Vocaloid (ボーカロイド Bōkaroido?) is a singing voice synthesizer. Its signal
processing part was developed through a joint research project led by Kenmochi
Hideki at the Pompeu Fabra University in Spain in 2000 (the same team that later
founded Voctro Labs) and originally was not intended to be a full commercial project.
Backed by the Yamaha Corporation, it developed the software into the commercial
product "Vocaloid". The software enables users to synthesize singing by typing in
lyrics and melody. It uses synthesizing technology with specially recorded vocals of
voice actors or singers. 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. Each Vocaloid is sold as "a
singer in a box" designed to act as a replacement for an actual singer. The software
was originally only available in English starting with the first Vocaloids Leon and
Lola, and Japanese with Meiko, but Vocaloid 3 has added support for Spanish for the
new Spanish Vocaloids Bruno and Clara, Chinese for Luo Tianyi and Korean for
SeeU.
The software is intended for professional musicians as well as light computer music
users and has so far sold on the idea that the only limits are the users' own skills.
Japanese musical groups Livetune of Victor Entertainment and Supercell of Sony
Music Entertainment Japan have released their songs featuring Vocaloid as vocals.
Japanese record label Exit Tunes of Quake Inc. also have released compilation albums
featuring Vocaloids. Artists such as Mike Oldfield have also used Vocaloids within
their work for back up singer vocals and sound samples.
Technology [edit]
The Vocaloid singing synthesizer technology is categorized as concatenative
synthesis,[8][9] which splices and processes vocal fragments extracted from human singing
voices in the frequency domain. In singing synthesis, the system produces realistic voices by
adding information of vocal expressions like vibrato to score information.[10] The Vocaloid
synthesis technology was initially called "Frequency-domain Singing Articulation Splicing and
Shaping" (周波数ドメイン歌唱アーティキュレーション接続法 Shūhasū-domain Kashō
Articulation Setsuzoku-hō?),[11] although Yamaha no longer uses this name on its
websites.[12] "Singing Articulation" is explained as "vocal expressions" such as vibrato and
vocal fragments necessary for singing. The Vocaloid and Vocaloid 2 synthesis engines are
designed for singing, not reading text aloud,[13] though software such as Vocaloid-flex and
Voiceroid have been developed for that. They cannot naturally replicate singing expressions
like hoarse voices or shouts,[14] but Appends are made to create different tones such as
"whisper" and "power".
System architecture [edit]
The main parts of the Vocaloid 2 system are the Score Editor (Vocaloid 2 Editor), the Singer
Library, and the Synthesis Engine.[3] The Synthesis Engine receives score information from
the Score Editor, selects appropriate samples from the Singer Library, and concatenates
them to output synthesized voices.[3] There is basically no difference in the Score Editor and
the Synthesis Engine provided by Yamaha among different Vocaloid 2 products. If a Vocaloid
2 product is already installed, the user can enable another Vocaloid 2 product by adding its
library. The system supports two languages, Japanese and English, although other languages
may be optional in the future.[2] It works standalone (playback and export to WAV) and as
a ReWire application or VSTiaccessible from DAW.
Score Editor [edit]
The Score Editor is a piano roll style editor to input notes, lyrics, and some expressions. For a
Japanese Singer Library, the user can input gojūon lyrics
in hiragana, katakana or romaji writing. For an English library, the Editor automatically
converts the lyrics into the IPA phonetic symbols using the built-in pronunciation
dictionary.[3] The user can directly edit the phonetic symbols of unregistered words. [9] A
Japanese library and an English library differ in the lyrics input method, but share the same
platform. Therefore, the Japanese editor can load an English library and vice versa. As
mentioned above, the lyrics input method is library-dependent, and so the Japanese and
English editors differ only in the menus. The Score Editor offers various parameters to add
expressions to singing voices. The user is supposed to optimize these parameters that best fit
the synthesized tune when creating voices.[8] This editor supports ReWire and can be
synchronized with DAW. Real-time "playback" of songs with predefined lyrics using a MIDI
keyboard is also supported.[3]
Singer Library [edit]
Each Vocaloid license develops the Singer Library, or a database of vocal fragments sampled
from real people.[3] The database must have all possible combinations of phonemes of the
target language,[3] including diphones (a chain of two different phonemes) and sustained
vowels, as well as polyphones with more than two phonemes if necessary.[3] For example, the
voice corresponding to the word "sing" ([sIN]) can be synthesized by concatenating the
sequence of diphones "#-s, s-I, I-N, N-#" (# indicating a voiceless phoneme) with the
sustained vowel ī.[13] The Vocaloid system changes the pitch of these fragments so that it fits
the melody. In order to get more natural sounds, three or four different pitch ranges are
required to be stored into the library.[15][16] Japanese requires 500 diphones per pitch, whereas
English requires 2,500.[13] Japanese has fewer diphones because it has fewer phonemes and
most syllabic sounds are open syllables ending in a vowel. In Japanese, there are basically
three patterns of diphones containing a consonant: voiceless-consonant, vowel-consonant,
and consonant-vowel. On the other hand, English has many closed syllables ending in a
consonant, and consonant-consonant and consonant-voiceless diphones as well. Thus, more
diphones need to be recorded into an English library than into a Japanese one. Due to this
linguistic difference, a Japanese library is not suitable for singing in English.
Synthesis Engine [edit]
The Synthesis Engine receives score information contained in dedicated MIDI messages
called Vocaloid MIDI sent by the Score Editor, adjusts pitch and timbre of the selected
samples in frequency domain, and splices them to synthesize singing voices. [3][9] When
Vocaloid runs as VSTi accessible from DAW, the bundled VST plug-in bypasses the Score
Editor and directly sends these messages to the Synthesis Engine. [9]
Timing adjustment
In singing voices, the consonant onset of a syllable is uttered before the vowel onset
is uttered.[9] The starting position of a note called "Note-On" must be the same as that
of the vowel onset, not the start of the syllable.[9] Vocaloid keeps the "synthesized
score" in memory to adjust sample timing so that the vowel onset should be strictly on
the "Note-On" position.[9] No timing adjustment would result in delay.
