Jump to content

Vocaloid

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 74.218.176.50 (talk) at 13:09, 16 May 2010 (Undid revision 362424324 by 72.23.145.138 (talk) unsupported, "I think............"). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Vocaloid
Developer(s)Yamaha Corporation
Initial releaseJanuary 2004
Stable release
Vocaloid 2
Operating systemWindows XP / Vista / 7
Available inJapanese, English
TypeMusical Synthesizer Application
Licenseproprietary
Websitehttp://www.vocaloid.com/index.en.html

Vocaloid is a singing synthesizer application software developed by the Yamaha Corporation that enables users to synthesize singing by typing in lyrics and melody.

Development history

Yamaha announced its development in 2003 and on January 15, 2004, Leon and Lola, the first Vocaloid products were launched. They were not released as Yamaha products, but as Vocaloid Singer Libraries, developed by third party developers, the products were powered by the Vocaloid software, under license from Yamaha. Leon, Lola, and Miriam (Miriam using the voice of Miriam Stockley) have been released from Zero-G Limited,[1] UK, while Meiko (released on October 5, 2004 and using vocal samples from the Japanese singer Meiko Haigo[2]) and Kaito (released on February 17, 2006 and sampled from Naoto Fuuga) have been released from Crypton Future Media, Japan.[3][4]

In January 2007, Yamaha announced a new version of the software engine, Vocaloid 2, with various major improvements in usability and synthesis quality. Zero-G and others announced products powered by the new software engine in early 2007. PowerFX released the first Vocaloid 2 package in June 2007, an English product named Sweet Ann. This was shortly followed in August 2007, when Crypton released Hatsune Miku, the first in a series of Japanese Vocaloid 2 character voices. The second package Kagamine Rin/Len was released on December 27, 2007 and the updated edition "act2" was released in July 2008. The first Vocaloid 2 product from Zero-G, Vocaloid Prima, an English classical voice, was finally released on January 14, 2008 in the UK[5] and February 22, 2008 in Japan. It was originally scheduled for release in spring 2007. Prima was introduced at the NAMM Show 2008;[6]. The third Vocaloid 2 product from Crypton, Megurine Luka, went on sale on January 30, 2009. She is the first bilingual Vocaloid product, capable of singing in both Japanese and English.

Products based on Vocaloid

Crypton Future Media's Character Vocal Series

The Character Vocal Series is a computer music program that synthesizes singing in Japanese. Developed by Crypton Future Media, it utilizes Yamaha's Vocaloid 2 technology with specially recorded vocals of voice actors. To create a song, the user must input the melody and lyrics. A piano roll type interface is used to input the melody and the lyrics can be entered on each note. The software can change the stress of the pronunciations, add effects such as vibrato, or change the dynamics and tone of the voice.

The series is intended for professional musicians as well as light computer music users. The programmed vocals are designed to sound like an idol singer from the future. According to Crypton, because professional singers refused to provide singing data, in fear that the software might create their singing voice's clones, Crypton changed their focus from imitating certain singers to creating characteristic vocals. This change of focus led to sampling vocals of voice actors.[11]

Each Japanese Vocaloid is given an anime-type character with specifications on age, height, weight, and musical strengths (genre, pitch range and ideal tempos). The characters of the first three installments of the series are created by illustrator Kei.

Any rights or obligations arising from the vocals created by the software belong to the software user. Just like any music synthesizer, the software is treated as a musical instrument and the vocals as sound. Under the term of license, the Character Vocal Series software can be used to create vocals for commercial or non-commercial use as long as the vocals do not offend public policy. In other words, the user is bound under the term of license with Crypton not to synthesize derogatory or disturbing lyrics. On the other hand, copyrights to the mascot image and name belong to Crypton. Under the term of license, a user cannot commercially distribute a vocal as a song sung by the character, nor use the mascot image on commercial products, without Crypton's consent.

Hatsune Miku

The cover of the first release.

Hatsune Miku (初音ミク) is the first installment in the Vocaloid 2 Character Vocal Series released on August 31, 2007. The name of the title and the character of the software was chosen by combining Hatsu (初, First), Ne (音, Sound), and Miku (未来, Future).[12] The data for the voice was created by actually sampling the voice of Saki Fujita, a Japanese voice actress. Unlike general purpose speech synthesizers, the software is tuned to create J-pop songs commonly heard in anime, but it is possible to create songs from other genres.

