GUMI

GUMI (グミ) is an official mascot character of Megpoid (メグッポイド / Meguppoido) which is a singing synthesizer application software powered by Yamaha's Vocaloid2 and was published by INTERNET Co.,Ltd. The name GUMI is from the voice provider Megumi Nakajima's nickname in her childhood.

The naming about this product is very confusing. The Vocaloid software itself is under the official name Megpoid, and GUMI is the avatar character of the software drawn by the illustrator Masami Yuuki (ゆうきまさみ Yuuki Masami).

Vocaloid 2
Megpoid was voiced by Megumi Nakajima and released on June 25, 2009. It comes with 3 sample VSQ files, "Happy Birthday", "be MYSELF", and "Hitori Yurari". "be MYSELF" is an original song by Nakajima.

There are five demos on the official site;
 * be MYSELF,
 * be MYSELF (one chorus),
 * Fly Me to The Moon-Part1,
 * Fly Me to The Moon-Part2,
 * BLUE BUTTERFLY.

Gumi was illustrated by the manga artist Yuuki Masami.

Megpoid Extend
Following the success of Crypton's Append, Internet Co., Ltd had confirmed Gumi will receive a "Megpoid Extend" edition in 2011.

On 2011/20/1 confirmation was released that recordings had started for the Megpoid Extend, several vocal recordings have already been recorded.

The first voicebank demo, Megpoid Extend Power β was uploaded on the 21/05/2011 onto Nico Nico Douga, its time spent up was only brief. Demos for Power and Whisper were also put up, but also removed a short time later. A more permanent version was uploaded later. Gumi's whisper Extend was used to sing "Fly me to the moon" and "BeMyself" in her power Extend, their upload was also temporary and were removed at a later date.

V3 Megpoid
The Extend idea was later dropped and instead they were launched as new voicebanks for Vocaloid 3. The voicebanks in are sold individually or as a pack. The new update of information confirmed a October 21st release date. It is also confirmed they are no longer a expansion pack, rather then being called "Megpoid Extend" they are now called "Vocaloid 3 Megpoid" and each vocal has its own appearance to go alongside it.

Some demos have been released as well;
 * Vocaloid 3 Megpoid Sweet - 雨が降って. Youtube broadcast
 * Vocaloid 3 Megpoid Power - 狂躁ヒュプノシスYoutube broadcast
 * Vocaloid 3 Megpoid Adult - Showroom Dummy Youtube broadcast
 * Vocaloid 3 Megpoid Power - NIGHTMARE Youtube broadcast
 * Vocaloid 3 Megpoid Whisper - Waltz for stranger Youtube broadcast
 * Vocaloid 3 Megpoid Sweet - 真夏の閃光Youtube broadcast

A introduction about her was also added.

Vocaloid 3 Megpoid Native
Internet Co., Ltd. is working on a Vocaloid 3 revamp of Gumi's Vocaloid 2 voicebank. A clip has been uploaded of her singing Be MYSELF using an in-development beta version. Another clip has been uploaded of her singing Blue Butterfly. The release date is set to be the 16/03/12, those who pre-order before the 15th will recieve a technique guide. An official demo of her new Voicebank was uploaded of her singing Fragments Of Star with some info saying that "Readjustment of the speech database technology and the adoption of triphone VOCALOID3, due to modification of the portions of consonants, singing voice synthesis to achieve a sense of transparency and high-quality sound relaxed further.'

Sale of Megpoid Vocaloid 2 ceased on March 15th 2012.

Marketing
Gumi was the next Vocaloid to be released from Internet co., Ltd and had a more retro-futuristic approach then he did.

Originally, Gumi songs were not allowed to be sold on Karen-T, this was later changed and Internet co., gave premission for both her and Gakupo in 2009.

Taiwan release
On Dec 11th, 2010, the president of Internet Co. announced that Gakupo Kamui, Gumi and Lily will be distributed in Taiwan.

Robot Gumi
Megpoid was one of 3 voicebanks the robot model HRP-4C was set up to react to, the other two being Miku Hatsune and Crypton's non-commercial vocaloid named CV-4Cβ.


 * Youtube broadcast: 開発者による産総研ロボット＆ボーカロイドの解説 CEATEC Japan (HRP-4C as Gumi)
 * Youtube broadcast: 産総研ロボットHRP-4C 未夢（ミーム）「異邦人」CEATEC Japan (HRP-4C Singing)

King Run Anison Red and White Concert
Gumi and Gakupo made special appearances in the 2010 new year celebration event known as King Run Anison Red and White.

The songs they covered were;
 * アニソン紅白2010 M-32[Love Letter]神威がくぽ(がくっぽいど) "Love Letter" covered by Gackupo originally from "Mobile Suit Z Gundam", which had originally been sung by Gackt himself.
 * アニソン紅白2010 M-33[星間飛行]GUMI(メグッポイド) "Interstellar Flight" covered by Gumi from "Macross Frontier", which had originally been sung by Megumi Nakajima herself.