Pitch conversion
Since the samples are recorded in different pitches, pitch conversion is required when
concatenating the samples.[3] The engine calculates a desired pitch from the
notes, attack time, and vibrato parameters, and then selects the necessary samples
from the library.[9]
Timbre manipulation
The engine smooths the timbre around the junction of the samples.[3] The timbre of a
sustained vowel is generated by interpolating spectral envelopes of the surrounding
samples.[3] For example, when concatenating a sequence of diphones "s-e, e, e-t" of
the English word "set", the spectral envelope of a sustained ē at each frame is
generated by interpolating ē in the end of "s-e" and ē in the beginning of "e-t".[3]
Transforms
After pitch conversion and timbre manipulation, the engine does transforms such as
Inverse Fast Fourier transform (IFFT) to output synthesized voices.[3]
Software history [edit]
See also: List of Vocaloid products
Thingymajigtus
MENU
0:00
A song with vocals
provided by the Vocaloid
character Miriam.
Problems listening to this file? See media
help.
Screenshot of the software interface for Vocaloid
Vocaloid [edit]
Yamaha started development of Vocaloid in March 2000[13] and announced
it for the first time at the German fair Musikmesse on March 5–9,
2003.[17] The first Vocaloids, Leon and Lola, were released by the
studio Zero-G on March 3, 2004, both of which were sold as a "VirtualSoul
Vocalist". Leon and Lola made their first appearance at the NAMM Show on
January 15, 2004.[18] Leon and Lola were also demonstrated at the Zero-G
Limited booth during Wired Nextfest and won the 2005 Electronic Musician
Editor's Choice Award.[19] Zero-G later released Miriam, with her voice
provided by Miriam Stockley, in July 2004. Later that year, Crypton Future
Media also released their first Vocaloid, Meiko. In June 2005, Yamaha
upgraded the engine version to 1.1.[20] A patch was later released to update
all Vocaloid engines to Vocaloid 1.1.2, adding new features to the software,
although there were differences between the output results of the
engine.[21] A total of five Vocaloid products were released from 2004 to
2006. Vocaloid had no previous rival technology to contend with at the time
of its release, with the English version only having to face the later release
of VirSyn'sCantor software during its original run.[22] Despite having
Japanese phonetics, the interface lacked a Japanese version and both
Japanese and English vocals had an English interface. The only differences
between versions were the color and logo that changed per template. As of
2011, this version of the software is no longer supported by Yamaha and will
no longer be updated.[23]
Vocaloid 2 [edit]
Vocaloid 2 was announced in 2007. Due to time constraints, unlike the
previous engine version, it did not have a public beta test and instead the
software was updated as users reported issues with it. [24] The synthesis
engine and the user interface were completely revamped, with Japanese
Vocaloids possessing a Japanese interface.[8] New features such as note
auditioning, transparent control track, toggling between playback and
rendering, and expression control were implemented.[25] One's breath noise
and husky voice can be recorded into the library to make realistic
sounds.[16] This version is not backward compatible and its editor cannot
load a library built for the previous version. Aside from the PC software,
NetVocaloid services are offered. Despite this, the software was not
localized and Vocaloids of either English or Japanese would only possess
that language version, so although Megurine Luka had an English library
included, as a Japanese Vocaloid she only had access to the Japanese
version of the software. In total, there were 17 packages produced for
Vocaloid 2 in the Japanese version of the software and five in the English
version; these packages offered 35 voicebanks between them in either
English or Japanese.
Yamaha announced a version of the Vocaloid 2 software for
the iPhone and iPad, which exhibited at the Y2 Autumn 2010 Digital Content
Expo in Japan.[26][27] Later, this version of the software was released using
the voice of Yamaha's own Vocaloid called VY1.[28][29]
Vocaloid 3 [edit]
Vocaloid 3 launched on October 21, 2011, along with several products in
Japanese product, the first of its kind. Several studios are providing updates
to allow Vocaloid 2 vocal libraries to come over to Vocaloid 3.[30] It will also
include the software "Vocalistener", which adjusts parameters iteratively
from a user's singing to create natural synthesized singing. [31][32] It supports
additional languages including Chinese, Korean, and Spanish. It is also able
to use plug-ins for the software itself and switch between normal and
"classic" mode for less realistic vocal results. Unlike previous versions, the
vocal libraries and main editing software are sold as two separate items.
The vocal libraries themselves only contain a "tiny" version of the Vocaloid 3
editing software. Yamaha will also be granting the licensing of plug-ins and
use of the Vocaloid software for additional mediums such as video
games.[33][34] Also, Vocaloid 3 has Triphone support unlike Vocaloid 2 which
improves language capabilities.[35] The first Spanish Vocaloids, Clara and
Bruno, were released in 2011.[36]
New technology is also being used to bring back the voice of the
singer Hitoshi Ueki who died in 2007. This is the first attempt to bring back a
singer whose voice had been lost, yet it had been considered a possibility
since the software was first released in 2004. However, this is only being
done for private use.[37]
Derivative products [edit]
Software [edit]
Vocaloid-flex
Yamaha developed Vocaloid-flex, a singing software application based on the
Vocaloid engine, which contains a speech synthesizer. According to the official
announcement, users can edit its phonological system more delicately than those of
other Vocaloid series to get closer to the actual speech language; for example, it
enables final devoicing, unvoicing vowel sounds or weakening/strengthening
consonant sounds.[38] It was used in a video game Metal Gear Solid: Peace
Walker released on April 28, 2010. It is still a corporate product and a consumer
version has not been announced.[39] This software was also used for the robot
model HRP-4C at CEATEC Japan 2009.[40] Gachapoid has access to this engine and
it is used through the software V-Talk.[41]
VocaListener
Another Vocaloid tool that was developed was VocaListener, a software package that
allows for realistic Vocaloid songs to be produced.[31][32][42]
Miku Miku Dance
To aid in the production of 3D animations, the program MikuMikuDance was
developed as an independent program. The freeware software allowed a boom in
fan-made and derivative characters to be developed, as well as acted in a boost for
the promoting of the Vocaloid songs themselves.[43] As of May 2011, no more
updates to Miku Miku Dance are being released.[44]
NetVocaloid
NetVocaloid was an online vocal synthesis service. Users could synthesize singing
voices on a device connected to the Internet by executing the Vocaloid engine on the
server. This service could be used even if the user did not own the Vocaloid software.
