• Vocaloid 4 Cyber Diva Download
• Vocaloid 4 Cyber Diva Download Free

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.

Vocaloid 2 is a singing voice synthesizer and the successor to the Vocaloid voice synthesizer application by Yamaha. Unlike the first engine, Vocaloid 2 based its output on vocal samples, rather than voice analysis. The synthesis engine and the user interface were completely revamped, with Japanese Vocaloids possessing a Japanese interface, as opposed to the previous version, which used English for both versions. It is noteworthy for introducing the popular character Hatsune Miku.

• 2Products

History[edit]

Vocaloid 2 was announced in 2007. Unlike the first engine, Vocaloid 2 based its synthesis on vocal samples, rather than analysis of the human voice.^[1] Due to time constraints, unlike the previous engine, it did not have a public beta test and instead bugs were patched as users reported them.^[2] The synthesis engine and the user interface were completely revamped, with Japanese Vocaloids possessing a Japanese interface, as opposed to all versions being in English, as was the case with its predecessor.^[3] New features included note auditioning, transparent control track, toggling between playback and rendering, and expression control.^[4] One's breath and voice could also be recorded into the library to make realistic sounds.^[5] This version was not backward compatible with the original Vocaloid engine, and its editor could not load libraries built for the previous version.

In addition to the PC software, Yamaha also offered an online service called NetVocaloid. This software was not localized, and Vocaloids made with either the English or Japanese in mind version would only be compatible with their respective version; for example, although Megurine Luka had an English library included, as a Japanese Vocaloid she was only usable with the Japanese version of the software.

Yamaha also released a version of the Vocaloid 2 software for the iPhone and iPad, which was first exhibited at the Y2 Autumn 2010 Digital Content Expo in Japan.^[6][7] This version of the software was later released using the voice of Yamaha's own Vocaloid called VY1.^[8][9] These products were launched as iVocaloid and i-Vocaloid, though the latter was later renamed to VocaloWitter.

Unlike the original Vocaloid software, Vocaloid 2 vocals could be imported into Vocaloid 3. However, it was not possible to import any Vocaloid 2 vocals into Vocaloid Neo or the Mac ports of Vocaloid Editor for Cubase. It was also possible to import Vocaloid 2 vocals into Vocaloid 4, either by importing them into Vocaloid 3 then Vocaloid 4, or via the use of the Vocaloid 2 import tool.^[10] Furthermore, while VSTi plug-in support for the software was provided, Vocaloid 2 would not work with some digital audio workstations such as Sonar, and had compatibility issues with others such as Fl Studio.^[11]

In total, there were 35 vocal libraries produced for Vocaloid 2; 17 in the Japanese version, and five in the English version.

Support for Vocaloid 2 ended in March 2016.^[12]

Products[edit]

Sweet Ann[edit]

Released on June 29, 2007 by PowerFX, Sweet Ann was originally developed for the original Vocaloid engine, but was later ported to Vocaloid 2, and was released as the first voice bank for the engine. She was sold as the 'Space lounge vocal sensation'.^[13][14]

Sweet Ann's most notable use was in the anime Nichijou.

Hatsune Miku[edit]

Released on August 31, 2007 as the first of the 'Character Voice Series', her codename was 'CV01' and she was designed to sound cute. She was the first vocal not based on a professional singer results and based on the voice of Saki Fujita.^[15] She was the first vocal to be developed and distributed by Crypton Future Media and sung in Japanese. Her instant success is owed to Vocaloid being a cultural hit in Japan and she reportedly sold 40,000 units by July 2008, selling on average 300 units a week.^[16] By Jan 2011, she had sold 60,000 units.^[17] Due to the success of the product, a later expansion pack was released on April 30, 2010 called 'Hatsune Miku append' which added 6 new voices ('dark', 'soft', 'solid', 'light', 'vivid' and 'sweet') for the Miku vocal.^[18]

Kagamine Rin/Len[edit]

Released on December 27, 2007, Kagamine Rin and Len are a pair of Japanese vocals based on the voice of Asami Shimoda and codenamed 'CV02', being the second package for the Character Voice series.^[19] They were created to be a male and female pair of vocals that could fulfill a variety of roles within music. They were not as successful as Hatsune Miku, selling only 20,000 units by July 2008.^[16] On July 18, 2008, Due to numerous complaints about the quality of their vocals in comparison to Hatsune Miku, a second version of the package called 'Act2' was released to replace the original Kagamine Rin/Len voice.^[20][21] The Crypton Future Media end-user agreement was also updated with the Act2 release to make it more easier to understand.^[22] Like the Hatsune Miku vocal, they too received an expansion pack titled 'Kagamine Rin/Len Append,' adding 3 voices each for Rin ('power', 'warm', 'sweet') and Len ('power', 'cold' and 'serious'), a total of 6 altogether.

Prima[edit]

Prima was a female English vocal released by Zero-G Ltd. She possessed the voice of a female Sopranoopera singer and sang in English.^[23][24] She was released on January 14, 2008. Prima was noted for having a customized English library with more phonetic sounds than the standard English vocal contained.^{[25][failed verification]}

Gackpoid[edit]

Gackpoid is a male vocal developed by Internet Co., Ltd. His voice was sampled from the Japanese singer and actor Gackt. The mascot of the software is called Camui Gackpo, after Gackt's alias name. Gackpo is sometimes referred to as Gackpo Camui or Gakupo Kamui, and usually referred to as Kamui Gakupo.

Megurine Luka[edit]

Megurine Luka was the third and final member of the Character Voice series. She was noteworthy for being the first vocal capable of both English and Japanese speech. She was released on January 30, 2009, and was codenamed 'CV03' prior to release. Her English vocal initially did not have a full library and was capable of only 2,200 words, though she was later updated to fix the problem.^[26] It is notable that her package was originally going to be called 'Hatsune Miku', designed when Vocaloid 2 was first announced to be a bilingual English and Japanese vocal, being the first planned member of the Character Voice series.^[27] Her provider is Yū Asakawa.

Megpoid[edit]

Megpoid is a Vocaloid by Internet Co., Ltd. Her voice is sampled by Megumi Nakajima. The mascot of the software is called GUMI. The name GUMI is the voice provider Megumi Nakajima's nickname from her childhood. The software name, 'Megpoid', was taken from the provider's name, 'Megumi.' The second half, the 'poid', is short for 'like Vocaloid,' the full implied name of this product is 'Megumi-like Vocaloid.'

Sonika[edit]

Sonica was an English vocal developed by Zero-G Limited. She was advertised as a 'virtual vocalist modeled on the voice of a young girl pop singer'. Sonika was the first Zero-G vocal to be based on an amateur singer's voice rather than that of a professional.

SF-A2 Miki[edit]

Designed to be a professional product, she was one of three products released on December 4, 2009 by AH-Software.^[28] She was based on the voice of Miki Furukawa and sings in Japanese.

Kaai Yuki[edit]

The second vocal released on December 4, 2009 by AH-Software. She is designed to be a Japanese vocal with human characteristics. Her voice is based on a child's voice and is not meant to be a professional singer.^[29]

Hiyama Kiyoteru[edit]

Hiyama Kiyoteru was the third product released on December 4, 2009 by AH-Software.^[30] He is a male voice with humanistic qualities to it. He was designed to be Kaai Yuki's school teacher. The voice is based upon the voice of Kiyoshi Hiyama and sings in Japanese.^[31]

Big Al[edit]

Big Al was an English vocal developed and distributed by PowerFX Systems AB. Big Al had a deep toned, masculine voice, and was the complimentary vocal to Sweet Ann. He was announced on January 21, 2007, and was released on December 22, 2009. He was released with a voice provided by ex-employee Frank Sanderson after the intended provider, Elvis Presleyimpersonator Michael King, was unable to return for further recordings after his initial samples were considered not at a high enough quality to be released.

Tonio[edit]

A male voice that was designed to be a complimentary voice to Prima. He was released in July 2010 by Zero-G Limited. Tonio was advertised as a 'virtual vocalist modelled on the voice of professional male classical singer'. Like Prima, he is an opera based vocal and covers the ranges from baritone to tenor.^[32]

Lily[edit]

Lily is a Japanese vocal developed by Internet Co., Ltd. and released on August 25, 2010. She was a promotional product produced with Avex Management. Her voice was provided by Yuri Masuda, a Japanese singer, musician, and performance artist from Japanese band m.o.v.e. Unlike the previous two vocals released by Internet Co., Ltd., Lily's product did not have a separate name for both product and mascot.^[33][34]

VY1[edit]

VY1 was developed under the codename of 'Mizki' as a professional Japanese female vocal with no mascot, designed to fulfill any role and head any Yamaha Vocaloid product. It was released on September 1, 2010 by Bplats and designed to act as a 'Standard' vocal of noted quality for the Vocaloid software.^[35][36] It was released on September 1, 2010. It handled samples differently to previous Japanese vocaloids.^[37] It sold with a standard and a 'deluxe' version, the deluxe version came with a CD called 'feat.VY1'. The CD featured various songs and producer made content and was designed to display the creative freedom that VY1 brought. This was due to it having no official set mascot, leaving her appearance, age and even gender be up to the producer.^[38]

Gachapoid[edit]

Gachapoid was the third and final 'Poid' product released by Internet Co., Ltd. for the Vocaloid 2 engine. He sang in Japanese and was meant to be based on the character of Gachapin. The mascot of the product is 'Ryūto' and is based upon the Gachapin voice of Kuniko Amemiya.^[39][40] It was released on October 8, 2010.

Nekomura Iroha[edit]

Nekomura Iroha was the 4th product by AH-Software released for the Vocaloid 2 engine, and was created in collaboration with Sanrio. She was released on October 22, 2010, and had a deep but cute Japanese female voice.^[41][42][43]

Utatane Piko[edit]

Utatsane Piko was a high pitched male Japanese vocal developed distributed by Ki/oon Music Inc. under Sony Music Entertainment Japan, and was released in December 2010. His voice was provided by the Japanese pop singer Piko. He was released for download only on December 8, 2010.^[44]

VY2[edit]

VY2 was the second addition to the 'VY' series, after VY1 and was designed to compliment the VY1 voice, its codename is 'Yūma'. The voice of VY2 is masculine and sings in Japanese.^[45][46] It was released on April 25, 2011. VY1 it also was designed to be unbound by having no set avatar allowing it to take any appearance, sex or age. Effort was made to disassociate VY2 with anything personal, bares a sword on the boxart because they felt items such as clothing would be too personal but chose its codename to help direct producers to the direction the voice was heading for of a handsome young male. A producer working with the VY2 found when he wrote a song that VY2 was the only male Japanese vocal that could produce a quality of vocal good enough for the song and he labelled the vocal as the best Japanese male. When producing this vocal, the developers had compare it also with other masculine vocals within the series (excluding Ryuto and Kagamine Len, both of which are voiced by female vocalists), with only the Gackpoid software coming close to VY2.^[47]

Azuki Masaoka/Matcha Kobayashi[edit]

Only usable in 575 Utami, these two voices are based on Yuka Ōtsubo (Azuki Masaoka) and Ayaka Ohashi (Matcha Kobayashi). They are a pair of female vocals produced by Sega to sing within the game in Japanese.

Megurine Luka Append, Meiko V2, Kaito V2 and Hatsune Miku English[edit]

Crypton Future Media had produced vocals for this version of the software Renders of the beta vocals could be heard in various mediums. Meiko was used in the song 'Piano × Forte × Scandal' (ピアノ×フォルテ×スキャンダル) on the album Oster-san no Best (OSTERさんのベスト). Originally, the song used Meiko's original Vocaloid vocal. Luka's Append vocal was used on the album Vocaloid Minzoku Chō Kyokushū (VOCALOID民族調曲集) for the song 'Hoshizora to Yuki no Butōkai (Zeal mix)'. The promotional album Vocalo Append used a beta of Luka's 'Soft' Append. Miku's English vocal in particular was low quality and was not released in the engine for this reason. The vocals were announced to have been dropped in favor of Vocaloid 3 productions on December 1, 2011.^[48] Songs using the beta versions also featured in Hatsune Miku and Future Stars: Project Mirai.