Their appearance was strictly a one off event.

3D Concert
Gumi and Akikoroid-chan appeared in a concert together in Japan dancing on stage. Though other concerts have been done for Vocaloid, this is the first offical "3D" concert, previously all concerts had been done with 2D technology. Later a merchandise related to the concert was released including DVD and CDs of the event.

On the 2nd of November a video-clip about the 3D Concert "Vocaloid x LiveAR" was relased
 * "Vocaloid x LiveAR" at DIGITAL CONTENT EXPO 2011 Youtube Broadcast

On the 15th-16th of December Gumi, VY1V3 , Akikoroid-chan, Tone Rion and Aoki Lapis appeared in a 3D concert at VOCAFARRE 2011


 * Gumi - Megu Megu Fire Endless Night Youtube Broadcast
 * Gumi - Love Droid Youtube Broadcast
 * Gumi & Akikoroid-chan - Cyber Thunder Cider Youtube Broadcast
 * Gumi & Akikoroid-chan - Beyond the glass World Youtube Broadcast
 * VY1V3 Mizki - Opening VOCAFARRE Youtube Broadcast
 * Aoki Lapis - Daydream Flight Youtube Broadcast
 * Aoki Lapis - Little Wish Youtube Broadcast
 * All Involved - VocaLawson Vocafarre Full Concert Youtube Broadcast
 * All Involved (Including Tone Rion who's full part is difficult or impossible to find) - VocaLawson Vocafarre Concert Summary Nico Nico Douga Broadcast

Hatsune Miku: Project Mirai
Gumi made a guest appearance in Hatsune Miku: Project Mirai. This is the second time an Internet Co., Ltd Vocaloid has appeared along side Crypton Future Media Vocaloids, the first being Kamui Gakupo in Maker Hikōshiki Hatsune Mix.

Figurines
The first of two figurines based on Gumi's art on an Exit Tunes album are due for release. Details are currently unknown. Gumi is also due a Nendoroid figurine produced by the Good Smile company. There is also going to be a few figurines based on her Vocaloid3 design. Details are also unknown.

Vocaloid-P Data Series
Vol.3 of the Vocaloid-P Data Series had only Megpoid songs in it and was released on the 16th of March 2012, the same day of V3 Megpoid - Native's release, as part of a promotion of the new updated voicebank.

Song Contest
In May 2012, a song contest was announced for Gumi, which was hosted by CreoFUGA. Producers entering the contest could use any Vocaloid2 or Vocaloid3 Gumi voicebank. Winning entries would make it into a game made by NAMCO Bandai. The contest will begin on May 26, 2012 and will end on June 26, 2012. As part of promotion, CreoFUGA will offer coupons to buy other Internet co., Ltd Voicebanks before the end of the competition.

Vocaloid 2

 * Gumi has songs in the Nico Nico Douga Hall of Fame
 * Comparing VY1(β version), Miku Append (Soft), Gumi, Lily
 * Comparison between the Vocaloid and voice provider

Megpoid
Megpoid, was the second of Internet co., Ltd's "Vocaloid Artist" series and was designed to be a professional standard vocal of noted quality. She was also the second addition to Internet co., Ltd's "poid" series. Vocaloid 2 Megpoid was offered alongside other software deals when it was released. These deals made Gumi a bargain for those interested in both her and the software she was sold with.

Gumi was designed to be a professional voicebank of good quality and is the voice of a professional singer. At the time of her release, she had one of the most realistic sounding voicebanks in Vocaloid 2 and sings with a soft clear voice. Amongst the female voicebanks she has one of the biggest ranges and is considered relatively easy to tune. Her pronunciations are of a good quality and she has smooth vowel sounds compared to other Vocaloids within her era. Like her predessor, she produces realistic results. Her voicebank has a reputation for being able to use its Japanese phonetics to mimick the English language easier than most other Japanese voicebanks.

The weakness of her voice is that she is raspy, however, this can be removed if a user does not want her raspiness. According to the update for Vocaloid 3 Megpoid - Native, Vocaloid 2 Megpoid also had a number of background nuisances that effected her overall quality.

Like many native Japanese speakers, Megpoid does not have the phoneme "z" and "Z" in the phonetic system and they are replaced by "dz" and "dZ" as well as Gackpoid.

V3 Megpoid
Gumi's new voicebanks are sold as a pack ("V3 Megpoid - Complete") or individually and do not require the Vocaloid 2 Megpoid software to use. Unlike the Appends of Crypton's CV series, this means you are not forced to purchase voicebanks you have no interest in, and can acquire them all or only the ones you want specifically. There are some differences between the voicebanks overall quality and usage so users will have to bare this in mind. However, overall the quality of these voicebanks is much higher then those of the original Vocaloid 2 voicebank. This originally was intended to be a expansion pack for Vocaloid 2 Megpoid.