The service was available in both English and Japanese.[45] However, as of April
2012, the service was no longer being offered on Yamaha's website.
MMDAgent
MMDAgent is a software developed by the International Voice Engineering Institute in
the Nagoya Institute of Technology,[46] and the Alpha version was released on
December 25, 2010.[47]This particular software allows users to interact with 3D
models of the Vocaloid mascots. The software is made from 3D models and sound
files that have already been made available on the internet and will be disputed as
freeware for that reason.[48]
NetVocalis
NetVocalis is a software being developed by Bplats, makers of the VY series, and is
similar to VocaListener.[49]
Vocaloid Editor for Cubase
This particular version of Vocaloid is built solely for Cubase. It features no additional
voices but will use any voice from Vocaloid 2 and Vocaloid 3 and acts as a plugin for
the Cubase software. The result is that this version is compatible with most functions
of Cubase 6.5 and can use its tools such as buses, filters and mixers without worrying
about complications.[50]
Hardware [edit]
Vocaloid-Board
Vocaloid is set to become a hardware version called Vocaloid-Board.[51]
Marketing [edit]
Though developed by Yamaha, the marketing of each Vocaloid is left to the respective
studios. Yamaha themselves do maintain a degree of promotional efforts in the actual
Vocaloid software, as seen when the humanoid robot model HRP-4C of the National Institute
of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) was set up to react to three
Vocaloids—Hatsune Miku, Megpoid and Crypton's noncommercial Vocaloid software "CV4Cβ"—as part of promotions for both Yamaha and AIST at CEATEC in 2009.[52][53] The
prototype voice CV-4Cβ was created by sampling a Japanese voice actress, Eriko
Nakamura.[54]
Japanese magazines such as DTM magazine are responsible for the promotion and
introduction for many of the Japanese Vocaloids to Japanese Vocaloid fans. It has featured
Vocaloids such as Miku, Kagamine Rin and Len, and Luka, printing some of the sketches by
artist Kei and reporting the latest news on the Vocaloids. Thirty-day trial versions of Miriam,
Lily and Iroha have also contributed to the marketing success of those particular voices. After
the success of SF-A2 Miki's CD album, other Vocaloids such as VY1 and Iroha have also
used promotional CDs as a marketing approach to selling their software. When Amazon
MP3 in Japan opened on November 9, 2010, Vocaloid albums were featured as its free-ofcharge contents.[55][56]
Crypton has been involved with the
marketing of their Character Vocal
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 with BMW Z4 E86,
and BMW Z4 GT3 in the 2011
season.[57] Their car was painted in
official Hatsune Miku art in 2008
season, but started using fanderivative versions of Hatsune Miku
in some races since the 2009
season.[58][59] The team was crowned
as 2011 Super GT season GT300
Champion by winning in three out of
eight rounds (Sepang, Fuji 250km,
as well as Motegi), which are all
from pole to checkered flag.

Team MOLA, using a Nissan
Fairlady Z, 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 the first FIA race to
feature two unique itasha cars
competing in a single race.[60][61]

Team COX, participating in the 2010
season, which used a Porsche 996
GT3 RSR and a Porsche 997 GT3-R.
Their car used Racing Miku (an
official Hatsune Miku derivative,
wearing an orange race queen suit)
as their image.
As well as involvements with the GT
series, Crypton also established the
website Piapro.[62] A number of games
starting from Hatsune Miku: Project
DIVA were produced by Sega under
license using Hatsune Miku and other
Crypton Vocaloids, as well as "fan made"
Vocaloids. Later, a mobile phone game
called Hatsune Miku Vocalo x Live was
produced by Japanese mobile social
gaming website Gree.[63] TinierMe Gacha
also made attire that looks like Miku for
their services, allowing users to make
their avatar resemble the Crypton
Vocaloids.[64][65]
Two unofficial manga were also produced
for the series, Maker Unofficial: Hatsune
Mix being the most well known of the two,
which was released by Jive in
their Comic Rush magazine; this series is
drawn by Vocaloid artist Kei. The series
features the Crypton Vocaloids in various
scenarios, a different one each week.
The series focuses on the Crypton
Vocaloids, although Internet Co., Ltd.'s
Gackpoid Vocaloid makes a guest
appearance in two chapters. The series
also saw guest cameos of Vocaloid
variants such as Hachune Miku, Yowane
Haku, Akita Neru and the Utauloid
Kasane Teto. The series comprises the
original 28 chapters serialized in Comic
Rush and a collection of the first 10
chapters in a
single tankōbon volume.[66] A manga was
produced for Lily by Kei, who also drew
the mascot.[67][68] An anime music
video titled "Schwarzgazer", which shows
the world where Lily is,[69] was produced
and it was released with the
album anim.o.v.e 02, however the song is
sung by Move, not by Vocaloids.