With the exception of the Megurine Luka Append, which was later released for Vocaloid 4, all vocals were later released as Vocaloid 3 products.

A 7th Hatsune Miku Append vocal 'Falsetto' was also created but never released due to its limited usefulness.^[49]

Megpoid Extend[edit]

It was a 'Append-like' vocal package designed for Megpoid. It was later change to the V3 Megpoid package.^[50]

Critical reception[edit]

Vocaloid 2 was generally better received than its predecessor. 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 that the human voice was more complex to synthesize than instruments such as the violin.^[51] In his review of 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.^[52] Particularly what makes Vocaloid difficult to sell as a product is the notion that the human ear can pick up faults in vocal speech.^[53] When reviewing Tonio, Sound on Sound writer Tom Flint argued that with 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 don't have to fear losing their jobs just yet.^[54][55]

The Vocaloid 2 software was an instant success in Japan upon the release of the Hatsune Miku product.^[1] Bil Byrant of PowerFX, in an interview after the release of Big Al, noted that when they released Sweet Ann that they expected the electronica based music producers to use Vocaloid and were surprised that they were reluctant to embrace the software. At this point, a large Japanese producer base had formed and a large number of videos were being posted on YouTube.^[56] Hatsune Miku's success at selling 60,000 copies was also a noteworthy number, as at the time of Miku's release selling 1,000 copies of a software synthesizer was considered 'a commercial success'.^[17]

The Hatsune Miku product in particular went on to win several awards including;

• She was nominated for and won an award in the 'All About' awards of 2007.^[57][58]
• Crypton Future Media picked up an BCN award in 2008 for their productions, with their sales reaching a 211% increase thanks to several products (One of which being Hatsune Miku).^[59]
• In March 2008, Hatsune Miku won the 'Digital Content' AMD award.^[60]
• In June, Hatsune Miku picked up the 2008 MM Research Institute award.^[61]
• At the DaiKon7 in August 2008, Hatsune Miku received another award.^[62]
• Hatsune Miku was awarded the 'Good Design Award 2008'.^[63]
• Hatsune Miku won the Grand Prize at the BCN AWARD 2009.^[64]

As reported in 2014 by Crypton Future Media's website 'Sonicwire', Vocaloid2 was able to compete against the sales of Vocaloid3 vocals even as late as 2014, both Crypton themselves and fellow developer PowerFX vocaloids saw sales from both versions despite the improvements made in Vocaloid3.^[65]

References[edit]

1. ^ ^ab'The Making of Vocaloid'. Red Bull Music Academy. Retrieved November 12, 2014.
2. ^'(Vocaloid2情報)今日が最後の夜・・・' [(Vocaloid 2 News) This is the Last Night..] (in Japanese). Crypton Future Media. July 12, 2007. Retrieved May 13, 2012.
3. ^'Interview of Hideki Kenmochi'. DTM magazine (in Japanese). Vol. 15 no. 2 (January Special ed. The Vocaloid CV01 Hatsune Miku). Terajima Joho Kikaku. January 2008. pp. 36–39.
4. ^'Key features of Vocaloid 2'. Yamaha Corporation. Archived from the original on August 28, 2011. Retrieved May 21, 2011.
5. ^Inoue, Satoru (January 14, 2008). 技術フロンティア 肉声に近づいた音声合成(ヤマハ、クリプトン・フューチャー・メディア、アニモ) [Technology Frontier: Singing Synthesizer Gets Closer to a Natural Voice (Yamaha, Crypton Future Media, Animo)]. Nikkei Business (in Japanese) (1424): 78–80. ISSN0029-0491.
6. ^'デジタルコンテンツEXPO：VOCALOIDがiPad／iPhoneアプリに　ヤマハが開発' [Digital Content Expo: Vocaloid Becomes iPad/iPhone Applications. Yamaha Develops Those] (in Japanese). ITmedia. October 14, 2010. Retrieved October 17, 2010.
7. ^'Y2 Autumn 2010 Digital Content Expo 2010' (in Japanese). Digital Content Expo. Archived from the original on October 7, 2010. Retrieved October 17, 2010.
8. ^'iVOCALOID-VY1' (in Japanese). Apple Inc. Retrieved December 13, 2010.
9. ^'iVOCALOID-VY1t' (in Japanese). Apple Inc. Retrieved December 13, 2010.
10. ^ヤマハ株式会社. 'VOCALOID™ / ボーカロイド 公式サイト : 新着情報・特集 : 製品情報 : VOCALOID2ライブラリインポートツール配布のご案内'. VOCALOID™ / ボーカロイド 公式サイト. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
11. ^'Zero-G - Tonio: Male Classical Vocal'. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
12. ^ヤマハ株式会社. '「VOCALOID2 ライブラリインポート」サポート終了のお知らせ'. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
13. ^'Vocaloid 2 - Sweet Ann'. PowerFX. Archived from the original on October 31, 2010. Retrieved July 8, 2010.
14. ^'Countdown begins for the first Vocaloid 2 release: Sweet Ann!'. Vocaloid-User.net. May 22, 2007. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
15. ^'CV01 初音ミク' [CV01 Hatsune Miku] (in Japanese). Crypton Future Media. Retrieved July 8, 2010.
16. ^ ^abOkada, Yuka (23 July 2008). '「初音ミク」発売からもうすぐ1年　開発者が語る、これまでとこれから' [Hatsune Miku's Release 1st Anniversary, soon. The developer (Wat) talked: Until Now, and the Future] (in Japanese). ITmedia.
17. ^ ^abJR (1 June 2011). 'Virtual star to be unleashed on US'. The Independent. The Hatsune Miku software has sold a remarkable 60,000 copies to date, making it a huge hit in a market where sales of 1,000 markets of a synthesizing software is considered a success.
18. ^'CV01A MIKU APPEND' (in Japanese). Crypton Future Media. Retrieved July 8, 2010.
19. ^'CV02 鏡音リン・レン act2' [CV02 Kagamine Rin/Len act2] (in Japanese). Crypton Future Media. Retrieved July 8, 2010.
20. ^ボーカロイド市場、「初音ミク」の対抗馬登場で激化 [Vocaloid Market 'Hatsune Miku' Rivalry Intensifies]. BCN Ranking (in Japanese). BCN Inc. September 1, 2008. Retrieved July 14, 2010.
21. ^'KAGAMINE RIN/LEN act2（音楽ソフトウエア）' [Kagamine Rin/Len act2 (Music Software)] (in Japanese). Crypton Future Media. Retrieved July 8, 2010.
22. ^'[VOCALOID2情報]鏡音リン・レン act2　画像公開!!'. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
23. ^'Vocaloid Prima'. Zero-G. Archived from the original on January 27, 2010. Retrieved July 8, 2010.
24. ^'Prima - virtual vocalist from Zero-G'. Zero-G. Retrieved 24 December 2014. Prima from Zero-G is a virtual vocalist based on a professional soprano singer. .. Whether it’s soaring leads, harmonies or backing vocals Prima can sing any word from the English language (and other languages too with a little work). ..
25. ^Wataru Sasaki [crypton_wat @vocaloid_cv_cfm] (29 August 2014). '音素がカスタマイズされているDBとしてはMAIKAが有名ですね。また、過去の製品では、Primaなど若干カスタマイズがされているものもあります。' [As for a singer DB with customized phonemes, MAIKA is famous. In addition, as the past products, like Prima, there are those which are slightly customized.]. Twitter (in Japanese). Crypton Future Media.
26. ^'[VOCALOID2情報]巡音ルカに関しまして' [[VOCALOID2 Info]Concerning Megurine Luka]. Sonicwire Blog. Crypton Future Media. 3 February 2009. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
27. ^Okada, Yuka (10 February 2009). 英語に苦心　大人なVOCALOID「巡音ルカ」ができるまで (1/2) [Struggling on English. Making of a mature VOCALOID, Megurine Luka (1 of 2)] (in Japanese). ITmedia. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
28. ^'SF-A2 開発コード miki' [SF-A2 Development Code miki] (in Japanese). AH-Software. Retrieved July 1, 2010.
29. ^'ボカロ小学生 歌愛ユキ' [Vocaloid Elementary School Student Kaai Yuki]. AH-Software. Retrieved July 1, 2010.
30. ^'ボカロ先生 氷山キヨテル' [Vocaloid Teacher Hiyama Kiyoteru]. AH-Software. Retrieved July 1, 2010.
31. ^'He is the inside person'. Vocaloid Creativity Community. August 13, 2010. Archived from the original on July 17, 2011. Retrieved October 25, 2010.
32. ^'Tonio from Zero-G is a virtual vocalist based on a professional classical singer'. Zero-G. Retrieved July 14, 2010.
33. ^'Lily Vocaloid' (in Japanese). Internet Co,. Ltd. Retrieved July 8, 2010.
34. ^'インターネット、第3弾のVOCALOID2「Lily」を8月発売－m.o.v.eのヴォーカル、yuriの声をサンプリング' [Internet Co., Ltd.'s Third Vocaloid Lily to be Sold in August - Samples m.o.v.e's Vocalist Yuri's Voice]. AV Watch (in Japanese). Impress Corporation. July 8, 2010. Retrieved July 8, 2010.
35. ^'新型ボーカロイド「VY1」公開です!' [New Model Vocaloid 'VY1' Presentation!] (in Japanese). Bplats. August 13, 2010. Archived from the original on July 17, 2011. Retrieved August 13, 2010.
36. ^'VY1' (in Japanese). Yamaha Corporation. Archived from the original on August 16, 2010. Retrieved August 6, 2010.
37. ^'キャラクターなしのVOCALOID「VY1」　初のヤマハ製、9月発売'. ITmedia ニュース. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
38. ^'新ボーカロイドVY1特典コンピCD【feat.VY1】'. Archived from the original on 16 August 2010. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
39. ^'Gachapin Mascot Gets Vocaloid2 Voice Synthesis Pack'. Anime News Network. August 27, 2010. Retrieved August 28, 2010.
40. ^「ガチャッポイド」のサイトに「キャラクター名：リュウト」と掲載な件 ['Character Name: Ryūto' Appears on 'Gachapoid' Site]. Hatsune Miku Miku (in Japanese). March 10, 2011. Retrieved April 30, 2011.
41. ^Vocaloid (@vocaloid_yamaha) (August 12, 2010). '本日からビックサイトで開催されるコミケのサンリオさん企業ブースにて新しいVOCALOID（VY1ではないです）の告知があるようです。' [On the Comiket held at Big Site from today, at Sanrio's corporate booth, there seems to be announced about new Vocaloid (not VY1).]. Twitter (in Japanese). Yamaha Corporation. Retrieved August 16, 2010.
42. ^Ogata, Tomohide (@tomo_ahs) (August 13, 2010). 'いろいろと情報が錯綜してすいません。本日から3日間弊社とサンリオさんとで制作中のボーカロイドの一部をコミケ会場で流させていただきました。キャラクターなどその他はまだ出せる段階ではありませんので、もうしばらくお待ちいただければと思います。' [Sorry for intricacy of various information. From today during three days, a part of Vocaloid in production by AH-Software and Sanrio, have been replayed on the Comiket venue. Although Vocaloid character and others are not in the publish stage, I'm glad if you could wait for a little.]. Twitter (in Japanese). AH-Software. Retrieved August 16, 2010.
43. ^'VOCALOID2 猫村いろは' [Vocaloid 2 Nekomura Iroha] (in Japanese). AH-Software. Retrieved September 16, 2010.
44. ^'New Vocaloid Utatane Piko Announced!'. Vocaloidism. October 29, 2010. Archived from the original on November 1, 2010. Retrieved October 29, 2010.
45. ^Okada, Yuka (August 13, 2010). 'キャラクターなしのVOCALOID「VY1」　初のヤマハ製、9月発売' ['VY1', a Vocaloid With No Character, First Yamaha-Made, Sold in September] (in Japanese). ITmedia. Retrieved September 5, 2010.
46. ^'Archived copy' VYシリーズ, お知らせ [VY Series Notification]. ボーカロイドストアブログ [Vocaloid Store Blog] (in Japanese). Bplats. December 24, 2010. Archived from the original on January 18, 2011. Retrieved January 18, 2011.CS1 maint: Archived copy as title (link)
47. ^'コードネームは「勇馬」　ヤマハ純正のイケメンボカロ「VY2」の話を聞いてきた'. ITmedia ニュース. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
48. ^Wataru Sasaki [crypton_wat @vocaloid_cv_cfm] (1 December 2011). 'おお、答えれていなかった質問が幾つかありました。現状、betaとして出ている音源については全てVOCALOID2を使用したものでして、原則、VOCALOID3に適合させた上で改めて音声化し、デモソング等としてリリースさせて頂きたいと思います m(_ _)m' [Oh, several questions have been left unanswered. Status quo, all sound sources released as beta are made with VOCALOID2, and in principle, these should be adopted to VOCALOID3, then rendered using it, and finally we will release these as demo songs. m(_ _)m]. Twitter (in Japanese). Crypton Future Media.^{[failed verification]}
49. ^'crypton_wat'. Twitter. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
50. ^'「メグッポイドextend」の収録が行われたらしい件' [The recording of 'Megpoid Extend' seems to had been done.]. Hatsune Miku Miku (in Japanese). 20 January 2011.^{[failed verification]}
51. ^Walden, John. 'Vocaloid Leon & Lola'. Sound on Sound (March 2004). Retrieved March 26, 2011.
52. ^Walden, John. 'PowerFX Vocaloid 2 Sweet Ann'. Sound on Sound (January 2008). Retrieved March 26, 2011.
53. ^Wilkinson, Scott (August 1, 2003). 'Humanoid or Vocaloid?'. Electronic Musician. Archived from the original on 10 July 2004. Retrieved December 24, 2011.
54. ^Flint, Tom. 'Zero-G Tonio: Male Classical Vocal'. Sound on Sound (December 2010). Retrieved January 31, 2012.
55. ^Walden, John. 'Sonika'. Sound on Sound (March 2011). Retrieved January 31, 2012.
56. ^'Interview: Bil Bryant (Production and CEO of PowerFX)'. Engloids (powered by WordPress). January 4, 2010. Retrieved December 5, 2014.
57. ^'[お知らせ] 初音ミク『話題 of the Year 2007』趣味・エンタメ部門ノミネート!' [[Notice] Hatsune Miku nominated on: All About The Topic of the Year 2007, Hobby & Entertainment division]. Sonicwire Blog. Crypton Future Media. 2007-11-26. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
58. ^'[お知らせ]All About 話題 of the Year 2007　部門賞受賞' [[Notice] All About The Topic of the Year 2007 Award Winning]. Sonicwire Blog. Crypton Future Media. 25 December 2007. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
59. ^'BCN AWARD 2008受賞／2007年の売上げトップ10など' [BCN AWARD 2008 Winning / Sales Top 10 in 2007, etc.]. Sonicwire Blog. Crypton Future Media. 29 January 2008. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
60. ^'[お知らせ]　「初音ミク」第13回AMDアワード優秀賞受賞！' [[Notice]Hatsune Miku, 13th AMD Award excellence award winning]. Sonicwire Blog. Crypton Future Media. 5 March 2008. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
61. ^'MM総研大賞2008 話題賞 『初音ミク』が受賞' [MM Research Institute Award 2008 topic Award won by 'Hatsune Miku']. Sonicwire Blog. Crypton Future Media. 17 June 2008. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
62. ^'第39回星雲賞 自由部門『初音ミク』が受賞！' [39th Seiun Award free division won by Hatsune Miku]. Sonicwire Blog. Crypton Future Media. 25 August 2008. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
63. ^'2008年度 グッドデザイン賞 『初音ミク』が受賞！' [Good Design Award 2008 won by Hatsune Miku]. Sonicwire Blog. Crypton Future Media. 8 October 2008. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
64. ^'[お知らせ] BCN AWARD 2009 サウンド関連ソフト部門 最優秀賞受賞' [[Notice] BCN AWARD 2009 Sound-related Software division Best Award Winning]. Sonicwire Blog. Crypton Future Media. 9 January 2009. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
65. ^'SONICWIRE 2014年セールスランキング！～ボーカロイド編～'. Retrieved 27 April 2016.

