VOCALOID

Vocaloid is a singing synthesizer application software developed by the Yamaha Corporation.

About
Vocaloid is a program that enables users to synthesize singing by just typing in lyrics and melody. It was orginally intended to be a "singer in a box" and intended to provide backing to real singer.

With the introduction of "avatars", the program has become a replacement for an actaul singer with each voicebank essentially being regarded as a international celebrity or star in their own right and orginal songs have been created with the virtaul "singer" or "Vocaloid". Due to their appeal and ever increasing fandom, demand for even the older voicebanks has increased and interest in them continues to grow beyond expectations of even Yamaha. Part of their appeal is their overall nature with the limits they carry being the skills and capablities of the user working with them.

English Vs Japanese
While Japanese Vocaloids are well recieved and have an extensive usage, English Vocaloids however often face hard critism from the Vocaloid fans. This is particularly aimed at the early Vocaloid era voicebanks Leon and Lola and common concerns are expressed within the fandom.

Part of the problem was, early Vocaloids did not intend to use "Avatars" and boxart was not important to the program so while Meiko and Kaito had images that could later be used as avatars Leon, Lola and Miriam unfortantely did not. When Avatars became common in the Japanese Vocaloids, this meant the English Vocaloids had to adapt themselves also for use of Avatars. However, the 3 older English Vocaloids remained without a suitable Avatar and users had to "invent" one for the voicebank. Zero-G, their creators, have since confirmed they are considering remaking their boxart to match the other Vocaloids since interest in Vocaloids has greatly increased. PowerFX's Sweet Ann, who had a image that could be used as an avatar but was often mocked, has been hinted to be considered also for a competition and a change of boxart, in light of Big Al's satisfactory reaction to his new look.

Since users usually prefer the Japanese vocaloids, questions like "How do I make Miku Hatsune sing in English?" are common sight on sites like Yahoo answers. English users often download the Japanese vocaloids with high expectations of being able to make Japanese vocaloids sing English only later to discover it is often not that simple without some aid. The program comes with a complete dictionary in the language they are designed for. However, if users wish to make the vocaloid sing in the opposing language (English vocaloid singing Japanese and Japanese singing English), the library of that language must be invented from scratch and is not recommended for new users. Vocaloids are difficult to use by non-native speakers and even more difficult to make sing in the unintended language. Some vocaloids have taken approaches to counter this problem with Megurine Luka being bilingual Japanese/English. Sonika was made to take an opposite approach and her voicebanks contained addional notes besides syllables and phonetics, essentially allowing her to speak any language with some work despite being only English. Alternatively, downloading an English Vocaloid alongside a Japanese one is an alternative solution to overcome this problem.

English Vocaloids lacked the 5 breathing phonemes ([br1] - [br5]) that their Japanese counterparts have, however Big Al has these previously missing phonemes. English Vocaloids are harder to work with then their Japanese counterparts, but mostly due to the difficulties of how the language transfers into the programs lyrics system. Difficult words in either language can be overcome by using phonemes instead of lyrics, but for new users this may take some experience with the program. Though the dictionary has many words in either language, there will always be absent words, the English dictionary is noted to be the most problematic at finding usual or uncommon words and users may have to manually submit the word into the dictionary. For instance upon his release Big Al had programmed in his dictionary the words "Bingle" and "Bangle" but not "Bungle". Another problem can be caused when two words share the same spelling in English vocaloids ("wind" as in a breeze and "wind" as twisting he key of a clockwork toy), so resulting to phonemes is essenital.

Software Versions
For a detailed history, Read here.

Vocaloid


Yamaha announced its development in 2003 and on January 15, 2004, Leon and Lola, the first application software product, were launched. It was not released as a Yamaha product, but a software package of Vocaloid Singer Libraries was developed by third party licensees which included Yamaha's Vocaloid software. Leon, Lola, and Miriam (Miriam using the voice of Miriam Stockley) have were released from Zero-G Limited, UK. In Japan Meiko (released on October 5, 2004 and using vocal samples from the Japanese singer Meiko Haigo ) and Kaito (released on February 14, 2006 and using vocal samples from the Japanese singer Naoto Fuuga ) were later released from Crypton Future Media.

Released Voicebanks
By Zero-G:
 * Leon: English
 * Lola: English female
 * Miriam: English female

By Crypton Future Media:
 * Meiko: Japanese female
 * Kaito: Japanese male

Additional Notes
The voice banks for Vocaloid are also more fluquid, and can be shaped easier. Vocaloid however has just 5 voicebanks offered to it (3 english, 2 Japanese), offering a limited range of voices. They cover soul, pop and J-pop music between them. Other genres are possible to achieve by users with further voice editing. As seen with voicebanks like Leon, different users can ultilize the voicebanks offered very differently and Vocaloid has produced a wide range of different results from the same few voicebanks even without heavy editing. Because of its more flexible nature, there are many users still working with the dated software.