A yonkoma manga based on Hatsune
Miku and drawn by Kentaro
Hayashi, Shūkan Hajimete no Hatsune
Miku!, began serialization inWeekly
Young Jump on September 2,
2010.[70] Hatsune Miku appeared
in Weekly
Playboy magazine.[71] However, Crypton
Future Media confirmed they will not be
producing an anime based based on their
Vocaloids as it would limit the creativity of
their user base, preferring to let their user
base to have freedom to create PV's
without restrictions.[72]
Initially, Crypton Future Media were the
only studio that was allowed the license
of figurines to be produced for their
Vocaloids. A number of figurines and
plush dolls were also released under
license to Max Factory and the Good
Smile Company of Crypton's Vocaloids.
Among these figures were
also Figma models of the entire
"Character Vocal Series" mascots as well
as Nendoroidfigures of various Crypton
Vocaloids and variants. Pullip versions of
Hatsune Miku, Kagamine Len and Rin
have also been produced for release in
April 2011; other Vocaloid dolls have
since been announced from the Pullip
doll line.[73][74] As part of promotions for
Vocaloid Lily, license for a figurine was
given to Phat Company and Lily became
the first non-Crypton Vocaloid to receive
a figurine.[75]
In regards to the English Vocaloid
studios, Power FX's Sweet Ann was
given her own MySpace page and Sonika
her own Twitter account. In comparison
to Japanese studios, Zero-G and
PowerFX maintain a high level of contact
with their fans. Zero-G in particular
encourages fan feed back and, after
adopting Sonika as a mascot for their
studio, has run two competitions related
to her.[76][77] There was also talk from
PowerFX of redoing their Sweet Ann box
art and a competition would be included
as part of the redesign.[78] The Vocaloid
Lily also had a competition held during
her trial period.[79] English Vocaloids have
not sold enough to warrant extras, such
as seen with Crypton's Miku Append.
However, it has been confirmed if the
English Vocaloids become more popular,
then Appends would be an option in the
future. Crypton plans to start an
electronic magazine for English readers
at the end of 2010 in order to encourage
the growth of the English Vocaloid
fanbase. Extracts of PowerFX's Sweet
Ann and Big Al were included in
Soundation Studio in their Christmas
loops and sound release with a
competition included.[80]
Crypton and Toyota began working
together to promote the launch of the
2011 Toyota Corolla using Hatsune Miku
to promote the car. The launch of the car
also marked the start of Miku's debut in
the US alongside it.[81] Crypton had
always sold Hatsune Miku as a virtual
instrument, but they decided to ask their
own fanbase in Japan if it was okay with
them to market her to the United States
as a virtual singer instead.[82]
Promotional events [edit]
The largest promotional event for
Vocaloids is "The Voc@loid M@ster"
(Vom@s) convention held four times a
year in Tokyo or the
neighboring Kanagawa Prefecture. The
event brings producers and illustrators
involved with the production of Vocaloid
art and music together so they can sell
their work to others. The original event
was held in 2007 with 48 groups, or
"circles", given permission to host stalls
at the event for the selling of their goods.
The event soon gained popularity and at
the 14th event, nearly 500 groups had
been chosen to have stalls. Additionally,
Japanese companies involved with
production of the software also have
stalls at the events.[83][84] The very first
live concert related to Vocaloid was held
in 2004 with the Vocaloid Miriam in
Russia.[85]
Vocaloids have also been promoted at
events such as the NAMM show and the
Musikmesse fair. In fact, it was the
promotion of Zero-G's Lola and Leon at
the NAMM trade show that would later
introduce PowerFX to the Vocaloid
program.[78] These events have also
become an opportunity for announcing
new Vocaloids with Prima being
announced at the NAMM event in 2007
and Tonio having been announced at the
NAMM event in 2009.[86] A customized,
Chinese version of Sonika was released
at the Fancy Frontier Develop Animation
Festival, as well as with promotional
versions with stickers and posters. Sanrio
held a booth at Comiket 78 featuring the
voice of an unreleased Vocaloid. AH
Software in cooperation with Sanrio
shared a booth and the event was used
to advertise both the a Hello Kitty game
and AH Software's new Vocaloid.[87] At
the Nico Nico Douga Daikaigi 2010
Summer: Egao no Chikara event, Internet
Co., Ltd. announced their latest Vocaloid
"Gachapoid" based on popular children's
character Gachapin.
Originally, Hiroyuki Ito—President of
Crypton Future Media—claimed that
Hatsune Miku was not a virtual idol but a
kind of the Virtual Studio
Technology instrument.[88] However,
Hatsune Miku performed her first "live"
concert like a virtual idol on a projection
screen during Animelo Summer Live at
the Saitama Super Arena on August 22,
2009.[89][90] At the "MikuFes '09
(Summer)" event on August 31, 2009, her
image was screened by rear
projection on a mostly-transparent
screen.[91] Miku also performed her first
overseas live concert on November 21,
2009, during Anime Festival Asia (AFA)
in Singapore.[92][93] On March 9, 2010,
Miku's first solo live performance titled
"Miku no Hi Kanshasai 39's Giving Day"
was opened at the Zepp Tokyo
in Odaiba, Tokyo.[94][95]The tour was run
as part of promotions for Sega's Hatsune
Miku: Project Diva video game in March
2010.[96] The success and possibility of
these tours is owed to the popularity of
Hatsune Miku and so far Crypton is the
only studio to have established a world
tour of their Vocaloids.