Vocaloid (ボーカロイドBōkaroido) is a singing voice synthesizer software. Its signal processing part was developed through a joint research project led by Kenmochi Hideki at the Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, Spain in 2000 and was not originally intended to be a full commercial project.^[1] Backed by the Yamaha Corporation, it developed the software into the commercial product 'Vocaloid'.^[2][3]

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.

Various voice banks have been released for use with the Vocaloid synthesizer technology.^[4] Each is sold as 'a singer in a box' designed to act as a replacement for an actual singer.^[1] As such, they are released under a moe anthropomorphism. These avatars are also referred to as Vocaloids, and are often marketed as virtual idols; some have gone on to perform at live concerts as an on-stage projection.^[5]

The software was originally only available in English starting with the first Vocaloids Leon, Lola and Miriam by Zero-G, and Japanese with Meiko and Kaito made by Yamaha and sold by Crypton Future Media. Vocaloid 3 has added support for Spanish for the Vocaloids Bruno, Clara and Maika; Chinese for Luo Tianyi and Xin Hua; Korean for SeeU.

The software is intended for professional musicians as well as light computer music users.^[6] Japanese musical groups such as Livetune of Toy's Factory 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.^[7][8] Artists such as Mike Oldfield have also used Vocaloids within their work for back up singer vocals and sound samples.^[9][10]

• 1Technology
  • 1.1System architecture
• 2Software history
• 3Derivative products
• 4Marketing
• 5Cultural impact
• 6Legal implications

Technology[edit]

• Spectral Modeling Synthesis (SMS)

Vocaloid's singing synthesis [ja] technology is generally categorized into the concatenative synthesis^[12][13] in the frequency domain, which splices and processes the vocal fragments extracted from human singing voices, in the forms of time-frequency representation. The Vocaloid system can produce the realistic voices by adding vocal expressions like the vibrato on the score information.^[14] Initially, Vocaloid's synthesis technology was 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) on the release of Vocaloid in 2004,^[15] although this name is no longer used since the release of Vocaloid 2 in 2007.^[16] '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,^[17] though software such as Vocaloid-flex and Voiceroid have been developed for that. They cannot naturally replicate singing expressions like hoarse voices or shouts.^[18]

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. 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 three languages, Japanese, Korean, 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 a Virtual Studio Technology instrument (VSTi) accessible from a digital audio workstation (DAW).

Score Editor[edit]

The Score Editor is a piano roll style editor to input notes, lyrics, and some expressions. When entering lyrics, the editor automatically converts them into Vocaloid phonetic symbols using the built-in pronunciation dictionary.^[3] The user can directly edit the phonetic symbols of unregistered words.^[13] 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.^[12] 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.The database must have all possible combinations of phonemes of the target language, 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.^[17] 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.^[19][20] Japanese requires 500 diphones per pitch, whereas English requires 2,500.^[17] 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 eloquent English.^{[citation needed]}

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] 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.^[13]

Timing adjustment

In singing voices, the consonant onset of a syllable is uttered before the vowel onset is uttered. The starting position of a note ('Note-On') must be the same as that of the vowel onset, not the start of the syllable. Vocaloid keeps the 'synthesized score' in memory to adjust sample timing so that the vowel onset should be strictly on the 'Note-On' position.^[13] 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.^[13]

Timbre manipulation

The engine smooths the timbre around the junction of the samples. The timbre of a sustained vowel is generated by interpolating spectral envelopes of the surrounding samples. 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]

Vocaloid[edit]

Yamaha started development of Vocaloid in March 2000^[17] and announced it for the first time at the German fair Musikmesse on March 5–9, 2003.^[21] It was created under the name 'Daisy', in reference to the song 'Daisy Bell', but for copyright reasons this name was dropped in favor of 'Vocaloid'.^[22]

Vocaloid 2[edit]

Vocaloid 2 was announced in 2007. Unlike the first engine, Vocaloid 2 based its results on vocal samples, rather than analysis of the human voice.^[23] The synthesis engine and the user interface were completely revamped, with Japanese Vocaloids possessing a Japanese interface.^[12]

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.^[24]

Vocaloid 4[edit]

In October 2014, the first product confirmed for the Vocaloid 4 engine was the English vocal Ruby, whose release was delayed so she could be released on the newer engine. Soon afterwards, Wat of Crypton Future Media reacted to the news in regards to the upcoming 'new Luka vocal'. In 2015, several V4 versions of Vocaloids were released.^[25] The Vocaloid 4 engine was then announced soon afterwards.

Vocaloid 5[edit]

Vocaloid 5 was released on July 12, 2018,^[26] with an overhauled user interface and substantial engine improvements. The product is only available as a bundle; the standard version includes four voices and the premium version includes eight.^[27]

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.^[28] 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.^[29] This software was also used for the robot model HRP-4C at CEATEC Japan 2009.^[30] Gachapoid has access to this engine and it is used through the software V-Talk.^[31]

VocaListener

Another Vocaloid tool that was developed was VocaListener, a software package that allows for realistic Vocaloid songs to be produced by analyzing an audio recording of a singing performance (acapella) and imitating it to generate Vocaloid singing parameters automatically.^[32]

MikuMikuDance

To aid in the production of 3D Vocaloid animations, the program MikuMikuDance was developed. This freeware allowed a boom in the birth of fan-made and derivative characters, as well as a boost in the promotions of Vocaloid songs.^[33] MikuMikuDance's developer went on a hiatus in May 2011 (initially announced as a retirement from development),^[34] but started updating the software again in June 2013.

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.^[35] 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,^[36] and the Alpha version was released on December 25, 2010.^[37] 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.^[38]

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.^[39]

VocaloWitter

Originally introduced as 'i-Vocaloid', this is a mobile app version of the Vocaloid software with Vocaloid2 technology and was released for the iPhone. Yamaha announced a version of the Vocaloid software for the iPhone and iPad, which exhibited at the Y2 Autumn 2010 Digital Content Expo in Japan.^[40][41]

VocaloWitter products

• VY1, a Japanese feminine vocal. This was first announced in December 2010, VY1 was released in an adapted version of the Vocaloid software 'iVOCALOID' for the iPad and iPhone as 'VY1t'.^[42]
• VY2, a Japanese masculine vocal, was due for release. VY2's version would have adjusted the VY1 version for compatibility and performance reasons. However, it has never been released.^[43]
• Aoki Lapis was added to this software in December 2012. This is a Japanese female vocal.^[44] This particular version of the VocaloWitter app took first place out of all paid-for apps on the iTunes store on 11 September 2013.^[45]

iVocaloid

This was a more advanced version of the VocaloWitter app and was for the iPhone and iPad, it was based on the Vocaloid2 and Vocaloid3 engine. It was originally released alongside the iOS version of Vocaloid called 'i-Vocaloid' (later renamed VocaloWitter) and was released using a version of the Vocaloid 2 software. It contains many of the same functions as Vocaloid 2 software although some functions are absent. It was released at a much lower price then the full Vocaloid 2 software, offering a cheap alternative to buying the PC version. However, it is only available in Japanese and requires a Japanese chip to install. In August 2014, it was upgraded, enabling users to download the update. The update allowed access to the Vocaloid Net Cloud storage service. For the first time, users could exchange VSQX files with Vocaloid 3 or the Vocaloid 3 Neo version. Using Vocaloid Net gave users free access to a standard song writing service for the first time.^[46]

iVocaloid products

• VY1; A feminine vocal released for the software. This was the first vocal sold.^[47]
• VY2; In October 2011, VY2 was made available, this is a masculine vocal.^[48]
• Aoki Lapis; Lapis was added in November 2012, she is a female vocal.^[49]
• Merli; Merli was added August 2014, she is a female vocal.^[50]

Unity with Vocaloid

Originally introduced under the name 'Vocaloid for Unity', this is a version of the Vocaloid engine for the Unity game engine.