All of V3 Megpoid's Voicebanks use [br1]-[br5], but however, can still use the import feature too. They also share the same optimum vocals range and tempo as the original, resulting in the package providing Gumi with simple change of tone in each voicebanks case, a contrast with the Crypton Future Media "Appends" which acted to extend the vocals as well as provide new tones. On the other hand, it makes this package relatively simplier to use and editing is less demanding (though not unavoidable) and the same VSQ files in the original Gumi vocals will working for each of these vocals.

V3 Megpoid; Power

 * Optimum tempo:60～175BPM
 * Optimum range:F2～A4

She is able to change octaves quite easily and has a very clear tone of voice, enabling strong vibrato and long note holding.

Due to her extremely strong attack, some shorter notes may not sound out properly, and her voice may lead to clipping on older computers.

V3 Megpoid; Whisper

 * Optimum tempo:60～175BPM
 * Optimum range:F2～A4

Because of her light voice, she is useful as backup vocals or on long-noted songs.

Due to the nature of whispery voices, her range is not very good and long notes may become raspy or unpleasant.

V3 Megpoid; Adult

 * Optimum tempo:60～175BPM
 * Optimum range:F2～A4

She has a very wide range and ability to change notes very smoothly.

When rapidly changing notes with edited phonetics, she may stumble a bit, leading to clicking or unpleasant attack.

V3 Megpoid; Sweet

 * Optimum tempo:60～175BPM
 * Optimum range:F2～A4

Decent range, and very good reaction to the Velocity function.

Some notes may sound forced if jumping from a lower or higher octave, and the voice may sound too soft on older computers.

V3 Megpoid - Native
V3 Megpoid - Native is a additional vocal that has been added to the previous V3 Megpoid line up, although its production and release were set at different times to them. It is being sold seperately to other voicebanks and is not included in the "V3 Megpoid - complete" package. Several software package deals were offered with the Megpoid Vocaloid 2 voicebank included, this voicebank will replace Vocaloid 2 in those packages. It was designed to be as close in tone to the original voicebank as possible.

This voicebank is created to replace the Vocaloid 2 voicebank and includes improvements over the original, removing some of the issues that users experienced with the old Voicebank, thus this is a higher quality voicebank in comparison. The vocals are also much smoother than the original. In theory, the improvements make the updated voicebank easier to use and it requires less cleaning to remove oddities from the sample results.

Since this voicebank is basically a Vocaloid 3 version of the original Megpoid voicebank, it has some of the problems of the original, though overall due to the improvements there are less of the original Vocaloid 2 version's flaws. There is a slight change of tone overall, with this version being clearer but lacking some of the original voicebanks raspiness which can be seen as a bad thing for those who liked that quality of her original voicebank, although good for those who found it problematic. However, for users with the original Vocaloid 2 Megpoid voicebank there may not be a rush to purchase this voicebank as it still similar enough to the Vocaloid 2 version.

Popularity
Gumi has seen a faster growth of usage within the Japanese fandom, gaining popularity faster than her predecessor Gakupo. She has quickly become a fan favorite in both Japanese and Western fandoms and arguably has been the most commonly used non-Crypton Future Media Vocaloid.

By 2010, Gumi's popularity was on par with Crypton Future Media's voicebanks and had also out sold her predessor Kamui Gakupo, becoming the most popular and well known non-Crypton Vocaloid. In 2011, her usage grew and in a number of weeks, she would even have more songs in the top 100 rankings then some of the Crypton Future Media based Vocaloids.

In 2011 a independent report was made into the popularity of Vocaloid and revealed that most Vocaloids had less then 1,000 videos uploaded on Nico Nico Douga in between July 1 and December 15, 2011. Gumi, had managed to succeed at grabbing more attention then most Vocaloids and at 2,107 uploads was the 3rd highest video upload related to a Vocaloid. At 9,538,464 views and 929,810 Mylists, Gumi was the Vocaloid to recieve the 2nd highest number of views overall. Based on average views, managed to come out on top with 4,527.04 views (and 441.3 mylists) on average per video. When the mean count was performed on the Vocaloid results, Gumi remained on top with 485 views and 34 mylists per video and Gumi was the only one besides the Kagamine's to successfully be on all lists performed in the report.

Trivia

 * Gumi has proven to be quite a popular Vocaloid for MMD model makers and has several models compared to most other Vocaloids. One of them is ISAO's model, available by purchase of Windows 100% magazine and MMD Starter Pack magazine.
 * Less experienced overseas fans often mislabel Gumi as a "Megpoid" rather then a "Vocaloid" and sometimes dismiss that she is a Vocaloid altogether. This is owed to the confusion over the name.
 * Gumi's design is often said to be influenced by Ranka Lee's character (one of the first roles done by Megumi Nakajima as seiyuu). Ranka Lee's main notable outfit had the colours green, yellow and orange also. This has never been confirmed as anything more then coincidence; still it is a popular assumption in both Japan and overseas Vocaloid fans.

Notable for...

 * First female Vocaloid from Internet Co. Ltd.
 * One of 3 voicebanks used by the robot HRP-4C
 * First Vocaloid from Internet Co.Ltd to be upgraded to Vocaloid 3.