Later, the CEO of Crypton Future Media
appeared in San Francisco at the start of
the San Francisco tour where the first
Hatsune Miku concert was hosted in
North America on September 18, 2010,
featuring songs provided by the Miku
software voice.[97][98] A second screening
of the concert was on October 11, 2010
in the San Francisco Viz Cinema. A
screening of the concert was also shown
in New York City in the city's anime
festival.[99] Hiroyuki Ito, and
planner/producer, Wataru Sasaki, who
were responsible for Miku's creation,
attended an event on October 8, 2010 at
the festival.[100][101] Videos of her
performance are due to be released
worldwide.[102] Megpoid and Gackpoid
were also featured in the 2010 King Run
Anison Red and White concert. This
event also used the same projector
method to display Megpoid and Gackpoid
on a large screen. Their appearance at
the concert was done as a one-time
event and both Vocaloids were featured
singing a song originally sung by their
respective voice provider.[103]
The next live concert was set for Tokyo
on March 9, 2011.[104] Other events
included the Vocarock Festival 2011 on
January 11, 2011 and the Vocaloid Festa
which was held on February 12,
2011.[105][106][107] The Vocaloid Festa had
also hosted a competition officially
endorsed by Pixiv, with the winner seeing
their creation unveiled at Vocafes2 on
May 29, 2011.[108] The first Vocaloid
concert in North America was held in Los
Angeles on July 2, 2011 at the Nokia
Theater during Anime Expo; the concert
was identical to the March 9, 2010 event
except for a few improvements and new
songs.[109] Another concert was held in
Sapporo on August 16 and 17, 2011.
Hatsune Miku also had a concert in
Singapore on November 11, 2011. The
most recent concert was held on March 8
and 9, 2012 in Tokyo called "Special
Thanks 39's Part 2".
Cultural impact [edit]
Hatsune Miku is mostly responsible for
Vocaloid's success.
The software became very popular in
Japan upon the release of Crypton
Future Media's Hatsune Miku Vocaloid 2
software and her success has led to the
popularity of the Vocaloid software in
general.[110] Inside of Japan, the software
has proven to be popular overall, with
thousands of original songs by artists
across Japan.[111] Japanese video
sharing website Nico Nico Douga played
a fundamental role in the recognition and
popularity of the software. A user of
Hatsune Miku and an illustrator released
a much-viewed video, in which "Hachune
Miku", a super deformed Miku, held
a Welsh onion (Negi in Japanese) and
sang the Finnish song "Ievan Polkka" like
the flash animation "Loituma Girl", on
Nico Nico Douga.[112] According to
Crypton, they knew that users of Nico
Nico Douga had started posting videos
with songs created by the software
before Hatsune Miku, but the video
presented multifarious possibilities of
applying the software in multimedia
content creation—notably
the dōjin culture.[113] 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.[114] The software has also been
used to tell stories using song and verse
and the Story of Evil series has become
so popular that a manga, six books, and
two theatre works were produced by the
series creator.[115][116] Another theater
production based on "Cantarella", a song
sung by Kaito and produced by KurousaP, was also set to hit the stage and will
run Shibuya's Space Zero theater in
Tokyo from August 3 to August 7,
2011.[117] The website has become so
influential that studios often post demos
on Nico Nico Douga, as well as other
websites such as YouTube, as part of the
promotional effort of their Vocaloid
products. The important role Nico Nico
Douga has played in promoting the
Vocaloids also sparked interest in the
software and Kentaro Miura, the artist of
Gakupo's mascot design, had offered his
services for free because of his love for
the website.[118]
In September 2009, three figurines based
on the derivative character "Hachune
Miku" were launched in a rocket from
the United States state of Nevada's Black
Rock Desert, though it did not
reach outer space.[119][120] 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 would be used as a
balancing weight for the
Japanese Venus space
probe Akatsuki.[121] Started by Hatsune
Miku fan Sumio Morioka that goes by
chodenzi-P, this project received the
backing of Dr. Seiichi Sakamoto of
the Japan Aerospace Exploration
Agency (JAXA).[122] The website of the
petition written in Japanese was
translated into other languages such as
English, Russian, Chinese and Korean,
and, the petition exceeded the needed
10,000 signatures necessary to have the
plates made on December 22,
2009.[123] On May 21, 2010 at 06:58:22
(JST), Akatsuki was launched on the
rocket H-IIA 202 Flight 17 from the
Japanese spaceport Tanegashima Space
Center, having three plates depicting
Hatsune Miku.[124][125]
The Vocaloid software has also had a
great influence on the character Black
Rock Shooter, which looks like Hatsune
Miku but is not linked to her by design.
The character was made famous by the
song "Black Rock Shooter",[126] and a
number of figurines have been made.
An original video animation made
by Ordet was streamed for free as part of
a promotional campaign running from
June 25 to August 31, 2010.[127] The
virtual idols "Meaw" have also been
released aimed at the Vocaloid culture.
The twin Thai virtual idols released two
singles, "Meaw Left ver." and "Meaw
Right ver.", sung in Japanese.[128][129]
A cafe for one day only was opened in
Tokyo based on Hatsune Miku on August
31, 2010.[130] A second event was
arranged for all Japanese
Vocaloids.[131] "Snow Miku" was also
featured on an event as a part of the
62nd Sapporo Snow Festival in February
2011.[132] A Vocaloid-themed TV show on
the Japanese Vocaloids called Vocalo
Revolution began airing on Kyoto
Broadcasting System on January 3,
2011.[133][134] The show is part of a bid to
make the Vocaloid culture more widely
accepted and features a mascot known
as "Cul", also mascot of the "Cul
Project".[135]The show's first success story
is a joint collaboration between Vocalo
Revolution and the school fashion line
"Cecil McBee" Music x Fashion x
Dance.[136][137] Piapro also held a
competition with famous fashion brands
with the winners seeing their Lolita-based
designs reproduced for sale by the
company Putumayo.[138] A radio station
set up a 1 hour program containing
nothing but Vocaloid-based music.[139]
The Vocaloid software had a great
influence on the development of the
freeware Utau.[140] Several products were
produced for the Macne series (Mac 音シ
リーズ?) for intended use for the
programsReason 4 and GarageBand.