Mobile Vocaloid Editor

Mobile Vocaloid Editor is a iPad and iPhone version of the Vocaloid 4 engine. It comes with VY1 'Lite' as standard and demo songs are bundled with the app. The app offers 'DYN', 'PIT' and 'VIB' and handles 16 tracks of data. It can do 999 bars of music, but, in comparison to the full Vocaloid 4 editor, cannot do 'growl' or 'cross-synthesis'.^[51][52] The input entries of the app differ from the normal Vocaloid 4 method of importing data. Most functions can be used with one or two fingers and it is possible to draw parameter lines with a single finger. Compared also to iVocaloid, it can achieve the full C2~G8 range of notes. Despite the inclusion of English vocals, it currently has no English interface and is sold only in Japan.

Mobile Vocaloid Editor products

The following products are able to be purchased;

• VY1;The full version of the Japanese feminine VY1 vocal.
• ZOLA Project; Yuu, Wil and Kyo are 3 male vocals, each are sold separately.
• Aoki Lapis; Japanese female vocal.
• Merli: Japanese female vocal.
• Mew: Japanese female vocal.
• Galaco: Japanese female vocal, she comes with two versions 'red' and 'blue' both are sold separately.
• Cyber Diva: English female vocal.
• Yuzuki Yukari:^[53] Japanese female vocal, has 3 versions 'Jun', 'Onn' and 'Lin' which are each sold separately.
• Sachiko: Japanese female vocal.
• Megpoid:^[54] Female vocal, has two vocals 'Native' which is a Japanese vocal and 'English' both are sold separately.
• Unity-Chan: Japanese female vocal.^[55]

Hardware[edit]

Vocaloid-Board

Vocaloid is set to become a hardware version called Vocaloid-Board.^[56]

eVocaloid

This is a LSI sound generator that uses the voice of 'VY1' (version dubbed 'eVY1') and can be used for mobile devices and unlike the software version of Vocaloid, works in real-time computing.^[57] One such device confirmed to contain an eVocaloid chip is the Pocket Miku device.^[58]

Vocaloid Keyboard

This is a keytar which has Vocaloid voices loaded into it.

Anizon VOCALOOP

Vocaloid 4 Cyber Diva Download

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 'CV-4Cβ'—as part of promotions for both Yamaha and AIST at CEATEC in 2009.^[59][60] The prototype voice CV-4Cβ was created by sampling a Japanese voice actress, Eriko Nakamura.^[61]

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 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-of-charge contents.^[62][63]

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.^[64] Their car was painted in official Hatsune Miku art in 2008 season, but started using fan-derivative versions of Hatsune Miku in some races since the 2009 season.^[65][66] 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.^[67][68]
• 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.^[69] 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.^[70] TinierMe Gacha also made attire that looks like Miku for their services, allowing users to make their avatar resemble the Crypton Vocaloids.^[71][72]

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.^[73] A manga was produced for Lily by Kei, who also drew the mascot.^[74][75] An anime music video titled 'Schwarzgazer', which shows the world where Lily is,^[76] 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 in Weekly Young Jump on September 2, 2010.^[77] Hatsune Miku appeared in Weekly Playboy magazine.^[78] However, Crypton Future Media confirmed they will not be producing an anime 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.^[79]

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 Nendoroid figures 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.^[80][81] 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.^[82]

With regard 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.^[83][84] There was also talk from PowerFX of redoing their Sweet Ann box art and a competition would be included as part of the redesign.^[85] The Vocaloid Lily also had a competition held during her trial period.^[86] 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.^[87]

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.^[88] 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.^[89]

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.^[90][91] The very first live concert related to Vocaloid was held in 2004 with the Vocaloid Miriam in Russia.^[92]

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.^[85] 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.^[93] 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 Hello Kitty game and AH Software's new Vocaloid.^[94] 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.^[95] 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.^[96][97] At the 'MikuFes '09 (Summer)' event on August 31, 2009, her image was screened by rear projection on a mostly-transparent screen.^[98] Miku also performed her first overseas live concert on November 21, 2009, during Anime Festival Asia (AFA) in Singapore.^[99][100] 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.^[101][102] The tour was run as part of promotions for Sega's Hatsune Miku: Project Diva video game in March 2010.^[103] 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.^[104][105] 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.^[106] Hiroyuki Ito, and planner/producer, Wataru Sasaki, who were responsible for Miku's creation, attended an event on October 8, 2010 at the festival.^[107][108] Videos of her performance are due to be released worldwide.^[109] 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.^[110]

The next live concert was set for Tokyo on March 9, 2011.^[111] Other events included the Vocarock Festival 2011 on January 11, 2011 and the Vocaloid Festa which was held on February 12, 2011.^{[112][113][114]} 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.^[115] 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.^[116] Another concert was held in Sapporo on August 16 and 17, 2011. Hatsune Miku also had a concert in Singapore on November 11, 2011. Since then, there have been multiple concerts every year featuring Miku in various concert series, such as Magical Mirai, and Miku Expo.

Cultural impact[edit]

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.^[117] Japanese video sharing websiteNiconico 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), which resembles a leek, and sang the Finnish song 'Ievan Polkka' like the flash animation 'Loituma Girl', on Nico Nico Douga.^[118] 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.^[119] 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.^[120] 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.^[121][122] Another theater production based on 'Cantarella', a song sung by Kaito and produced by Kurousa-P, was also set to hit the stage and will run Shibuya's Space Zero theater in Tokyo from August 3 to August 7, 2011.^[123] 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.^[124]

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.^[125][126] 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 Venusspace probeAkatsuki.^[127] 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).^[128] 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.^[129] On May 21, 2010 at 06:58:22 (JST), Akatsuki was launched on the rocket H-IIA 202 Flight 17 from the Japanese spaceportTanegashima Space Center, having three plates depicting Hatsune Miku.^[130][131]

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',^[132] 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.^[133] 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.^[134][135]

A cafe for one day only was opened in Tokyo based on Hatsune Miku on August 31, 2010.^[136] A second event was arranged for all Japanese Vocaloids.^[137] 'Snow Miku' was also featured on an event as a part of the 62nd Sapporo Snow Festival in February 2011.^[138] A Vocaloid-themed TV show on the Japanese Vocaloids called Vocalo Revolution began airing on Kyoto Broadcasting System on January 3, 2011.^[139][140] 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'.^[141] 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.^[142][143] Piapro also held a competition with famous fashion brands with the winners seeing their Lolita-based designs reproduced for sale by the company Putumayo.^[144] A radio station set up a 1-hour program containing nothing but Vocaloid-based music.^[145]

The Vocaloid software had a great influence on the development of the freeware Utau.^[146] Several products were produced for the Macne series (Mac音シリーズ) for intended use for the programs Reason 4 and GarageBand. These products were sold by Act2 and by converting their file format, were able to also work with the Utau program.^[147] 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.^[148] 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.^[149] 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.^[150] 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.^[151]

In 2012, Vocaloid was quoted as one of the contributors to a 10% increase in cosplay related services.^[152] In 2013, the Vocaloid 3 software Oliver was used as the voice of Cartoon Hangover character Puppycat from their web series Bee and Puppycat.^[153][154]

Music[edit]

Vocaloid 4 Cyber Diva Download Free

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.^[155] Miriam has also been featured in two albums, Light + Shade^[10] and Continua.^[156] Japanese progressive-electronic artist Susumu Hirasawa used the Lola Vocaloid in the original soundtrack of Paprika by Satoshi Kon.^[157][158] 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 Love by Muzehack and Lola in Operator's Manual by anaROBIK; both were featured in these albums six years after they were released.^[159] 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.^[160]

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.^[161] 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.^[162] Another album, Supercell, by the group Supercell^[163] 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.^[164] Other albums, such as 19's Sound Factory's First Sound Story^[165] and Livetune's Re:Repackage, and Re:Mikus^[166][167] 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'.^[168] The compilation album Vocarock Collection 2 feat. Hatsune Miku was released by Farm Records on December 15, 2010,^[169] and was later featured on the Cool Japan Music iPhone app in February 2011.^[170] 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.^[171][172] 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.^[173] 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.^[174] The winning song 'Episode 0' and runner up song 'Paranoid Doll' were later released by Gackt on July 13, 2011.^[175] 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.^[176]

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 singing Christmas songs.^[177] 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 in Sound 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'.^[178][179] 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.^[180] 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.^[181] A number of Vocaloid related music, including songs starring Hatsune Miku, were featured in the arcade game Music Gun Gun! 2.^[182] 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.^[183]

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.^[184]Porter Robinson used the Vocaloid Avanna for his studio album Worlds.

Yamaha utilized Vocaloid technology to mimic the voice of deceased rock musician hide, who died in 1998, to complete and release his song 'Co Gal' in 2014. The musician's actual voice, breathing sounds and other cues were extracted from previously released songs and a demo and combined with the synthesized voice.^[185] Kenji Arakawa, a spokesman for Yamaha, said he believes this to be the first time a work by a deceased artist is commercially available and includes the dead person singing lyrics completed after their death.^[186]

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.^[187][188]

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.^[189] Similar concerns are expressed throughout the other studios using Vocaloid, with Zero-G refusing to release the names of several of their providers.^[190] PowerFX only hinted at Sweet Ann's voice provider, and Oliver's voice provider is still unknown. AH Software named the voice providers for Miki, Kiyoteru, Yukari, Zunko and Iroha, but for legal reasons cannot name Kaai Yuki's voice provider as a minor was 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 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 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.^[191]

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 collectiveJapanese Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers (JASRAC).^[192] 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.^[193] In January 2011, Japanese boyband KAT-TUN 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.^{[194][195][196]} However, AVTechNO also released a statement explaining that the members of the band were not to blame for this incident.^[197]

Controversial issues[edit]

The portrayals of Vocaloids can at times touch controversial issues. Vocaloids portrayed as young children risk becoming subject to sexual or pedophilic portrayals.^[198]

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.^[199]

Yamaha has had input in the art style of new Vocaloids. For example, the illustrations for Vocaloid AVANNA were changed to a more 'anime-esque' style at Yamaha's request. Avanna's illustrator, AkiGlancy, theorised that this was in response to backlash against the first two Spanish Vocaloid packages Bruno and Clara, which was met with outcry from Vocaloid fans over the artwork style.^[200]

Reception[edit]

Despite the success of the software in Japan, overseas customers have been largely reluctant to embrace it. When interviewed by the Vocaloid producing company Zero-G, music producer Robert Hedin described how the software offered 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.^[201] Giuseppe, who had produced demo songs for both Zero-G and PowerFX Vocaloids, and is aided 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 regarding 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.^[202]

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. With regard 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.^[189] 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.^[203][204] 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.^[205] 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.^[206]

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.^[207] 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.^[208]

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.^[209]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'.^[210]Clash magazine labeled Hatsune Miku and the Vocaloid software as the future of music.^[211]

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.^[212] In 2013, it was estimated that about 30% of all videos updated each month on Niconico were Vocaloid related.^[213]

Despite its growing popularity as a franchise, by December 2015, Vocaloid was still struggling to make an impact in the west; Hatsune Miku also did not make as much of an impact. Concerns were mostly focused on Vocaloid itself at this point. It was also reported that more Japanese companies were growing protective of their properties, with Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA X, which was released at the time, being the center of one such conflict of copyright interest. The market for such games was described as a 'niche audience in the west'.^[214]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

