Hatsune Miku turned four not too long ago (or should I say twenty? When she was “born” she was sixteen.. ah whatever) and she’s still going strong in the music world of Japan today. All she needs now is a physical form and the robot revolution can finally begin. Are you ready to accept our new Vocaloid robot overlords? No? Not surprising. But in the likely event that this actually happens, you might want to know a little bit more about what you’re up against.
What is This Thing and Why Should I Care
Hatsune Miku is a female singing synthesizer application developed by Crypton Future Media. Her name is a combination of the Japanese words for first (hatsu), sound (ne), and future (miku). Her voice is sampled from a Japanese voice actress named Saki Fujita.
Vocaloid on its own is a singing synthesizer application that was developed by Yamaha. It allows users to synthesize singing by typing in lyrics and melody, therefore granting the gift of song to those who can’t sing. It utilizes Yamaha’s Vocaloid synthesizing technology combined with the vocals of various voice actors and singers.
One popular Vocaloid compilation (Exit Tunes Presents Vocalogenesis feat. Hatsune Miku) debuted at the number one spot on the Japanese Oricon charts in 2010 and became the first Vocaloid album ever to top them. Hatsune Miku “performed” her first “live” concert during Animelo Summer Live at the Saitama Super Arena in 2009. And by “live” I mean a projected image of the Vocaloid singer performed. Miku also performed in the USA this summer but, I mean – you could just get yourself a projector and have one of her “concerts” anywhere. Ta~da! It’s magic. From the future!
Hatsune Miku and the Vocaloid Army
When Miku was initially developed, Crypton decided to take a different approach than they had before. In the past they had mostly focused on music industry professionals, but this time around they wanted to appeal to the masses. They decided that in order to make the product successful, they needed a highly appealing voice and a highly appealing image to go with it. The lofty task of creating this image fell to a manga artist by the name of Kei Garo.
When Kei designed Miku, his only instruction was that she had to be an android and her color scheme had to be based on Yamaha’s synthesizer’s signature cyan. After Kei had created his monster, Crypton then crafted and posted Miku’s personal data sheet. The data sheet only detailed her “physical” and technical attributes, allowing the masses to associate with her whatever traits they’d like best in a Vocaloid overlord. Her stats are as follows.
- Name: Hatsune Miku
- Birthday: August 31, 2007
- Age: 20
- Height: 158cm
- Weight: 42 kg
- Suggested Genre: Pop/Dance
- Suggested Tempo Range: 70~150 bpm
- Suggested Vocal Range: A3~E5 (roughly mezzo-soprano down to bass range)
Influence On the World As We Know It Today
Nico Nico Douga (Japanese equivalent of YouTube), played an important role in forcing the Vocaloid plague upon us. Soon after Miku’s public release, Nico Nico Douga-ers started posting various Miku videos. A popular video featuring Hachune Miku (chibi version of Hatsune Miku) singing “Ievan Polkka” showcased the unlimited potential of the software and all the creative things people could implement it into.
[yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bC6Itps_N1w']
Miku is also responsible for bring us the dreaded Nyan Cat meme. Miku along with all the other Vocaloids are masterminding ALL the memes to control the masses so their feeble human brains will be ripe for accepting the inevitable Vocaloid uprising. You’ve been warned.
In November of 2009, a petition was launched in order to get a custom made Hatsune Miku plate made and attached to the Japanese Venus spacecraft explorer Akatsuki. On December 22, 2009, the petition exceeded the needed 10,000 signatures, and Akatsuki was launched with three plates attached depicting various images of both Hatsune and Hachune Miku. Because it just wasn’t enough for the Vocaloids to conquer the world – they had to conquer space too. Way to go handing them everything on a silver platter, humans. Way to go.
After the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, a number of Vocaloid related donation drives were implemented and Crypton joined several other companies in donating to the Japanese Red Cross. In addition, a special Nendoroid (a brand of small plastic figures, created by the Japanese Good Smile Company) of Hatsune Miku, Nendoroid Hatsune Miku: Support ver., was announced with a donation of 1,000 yen (~$13) per sale to the Japanese Red Cross. A nice act of charity to be sure, but don’t be fooled by their good deeds. They’re just buttering you up for now, but before you know it you’ll be shining the shoes of your new virtual master.
A Vocaloid Future Awaits..?
Despite the success of Vocaloids in Japan, us Westerners have been reluctant to jump on the overlord bandwagon. However, some musicians like R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe praised it when it was first announced (but there’s a good chance he’s a Vocaloid too, I think). He noted that one great thing about the software was that it would give singers a way to preserve their voice for future generations and as technology progressed, it could even be used to bring back the voices of singers who have already been lost. I can see it now – Vocaloid Frank Sinatra, king of the overlords, serenading you all the way to the salt mines.
Crypton blamed in part a fear of robots (well duh, obviously) for the lackluster response overseas and expressed that there was a general anti-Vocaloid prejudice (the resistance is assembling already! There may be hope for us yet!). However, Crypton has also noted that they hope this will change over time as the software continues to be developed and updated. And by that I’m sure they mean “as the Vocaloid brainwashing system is perfected and implemented.”
There Can Be Only One – Vocaloids vs Humans
Let’s compare the pros and cons of Vocaloids to real life human artists, shall we?
Pros
- Can never die and therefore can make consistent music forever and ever
- Are virtual, so their talents can be used and seen anywhere, anytime
- Technology could be used to “revive” musical artists from the days of old
Cons
- “Live” concerts are kind of lame
- That feeling that it’s not “real” since it’s more or less just a synthesized voice doing the singing
- They’ll soon rise up and conquer the world
So – do you think that the popular music world of the future will be one dominated by Vocaloids? Is this just a passing fad? How will it influence and shape the music world and will it ever become popular outside Japan? Will our new robot overlords be merciful and kind or merciless and cruel?? ONLY TIME WILL TELL.
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