These products were sold by Act2 and by
converting their file format, were able to
also work with the Utau program.[141] The
program Maidloid, developed for the
character Acme Iku (阿久女イク?), was
also developed, which works in a similar
way to Vocaloid, except produces erotic
sounds rather than an actual singing
voice.[142] Other than Vocaloid, AH
Software also developed Tsukuyomi Ai
and Shouta for the software Voiceroid,
and the sale of their Vocaloids gave AH
software the chance to promote Voiceroid
at the same time. The software is aimed
for speaking rather than singing. Both AH
Software's Vocaloids and Voiceroids
went on sale on December 4,
2009.[143] Crypton Future Media has been
reported to openly welcome these
additional software developments as it
expands the market for synthesized
voices.
During the events of the 2011 Tōhoku
earthquake and tsunami, a number of
Vocaloid related donation drives were
produced. Crypton Future Media joined
several other companies in a donation
drive, with money spent on the sales of
music from Crypton Future Media's
KarenT label being donated to
the Japanese Red Cross.[144] In addition,
a special Nendoroid of Hatsune Miku,
Nendoroid Hatsune Miku: Support ver.,
was announced with a donation of 1,000
yen per sale to the Japanese Red
Cross.[145]
Featured music [edit]
It is difficult to know how many songs and
albums are using the Vocaloid software
since song writers must ask permission
before being allowed to state specifically
they are using a Vocaloid in their songs.
However, the albums mentioned here
only represent a fraction of the albums
produced using the software and many
more are found on Crypton's KarenT
label website.[111] The earliest use of
Vocaloid related software used
prototypes of Kaito and Meiko and were
featured on the album History of Logic
System by Hideki Matsutake released on
July 24, 2003, and sang the song "Ano
Subarashii Ai o Mō Ichido". The first
album to be released using a full
commercial Vocaloid was A Place in the
Sun, which used Leon's voice for the
vocals singing in both Russian and
English.[146] Miriam has also been
featured in two albums, Light +
Shade[147] and Continua.[148] Japanese
progressive-electronic artist Susumu
Hirasawa used the Lola Vocaloid in the
original soundtrack of Paprika by Satoshi
Kon.[149][150] The software's biggest asset
is its ability to see continued usage even
long after its initial release date. Leon
was featured in the album 32bit Loveby
Muzehack[151] and Lola in Operator's
Manual by anaROBIK; both were
featured in these albums six years after
they were released.[152] Even early on in
the software's history, the music making
progress proved to be a valuable asset to
the Vocaloid development as it not only
opened up the possibilities of how the
software may be applied in practice, but
led to the creation of further Vocaloids to
fill in the missing roles the software had
yet to cover. The album A Place in the
Sun was noted to have songs that were
designed for a male voice with a rougher
timbre than the Vocaloid Leon could
provide; this later led to the development
of Big Al to fulfill this particular role.[153]
Some of the most popular albums are on
the Exit Tunes label, featuring the works
of Vocaloid producers in Japan. One of
the Vocaloid compilations, Exit Tunes
Presents Vocalogenesis feat. Hatsune
Miku, debuted at No. 1 on the Japanese
weekly Oricon albums chart in May 2010,
becoming the first Vocaloid album ever to
top the charts.[154] The album sold 23,000
copies in its first week and eventually
sold 86,000 copies. The following
released album, Exit Tunes Presents
Vocalonexus feat. Hatsune Miku, became
the second Vocaloid album to top the
weekly charts in January
2011.[155] Another album, Supercell, by
the group Supercell[156] also features a
number of songs using Vocaloids. Upon
its release in North America, it became
ranked as the second highest album on
Amazon's bestselling MP3 album in the
international category in the United
States and topped the store's bestselling
chart for world music on iTunes.[157] Other
albums, such as 19's Sound
Factory's First Sound
Story[158] and Livetune's Re:Repackage,
and Re:Mikus[159][160] also feature Miku's
voice. Other uses of Miku include the
albums Sakura no Ame (桜ノ雨?) by
Absorb and Miku no Kanzume (みくのか
んづめ?) by OSTER-project. Kagamine
Len and Rin's songs
were covered by Asami Shimoda in the
album Prism credited to "Kagamine
Rin/Len feat. Asami Shimoda".[161] The
compilation album Vocarock Collection 2
feat. Hatsune Miku was released by Farm
Records on December 15, 2010,[162] and
was later featured on the Cool Japan
Music iPhone app in February
2011.[163] The record label Balloom
became the first label to focus solely on
Vocaloid-related works and their first
release was Unhappy Refrain by the
Vocaloid producer
Wowaka.[164][165] Hatsune Miku's North
American debut song "World is Mine"
ranked at No. 7 in the iTunes world
singles ranking in the week of its
release.[166] Singer Gackt also challenged
Gackpoid users to create a song, with the
prize being 10 million yen, stating if the
song was to his liking he would sing and
include it in his next album.[167] The
winning song "Episode 0" and runner up
song "Paranoid Doll" were later released
by Gackt on July 13, 2011.[168] In relation
to the Good Smiling racing promotions
that Crypton Future Media Vocaloids had
played part in, the album Hatsune Miku
GT Project Theme Song Collection was
released in August 2011 as part of a
collaboration.[169]
In the month prior to her release, SF-A2
Miki was featured in the album Vocaloids
X'mas: Shiroi Yoru wa Seijaku o
Mamotteru as part of her promotion. The
album featured the Vocaloid
singingChristmas songs.[170] Miki was
also featured singing the introduction of
the game Hello Kitty to Issho! Block
Crash 123!!. A young female prototype
used for the "project if..." series was used
inSound Horizon's musical work "Ido e
Itaru Mori e Itaru Ido", labeled as the
"prologue maxi". The prototype sang
alongside Miku for their music and is
known only by the name "Junger
März_Prototype β".[171][172] For Yamaha's
VY1 Vocaloid, an album featuring VY1
was created. The album was released
with the deluxe version of the program. It
includes various well-known producers
from Nico Nico Douga and YouTube and
includes covers of various popular and
well-known Vocaloid songs using the
VY1 product.[173] The first press edition of
Nekomura Iroha was released with a CD
containing her two sample songs
"Tsubasa" and "Abbey Fly", and
the install disc also contained VSQ files
of the two songs for use with her
program.[174] A number of Vocaloid
related music, including songs starring
Hatsune Miku, were featured in the
arcade game Music Gun Gun! 2.[175] One
of the rare singles with the English
speaking Sonika, "Suburban Taxi", was
released by Alexander Stein and the
German label Volume0dB on March 11,
2010.[176]
To celebrate the release of the Vocaloid
3 software, a compilation album titled The
Vocaloids was released. The CD
contains 18 songs sung by Vocaloids
released in Japan and contains a booklet
with information about the Vocaloid
characters.[177]
VoctroLabs, the creators of the first
Spanish Vocalois, collaborated in the
second edition of Plan Ballantine's (Plan
B), a collaborative project sponsored
by Ballantine's, where the people can
help to create the lyrics for a famous
artist. In this edition participated the
Spanish band La Oreja de Van Gogh.