1. ^ ^ab'Hatsune Miku and the Vocaloid Idol Revolution'. Nerdist. Retrieved April 8, 2018.
2. ^ ^abWerde, Bill (November 23, 2003). 'MUSIC; Could I Get That Song in Elvis, Please?'. The New York Times. Retrieved October 23, 2010.
3. ^ ^abcdefghiKenmochi, Ohshima & , Interspeech 2007
4. ^'Voice Bank product list'. Yamaha Corporation. Retrieved April 8, 2018.
5. ^'Who (or What) is Hatsune Miku? The Making of a Virtual Pop Star'. The Shutterstock Blog. Retrieved April 8, 2018.
6. ^Wilkinson, Scott. 'Humanoid or Vocaloid'. Electronic Musician (August 1, 2003). Archived from the original on July 10, 2004. Retrieved July 1, 2010.
7. ^'初音ミクなどの人気曲だけを集めた高音質コンピCDが登場！' [A High Sound Quality Compilation CD, Collecting Only Popular Songs such as Hatsune Miku's, Appears!]. Dengeki Online (in Japanese). ASCII Media Works. June 12, 2009. Retrieved January 22, 2011.
8. ^'初音ミクCD、週間ランキングでも初のオリコン1位に' [Hatsune Miku CD Scores the First Oricon Number-One on the Weekly Ranking] (in Japanese). ITmedia Inc. May 25, 2010. Retrieved January 22, 2011.
9. ^'Vocaloid Miriam'. Zero-G. Retrieved July 8, 2010.
10. ^ ^abMike Oldfield (2005). Light & Shade (2 Audio CD, full album). Mercury Records. Retrieved 4 December 2014. (See also: release list at Discogs)
11. ^Kenmochi & Fujimoto 2014 On the later version of Vocaloid engine, the unvoiced block of EpR model were merged to the voiced blocks, to equalize the inter-phonemes difference of sound quality.
12. ^ ^abcDTM magazine & , January 2008 Special ed., p. 39
13. ^ ^abcdeKenmochi, Ohshima & , SIGMUS 2008
14. ^'VOCALOIDについて' [Concerning Vocaloid] (in Japanese). Yamaha Corporation. Archived from the original on 2011-08-26. Retrieved January 9, 2011. VOCALOID歌唱合成の流れ.. さらに楽譜情報に歌声に必要な表情情報（ビブラートなど）を入れることにより、よりリアルな歌声を作ることができます。
15. ^歌詞とメロディを入力すると歌い出す ヤマハが歌声合成ソフト開発 [Input Lyrics and Melody and Singing is Produced: Yamaha Develops Singing Synthesis Software] (in Japanese). ITmedia Inc. February 26, 2003. Retrieved January 9, 2011.
16. ^'Vocaloid' (in Japanese). Yamaha Corporation. Retrieved January 9, 2011.
17. ^ ^abcdKenmochi & , DCAJ 2008, pp. 33–50, 第III章 歌唱合成システムVOCALOIDと初音ミク [Part 3. Singing Synthesis System VOCALOID and Hatsune MIKU]
18. ^Kenmochi & , HIS 2008
19. ^クリプトン社佐々木氏インタビュー [Interview to Wataru Sasaki (Wat) of Crypton]. DTM magazine (in Japanese). Vol. 17 no. 2. Terajima Joho Kikaku. February 2010. p. 106. ASINB002ZHYKL6.
20. ^Inoue, Satoru (January 14, 2008). 技術フロンティア 肉声に近づいた音声合成(ヤマハ、クリプトン・フューチャー・メディア、アニモ) [Technology Frontier: Singing Synthesizer Gets Closer to a Natural Voice (Yamaha, Crypton Future Media, Animo)]. Nikkei Business (in Japanese) (1424): 78–80. ISSN0029-0491.
21. ^'New Yamaha VOCALOID Singing Synthesis Software Generates Superb Vocals on a PC'. Business Wire. AllBusiness.com. March 4, 2003. Retrieved October 25, 2010.
22. ^'初音ミク 6th Anniversaryニコ生で「初音ミク誕生までと、これから」特集' [Hatsune Miku 6th Anniversary Nico Nama (live streaming) featured: Hatsune Miku before the birth and from now]. Hatsune Miku Miku (in Japanese). September 4, 2013. Retrieved July 26, 2014.
23. ^Red Bull Music Academy 2014
24. ^'VOCALOID3: Release Date, New Features and Voicebanks'. Vocaloidism. June 14, 2011. Retrieved June 14, 2011.^{[permanent dead link]}
25. ^Wataru Sasaki [crypton_wat / @vocaloid_cv_cfm] (October 28, 2014). やっと、新型ルカの名前が決まった..新機能の名前も..公開まで、もう少々お待ち下さい。 [Finally, it was decided the title of new Luka .. and also the name of new feature .. please wait a little until publication]. Twitter (in Japanese). Crypton Future Media. Retrieved November 1, 2014.
26. ^'Yamaha releases Vocaloid 5 - Drag and drop to create a singing voice, set any lyrics and singing style you like'. KVR Audio. July 12, 2018.
27. ^'VOCALOID 5 Confirmed! 4 New Banks and 4 Upgrades From YAMAHA!'. Vocaloid News Network. Retrieved July 12, 2018.
28. ^'ヤマハが歌声合成ソフトVOCALOID（ヴォーカロイド）の新バージョン 表現豊かにしゃべる機能を付加したVOCALOID-flexの提供を開始' [The Start of the New Version of Yamaha's Singing Synthesizer Vocaloid Presents an Additional Rich Speaking Function called Vocaloid-flex] (in Japanese). Yamaha Corporation. February 25, 2010. Archived from the original on June 3, 2015. Retrieved July 27, 2010.
29. ^'ヤマハ、'しゃべる'機能を追加した「VOCALOID-flex」を開発' [Yamaha's Added 'Speaking' Function 'Vocaloid-flex's Development]. Internet Watch (in Japanese). Impress Corporation. February 25, 2010. Retrieved July 27, 2010.
30. ^Matsuo, Kōya (October 6, 2010). 'CEATEC JAPAN 2010：美少女ロボ「HRP-4C未夢」と「ぼかりす」を結ぶ産総研内コラボ「ぼかうお」とは？' [CEATEC Japan 2010: What is the AIST (National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology)'s internal collaboration 'VocaWatcher' (BokaUo), which combines the beautiful girl robot 'HRP-4C Mīmu' with 'VocaListener'?] (in Japanese). ITmedia Inc. Retrieved October 24, 2010.
31. ^'V-Talkサービス' [V-Talk Service] (in Japanese). Internet Co., Ltd. Retrieved April 29, 2011.
32. ^VocaListener 2009
33. ^MikuMikuDance 2008
34. ^'MikuMikuDance v7.39 is the final release'. Vocaloidism. May 29, 2011. Archived from the original on March 18, 2012. Retrieved May 29, 2011.
35. ^'NetVocaloid'. Yamaha Corporation. Archived from the original on 2009-06-15. Retrieved October 7, 2010.
36. ^Matsuo, Kōya (October 7, 2010). '初音ミクとも簡単に対話できる「MMDAgent」、その詳細を聞いてきた' [I Heard about The Details of 'MMDAgent', Which Allows You to Easily Talk with Hatsune Miku Too] (in Japanese). ITmedia Inc. Retrieved October 15, 2010.
37. ^'MMDAgent - Toolkit for Building Voice Interaction Systems'. MMDAgent. Retrieved January 21, 2011.
38. ^'MMDAgent - Talk to any 3D model you want interactively!'. Vocaloidism. September 25, 2010. Retrieved October 6, 2010.
39. ^'Vocaloid Editor for Cubase' (in Japanese). Yamaha Corporation. Retrieved September 5, 2012.
40. ^'デジタルコンテンツEXPO：VOCALOIDがiPad／iPhoneアプリに　ヤマハが開発'. ITmedia ニュース. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
41. ^'Link 2'. Archived from the original on 2010-10-07. Retrieved 2010-10-17.
42. ^'VocaloWitter'. App Store. Yamaha Corporation. 1 December 2010. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
43. ^'コードネームは「勇馬」　ヤマハ純正のイケメンボカロ「VY2」の話を聞いてきた'. ITmedia ニュース. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
44. ^'i-style Project'. VOCALOID3 i-style Project. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
45. ^'初音ミクみく'. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
46. ^'クラウドでボカロをより便利に　ヤマハが「ボカロネット」発表、歌詞入力だけでOKの自動作曲機能も'. ねとらぼ. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
47. ^'iVOCALOID-VY1'. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
48. ^ヤマハ株式会社. 'VOCALOID'. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
49. ^'iVOCALOID 蒼姫ラピス'. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
50. ^'iVOCALOID メルリ'. App Store. Yamaha Corporation. 8 April 2014. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
51. ^株式会社インプレス. 'iPad/iPhoneで本格ボカロ制作できる「Mobile VOCALOID Editor」。PC版とほぼ同等'. AV Watch. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
52. ^'iOS版VOCALOIDが刷新、ボカロ曲制作はiOSで完結可能に！'. 藤本健の'DTMステーション'. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
53. ^ヤマハ株式会社. 'クリエイター集団「VOCALOMAKETS」発信のバーチャル・シンガー「結月ゆかり」特集'. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
54. ^ヤマハ株式会社. '「Mobile VOCALOID Editor」にMegpoid登場！'. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
55. ^ヤマハ株式会社. 'iPhone/iPadでunity-chan!を歌わせよう！'. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
56. ^'歌声合成ソフト「VOCALOID」と同等な機能を持つ、各種機器に組み込み可能なハードウェア『VOCALOID-board』を開発' [The development of a 'Vocaloid-Board', an embeddable hardware version of Vocaloid singing synthesis software, including Equivalent Functionality and the Every Kind of Tool.] (in Japanese). Yamaha Corporation. Archived from the original on May 5, 2016. Retrieved October 21, 2010.
57. ^'出た！「eVocaloid」対応のヤマハ音源LSI 『NSX-1』が量産出荷開始' [It's out! 'eVocaloid' compatible Yamaha's sound LSI 'NSX-1' have been started the mass production & shipping.]. Hatsune Miku Miku (in Japanese). October 23, 2013. Retrieved October 24, 2013.
58. ^【お知らせ】4月3日に『歌うキーボード　ポケット・ミク』が発売決定！全国の書店で買えちゃうよ [[Notice] 'Singing keyboard Pocket Miku' have been determined to be released in upcoming April 3! It can be bought on the book shops across Japan.] (in Japanese). Crypton Future Media. February 18, 2014. Retrieved February 28, 2014.
59. ^'Diginfoビデオレポート：歌声合成ソフト「VOCALOID」を使った 歌を歌うロボット' [Diginfo Video Report: The Singing Robot Which Uses the Singing Synthesis Soft 'Vocaloid'] (in Japanese). Japan Corporate News Network. October 18, 2009. Retrieved July 24, 2010.
60. ^'新VOCALOID「CV-4Cβ」、CEATECで歌う　声は中村繪里子さん' [The New Vocaloid 'CV-4Cβ' Sings at CEATEC. The Vocal Comes from Eriko Nakamura] (in Japanese). ITmedia Inc. October 8, 2009. Retrieved July 24, 2010.
61. ^Matsuo, Kōya (October 9, 2009). 'CEATEC JAPAN 2009：ミク、めぐぽ、春香――3つの歌声を持つヒューマノイドに会ってきた' [CEATEC Japan 2009: I Met a Humanoid Which Has Three Singing Voicals—Miku, Megupo And Haruka] (in Japanese). ITmedia Inc. Retrieved October 24, 2010.
62. ^'Amazon MP3、日本版スタート　DRMフリーで音楽配信' [Japanese Version of Amazon MP3 Starts. Music Downloads with DRM-Free] (in Japanese). ITmedia Inc. November 9, 2010. Retrieved November 15, 2010.
63. ^'AmazonがMP3ダウンロードサービス開始！　しかもDRMフリーで0円の曲まで' [Amazon Begins the Service of MP3 Downloads! Furthermore, There Are 0 Yen Songs with DRM-Free]. Gadget Tsushin (in Japanese). Livedoor. November 9, 2010. Retrieved November 15, 2010.
64. ^''4代目'ミク号はZ4 GT3!　谷口＆右京SDが新加入' ['4th' Car of Hatsune Miku Is Z4 GT3! Taniguchi and Ukyō SD Newly Join the Team]. Autosport (in Japanese). February 6, 2011. Retrieved February 7, 2011.
65. ^'The Rumored No. 808 Hatsune Miku Studie Glad BMW Z4 Latest News' (in Japanese). Super GT.net. August 18, 2008. Archived from the original on August 23, 2008. Retrieved August 21, 2008.
66. ^'Itasha storm in Super GT. Report of Final Race at Mt. Fuji (Page 3)' (in Japanese). ASCII. November 11, 2008. Retrieved November 16, 2008.
67. ^'Itasha storm in Super GT. Report of Final Race at Mt. Fuji (page 2)' (in Japanese). ASCII. November 11, 2008. Retrieved November 16, 2008.
68. ^'2008 Super GT Champions'. Super GT. November 11, 2008. Archived from the original on December 16, 2008. Retrieved November 16, 2008.
69. ^'PIAPRO(ピアプロ) CGM型コンテンツ投稿サイト' [Piapro CGM Style Contents Submission Site] (in Japanese). Crypton Future Media. Retrieved July 11, 2010.
70. ^'Hatsune Miku on TV ad'. Vocaloid Creativity Community. October 26, 2010. Archived from the original on December 13, 2010. Retrieved October 28, 2010.
71. ^'Hatsune Miku x TineirMe Gacha'. Gcrest Entertainment. Retrieved July 23, 2010.
72. ^'Hatsune Miku to Appear in American MMO TinierMe'. Anime News Network. July 21, 2010. Retrieved July 23, 2010.
73. ^メーカー非公式初音みっくす 1 [Maker Unofficial: Hatsune Mix 1] (in Japanese). ASIN4861765897.
74. ^'anim.o.v.e 02 情報更新!' [anim.o.v.e 02 News Update!] (in Japanese). Avex Group. June 22, 2010. Archived from the original on 2013-10-29. Retrieved October 5, 2010.
75. ^'Schwarzgazer digicomic movie 動画サイトアップ!' [Schwarzgazer Digicomic Movie on Video Sites!] (in Japanese). Avex Group. July 28, 2010. Archived from the original on 2013-10-29. Retrieved October 5, 2010.
