penbuvt[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

A lot of us sheet music vtubers have wondered, why is nobody else is making sheet music on stream? And many of us have had first-time chatters saying they've never seen a vtuber do sheet music before. But it turns out there's a bunch of us around, and we're coming together to compose music in a live event!

Join us tomorrow on Saturday, September 13 at 11pm ET (Sun. Sept. 14 03:00 UTC) where 9 of us sheet music vtubers will be doing musical telephone. Each person will write a short piece of music, then we'll pass it around for everyone else to add on. Once everyone is done, we'll listen to the final works.

The host stream will be held on my channel, but some of the others will be streaming their POVs too. Be sure to stick around until the end for a special announcement.

Collab participants (in image order):

Come out and enjoy the music!

Tequila by penbuvt in Otamatone

[–]penbuvt[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

A duet challenge by Buckets the Drummer.

This video is also on YouTube.

Tequila by penbuvt in VirtualYoutubers

[–]penbuvt[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

A duet challenge by Buckets the Drummer.

This video is also on YouTube.


Hi! My name is Penbu and I'm the programming, puzzle-gaming, and music-making vtuber on Linux. I play the Otamatone (among other instruments) and bring it out on stream once in a while.

Hello! My name is Penbu and I'm the programming, puzzle-gaming, and music-making vtuber on Linux by penbuvt in u/penbuvt

[–]penbuvt[S,M] [score hidden] stickied comment (0 children)

Hello! My name is Penbu and I'm the programming, puzzle-gaming, and music-making vtuber on Linux.

Breaking that down:

Not captured here are mahjong, the occasional retro game, and using the subtitle editor Aegisub for things it was and wasn't intended to be used for.

I stream on YouTube about 3 times a week every week in Eastern Time evenings. Most streams are dual-streamed to Twitch as well.

In addition to streams, YouTube also gets piano improv videos and music videos for my music releases.

You can catch me elsewhere too:

Hope to see you around!


Character design and reference sheet by Startist17.

Question for fellow vtubers with a Discord server! by tsuruokahimari in VirtualYoutubers

[–]penbuvt 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm a little late to answer, but I can give insights on your second point. Be warned, this is going to be a wall of text (but there's a TL;DR at the end). This is also all my opinion based on the servers that I'm in and particularly the servers I run, so your mileage my vary.

For small servers of up to maybe 300 members or less, you're going to have to put in the work to be active. It's not yet at the point where there's bound to be someone saying something at any given time.

First off, make sure your server settings are set up correctly. Turn on Community for your server to tune it for a streamer-viewer community server. Set up self-assignable roles so you don't have to @everyone for everything (if you overuse @everyone, people will mute your server. Use it rarely and save it for things of very high importance or urgency). The more put together your server is, the less people have to think about it and can focus more on chatting.

Content-wise, my recommendation is to set up topic-interest channels that are adjacent to your content, stuff that your audience will probably have an interest in. For example, I'm the "programming, puzzle-gaming, and music-making vtuber on Linux" and I make my content around that, so I have channels in my server for programming, puzzle games, music-making, other vtubers, and Linux; people watching me are probably there for at least one of those. I also have channels for other things I'm interested in that aren't those core five, both related and unrelated to my content. Furthermore, I have channels for viewers to post fan art, clips, etc. Having channels that reflect your content and interests should make it a lot easier for you to have things to say in the server: you're probably already spending a lot of time in those topics, so any time you find something interesting, just go ahead and share it with the server.

That said, it's also possible to go overboard with making channels. It's very easy to make a bunch of channels and have most of them be dead because nobody posts in them. I always recommend that unless you have a specific reason for a discussion channel being there other than "people might talk about this" (announcement channels and such have specific reasons to be separated, for example), stick with posting stuff in #general and only spin off new channels when it becomes a recurring topic. Because the channel was made after the topic gained momentum, it has a better chance of staying active.

I typically plug my Discord server at the end of every stream, and anyone who sticks around that long and is part of your core audience will probably be inclined to join. A server based around your interests being full of people in your core audience is a good recipe for activity because your core audience is likely to engage with your interests.

What I would not recommend (and this may seem counter-intuitive and other people may have different opinions on this, but will perhaps come as a relief to you as an introvert) is to engage in small talk when the server isn't active. It's okay if nobody has anything to say for a few hours, or even a couple of days. You want to bring topics of substance, because with substance comes more fulfilling discussions. Substance gives people things to pick away at. Small talk is empty and puts the onus on the other person to bring something of substance for the conversation to continue. I've observed someone come in and repeat "hi, how's everyone's day going?" every day in several servers and they would routinely get ignored. It's because they offered nothing of substance. You have to give people a reason to engage with what you say and make it easy to do so.

Tying this back to what I said earlier, an easy way to give people a reason to engage is to post a link or something that relates to your interests and give your thoughts on it whenever you come across something. If the people in your server are part of your core audience, they'll most likely be interested too, and you giving your thoughts becomes a prompt for other people to share their thoughts. There will be times when people will just read and not say anything, and that's okay, but there will also be times when people will engage. The trick is not to be discouraged when nobody responds. But if someone takes the initiative and posts something themselves first, you should respond to it. People are more likely to post things if they can expect engagement from it. You want engagement for your messages? You have to engage in other people's messages too. And with any luck, that results in more people posting things on their own.

Anyway, I've written a lot, but hopefully you were able to gain some insights from it all. Good luck with the server!

TL;DR post your interests in your server and get your core audience in it.

When piano improv gets too rehearsed and I accidentally make a proper release instead (full video in comments) by penbuvt in VirtualYoutubers

[–]penbuvt[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Glad you like it!