Nico Nico Douga played a fundamental role in the recognition and popularity of the software. Soon after the release of the software, users of Nico Nico Douga started posting videos with songs created by the software. According to Crypton, a popular video with a comically-altered Miku holding a leek, singing Ievan Polkka, presented multifarious possibilities of applying the software in multimedia content creation.[13] As the recognition and popularity of the software grew, Nico Nico Douga became a place for collaborative content creation. Popular original songs written by a user would generate illustrations, animation in 2D and 3D, and remixes by other users. Other creators would show their unfinished work and ask for ideas.[14]

On October 18, 2007, an Internet BBS website reported Hatsune Miku was suspected to be victim of censorship by Google and Yahoo!, since images of Miku did not show up on the image searches.[15] Google and Yahoo denied any censorship on their part, blaming the missing images on a bug that does not only affect "Hatsune Miku" but other search keywords as well. Both companies expressed a willingness to fix the problem as soon as possible.[16] Images of Miku were relisted on Yahoo on October 19, 2007.

A Hatsune Miku manga called Maker Hikōshiki Hatsune Mix began serialization in the Japanese manga magazine Comic Rush on November 26, 2007, published by Jive. The manga is drawn by Kei, the original character designer for Hatsune Miku. A second manga called Hachune Miku no Nichijō Roipara! drawn by Ontama began serialization in the manga magazine Comp Ace on December 26, 2007, published by Kadokawa Shoten.

The character's first appearance in an anime is in (Zoku) Sayonara Zetsubō Sensei, where she (and various other people and characters) try out to be the voice of Meru Otonashi. For online multi-player games, the Japanese version of PangYa started a campaign with Hatsune Miku on May 22, 2008 in which a player could purchase her outfit for one of the characters.[17][18]. Her first appearance in a video game is in 13-sai no Hello Work DS (13歳のハローワークDS) for the Nintendo DS where she is included as one of the characters.[19][20] Hatsune Miku was given a PlayStation Portable (PSP) game called Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA that was released on July 2, 2009 by Sega.[21] A sequel, Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA 2nd, will be released in Japan on July 29, 2010 by Sega for the PSP.[22] Hatsune Miku made a cameo appearance in the Lucky Star OVA in the form of Kagami's cosplay in her dream. She made a vocal appearance in the finale ending theme of the anime Akikan!. Hatsune Miku received the 2008 Seiun Award in the free category.[23][24] There is a costume for the characters of Tales of Graces available as downloadable content for 400 Wii points.[25]

On August 27, 2008, Victor Entertainment released the album Re:package which contains a collection of songs performed by Hatsune Miku and composed by a pair of dōjin artists named Livetune. The album sold over 20,000 copies in its first week and successfully broke into Oricon's charts by placing fifth for the week.[26] Following up with the success of Re:package, Victor Entertainment released Livetune's second Hatsune Miku album, Re:MIKUS, on March 25, 2009, which contains many remixed versions of original songs from various original music artists, such as Supercell and kz of Livetune.[27] It also contains four more original songs sung by Hatsune Miku, which again were made by original dōjin artists.

As a virtual idol, Hatsune Miku performed a "live" concert during Animelo Summer Live on August 23, 2009[28] and at Anime Festival Asia (AFA), Singapore in 2009.[29] In addition, singer Gackt performed alongside Miku.

In late November 2009, a petition was launched in order to get a custom made Hatsune Miku aluminum plate (8 cm x 12 cm, 3.1" x 4.7") made that will be used as a balancing weight for the Japanese Venus spacecraft explorer Akatsuki which will be launched in summer 2010.[30] Started by Hatsune Miku fan Sumio Morioka that goes by chodenzi-P, this project has received the backing of Dr. Seiichi Sakamoto of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. On December 22, 2009, the petition exceeded the needed 10,000 signatures necessary to have the plates made. An original deadline of December 20, 2009 had been set to send in the petition, but due to a couple of delays in the Akatsuki project, a new deadline of January 6, 2010 was set; by this deadline, over 14,000 signatures had been received.