76. ^'Lily 情報' [Lily News] (in Japanese). Internet Co., Ltd. Retrieved October 5, 2010.
77. ^ヤンジャンで'辛口'初音ミクの4コマギャグがスタート [A Yonkoma Gag of 'Outspoken' Hatsune Miku Starts on Yanjan]. Comic Natalie (in Japanese). Livedoor. August 26, 2010. Retrieved October 10, 2010.
78. ^'Virtual Idol Hatsune Miku to Appear in Japan's Weekly Playboy'. Anime News Network. March 22, 2011. Retrieved March 24, 2011.
79. ^Macias, Patrick (July 21, 2011). 'CRN Interview: The Creators of Hatsune Miku'. Crunchyroll. Archived from the original on 24 July 2011. Retrieved August 3, 2011.
80. ^'New Groove Pullip Dolls'. Vocaloidism. January 11, 2011. Retrieved January 14, 2011.
81. ^かわいい研究家さまご一行 来社! [A Group of Cute Researchers(?) Visit Our Company!] (in Japanese). Groove Inc. January 23, 2011. Retrieved January 28, 2011.
82. ^'Magazine scans July 2010'. Neko Magic. July 22, 2010. Retrieved July 25, 2010.
83. ^'Sonika's New Look Competition!!!'. Zero-G. Retrieved July 8, 2010.
84. ^'Sonika Song Competition!!!'. Zero-G. Retrieved July 8, 2010.
85. ^ ^ab'Interview: Bil Bryant (Production and CEO of PowerFX)'. Engloids (powered by WordPress). January 4, 2010. Retrieved July 4, 2010.
86. ^'Drawing Contest to win a copy of Vocaloid Lily'. Vocaloid Creativity Community. August 10, 2010. Archived from the original on July 17, 2011. Retrieved October 25, 2010.
87. ^'Soundation Studio Includes Vocaloid Christmas Song Excerpts'. Vocaloidism. December 15, 2010. Retrieved December 15, 2010.
88. ^'The 2011 Toyota Corolla Marks Miku's US Debut'. Vocaloidism. May 6, 2011. Archived from the original on July 31, 2013. Retrieved May 6, 2011.
89. ^Wataru Sasaki [crypton_wat / @vocaloid_cv_cfm] (May 10, 2011). 'ブレスト小休止中：アメリカと日本で、お国柄が違う事を確認しながら、前提として、cmではじめてミクを知った人達と、web上のファンの心象にもっと配慮する事。軸として「バーチャル'シンガー'としての初音ミク」という意見を強調しています。..さてはて' [A break in brainstorming: while confirming the difference of the national characteristics between the United States and Japan, as a major premise, more consideration should be given to (both) the people who first knew Miku in commercial advertisements, and the mentality of fans on the Web. And as a fundamental, we emphasize an opinion 'Hatsune Miku as a virtual SINGER' .. Well, and then ?]. Twitter (in Japanese). Crypton Future Media. Retrieved May 14, 2011.
90. ^'ボーカロイドonly event「THE VOC@LOiD M@STER」' [Vocaloid Only Event 'The Voc@loid M@ster'] (in Japanese). Ketto. Retrieved November 3, 2010.
91. ^'Upcoming Vom@s to be the largest ever'. Vocaloid Creativity Community. November 2, 2010. Archived from the original on December 13, 2010. Retrieved November 3, 2010.
92. ^'Vocaloid's FIRST public performance!'. Jasmine Music Technology. December 6, 2004. Retrieved January 3, 2012.
93. ^'Vocaloid TONIO announced at NAMM 2010! Brand new male classical virtual singer'. Zero-G. Retrieved July 11, 2010.
94. ^Fujimoto, Ken (August 16, 2010). 'ハローキティといっしょ!×VOCALOID2って何だ!?' [Hello Kitty Together with Vocaloid 2; What the!?]. Ken Fujimoto's DTM Station powered by Livedoor News (in Japanese). Livedoor. Archived from the original on 20 August 2010. Retrieved August 20, 2010.
95. ^Okada, Yuka (March 18, 2008). 初音ミクは「権利者」か [Is Hatsune Miku a Right Holder?] (in Japanese). ITmedia Inc. Retrieved December 3, 2010.
96. ^'Hatsune Miku Virtual Idol Performs 'Live' Before 25,000'. Anime News Network. August 23, 2009. Retrieved August 26, 2009.
97. ^影山、堀江、初音ミクも！「アニサマ」出演者追加 [Also Kageyama, Horie and Hatsune Miku! Performers for 'Anisama' Are Added]. Oricon Style (in Japanese). Oricon. August 6, 2009. Retrieved July 15, 2010.
98. ^Hirota, Minoru (September 1, 2009). 初音ミクが歌って踊る! ミクフェス '09（夏）レポート [Hatsune Miku Sings and Dances! Report on MikuFes '09 (Summer)] (in Japanese). ASCII Media Works. p. 2. Retrieved October 29, 2010.
99. ^'Virtual Idol 'Hatsune Miku' to perform overseas at 'I LOVE anisong' stage!'. Anime Festival Asia. Retrieved November 24, 2009.
100. ^「電子の歌姫」初音ミクが海外初公演 ['Electronic Diva' Hatsune Miku's First Oversea Concert Is Held]. Nikkan Sports (in Japanese). November 21, 2009. Retrieved July 15, 2010.
101. ^'Hatsune Miku Virtual Idol to Hold 1st Solo Concert'. Anime News Network. December 10, 2009. Retrieved July 15, 2010.
102. ^初音ミクによるソロコンサートが開催、39個の秘密も明らかに [Hatsune Miku Performs A Solo Concert, And 39 Secrets Are Revealed] (in Japanese). Famitsu. March 10, 2010. Retrieved July 15, 2010.
103. ^'Online Movement: Hatsune Miku World Tour'. Vocaloidism. July 18, 2010. Retrieved October 6, 2010.
104. ^'Hatsune Miku: Virtual Idol Film Concert'. New People. September 18, 2010. Retrieved October 6, 2010.
105. ^'San Francisco to Host Hatsune Miku's 1st U.S. 'Concert''. Anime News Network. September 7, 2010. Retrieved October 6, 2010.
106. ^'Hatsune Miku 'Concert,' Creator Add Dates in SF, NY'. Anime News Network. October 1, 2010. Retrieved October 6, 2010.
107. ^'NY Anime Fest Hosts Hatsune Miku Makers, An Café Bassist'. Anime News Network. September 9, 2010. Retrieved October 8, 2010.
108. ^'Hatsune Miku! Shamisen! Pop Culture Diplomacy! All at NYAF through Japan Foundation!'. Medium At Large. September 8, 2010. Retrieved October 8, 2010.
109. ^'Hatsune Miku is pop's biggest draw as Japanese 3D cartoon stage sensation'. Metro. October 21, 2010. Retrieved October 23, 2010.
110. ^'「キングラン アニソン紅白2010」に「がくぽ」と「GUMI」が出演を果たした件' [At 'King Run Anison Red and White 2010' Gakupo and Gumi Appeared]. Hatsune Miku Miku (in Japanese). January 2, 2011. Retrieved January 4, 2011.
111. ^'Hatsune Miku 2011 Live Concert in Tokyo Announced!'. Moetron. December 8, 2010. Retrieved December 8, 2010.
112. ^'VOCAROCK collection feat. 初音ミク presents VOCAROCK festival 2011' [Vocarock Collection feat. Hatsune Miku presents Vocarock Festival 2011] (in Japanese). Farm Records. Retrieved December 22, 2010.
113. ^'VOCALOID FESTA 公式サイト' [Vocaloid Festa Official Website] (in Japanese). Vocaloid Fest. Archived from the original on March 23, 2011. Retrieved December 22, 2010.
114. ^'Vocaloid Festa' (in Japanese). Yamaha Corporation. Retrieved December 22, 2010.
115. ^'ボカロプロジェクト VOCALOID FESTA 公式サイト' [Vocalo Project Vocaloid Festa Official Website] (in Japanese). Vocafes. Archived from the original on February 23, 2011. Retrieved February 18, 2011.
116. ^'Hatsune Miku Virtual Idol to Perform at Anime Expo'. Anime News Network. May 12, 2011. Retrieved May 13, 2011.
117. ^'Virtual star to be unleashed on US'. The Independent. June 1, 2011. Retrieved June 8, 2011.
118. ^Takahashi, Akiko (January 15, 2008). なぜ「初音ミクがネギ」で「鏡音リンがロードローラー」なのか？ [Why 'Hatsune Miku Has a Negi' And 'Kagamine Rin Rides on a Road Roller'?] (in Japanese). ASCII Media Works. Retrieved October 23, 2010.
119. ^Okada, Yuka (February 25, 2008). クリプトン・フューチャー・メディアに聞く（3）：初音ミクが開く'創造の扉' [Interview with Crypton Future Media (3): Hatsune Miku Opens the 'Creative Mind'] (in Japanese). ITmedia Inc. p. 1. Retrieved February 29, 2008.
120. ^Okada, Yuka (September 28, 2007). 'DTMブーム再来!?　「初音ミク」が掘り起こす'名なしの才能'' [DTM in the Boom Again!? 'Hatsune Miku' Discovers 'Anonymous Creators'] (in Japanese). ITmedia Inc. p. 1. Retrieved February 29, 2008.
121. ^'Archived copy' 200万回再生の超人気ボカロ楽曲『悪ノ召使』コミック化! [Super Popular Vocaloid Song with 2 Million Views, Aku no Meshitsukai, Gets a Comic] (in Japanese). Jive. August 27, 2010. Archived from the original on September 18, 2010. Retrieved October 5, 2010.CS1 maint: Archived copy as title (link)
122. ^悪ノ娘―黄のクロアテュール [Aku no Musume: Ki no Cloiture] (in Japanese). Books Kinokuniya. Retrieved November 20, 2010.
123. ^'Vocaloid Kaito's Song Adapted into Stage Musical'. Anime News Network. May 30, 2011. Retrieved May 31, 2011.
124. ^「がくっぽいど」7月末発売　'ニコ厨'漫画家・三浦建太郎さんのイラストで [Gackpoid to be Sold in July with 'Nicochū' Manga Author Kentaro Miura's Illustration] (in Japanese). ITmedia Inc. June 20, 2008. Retrieved July 11, 2010.
125. ^'Hachune Miku Figure to Ride Rocket from Nevada This Month'. Anime News Network. September 8, 2009. Retrieved July 14, 2010.
126. ^Okada, Yuka (October 8, 2009). '「あなたも宇宙開発を」　'初音ミク衛星'打ち上げ目指す「SOMESAT」' ['You Too Will Explore Space' Aiming to Launch the 'Hachune Miku Satellite' 'SOMESAT'] (in Japanese). ITmedia Inc. p. 1. Retrieved July 14, 2010.
127. ^金星探査機「あかつき」に初音ミク絵を搭載する署名 [Sign to Get Hatsune Miku Image on Board Venus Explorer Akatsuki] (Google Spreadsheets for collecting signatures) (in Japanese). Retrieved December 18, 2009.
128. ^Morioka, Sumio (February 23, 2010). 金星へ飛び立つ「あかつき」と初音ミクパネルを見てきた [I See 'Akatsuki' And the Hatsune Miku Panels that Will Fly to Venus] (in Japanese). ITmedia Inc. pp. 1–2. Retrieved November 15, 2010.
129. ^「初音ミクを金星へ」世界に広がる　署名1万超え、イラスト募集中 ['Send Hatsune Miku to Venus' Spreading Worldwide. The Number of Petitions Exceeds 10,000 And Illustrations Are Now Wanted] (in Japanese). ITmedia Inc. December 25, 2009. Retrieved November 15, 2010.
130. ^Morioka, Sumio (May 20, 2010). 初音ミク搭乗の「あかつき」、打ち上げに再チャレンジ ['Akatsuki,' Ridden by Hatsune Miku, Challenges to Be Launched Again] (in Japanese). ITmedia Inc. Retrieved May 28, 2010.
131. ^Morioka, Sumio (May 21, 2010). 初音ミクついに宇宙へ！　「あかつき」打ち上げ成功 [Hatsune Miku Eventually Goes to the Space! 'Akatsuki' Was Successfully Launched] (in Japanese). ITmedia Inc. Retrieved May 28, 2010.
132. ^'ブラック★ロックシューター :: supercell' [Black Rock Shooter :: supercell] (in Japanese). Supercell. Retrieved July 8, 2010.
133. ^'Black Rock Shooter Anime to Be Streamed for Free'. Anime News Network. March 23, 2010. Retrieved July 8, 2010.
134. ^'出た!新人ヴァーチャル・アイドルユニット「メーウ（meaw）」発進!' [It's Out! The New Virtual Idol Unite Meaw Takes Off!]. Hatsune Miku Miku (in Japanese). October 16, 2010. Retrieved December 15, 2010.
135. ^メーウ [Meaw] (in Japanese). StarChild. Retrieved December 15, 2010.
136. ^'8月31日限定！渋谷シアターTSUTAYAに「ミクカフェ」オープン！！【ミクの日感謝祭】' [On Only August 31! 'Miku Cafe' Will Open at the Shibuya Theater Tsutaya!! (The Thanksgiving Day of Miku)] (in Japanese). Sega. August 24, 2010. Retrieved October 9, 2010.
137. ^'Y2×Vocaloid Cafe' (in Japanese). Bplats. Archived from the original on 2011-02-17. Retrieved February 21, 2011.
138. ^'SNOW MIKU for SAPPORO2011で語られる創造の未来' [The Future of Creation Spoken on Snow Miku for Sapporo 2011] (in Japanese). ASCII Media Works. February 4, 2011. Retrieved February 25, 2011.
139. ^'VOCALO Revolution: 地上波初、ボーカロイド番組' [VOCALO Revolution: First Ever Vocaloid Show (as a broadcasting program on digital terrestrial TV)] (in Japanese). Vocalo Revolution. Archived from the original on 11 December 2010. Retrieved December 26, 2010.
140. ^''VOCALO Revolution' – Original Character CUL Revealed'. Moetron. December 23, 2010. Retrieved December 26, 2010.
141. ^'CUL project : official' (in Japanese). Vocalo Revolution. Retrieved January 7, 2011.
142. ^オフィシャルグッズ [Official Goods] (in Japanese). Vocalo Revolution. Archived from the original on 10 December 2010. Retrieved January 7, 2011.
143. ^'Lineup' (in Japanese). Vocalo Revolution. Retrieved January 7, 2011.
144. ^乙女衣装図鑑×ピアプロ [Maiden costume picture book × Piapro] (in Japanese). Piapro. Retrieved March 9, 2011.