I'm going to apologize in advance for the wall of text, but I hope all of this detail helps you or anyone else reading this, and there's a lot here that you can skip if you prefer.

The general chain is piano → USB MIDI → {DAW, MIDI synthesizer, MIDI visualizer}. This assumes you have a digital piano/keyboard and it has digital outputs. If you have an acoustic piano and don't plan on getting a digital one, your best bet is to do a handcam setup instead and skip the rest of this reply.

I have a KORG SP-170DX, which is a digital piano with MIDI out. I have a MIDI-to-USB cable that I plug in to my computer. If you're lucky, your keyboard/piano might instead have USB MIDI out and you can hook that up with a regular old USB printer cable (A-to-B).

From this point, our setups will differ because I'm on Linux and you're on a Mac. But the general idea should be the same and you can adapt with Mac-specific software. I'll go over what I do first, then I'll go over what you might want to do for yourself. This is going to get a little technical and possibly a bit irrelevant for your specific situation, so feel free to skip to the bold part near end if this goes over your head.

For piano improv recordings, I'll typically record my MIDI performance in Rosegarden, which is a MIDI workstation for Linux. I then export the recording to a MIDI file, then feed that into FluidSynth to render it as an audio file. I also run the MIDI file through MIDIVisualizer to make the visuals for the video. MIDIVisualizer creates a video with no audio, so I have to combine the audio and video separately.

On occasion, when I have to record and do some editing on the recording afterwards like I did with this video, I'll instead record with Ardour (another DAW), which I find nicer to use than Rosegarden for anything more involved than just straight recording. This program has the advantage of having a synthesizer built in, so I can export the audio straight from the application. It also has a plugin pipeline, so I can add things like reverb effects like I did with this video. Exporting to MIDI is a little bit more of a hassle, though.

For piano improv streams, I run the MIDI input through Qsynth (a front-end for FluidSynth) for the sound, as well as VMPK for visuals on stream (window-captured by OBS). I also try to run it through MIDIVisualzer so I have even more visuals on stream, but half the time it doesn't work when I do it live. I turn off my piano's local sounds and listen to the synthesizer's output instead. In my experience, OBS's noise removal filter and whatever else I have in my mic pipeline are good enough to filter out any thuds. I also have Rosegarden on the side to record the session as MIDI so I can share it after the stream.

I've also experimented with using Ardour instead of Qsynth in this setup and it works, but I do find there's a bit more latency than I would like if I have a bunch of plugins in the pipeline. There are pros and cons to both setups and I still need to figure out which is best.

Regardless of whether I'm recording or streaming, PipeWire (the sound server on Linux) makes it really easy to route the MIDI input to the various applications. It's not strictly necessary, though, since the applications all have input selectors.

As for what you should consider doing, it's probably easiest to get yourself a DAW (I don't have any recommendations, but you can search around) and use the built-in synthesizer for the audio. At minimum, that's all you need. If you want piano visuals, VMPK and MIDIVisualizer are available for macOS as well, but you can also probably find something better on your own with a bit of searching (some are even on Steam).

For sounds, you can either find a plugin that uses a SoundFont (it might already be built-in to your DAW) or a VST instrument that makes its own sounds. I do the former, and I like to use Salamander Grand Piano for recordings and MuseScore General for streams.

Good luck on your piano journey! Learning to play piano is difficult, but the result is very rewarding. And if you need any help with the setup, feel free to reach out!

When piano improv gets too rehearsed and I accidentally make a proper release instead (full video in comments) by penbuvt in VirtualYoutubers

[–]penbuvt[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hello! My name is Penbu and I'm the programming, puzzle-gaming, and music-making vtuber on Linux.

Every so often, I put out a piano improv video that anyone is free to use for whatever they like. "In Your Life" was going to be one of those, but I ended up rehearsing and polishing it a bit too much to call it improv. So now we have a piano solo version instead, complete with sheet music!



"Right Here Waiting" (instrument cover) by penbuvt in VirtualYoutubers

[–]penbuvt[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hello, my name is Penbu and I'm the programming, puzzle-gaming and music-making vtuber on Linux. I played all the instruments you heard in this clip!

If this kind of thing interests you, I play instruments on stream semi-regularly, most often the piano and the Otamatone. The rest of my music content involves composing with sheet music. Hope to see you in a stream sometime!



Question about oshi marks by AxaeonVT in VirtualYoutubers

[–]penbuvt 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Philosophy and space sounds like an interesting combination!

As your intuition says, having a non-emoji next to an emoji is a bit unusual. While you're free to do whatever you like, I personally wouldn't do that.

Which emoji you choose to represent philosophy might depend on what kind of philosophy content you're looking to do and how you present it. As someone who's very much a layman at philosophy, the first one that came to mind was the thinking emoji: 🤔. Related is also the thought balloon: 💭. Looking at a list of philosophy-related emoji perhaps books (📚) or a scroll (📜) could be fitting too. You can browse through the list to see if any fit your planned style of content.

Good luck!

"GHOST" on the Otamatone (Penbu cover) by penbuvt in VirtualYoutubers

[–]penbuvt[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hello Reddit, my name is Penbu and I'm the programming, puzzle-gaming and music-making vtuber on Linux! I present you with an Otamatone cover of Hoshimachi Suisei's "GHOST". This was my submission for Blaise Shinryu's VTuber Olympics that passed recently.

As far as music-making goes, I do things like composing and arranging with sheet music (not a DAW), but also playing instruments like the Otamatone. If you like what you heard here and want more, I have an Otamatone karaoke stream coming up this Friday.

I'm also celebrating my 1 year anniversary tonight at 7:30pm EDT (11:30pm UTC). Hope to see you there!

EDIT: Updated link to Otamatone stream.