VoctroLabs provided the tools that
allowed the participants to listen to their
written lyrics sung by a virtual female
voice through the official website, which
is a Vocaloid that is being developed by
the company. The company is planning
to release this voice to the public. The
contest ended on December 29, 2012
with the song "Otra vez me has sacado a
bailar" chosen as the winner among
15,000 entries. The song was available
for purchase and download on January
22, 2013 and the band officially debuted
it at the Premios 40 Principales 2013.
Legal implications [edit]
For illustrations of the characters,
Crypton Future Media licensed "original
illustrations of Hatsune Miku, Kagamine
Rin, Kagamine Len, Megurine Luka,
Meiko and Kaito" under Creative
Commons-Attribution-NonCommercial
3.0 Unported ("CC BY-NC"), allowing for
artists to use the characters in
noncommercial adaptations and
derivations with attribution.[178][179]
According to Crypton, because
professional female singers refused to
provide voice samples, 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 and the Japanese voice
actor agency Arts Vision supported the
development.[180] Similar concerns are
expressed throughout the other studios
using Vocaloid, with Zero-G refusing to
release the names of their providers and
Miriam Stockley (who provided the voice
for Miriam) remains the only known ZeroG voice provider.[181] PowerFX only
hinted at Sweet Ann's voice provider and
only Big Al's is known. AH Software
named Miki's voice provider, but for legal
reasons cannot name Kaai Yuki's as
minors were the subject of the
recordings.
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
mascots for the software can be used to
create vocals for commercial or noncommercial use as long as the vocals do
not offend public policy. In other words,
the user is bound under the term of
license of the software not to synthesize
derogatory or disturbing lyrics. On the
other hand, copyrights to the mascot
image and name belong to their
respective studios. 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 the consent
of the studio who owns them.[182]
Employees working within the studios are
bound by legal implications not to repeat
any details given to them from Yamaha
on Vocaloid development without
Yamaha's permission. They are also not
allowed to disclose details of upcoming
Vocaloids without permission of the
Vocaloid studio nor reveal the identity of
the singer if the studio does not make it
public.
On November 29, 2010, Crypton started
an independent music publication for
seeking copyright royalties if songs are
used for commercial purposes such
as karaoke, because Vocaloid users
hardly used the copyright
collective Japanese Society for Rights of
Authors, Composers and
Publishers (JASRAC).[183] Due to the fact
songs using the software are made by
independent users, the act
of plagiarism has remained a highly
controversial issue among Vocaloid users
and their published works. This has been
a heated issue on both illustrative and
musical levels with songs and their
publishers being targeted by allegations
of stealing the works of others.[184] In
January 2011, Japanese boyband KATTUN were forced to admit plagiarism
against their song "Never×Over~「-」Is
Your Part~", after the producer of the
song admitted it was influenced by the
Vocaloid song "Dye" produced by
AVTechNO, after fans expressed their
outrage over the similarities of the two
songs.[185][186][187] However, AVTechNO
also released a statement explaining that
the members of the band were not to
blame for this incident.[188]
Controversial issues [edit]
Since the Vocaloid or its vocal library is
released for producers to do as they
please, some producers think of the
Vocaloids as dolls and that they can
make them sing whatever they want. The
portrayals of Vocaloids can at times
touch controversial issues. Releases put
out as young children risk becoming
subject to sexual
or pedophiliic portrayals.[189]
One of the most controversial uses of the
legal agreements of any Vocaloid
producing studio was from
the Democratic Party of Japan, whose
running candidate, Kenzo Fujisue,
attempted to secure the use of Miku's
image in the Japanese House of
Councillors election of July 11, 2010. The
hope was that the party could use her
image to appeal to younger voters.