On April 30, 2010, an update to Hatsune Miku was released under the name Miku Append, with a package of six different tones of Miku's voice: Soft (gentle, delicate voice), Sweet (young, chibi voice), Dark (mature, heartbroken-like voice), Vivid (bright, cheerful voice), Solid (loud, clear voice), and Light (innocent, heavenly voice).[31]

Kagamine Rin and Len

Released on December 27, 2007, Kagamine Rin/Len (鏡音リン・レン) is the second installment of the Vocaloid 2 Character Vocal Series. Their surname was chosen by combining Kagami (鏡, Mirror), Ne (音, Sound), with the first syllables of their given names a pun on "Left" and "Right". According to Vocaloid's official blog, the package includes two voice banks: one for Rin and another for Len, both provided by the voice actor Asami Shimoda. Despite the double voice banks, the package still sells at the same price as Hatsune Miku.[32] Their only cameo appearance in an anime is in (Zoku) Sayonara Zetsubō Sensei, where the two, Miku, Kaito, and Meiko (and various other people and characters) try out to be the voice of Meru Otonashi.

Crypton released the updated edition, named "act2", in early July 2008. Users who had bought the old version will get an expansion disc free of charge. On June 18, 2008, beta demonstration songs using the new version were released on the company's official blog.[33] The expansion disc is an entirely different software and does not affect the original Kagamine Rin/Len installation in any way, giving the user options to either use the old or new voice sets exclusively or combine their usage.

Megurine Luka

The third installment in the character vocal series, Megurine Luka (巡音ルカ), was released on January 30, 2009.[34] Her surname combines Meguri (巡, Circulate) and Ne (音, Sound). Luka's voice is that of a twenty-year-old female and she can sing in both Japanese and English. Her voice bank was sampled from Yū Asakawa. The manga artist Kei, who illustrated Miku, Rin, and Len, also designed her mascot. However, unlike previous mascots in the series, her costume is not based on a school uniform but more based on a modern style cheongsam. Kasane Teto joined on april fools as a japenese female.

Additional Vocaloids

Internet Co. Ltd.

Gackpoid

Internet Co. Ltd. wanted to utilize the voice of a musician for the creation of Vocaloid but felt it would be difficult to acquire cooperation. They consulted Dwango, who suggested Gackt, a musician and an actor, as he had previously provided his voice for Dwango's cell phone services.[35] He lent his voice and named the Vocaloid Gackpoid (がくっぽいど, Gakuppoido). The product was originally intended to be released in June 2008, but although Gackt existed as a model for the Vocaloid, its illustrated avatar was yet to be determined. Finally a popular manga author Kentarō Miura, famous for his dark fantasy epic Berserk, was asked for his cooperation. Due to Miura's affection for Nico Nico Douga, he agreed to offer his services as a character designer for free. As a fan of Berserk, Gackt was more than happy with this arrangement, and requested Miura's sketches be faxed to him as well as the developers, even though he was on location for the filming of Guy Moshe's Bunraku.[36] Gackpoid was released on July 31, 2008.[37] Gackpoid includes a new program, OPUS Express, for mixing vocal parts with accompaniment or phoneme data.[38] Two of Gackt's songs and other three songs are also included as samples.[37] Miura's design for Gackpoid was named Kamui Gakupo/Gackpo (神威がくぽ) after the stage name of Gackt and has a samurai aesthetic—the character is clad in Jinbaori, a kind of kimono which was used as a battle surcoat, and carries a katana that somehow acts as a musical instrument.[39]

Megpoid

Internet Co. published their second Vocaloid software titled Megpoid (メグッポイド) on June 26, 2009 using the voice of Megumi Nakajima. She has bright green hair and wears red goggles on her head. This is a parody of both her theme color and a character that Nakajima voiced, Ranka Lee from Macross Frontier; as her design is similar to Ranka Lee.[40] One of her demo songs is "Be Myself", an original song by Nakajima. Megpoid sample files are included in the disc for the software.Her voice range is F2-A4 and her optimum tempo is 60-175BPM. Its character was named GUMI (ぐみ), which was designed by the manga artist Yuki Masami.

