#at the end of the day vocaloid isn’t about the voicebanks

[bees-in-disguise]

To further drive home the point that vocaloid is an instrument, recently a game dev by the name of Hakita released a 40 minute multi-phase drone song using just Hatsune Miku and nothing else.

It’s honestly really cool and genuinely makes me appreciate how versatile of an instrument Miku is and how much freedom producers have to use her. It also makes me appreciate how good of a composer Hakita is.

i think that poll once again proves that a lot of people STILL think of vocaloid as like. an anime with songs. i cannot stress enough that vocaloid is a brand of instrument. its like a singing piano. and the people who make those songs are real people. like world is mine isn't "by" hatsune miku. its by Ryo. the real person who really made the song. miku is just a part of the song she has no real significance that isnt assigned

[utau-bowl]

Crowdfunding for Adachi Rei’s A.I.VOICE is open

There’s some exciting UTAU related news today! Adachi Rei’s campaign to get a commercial text to speech voicebank has opened on Campfire.  As of this post, it’s 11 percent of the way towards its 3,500,000 yen/32,225 dollar goal. The A.I.VOICE stretch goal will be reached at 30,000 yen/300 USD. The rest of the crowdfunding will be for the building of an actual Adachi Rei robot.

Context

A.I.VOICE is made by AI, Inc, the same company who developed AITalk. Products like Voiceroid, Gynoid Talk, and Megpoid Talk all use AITalk as a base. AI, Inc also created Iori Yuzuru and Kotonoha Aoi/Akane, three successful Voiceroids. A.I.VOICE uses the newest version of AITalk, which was finished in 2020.

An UTAU being ported to A.I.VOICE would be a big deal, on the same level as Macne Nana becoming a Vocaloid. But Adachi Rei also isn’t like any other UTAU, and her talking voice likely won’t be a straight port. Why is that?

The UTAU without a voice provider

Adachi Rei/ 足立レイ was created by missile_39 in 2019. Her voice is synthesized not from recordings of a person, but by overlapping sine waves in Audacity to create many different types of sounds. Missile refers to this method of synthesis as “Replivoice” (Replica voice), which is what her product name will be if the crowdfunding succeeds. Her voice sounds a little similar to other “synthetic” UTAUs like Utane Uta, but she is in a class of her own by being a completely synthetic voice. She is an example of people hearing a voice from a random sound, a kind of auditory illusion.

There is an explanation video of how she was made here, but it’s long and untranslated.

Usually, text to speech voices are made by recording sentences and parsing words from a human source. But Rei has no voice provider, so there isn’t anything to record. The creator remarked that Rei sounded very similar to her UTAU version when a prototype was put into A.I.VOICE. It’s interesting to know that an established company is willing to promote something different like this.

Rei in real life?

About the robot stuff, Rei was actually designed with the intent of being a real-life robot before she was made an UTAU. missile_39 is a mechanical engineering student who has made a life-size Miku robot before. Rei’s body will be 3d printed out of resin, but the material cost is expensive, which is why it’s part of this crowdfunding campaign. Missile also wants to make robot Rei able to walk. 

Other rewards include a keychain of Rei, an MMD model of Rei with a unique number on the jacket for every supporter, and a special shout-out in a later announcement video.

If the campaign exceeds its goal amount, Rei will get additional emotion databases (happy, sad, etc) which can be toggled between.

The campaign ends in 20 days, and Campfire should accept donations from anyone, if I remember right. Let’s cheer Rei on and hope she becomes the next A.I.Voice!

[mikunology]

Mikunology File #5: Hatsune Miku

So here I am again, finally. Time for some more info dumping, but this time for a single character instead of an aspect of the verse or story.

Since Miku’s birthday recently passed, and I haven’t really done much to expand on some characters, I thought I’d make a Mikunology file based solely on a character and decided to start with our wonderful blue-green-haired protagonist.

This is a VERY LONG ONE, so if you’re interested enough to read to the end let me just say that I am virtually sending you a hug. Info under the cut.

So, as mentioned, Hatsune Miku (codename CV01) is the humble protagonist of the story of Vocal Android, as well as the instigator of the entire plot from her coming into existence. First in the line of Crypton Laboratories’ Character Vocal Series and supposedly the first fully functional completely humanlike android in existence (spoiler alert: she isn’t, but that’s a story for another day), within the world she lives in she’s a pretty hecking big deal. Naturally, this ends up causing her equal parts harm and good, giving her friends, fame, and recognition all over the planet but also bringing her into the sight of some messed-up, incredibly corrupt people who are quite interested in either her destruction or her exploitation.

Personality/Portrayal

I’ve discussed how I see Miku’s personality before, but I feel now if the perfect time to go further into depth on it.

Here, Hatsune Miku is a cheerful, friendly and perpetually nice girl with a heart for music and a strong sense of justice. Miku is as sweet as she appears, and is often concerned with the wellbeing of everyone, whether it be friends, family, or fans. Miku loves nothing more than to make people happy with her singing, and considers it an act that fulfills her purpose best as a Vocaloid. She can get along with virtually anyone, and can spare a spot of sympathy for just about everyone (at least, most of the time). That said, Miku is also known for being a bit on the silly side--as nice as she is, she can be very clueless and slow on the uptake compared to everyone else. She always tries her best to understand, though.

Even with her friendliness however, Miku is sometimes rather stressed by the world around her. Having to juggle a career as a pop idol, a big sister to her fellow Vocaloids, a life as a high school student, and a responsibility as a superheroine, she tends to be overwhelmed by circumstances when things get rough (enough that you could call her neurotic sometimes). This stress can occasionally make her afraid to make mistakes, and thus cause her to run away or avoid problems to support her own mentality. She also can have a rather explosive temper because of her constantly bottling her feelings up. But, she still has a large drive to do well and be efficient to serve her purpose (making others happy) and will stop at nothing to achieve what needs to be done when she puts her mind to it. She just needs a little incentive, that's all.