Although Crypton Future Media rejected
the party's use of her image or name for
political purposes, Fujisue released the
song "We Are the One" using her voice
but not credited to her on YouTube, by
replacing her image with the party's
character in the music video.[190]
When Vocaloid was first released,
studios had more freedom to choose their
own art directions and designs for box
art, such as when stock images were
used for English Vocaloids. However, by
2012, Yamaha had gone so far as to
direct the art style of artwork for new
Vocaloids into a strict anime-style. The
theory put behind the sudden change of
attitude from Yamaha was from over the
reaction to the original artwork to the first
two Spanish Vocaloid packages Bruno
and Clara, which was met with outcry
from Vocaloid fans over the artwork
style.[191]
Reception [edit]
Despite the success of the software in
Japan, overseas customers have been
reluctant on the software overall. In
contrast to the reaction overseas,
reviewers such as Michael
Stipe of R.E.M.praised when it was first
announced in 2003.[2] Stipe noted that
one of the more useful aspects of the
software was that it gave singers a
method of preserving their voice for
future use should they lose their own, but
as the technology progressed it could
also be used to bring back the voices of
singers whose voices have already been
lost.[2] However, while the provider of
"Miriam", Miriam Stockley, had accepted
that there was little point in fighting
progress, she had noted there was little
control over how her voice was used
once the software was in the hands of
others.[2]Reception to Vocaloid 2 was
generally better. When Sweet Ann was
first released, John Walden of Sound on
Sound had reviewed Leon, Lola and
Miriam and noted that Vocaloid itself had
no previous rival technology to contend
with, and praised Yamaha for their efforts
as Vocaloid was an ambitious project to
undertake, considering the human voice
was more complex to synthesize than
instruments such as the violin.[192] In
reviewing Vocaloid 2, he referred to the
original software engine in a passing
comment stating, "Undoubtedly a
remarkable and innovative product and,
with experience and patience, was
capable of producing results that could
be frighteningly realistic." While he
congratulated the improvements made in
Vocaloid 2, he noted the software was
still far from being regarded as a top rate
singer.[193] Particularly what makes
Vocaloid difficult to sell as a product is
the notion that the human ear can pick up
faults in vocal speech.[194] When
reviewing Tonio, Sound on Sound writer
Tom Flint argued that in the amount of
time it takes to understand and learn how
to use the software, it would be easier to
hire a singer for half an hour to do the
recording session. He, along with fellow
writer John Walden during a review on
Sonika, both stated singers will not fear
losing their jobs just yet.[195][196]
When interviewed by the Vocaloid
producing company Zero-G, music
producer Robert Hedin described how
the software offered a creative freedom.
He compared it to auto-tuning software,
stating the Vocaloid software itself has
enough imperfections to present itself as
a singer who does not sound human.
However, he states that Vocaloid also
does not "snap into tune" like auto-tuning
software, which the music industry seems
to favor these days.[197] Giuseppe, who
had produced demo songs for both ZeroG and PowerFX Vocaloids, and is now
aiding in the production of Spanish based
Vocaloids, had noted that each Vocaloid
package worked the same way.
However, each vocal has its own unique
personality to it, so choosing one vocal
over another is not easy. He hoped that
the Vocaloid software will continue to
progress forward so long as its userbase
continues to push it forward. He also
noted that the software's slow start and
its early bad reputation was the hardest
part for the software to overcome in
regards to its success, and like any
commercial product, a decrease in sales
would result in a decrease in
development. However, focus had
switched from focusing on the vocals to
focusing on the boxart character mascot
itself at this point.[198]
The CEO of Crypton Future Media noted
the lack of interest in Vocaloids overall
was put down to the lack of response in
the initial Vocaloid software. In regards to
the development of the English version of
the software specifically, many studios
when approached by Crypton Future
Media for recommendations towards
developing the English Vocaloids had no
interest in the software initially, with one
particular company representative calling
it a "toy". A level of failure was put on
Leon and Lola for lack of sales in the
United States, putting the blame on
their British accents.[180] Crypton praised
the value of the English Vocaloids and
what they offered to the Japanese users
for their capability of offering the English
language to them, when it would
otherwise be off limits. As Hatsune Miku
was responsible for making the software
famous, her voice has become the most
commonly associated with the Vocaloid
software and divides opinions of critics
both overseas and within Japan on their
opinions towards her and the
software.[199][200] Crypton blamed a fear of
robots on part of the lack of response on
the sale of the software overseas and
expressed that there was also a general
"anti-Vocaloid" point of view amongst
some cultures and communities, although
he also noted that he hoped in the future
this would change as the software
continued to be developed.[201] Prior to
the release of the Hatsune Miku product,
Crypton Future Media had also noted
there was some criticism at choosing to
release the original Vocaloid engine as a
commercial licensing product, although
felt that the choice was for the better of
the engine. Furthermore, it was noted
that the original Vocaloid engine felt more
like a prototype for future engine
versions.[24]
Even with the lack of success for the
English version of the software in the
United States, Crypton Future Media
reported that about half of music
downloads at the iTunes Store for songs
of Crypton's label KarenT, published by
Japanese producers, have been from
overseas purchases, with sales from
American consumers making up the
majority of percentages of overseas
sales.[202]Despite experiencing good
sales in Europe, it was reported the
software is failing to attract a satisfactory
level of attention, and software
developers are now setting their sights on
trying to overturn the lack of interest in
the software in Europe.[203]
Hatsune Miku picked up second place in
a 2010 Japanese Yahoo! poll on
Japanese gamers' favorite characters,
owed to her starring role in Hatsune
Miku: Project DIVA 2nd.[204] CNN's
website CNNGo declared Hatsune Miku
as one of Japan's best in their "Tokyo
best and worst of 2010", listing her as the
"Best new virtual singer for the otaku
generation".[205] Clash magazine labeled
Hatsune Miku and the Vocaloid software
as the future of music.[206]
Vocaloid was sold as a product for
professional musicians, and although
there were many producers using the
software within Japan by 2011, a report
was released detailing the true reflections
of the Vocaloid craze. It was conducted
independently by fans of the Vocaloid
software and detailed the popularity of
certain Vocaloids over others. Most
Vocaloid related videos struggled to get
over 5,000 views and the most popular
producers gaining the most interest over
lesser popular producers. In order of the
most video uploads were Hatsune Miku
(first), Kagamine Rin (second), Gumi
(third), Megurine Luka (fourth), Kagamine
Len (fifth) and Kaito (sixth) had the most
videos uploaded related to them, while all
other Vocaloids had less than 1,000
uploads related to them. This was not
true for all the calculations they ran to
determine the popularity, including
average and mean views and mylists. In
the end, only Gumi and the Kagamine
software packages managed to stay on
the top six lists of all their calculations,
with popular Vocaloid Hatsune Miku
failing to make it on the mean average
top six list calculations for the study
period.[207]