Ah Software

Ah Software published three Vocaloids on December 4, 2009. The first is SF-A2 Miki using the voice of Miki Furukawa. She has a peach colored hair which includes a large ahoge. Her voice range is E2-G4 and her optimum tempo is 70-170BPM. The second is Kaai Yuki which is voiced by a grade school student, hence her grade school girl appearance. The third is Hiyama Kiyoteru. KASANE TETO: She is a diva. her hair style is not a drill. She has her name on one selling thingy too....... she is a chimera. she is a UTAU.

Involvement in Super GT Series

File:Studie GLAD BMW Z4 2008 Super GT qualifying.jpg
The Hatsune Miku Studie Glad BMW Z4 competed in the 2008 Super GT season.

The Vocaloid series, particularly Hatsune Miku, has been actively involved in the GT300 class of the Super GT since 2008 with the support of Good Smile Racing (a branch of Good Smile company, mainly in charge of car-related products, especially itasha (cars featuring illustrations of anime-styled characters) stickers). Although Good Smile Company was not the first to bring the anime and manga culture to Super GT, it departs from others by featuring itasha directly rather than colorings onto vehicles.

Since the 2008 season, three different teams received their sponsorship under Good Smile Racing, and turned their cars to Vocaloid-related artwork:

  • Studie, which participated in the 2008 and 2009 seasons and used a BMW Z4 E86. Their car was painted in official Hatsune Miku art, and fan-derivative versions of Hatsune Miku in some races in the 2009 season.[41][42]
  • Team MOLA, using a Nissan 350Z, and they received sponsors on the final race in Fuji in the 2008 season. Images of Kagamine Rin and Len was added on their original colorings. The Fuji round, in fact, is still the only FIA race to feature two unique itasha cars competing in a single race.[43][44]
  • Team COX, participating in the 2010 season, which uses a Porsche 996 GT3 RSR (and will use a Porsche 997 GT3-R). Their car uses Racing Miku (an official Hatsune Miku derivative, wearing an orange race queen suit) as their image.