145. ^'NHKの本気!ボカロラジオ「エレうた」の高き志' [NHK's Determination! High Aspirations with Vocaloid Radio 'Ere Uta'] (in Japanese). ASCII Media Works. February 5, 2011. Retrieved February 25, 2011.
146. ^Utau 2008
147. ^'Mac音ナナ シリーズ' [Macne Nana Series] (in Japanese). Act2. Archived from the original on May 11, 2011. Retrieved July 9, 2010.
148. ^阿久女イク [Acme Iku] (in Japanese). StudioS. Retrieved July 9, 2010.
149. ^'New VOICEROID Software From AH-Software'. Vocaloidism. November 14, 2009. Retrieved July 9, 2010.
150. ^東北地方太平洋沖地震による被災地に対する支援について [Regarding Support for the Affected Areas of the Tōhoku Region Pacific Ocean Offshore Earthquake] (in Japanese). Crypton Future Media. March 16, 2011. Retrieved March 24, 2011.
151. ^'Nendoroid Miku Hatsune: Support ver. is Here to Cheer on the Recovery of Eastern Japan!'. Mikatan's Blog (powered by WordPress). Good Smile Company. March 24, 2011. Retrieved March 24, 2011.
152. ^恋愛シミュレーションゲームの市場規模は前年度比30.4％増～調査データランキング (in Japanese). ITmedia. October 22, 2012. Retrieved December 15, 2015.
153. ^'What about an Oliver + Vocaloid 3 Editor..'Cartoon Hangover. November 20, 2012. Retrieved August 8, 2013.
154. ^'Webアニメ「Bee and PuppyCat」の音声にOliverが使用されているらしい件' [On the Web animation Bee and PuppyCat's voice, Oliver seems to be used.]. Hatsune Miku Miku (in Japanese). July 15, 2013. Retrieved August 8, 2013.
155. ^''A Place In The Sun' - A CD Album By Fully Virtual Vocalist'. Virartech. 2006. Archived from the original on 2008-05-13. Retrieved July 8, 2010.
156. ^Kellplanet. Continua. Retrieved July 8, 2010. (Last.fm)
157. ^Hirasawa, Susumu (23 August 2008). お姉さんを磨け [Refining the Young Lady]. NO ROOM. HIRASAWA三行log [Hirasawa Three-Line log] (in Japanese). Chaos Union. Archived from the original on 29 March 2010. Retrieved 15 July 2010.
158. ^Tomita, Akihiro (12 December 2008). バーチャルな「女性」への欲望とは何か [What is the Desire for a Virtual 'Woman']. Eureka Comprehensive Special Issue ♪ Hatsune Miku — an angel that landed on the net (in Japanese). Vol. 40 no. 15. Seidosha. p. 60. ISBN978-4-7917-0187-2.
159. ^'anaROBIK - the official anaROBIK'. anaROBIK. Retrieved May 17, 2011.
160. ^'New musical project with Big-Al and Miriam'. Viratech. 2007. Archived from the original on 4 August 2008. Retrieved January 2, 2011.
161. ^初音ミク'ボーカロイドアルバム'が徳永を押さえ、初首位 [Hatsune Miku 'Vocaloid Album' Reaches #1 for the First Time Overtaking Tokunaga]. Oricon Style (in Japanese). Oricon. May 25, 2010. Retrieved July 1, 2010.
162. ^'Vocalonexus is 2nd Vocaloid Album to Top Weekly Chart'. Anime News Network. January 24, 2011. Retrieved January 27, 2011.
163. ^'supercell feat.初音ミク 1st Album 'supercell' Special WEB' [Supercell feat. Hatsune Miku 1st Album Supercell Special WEB] (in Japanese). Supercell. March 2009. Retrieved March 24, 2010.
164. ^'Supercell Album with Miku Tops U.S. iTunes' World Music Chart'. Anime News Network. June 22, 2011. Retrieved June 22, 2011.
165. ^19's Sound Factory (20 August 2008). First Sound Story (Audio CD) (in Japanese). MOER. EAN4571192980761, ASINB001CRGV4E. Retrieved July 8, 2010.
166. ^'livetune feat.初音ミク specialsite' [livetune feat. Hatsune Miku specialsite] (in Japanese). Victor Entertainment. August 2008. Retrieved July 8, 2010.
     (album data: Livetune (27 August 2008). Re: Package (Audio CD). Victor Entertainment. limited deluxe edition: EAN4988002552764, ASINB001BOBYO0.
167. ^'Re: Mikus' (in Japanese). Livetune. March 2009. Retrieved 4 December 2014.
     (album data: Livetune (25 March 2009). Re: Mikus (Audio CD). Victor Entertainment. EAN4988002567492, ASINB001Q6IHLG.)
168. ^'下田麻美「Prism/鏡音リン・レン feat. 下田麻美」の収録曲が明らかに' [The Songs on Asami Shimoda's 'Prism/Kagamine Rin/Len feat. Asami Shimoda' Are Revealed]. Mycom Journal (in Japanese). Mainichi Communications. May 22, 2009. Archived from the original on July 18, 2010. Retrieved July 23, 2010.
169. ^'ミクたちボカロのロック曲を集めたアルバム『VOCAROCK collection 2』が発売!!' [Vocarock Collection 2, an Album Collecting Rock Songs by Vocalo such as Miku, Is Released!!]. Dengeki Online (in Japanese). ASCII Media Works. November 6, 2010. Retrieved February 18, 2011.
170. ^'Vocarock II on Cool Japan Music App'. Vocaloidism. February 17, 2011. Retrieved February 17, 2011.
171. ^'News' (in Japanese). Balloom. Retrieved March 5, 2011.
172. ^Wowaka (18 May 2011). アンハッピーリフレイン [Unhappy Refrain] (2 Audio CD, best album + remix by v.a.) (in Japanese). Balloom. EAN4571192982475. Retrieved March 5, 2011.
173. ^'Supercell/Miku Song in U.S. iTunes' World Top 10'. Anime News Network. May 15, 2011. Retrieved May 17, 2011.
174. ^がくっぽいどコンテスト [Gackpoid Contest] (in Japanese). Niwango. Retrieved May 1, 2011.
175. ^'Gackt Sings 2 Vocaloid Songs for July CD Single'. Anime News Network. May 22, 2011. Retrieved May 23, 2011.
176. ^'Hatsune Miku GT Project Theme Song Collection'. Vocaloidism. August 4, 2011. Retrieved August 14, 2011.
177. ^コザキユースケ画、フルカワミキのボーカロイド誕生 [The Birth of the Vocaloid Sampled from Miki Furukawa and Illustrated by Yūsuke Kozaki]. Comic Natalie (in Japanese). Livedoor. November 13, 2009. Retrieved August 20, 2010.
178. ^'「イドへ至る森へ至るイド」 Vocals & Voices の発表!!' ['Ido e Itaru Mori e Itaru Ido' Vocals & Voices Announcement!!] (in Japanese). Sound Horizon. June 7, 2010. Archived from the original on December 2, 2006. Retrieved July 28, 2010.
179. ^Project if..Crypton (@project_if_cfm) (June 7, 2010). '確認取れましたので発表を／Sound Horizonさんの「イドへ至る森へ至るイド」に、project if..で制作中のプロトタイプが客演させて頂く事になりました。..' [Confirmed, so announce: On the Sound Horizon's 'The ido reaching to the woods leading to the ido', a prototype under production by the 'project if ..', have been allowed to guest appearance.]. Twitter (in Japanese). Crypton Future Media. Retrieved July 28, 2010.
180. ^'特典コンピCD【feat.VY1】' [Special Combination CD (feat. VY1)] (in Japanese). Yamaha Corporation. Retrieved August 14, 2010.
181. ^'VOCALOID2 猫村いろは' [Vocaloid 2 Nekomura Iroha] (in Japanese). AH Software. Retrieved September 16, 2010.
182. ^'Daily Video: Music Gun Gun! 2 Game with Touhou Music'. Anime News Network. February 25, 2011. Retrieved February 27, 2011.
183. ^Alexander Stein (March 11, 2010). Suburban Taxi (MP3 File). Volume0dB. UPC3661585326557. Retrieved September 11, 2011.
184. ^'Eri Kitamura, Lia Turned Into Vocaloid Idol Characters'. Anime News Network. June 8, 2011. Retrieved June 10, 2011.
185. ^'X Japan's hide Releases 'Last Song' With Vocaloid, 16 Years After Passing Away'. Anime News Network. Retrieved April 14, 2018.
186. ^'Yamaha Creates New Song with Voice of Deceased Musician'. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved April 14, 2018.
187. ^'For Creators'. Crypton Future Media. Retrieved December 18, 2012.
188. ^Chiaki Hayashi (December 14, 2012). 'Hatsune Miku Joins the CC Community'. Creative Commons. Retrieved December 18, 2012.
189. ^ ^abOkada, Yuka (February 22, 2008). クリプトン・フューチャー・メディアに聞く（2）：「初音ミク」ができるまで [Interview with Crypton Future Media (2): How Hatsune Miku Was Born] (in Japanese). ITmedia Inc. p. 1. Retrieved February 28, 2008.
190. ^'Zero-G Interview: Dom Keefe (Vocaloid Production)'. Engloids (powered by WordPress). January 28, 2010. Retrieved July 8, 2010.
191. ^'Vocaloid FAQ'. Yamaha Corporation. Archived from the original on 26 August 2011. Retrieved July 13, 2010.
192. ^'クリプトン、VOCALOIDクリエイター向け音楽出版事業を開始　自由な利用と対価の両立目指す' [Crypton Starts a Music Publication for Vocaloid Creators. They Aim To Achieve A Balance Between Free Uses and Royalties] (in Japanese). ITmedia Inc. November 29, 2010. Retrieved December 2, 2010.
193. ^'Artist Yunomi accused of Plagiarism'. Vocaloid Creativity Community. August 6, 2010. Archived from the original on June 18, 2011. Retrieved December 1, 2010.
194. ^'KAT-TUNの新曲がボカロ人気曲にそっくり?　作者「ショックすぎる」' [KAT-TUN's New Song is Just Like a Popular Vocaloid Song? Author is 'Very Shocked'] (in Japanese). ITmedia Inc. November 30, 2010. Retrieved December 1, 2010.
195. ^'KAT-TUN Song's Alleged Plagiarism Sparks More Controversy'. Vocaloidism. December 1, 2010. Retrieved December 1, 2010.
196. ^'Vocaloid Plagiarist Band KAT-TUN Admits Crime'. Sankaku Complex. January 20, 2011. Retrieved January 20, 2011.
197. ^Sheren (January 20, 2011). '杰尼斯承认KAT-TUN新曲抄袭 原作者安抚歌迷' [Johnny's Admits KAT-TUN's New Song Is Plagiarized. Original Creator Calms Fans' Angry] (in Chinese). Sohu. Retrieved January 25, 2011.
198. ^'(VOCALOID2情報) 「Project if..」についての余談と、講演に関するお詫び' [(Vocaloid 2 News) Digression about 'Project if..', and an Apology Related to a Speech] (in Japanese). Crypton Future Media. October 28, 2009. Retrieved April 17, 2012.
199. ^「初音ミク」で選挙活動計画　「政治利用ダメ」で民主議員頓挫 ['Hatsune Miku' Election Activity Plan Standstill of a Democratic Diet member with 'Don't Use Politics']. J-Cast (in Japanese). Livedoor. June 30, 2010. Retrieved July 3, 2010.
200. ^'Avanna's Official Artwork Release'. AkiGlancy. Retrieved March 1, 2017.
201. ^'When Lola became Ana ? how Zero-G's Vocaloid created a lead singer..'Time+Space blog. July 15, 2011. Retrieved July 16, 2011.
202. ^'Interview: MasterVocaloid/Giuseppe'. Engloids. Retrieved August 7, 2011.
203. ^'French TV show insults Miku'. Vocaloid Creativity Community. October 28, 2010. Archived from the original on November 6, 2010. Retrieved October 28, 2010.
204. ^'The GazettE's Aoi stirs up debate about Vocaloid artists through controversial tweets'. Tokyo Hive. November 29, 2010. Retrieved December 1, 2010.
205. ^Utaenai (August 13, 2010). 'It's a toy!'. Vocaloid Creativity Community. Archived from the original on May 15, 2011. Retrieved September 5, 2010.
206. ^'(Vocaloid2情報)今日が最後の夜・・・' [(Vocaloid 2 News) This is the Last Night..] (in Japanese). Crypton Future Media. July 12, 2007. Retrieved May 13, 2012.
207. ^'海外でのVOCALOID楽曲の人気について' [Concerning the Popularity of Vocaloid Music Overseas] (in Japanese). Crypton Future Media. July 23, 2010. Retrieved September 5, 2010.
208. ^'Europe doesn't like Vocaloid?'. Vocaloid Creativity Community. October 18, 2010. Archived from the original on May 15, 2011. Retrieved October 21, 2010.
209. ^あなたが好きなゲームキャラクターは? [What Are the Game Characters You Like?] (in Japanese). Yahoo! Japan. Retrieved January 4, 2011.
210. ^Robson, Daniel (December 27, 2010). 'Tokyo's best and worst of 2010'. CNN. Retrieved January 20, 2011.
211. ^'Clash Fashion Issue Out Now: With our virtual cover star, Hatsune Miku'. Clash. February 2, 2011. Retrieved February 25, 2011.; an issuance notification of 'The Fashion Issue: The Future of Music ? Hatsune Miku and the synthetic pop phenomenon'. Clash. No. 59. March 2011.
     See also excerpt of cover story by Karley Sciortino: Pixel Perfect - Meet Hatsune Miku: Japan's Pop megastar
212. ^'The Harsh Realities of VOCALOID on Nico'. Vocaloidism. January 4, 2012. Archived from the original on January 11, 2012. Retrieved January 10, 2012.
213. ^ボカロ2013年投稿数と投稿者数 [2013 Vocaloid post count and contributor count] (in Japanese). Niconico. Retrieved January 13, 2014.
214. ^'YouTube Copyright Nonsense Hitting Yet Another Community: Hatsune Miku Fans'. Kotaku. November 30, 2015. Retrieved December 2, 2015.

