Ring Suzune

VFS-01R Ring Suzune (リング・スズネ) was a potential VOCALOID announced for the VOCALOID3 engine during its pre-release promotions and was announced alongside Hibiki Lui. Though a demo of her voice was made, all activity from Vocaloid Next has deceased and both her and Lui are currently presumed cancelled.

Her voice is provided by MiKA of the band Daisy x Daisy and was intended to be a "Character Voice" type VOCALOID.

History
In 2011 the "Everyone's Vocaloid project" (みんなのボカロ計画 / Minna no Bokaro Keikaku) contest was held. Entries from within Japan and overseas were allowed. In late May 2011, the winning contestants were picked out of the thousands of entries. This was one of two designs selected, which were announced at VOCALOID Festa 02.

Ring was originally set to be released in Fall/Winter 2011. She is confirmed VOCALOID3, so this meant she would not be released before late September; this is when the VOCALOID3 engine is released. A demo was uploaded onto Nico Nico Douga and on Youtube alongside Miku.

A release date of December 12, 2011 was initially confirmed, but Ring was not released on that date. It is now unknown when she will be released. In 2012, VocaNext picked up her voicebank to continue development.

In February 2012, a beta version of Ring Suzune's voicebank was offered to the participants of "Vocaloid Network", a small-scale fan event took place on March 11, 2012. As the number of fan groups which participated the event was only 19, it is considered that only a small number of people received the beta copy, though it was sent to all those interested. Trial use of the beta version was limited to a month.

In late 2013, the VocaNext website became inaccessible making the status of this vocal, as well as Hibiki Lui, unknown.

PowerFX
In late September 2014, a message was sent to PowerFX asking if they could resume the Ring and Lui project. PowerFX replied saying that they have already attempted to resume the project. They had contacted YAMAHA, but the company said that a release was not possible. Other companies have not yet been asked or have not revealed their curiosity in public.

Concept
The idea of Ring and Lui was to improve the VOCALOID culture by bridging the gap between fan concept and offical products. Therefore, both were intended to be fan made designs for original VOCALOIDs that became official ones. She was described as "Light-hearted, doesn't have high aspirations, but she’s hard-working."

Etymology
Her official name is in the western order. Her original name in the contest was called "Ring Suzunone" (鈴音リング / Suzunone Ringu; "Bell-Sound Ring").

Appearance
She has a "Ring" gimmick, hence her name, in the original artwork she had rings all over her body. Ring's outfit is based on a maid's outfit. The design of her headset is based on a piano. It is also meant to be reminder of a memory plug.

Marketing
Both Ring and Lui are marketed as fan-based VOCALOIDs having had their mascots designed by fans in a competition. The image was then refined into the final look by a professional artist. Since she was originally expected as one of the VOCALOID3 early releases, she is featured in a number of the merchandise released for the engine.

Game
Utilizing VOCALOID3 software, a sound game (音ゲー / Oto Gē) directed by Happi-O (萩尾雅彦 / Hagio Masahiko) and entitled V・F・S, featured Ring as the heroine. A trial version was released on March 11, 2012.

Demonstrations
Songs by the Users of the Beta Voicebank;

Trivia

 * Ring was drawn originally by Muraichi (むらいち).
 * Like the Kagamines, she and Lui are based on "R and L".
 * Note; "R" and "L" mean "Right and Left", they are the letters on a set of headphones (and sometimes other equipment such as speakers). "R"and "L" refer to the right and left ear.
 * Due to an image showing headphones, paired with legs, being used as a place holder for VOCALOID3 demos and announcements, it has been mistaken that she and Aoki Lapis were Korean VOCALOIDs. The artist of the image tags it as Ring Suzune, so it is assumed the legs are meant to be hers.
 * Ring is the first female VOCALOID to be delayed due to development.