References

  1. ^ "NEWS: ZERO-G announces first 3 Vocaloid titles". Retrieved 2008-07-17.
  2. ^ "Vocaloid's English official website". Yamaha. 2004-11-09. Retrieved 2008-09-01.
  3. ^ "Crypton Future Media Vocaloid MEIKO". Retrieved 2008-07-17.
  4. ^ "Crypton Vocaloid KAITO" (in Japanese). Crypton. Retrieved 2008-07-17.
  5. ^ "Zero-G shipping Vocaloid PRIMA". 2008-01-14. Retrieved 2008-09-01.
  6. ^ "EASTWEST Introduces Zero-G Vocaloid Prima At NAMM 2008". 2008-01-23. Retrieved 2008-09-01.
  7. ^ "Zero-G shipping Vocaloid Sonika". Rekkerd. 2009-07-15. Retrieved 2009-07-23.
  8. ^ "SF-A2 開発コード miki" (in Japanese). AH-Software. Retrieved 2009-11-18. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
  9. ^ "ボカロ小学生 歌愛ユキ" (in Japanese). AH-Software. Retrieved 2009-11-18. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
  10. ^ "ボカロ先生 氷山キヨテル" (in Japanese). AH-Software. Retrieved 2009-11-18. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
  11. ^ "How Hatsune Miku was born: Interview with Crypton Future Media" (in Japanese). 2008-02-22. Retrieved 2008-02-28.
  12. ^ "Exceptional sales of Hatsune Miku" (in Japanese). 2007-11-12. Retrieved 2007-11-08.
  13. ^ "How Hatsune Miku opened the creative mind: Interview with Crypton Future Media" (in Japanese). 2008-02-25. Retrieved 2008-02-29.
  14. ^ "DTM in the boom again: How anonymous creators are discovered by Hatsune Miku" (in Japanese). 2007-09-28. Retrieved 2008-02-29.
  15. ^ "Hatsune Miku images disappearing from the Internet" (in Japanese). 2007-10-18. Retrieved 2007-10-21.
  16. ^ "Google and Yahoo "investigating the problem" on the disappearance of Hatsune Miku" (in Japanese). 2007-10-18. Retrieved 2007-11-23.
  17. ^ "Announcement of PangYa season 4" (in Japanese). OnlineGamer. 2008-05-05. Retrieved 2008-06-06.
  18. ^ "PangYa cooperation with Hatsune Miku" (in Japanese). Famitsu. 2008-05-22. Retrieved 2008-06-06.
  19. ^ "Hatsune Miku appears in 13-sai no Hello Work DS" (in Japanese). Famitsu. 2008-02-15. Retrieved 2008-06-06.
  20. ^ "Composing music with Hatsune Miku in 13-sai no Hello Work DS" (in Japanese). Famitsu. 2008-03-03. Retrieved 2008-06-06.
  21. ^ "Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA official website" (in Japanese). Sega. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
  22. ^ "Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA 2nd". GameTrailers. Retrieved April 12, 2010.
  23. ^ "Seiun Award: Long Novel Goes to Toshokan Sensō, and Hatsune Miku, 20th Century Boys, and Others Win" (in Japanese). Mainichi Shimbun. 2008-08-25. Retrieved 2008-08-31.
  24. ^ "Library War, Dennō Coil, 20th Century Boys Win Seiun Awards". Anime News Network. 2008-08-24. Retrieved 2008-08-31.
  25. ^ "First Look: Tales of Graces Hatsune Miku DLC". Andriasang. December 18, 2009. Retrieved December 18, 2009.
  26. ^ "Album featuring "Hatsune Miku" Top 10" (in Japanese). Oricon. 2008-09-02. Retrieved 2008-09-13.
  27. ^ "Livetune feat. Hatsune Miku special site" (in Japanese). Retrieved 2009-06-06.
  28. ^ "Hatsune Miku Virtual Idol Performs 'Live' Before 25,000". Anime News Network. 2009-08-23. Retrieved 2009-08-26.
  29. ^ "Virtual Idol "Hatsune Miku" to perform overseas at "I LOVE anisong" stage!". Anime Festival Asia. Retrieved 2009-11-24.
  30. ^ "金星探査機「あかつき」に初音ミク絵を搭載する署名" (in Japanese). Google. Retrieved December 18, 2009. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
  31. ^ "初音ミク・アペンド（Miku Append）" (in Japanese). Amazon.co.jp. Retrieved April 30, 2010. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
  32. ^ "Vocaloid 2 info: CV02 "Kagamine Rin/Len" announced" (in Japanese). 2007-12-03. Retrieved 2007-12-04.
  33. ^ "Rin/Len act2 beta demonstration songs released" (in Japanese). Crypton. 2008-06-18. Retrieved 2008-06-24.
  34. ^ "Megurine Luka Announced as Next Vocaloid 2 Character". Anime News Network. 2009-01-06. Retrieved 2009-01-07.
  35. ^ Michiko Nagai (2008-06-20). "Gackt to Sing and Kentarō Miura to Draw Gackpoid" (in Japanese). CNET Japan. Retrieved 2008-06-29.
  36. ^ "Gackpoid to be Sold in Late July; Kentarō Miura to Illustrate" (in Japanese). ITMedia. 2008-06-20. Retrieved 2008-06-29.
  37. ^ a b "Gackpoid" (in Japanese). Internet Co. Ltd. 2008-06-20. Retrieved 2008-06-29.
  38. ^ "Kamui Gakupo, Debut At the End of July! "Gackpoid"" (in Japanese). Barks. 2008-06-20. Retrieved 2008-06-29.
  39. ^ "gackpoid-official"EpisodeII Character Design"" (in Japanese). Internet Co. Ltd. 2008-07-31. Retrieved 2009-11-29.
  40. ^ "Megpoid official listing" (in Japanese). Internet Co. Retrieved 2009-05-14.
  41. ^ "The Rumored No. 808 Hatsune Miku Studie Glad BMW Z4 Latest News" (in Japanese). Super GT.net. 2008-08-18. Retrieved 2008-08-21.
  42. ^ "Itasha storm in Super GT. Report of Final Race at Mt. Fuji (Page 3)" (in Japanese). ASCII. 2008-11-11. Retrieved 2008-11-16.
  43. ^ "Itasha storm in Super GT. Report of Final Race at Mt. Fuji (page 2)" (in Japanese). ASCII. 2008-11-11. Retrieved 2008-11-16.
  44. ^ "2008 Super GT Champions". Super GT. 2008-11-11. Retrieved 2008-11-16.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Vocaloids.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Vocaloid&oldid=362424687"