And lastly, Miku is known for her loyalty to her friends and her world. Even with her own anxieties, she makes her best effort to put others before herself and dreads the idea of anyone coming to harm because of her. She loves to give encouragement to her fans and fellow Vocaloids, and strives to use her own abilities to keep the world at peace. In all reality, all Miku desires is to bring an even brighter future.

Abilities

Gotta talk about this, right? Now truthfully, this list may change in the future, because this plotline is constantly developing and new ideas are always coming to me. But as of current, this are her current list of basic abilities.

Her singing voice. Obviously, Miku’s greatest ability is the power of her own voice. Being created to sing, Miku was granted the ability to do more with her voice beyond what an average human can do. This includes amplifying or quieting it, manipulating her tone of voice, throwing her voice, or pitching it up or down. After acquiring her Append, V3, V4, English, and eventually Chinese voicebanks, she can also switch between voices or languages at any time. Her ability to sing loudly has been perfect for concerts, but can also constitute as a weapon. Later on, she can power herself up with the strength of her music.

Flight. Miku is also able to fly, and can do so at decently fast speeds. I like to think that she probably started out with your standard “rocket boots”, if you will, but upon her upgrades from V3 and V4 she switched to anti-gravity. Despite being rather clumsy with it at the start, Miku is pretty swift and acrobatic when it comes to flying--it probably helps that her twintails can provide wind resistance.

Durability. Miku is incredibly durable, much more so than your normal person. Since she is a robot, and isn’t made out of bones or flesh, she is more than capable of taking a hit and usually requires quite a lot to so much as truly render her out of commission. She is NOT bulletproof or completely invulnerable, however, but as long as she’s capable of moving around it’s quite hard to do her in. Also, if she DOES get considerably injured, it’s perfectly possible to fix her up again. (Note: Just to say, though, while Vocal Android can get cartoony at times, these characters do NOT follow “easily detachable robot parts”.)

Learning capability and musical knowledge. Her brain is computerized, so it doesn’t take long at all for Miku to learn something; this especially applies to her knowledge in music and dance. If someone shows her how to do something, it usually takes very minimal tries for her to get it down. This often comes in handy for learning songs, playing instruments, or dance routines, and has also helped her in copying abilities. However, while she is a fast learner, whether she actually UNDERSTANDS the material she’s learning is a different story.

Download. Miku is also capable of downloading her consciousness or data within her into a computer. While downloaded, she can also take form as a program or virtual entity on the computer and can act within cyberspace as she pleases. Additionally, as a precaution, she actually regularly backs her memories and personality into a separate computer in case her physical self were to come to harm. 

Module usage. Thanks to a strange incident, Miku is also one of the few capable of using Modules, special “power-ups” of sorts that can change her appearance and give her special powers. Module powers vary greatly and can often be wild cards, and each one has a specific time limit based on how powerful they are, but they always help her in a cinch.  

Equipment

Of course, Miku also has various equipment to help her on her various escapades. Once again, this list is open to change.

Her arm sleeves. Miku’s most common equipment. Not only are they a vital part of her trademark outfit, but Miku’s sleeves are embedded with computers that organize her data and allow her to access songs, information, video-call, and switch voices. Her system menu can also be accessed via her sleeves and she can be shut down or switched on with them.

Headphones. Then there’s Miku’s headphones. While of course they can function as regular headphones and often do, they also function as a another “off/on” button, and also can allow Miku to call or receive calls from her teammates or from the facility.

Leek and Leek Gun. Unsurprisingly, Miku always has a leek on her, either for snacking or for a good comical smacking (although she can do some real smacking, too). Also, courtesy of Gumi, she was given the Leek Gun, a dual-fire mini-launcher that looks like a leek. She doesn’t always use it but to say she’s fond of it is an understatement.

Megaphone. Insert “Love is War” reference here. Miku also commonly uses megaphones, as a way to amplify herself further and sometimes as way to direct her voice more properly. Before anyone asks, however, she has used a gun similar to Megaphone Gun from Ultra Despair Girls once.

Microphone. And of course, a singer like Miku always needs a microphone. Aesthetically, she prefers the ones that come with stands, never mind that they tend to make good staves. 

Bonus Headcanons

Random extra stuff since I don’t know what else to put here!

Miku likes to cook, but tends not to be very good at it due to her innate ability to be easily distracted.

While she can play a multitude of instruments, she has a particular affinity for the guitar, synthesizer, and bass.

She loves video games, particularly the Sonic the Hedgehog series.

She doesn’t have a favorite song necessarily, but Miku Miku ni Shite Ageru has a place in her heart for being one of her earliest hits.

She likes sports, but is an utter klutz when she tries to play them. She's good at cheerleading, though!

Contrary to what some may think, she actually is pretty comfortable with her robotic existence. To say she doesn’t ever wonder what it would be like to be human would be a lie, but she doesn’t at all mind what she is. As long as she’s treated with respect, she’s cool.

She’s secretly the biggest freaking nerd ever

Inspiration Songs

Songs I used as a basis for my portrayal of Miku are: “39 Music!”, “Anger”, “Innocence”, “Miku”, “Mikunologie”, “SING&SMILE”, “Unfragment”, “Yellow”, “Miku Miku ni Shite Ageru”, “News 39″, “Koisuru Vocaloid”, “My Time”, and “The Bounce from Zero to Infinity”. For those curious, of course.