Is Miku a Vocaloid?
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, sometimes referred to as Miku Hatsune, is the name of a Vocaloid software voicebank developed by Crypton Future Media and its official moe anthropomorph, a 16-year-old girl with long, turquoise twintails. She uses Yamaha Corporation's Vocaloid 2, Vocaloid 3, and Vocaloid 4 singing synthesizing technologies. She also uses Crypton Future Media's Piapro Studio, a singing synthesizer VSTi Plugin. She was the second Vocaloid sold using the Vocaloid 2 engine and the first Japanese Vocaloid to use the Japanese version of the Vocaloid 2 engine. Her voice is modeled from Japanese voice actress Saki Fujita. Miku's personification has been marketed as a virtual idol and has performed at concerts onstage as an animated projection (rear cast projection on a specially coated glass screen).
Hatsune Miku
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Hatsune Miku was the first Vocaloid developed by Crypton Future Media after they handled the release of the Yamaha vocal Meiko and Kaito. The name of "Hatsune Miku" was conceived soon after the Vocaloid 2 announcements, when an English and Japanese vocal were developed for the character. The intended design was delayed and later used for Megurine Luka instead. Miku was intended to be the first of a series of Vocaloids called the ""Character Vocal Series"", which included Kagamine Rin/Len and Megurine Luka. Each had a particular concept and vocal direction.
Hatsune Miku
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A series of rhythm games starting from "" were produced by Sega under license using Hatsune Miku and other Crypton Vocaloids, as well as "fan-made" Vocaloids like Akita Neru. TinierMe also made attire that looks like Miku's for their services, allowing users to make their avatar resemble her. The series has sold 6million copies. "" was developed for the Nintendo 3DS. Miku's appearance in this game is based on the Nendoroid series of figures. Hatsune Miku is also briefly referenced in the game "Recettear", where a young man stargazing sees "The Green-Onion Girl" constellation. Also, in 2013, Saki Fujita voices Fei-Yen HD, a character based on one of Hatsune Miku's modules, in "Super Robot Wars UX"; this appearance does not use Miku's vocal library.
Hatsune Miku
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One of the Vocaloid compilations, "Exit Tunes Presents Vocalogenesis feat. Hatsune Miku", debuted at number-one on the Japanese weekly Oricon album charts dated May 31, 2010, becoming the first Vocaloid album ever to top the charts. Another album, "Supercell", by the group Supercell also features a number of songs using Vocaloids. Other albums, such as 19's Sound Factory's "First Sound Story" and Livetune's" Re:package", and "Re:Mikus" also feature Miku's voice. Other uses of Miku include the albums by Absorb and by OSTER-project. She had sung the original Nyan Cat called "Nyanyanyanyan!" by daniwell-P. Kagamine Len and Rin's songs were covered by Asami Shimoda in the album "Prism" credited to "Kagamine Rin/Len feat. Asami Shimoda". Another song original sung by Miku, "Color", was covered by Maria, and featured as the opening theme of the 2011 anime series "Freezing".
Hatsune Miku
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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. 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. At the "MikuFes '09 (Summer)" event on August 31, 2009, her image was screened by rear projection on a mostly-transparent screen. Miku also performed her first overseas live concert on November 21, 2009, during Anime Festival Asia (AFA) in Singapore. 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. The tour was run as part of promotions for Sega's "Hatsune Miku: Project Diva" video game in March 2010. 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.
Vocaloid
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Since the success of her Vocaloid 2 package led to an expansion of marketing possibilities, most of the mass marketing has come after her initial release as a response to her popularity and has been on going since 2008. Even with the addition of other Character Vocals, Miku's name continues to be used as the primary source of marketing for Crypton Future Media, to the point where most products for their Vocaloid related products will usually only feature Hatsune Miku's name. In March 2012, the Nomura Research Institute estimated that the sales of all Hatsune Miku brand goods added up into the region of since her release in 2007. Her name is easily the most recognizable of all Vocaloids.
Hatsune Miku
35472011#0
Hatsune Miku and Future Stars: Project Mirai is a 2012 rhythm game created by Sega and Crypton Future Media for the Nintendo 3DS. The game is a spin-off of the "" series of Vocaloid rhythm games and was first released on March 8, 2012 in Japan with no international release. Like the original the game primarily makes use of Vocaloids, a series of singing synthesizer software, and the songs created using these vocaloids most notably the virtual-diva Vocaloid Hatsune Miku. It is also the first Project Diva/Mirai game to include a Vocaloid made by Internet Co., Ltd. and the mascot Gumi appeared as a guest star.
Hatsune Miku and Future Stars: Project Mirai
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Hatsune Miku received an update for Yamaha's Vocaloid 4 engine under the name of "Hatsune Miku V4x". It makes use of the new EVEC system for Piapro Studio, a VSTi plugin used as an alternative to the traditional Vocaloid Editor. EVEC consists of recorded vowels. Along with the consonant, a different vocal tone can be achieved. Two vocal tones are included in the EVEC system: "Power" and "Soft". Along with the new EVEC system, phoneme errors found in Miku's V2 and V3 voicebanks would be fixed allowing for easier manipulation of her voice. , Hatsune Miku V4X/V4 English was released.
Hatsune Miku
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Hatsune Miku had two releases for the Vocaloid 3 software. The first was a new English vocal released on August 31, 2013. The second release was an update on the Vocaloid 2 vocal, it contained 5 vocals, 4 of which were updated versions of 4 of the 6 Hatsune Miku append package vocals ("sweet", "dark", "solid", "soft"). There were two versions of the software released, one with and one without the English version included. It was released on September 26, 2013. Like Kaito before her, she also came with Piapro Studio.
The missing vocals from the Append package ("light" and "vivid") were originally offered for free as part of an early promo for those who had the Vocaloid 2 version and the Vocaloid 3 version of the Hatsune Miku vocals. They were later sold separately on the Japanese version of the on-line store Sonicwire.
Vocaloid 3
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Hatsune Miku picked up second place in a 2010 Japanese Yahoo! poll on Japanese gamers' favorite characters, owed to her starring role in "". 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". "Clash" magazine labeled Hatsune Miku and the Vocaloid software as the future of music.
Vocaloid