"Vocaloids": characters, their names and biographies

"Vocaloids" is a well-known Japanese program developed for the creation of vocal parts. Each voice bank is sold separately, except for the votes of Lena and Rin: they are sold together (2 in 1). "Vocaloids", whose characters have a detailed drawing and a unique biography, have made famous in Japan and abroad many composers, creating albums and even cycles.

Basic principles when working in Vocaloid

First of all, vocaloids - characters, known to the whole world - are created to create musical parts. The number of Vocaloid software packages is truly huge, which allows you to choose the right timbre. There is an original program with voice banks (Vocaloid), and there are other banks that are developed by other companies (for example, "Utauloids"). At the time of this writing, three versions of "Vocaloids" have already been created and the forth one is being prepared for the release.

Vocaloids - characters, all whose names can suggest the language of singing, are often used in cycles to create original stories.

Creating a song in the program is as follows: first enter the melody (the panel on the left allows you to set the notes correctly), if necessary, the length and height of the notes are edited, then the lyrics of the song in Japanese or other languages are inputphoto. It is very important to understand the introduction of phonemes, otherwise you can get the wrong result. Besides, in some combinations of sounds there can be unexpected ways of the task connected with bugs in the program. If necessary, the timbre, the speed can be changed. There are other additional effects.

"Vocaloids": characters of the first generation

The Vocaloid program was developed in 2004: in March of that year, Yamaha introduced the V1 engine, which allows creating vocal parts. The first "Vocaloids", whose characters are sung in English and Japanese, did not immediately gain popularity. Only Meiko (Meiko, a fully synthesized voice) and Kaito, singing in Japanese, became successful. Leon, Lola and Miriam were also released with British banks. This ends the first generation, although the "Vocaloids", whose list of characters is huge, still got a chance for the next update: when creating the famous anime "Paprika" was used the voice of Meiko.

Interestingly, Leon and Lola do not have their own character, unlike all the following. This is practically the only vocaloid not worked: the biography of the characters is still unknown, as well as the singers who gave them voices. Unknown Seiya and some other vocaloids from the second and even third generation. But all the following vocaloids, anime whose mascots are known to the whole world, already have their own biography. They have their own character, and they can be considered full-fledged characters.

"Vocaloids": characters of the second generation

The new V2 engine allowed the voices to sound more realistic, even create universal voice banks (this idea was soon abandoned). The real popularity of the program was brought by the vocaloid Miku and her subsequent updates: a beautiful voice singing in Japanese quickly became known outside of Japan.

Before Hatsuna Miku was released one more vocaloid: Sweet Ann, sings in English. Rin quickly gained popularity and her mirror image of Flax, the vocaloid Kamui Gakupo, Luka, Gumi Megpoid ...

There were other vocaloids: Kaai Yuki, Prima, Pico (he is often confused with a girl), Nemukuro Iroha ... And originally the Sonic's English-speaking vocaloid was recognized as universal: for a long time the fans used this voice for songs in their native language.

Characters of the third generation

The third generation was released quite recently: the vocaloids were introduced back in 2010, but came out only a year later. The developers announced a new engine, which allowed the voices to sound more naturally and emotionally.

The third generation was marked by new languages: vocaloids sang in Korean (SeeU), Spanish (Bruno, Maika and Clara) and Chinese (Luo Tianyi, Yan Hye).

Some vocaloids from the second generation (for example, Kamui Gakupo) received updates with new emotions. Among them was the well-known vocaloid Miku, as well as the most popular at that time male character (Kaito), who sang in English.

Fourth generation characters

The new V4 engine was announced in 2014, and was released in 2015. It is planned to release new voice banks, as well as the transfer of all old vocaloids from Yamaha to this engine. This applies not only to Miku, but also to Kagamina. Thus, the new engine will translate not only the vocaloid of the third generation, but also the second, and possibly even the first (Meiko). At the time of writing, the new bank of Luka is ready for 80%, and the twins - for 27%.

The fate of the program can now be watched only on Japanese sites, in particular on the official website. All the important information is duplicated in Twitter, also in Japanese. However, there are many false messages, to which are attached concept art and samples. Therefore now it is impossible to say exactly which vocaloids will be released this year. So far only the release date of Sin Hua is known - the beginning of February 2015, and KiberDIVA, which will be released on February 4. Some of the new vocaloids (for example, CyberDIVA) do not have anime mascots.

Will vocaloids be killed in Russian?

Many fans dream of Russian vocaloids, even create songs based on Sonic other characters, including Miku and the twins Kagame. Hope for singing in Russian vocaloid appeared with the announcement of the V3 engine and new voice banks in Spanish.

Unfortunately, the developers are not going to release the program in Russia. As they said, they are not sure of the popularity of the program in our country, since they do not have statistics on its use. Until they are convinced of the need to release Vocaloid in Russia, the release of Russian-speaking vocaloids is not even discussed. At the moment, users from the CIS and Russia can not even buy the program in their country, it can only be ordered from Japan.

What vocaloids are not

Very many do not know that "Vocaloids" is a program, moreover, developed for professional composers. Never vocaloids, whose anime stylistics is often misleading, did not have their own series or film. Of course, you can find a manga on the vocaloid theme, there are even ranchers, but these works belong to the Vocaloid program only indirectly: books and comics are produced by composers (usually they are called producers), not program developers.

Live performances of vocaloids

The Vocaloid program quickly gained popularity, so in 2009 concerts began to appear. However, this did not end there: some series became especially popular. Thanks to such cycles, vocaloids could occupy a serious niche in real life.

This was achieved by the "Kingdom of Evil" from MOTHY (Akuno-P), known among the vocaloid fans around the world. The franchise for his series is incredibly extensive: figurines, Ranbae, manga, costumes for cosplay, even buns with the image of Princess Rilian Lucifen d'Otrish! The most famous works of MOTHY in Japan were made by musicals. But the roles were played by actors, so this example only indirectly points to live performances of vocaloids.

The program Vocaloid gained such popularity that the developers were able to afford concerts. The vocaloids on it were holographic images. Especially memorable was the concert of 2010 in which the most famous songs were performed.

In 2013 there was a vocaloid concert in France, but now nothing foretells concerts outside of Japan. But in their homeland vocaloids give concerts quite often: an average of 4-5 performances a year.

Games of Project DIVA

Many consider Vocaloids an anime series or a full-length animated film, but even more people believe that vocaloids are a computer game. Indeed, there is a rhythm game where the main role is given to the most popular vocaloid, Miku. The bottom line is simple: you need to press the appropriate button in time, the image of which appears on the PS3 screen. The list of songs is constantly replenished, already now the owners of the game have a huge library of tracks.

The player is also available for the Kagamina, Kaito, Luka, Meiko, Haku and Akita Nehru twins. As the game progresses, new costumes, difficulty levels and some bonus items are opened. There is even a secret room for Miku, in which there are additional tracks for the game.

Japanese, English, Korean and other vocaloids, characters, biographies and designs of which are unique, are developing rapidly: only at the beginning of February there are planned the release of two new vocaloids, often new voices are announced and their samples are laid out. Fond of all the characters also sing more naturally thanks to the translation into a new engine. Perhaps the vocaloids, whose anime stylistics has made the program especially popular, will also sing in other European languages.