Bibliography[edit]

Technologies

• Bonada, Jordi; et al. (2001). 'Singing voice synthesis combining Excitation plus Resonance and Sinusoidal plus Residual Models'(PDF). Proc. of ICMC. CiteSeerX10.1.1.18.6258.
• Bonada, Jordi; Loscos, Alex (2003). 'Sample-based singing voice synthesizer by spectral concatenation'. Proc. of the Stockholm Music Acoustics Conference (SMAC) 03: 439–442.
• Kenmochi, Hideki; Ohshima, Hayato. 'VOCALOID - Commercial singing synthesizer based on sample concatenation'(PDF). Interspeech 2007. Archived from the original(PDF) on March 15, 2012. Retrieved January 9, 2011.
• 'Interview of Hideki Kenmochi'. DTM magazine (January 2008 Special ed. The Vocaloid CV01 Hatsune Miku) (in Japanese). Vol. 15 no. 2. Terajima Joho Kikaku. January 2008. pp. 36–39. ASINB000YKXQTI.
• Kenmochi, Hideki; Ohshima, Hayato (February 8, 2008). 'Singing synthesis system 'Vocaloid' Current situation and todo lists'(PDF). IPSJ SIG Notes &#x5B (in Japanese). SIG Music and Computer (SIGMUS), Information Processing Society of Japan (IPSJ). 2008 (12): 51–56. ISSN0919-6072. 2008-MUS-74-(9).^{[permanent dead link]}
• Kenmochi, Hideki (March 2008). '第III章 歌唱合成システムVOCALOIDと初音ミク [Part 3. Singing Synthesis System VOCALOID and Hatsune MIKU]'(PDF). デジタルコンテンツの知的財産権に関する調査研究：進化するコンテンツビジネスモデルとその収益性・合法性—VOCALOID2、初音ミク、ユーザ、UGMサイト、権利者—報告書 [The Research and Study about the Intellectual Property Rights of the Digital Contents: Developing Content Business Models and these Profitabilities and Legalities—Vocaloid 2, Hatsune Miku, Users, UGM Sites and Rightful Claimants—The Report] (in Japanese). Digital Content Association of Japan (DCAJ). pp. 33–50. Retrieved January 16, 2011.
• Kenmochi, Hideki (May 25, 2008). 'Singing Synthesis : VOCALOID and its Technologies'. Journal of the Human Interface Society (in Japanese). 10 (2): 161–164. ISSN1344-7254.
• 'The Making of Vocaloid'. Red Bull Music Academy. November 2014. Retrieved November 12, 2014.

Derivative products

• Ameya/Ayame (2008). '歌声合成ツールUTAU' [Vocal Synthesis Tool UTAU] (in Japanese). Vocal Synthesis Tool UTAU. Retrieved July 9, 2010.
• Higuchi, Masaru (Yu) (2008-02-24). 'MikuMikuDance'. Vocaloid Promotion Video Project (powered by GeoCities). Retrieved July 9, 2010.
• Nakano, Tomoyasu; Goto, Masataka (July 6, 2009). 'VocaListener: A Singing-to-Singing Synthesis System Based on Iterative Parameter Estimation'. Retrieved July 27, 2011.
• Nakano, Tomoyasu; Goto, Masataka (2008). 'VocaListener（ぼかりす）: ユーザ歌唱の歌い方を真似る歌声合成パラメータを自動推定するシステム' [VocaListener (Bokarisu): A system for automatic parameter estimation of the singing voice synthesis, for imitating the user's singing style.] (in Japanese). Retrieved July 9, 2010. (redirected to Nakano & Goto 2009 after 7 October 2010)

Further reading[edit]

• Kenmochi, Hideki; Fujimoto, Ken (2014). ボーカロイド技術論: 歌声合成の基礎とその仕組み [Vocaloid Technological Theory - Foundation and mechanism of singing voice synthesis]. Tokyo, Japan: Yamaha Music Media. ISBN978-4-636-89996-2.
• Kenmochi, Hideki (August 2009). 'Singing Synthesis and its Application (<Special Feature>Frontiers of Music Information Processing Technologies)'. IPSJ Magazine (in Japanese). Vol. 50 no. 8. Information Processing Society of Japan (IPSJ). pp. 723–728. ISSN0447-8053.
• 'DTM MAGAZINE 音楽情報処理最前線!' [Frontiers of Music Information Processing! on DTM magazine] (archive) (in Japanese). Terajima Joho Kikaku / IPSJ SIG Music and Computer (SIGMUS).
• Nakano, Tomoyasu; Goto, Masataka (August 2008). '音楽情報処理最前線!VOCALOIDに歌を真似させるVocaListener' [Frontiers of Music Information Processing! VocaListener to make the Vocaloid imitate a given song] (PDF). DTM magazine (in Japanese). Vol. 15 no. 9. Terajima Joho Kikaku. pp. 72–73. ASINB001B7MJR8.

Feature article

• Santos, Carlo (July 15, 2011). 'The World Is Hers: How Hatsune Miku Is Changing Everything'. feature article. Anime News Network.
• Whiteley, Sheila; Rambarran, Shara, eds. (2016-02-11). 'Vocaloids, Holograms, and Virtual Pop Stars'. The Oxford Handbook of Music and Virtuality. Oxford University Press. pp. 97–166. ISBN978-0-19-932128-5. .

Review

• Santos, Carlo (May 14, 2013). 'Mikunopolis in Los Angeles Blu-Ray'(review). Anime News Network.

External links[edit]

• Y2 Project(in Japanese)