However, Vocaloid is hard to make sound realistic, even though it is easy to edit. It has a much more digital sound then later engines. Leon and Lola, the very first Vocaloids, noticably show this digital sound more so then the other 3 voicebanks Miriam, Meiko and Kaito.

Vocaloid is confirmed incompatible with the Windows 7 operating system and while Vocaloid is suppose to be compatible with Windows Vista users have reported no major problems, though initally rumours stated otherwise. It cannot be guaranteed that Vocaloid will work with operating systems newer then Windows XP.

Vocaloid 2
In January 2007, Yamaha announced a new version of the software engine, Vocaloid2, with various major improvements in usability and synthesis quality. Zero-G and others announced plans to release products powered by the new software engine in 2007. PowerFX released the first English package that is powered by Vocaloid2 named Sweet Ann. Crypton followed and announced a series of character Vocaloid 2 packages to be released, the first being Hatsune Miku. The second package Kagamine Rin/Len was released on December 27, 2007 and the updated edition "act2" was released in July 2008.

Kamui Gakupo, a vocaloid that utilized the voice of the famous J-rock singer Gackt, was released on July 31, 2008. Prima was introduced at NAMM Show 2008; she was released on January 14, 2008 in the UK and February 22, 2008 in Japan.

Released Voicebanks
By Zero-G:
 * Prima: English female
 * Sonika: English female

By Crypton Future Media:
 * Miku Hatsune: Japanese female
 * Append: Contains improved voicebanks "Soft", "Sweet", "Dark", "Vivid", "Solid" and "Light".
 * Rin and Len Kagamine: Japanese female (Rin) and male (Len)
 * Act 2: Independant installation with updated voicebanks.
 * Luka Megurine: Japanese and English female

By PowerFX:
 * Sweet Ann: English female
 * Big Al: English male

By INTERNET Co.,Ltd:
 * Gakupo Kamui: Japanese male
 * Gumi: Japanese female

By AH Software:
 * SF-A2 miki: Japanese female
 * Yuki Kaai: Japanese female
 * Kiyoteru Hiyama: Japanese male

Additional Notes
Vocaloid 2 is easier to make sound real but harder to edit. The new additions and cleaner engine make Vocaloid 2 overall the superior to its predecessor, although the improved engine results in less voicebank possiblities as it is less fluquid then its predessor. The voicebanks however, have more editing options possible then Vocaloid and more varried voices can be achieved.

Vocaloid and Vocaloid 2 are incompactable with each other. Users wishing to have a Vocaloid and Vocaloid 2 voicebank sing together have to transfer via midi format between the two programs to have the singers sing the same song and then use an additional music/media program to organise the voicebanks into.

Currently there are 12 voicebanks for Vocaloid 2 (4 English, 8 Japanese). They offer a wider range of voicebanks then the previous version and cover the music genres pop, J-pop, childrens songs, classic rock and opera. Further genres are possible to achieve by users with voice editing.

The current version of Vocaloid 2 has no reported problems with the current operating systems.

Vocaloid 3
Vocaloid 3 has been confirmed, and is said to be aimed to be Yamaha's most realistic voice engine yet, discussion about the engine have already occured but no further details are known at this stage.

Upcoming Voicebanks

 * Tonio was due for release, but he is currently delayed. Zero-G also intends to release another voice later this year, however no further details are known and when Zero-G mentioned this they themselves had not decided on the voice.
 * Crypton is working on a unnamed Japanese male They have also continued to work on "Append" voicebanks with Len known to be worked on currently at least.
 * After Big-Al's release, PowerFX said they are looking for input towards their next vocaloid, indicating they are at least working towards another and will continue to base their vocaloids on monsters as it is what fans seem to like.
 * It is indicated Ah Software and Internet co., Ltd are both working on new vocaloids.

Legal Implications
Though the program is distributed for use by anyone, there are somewhat problems about using or creating the software for legal reasons, particularly copyright issues. To avoid such problems, companies keep the name of their voice providers anonymous or use voice actors instead to avoid the legal implications of using a professional singer. Other complications, such as expenses can also be a problem for the company while singers themselves may down right refuse to provide a voice for the program.

Zero-G refuses to reveal a singer who provided the voice for legal reasons to prevent users creating fake songs of the real singer and only Miriam's voice provider is to date known. Crypton also has commented that they shy away from professional singers due to similar legal reasons. PowerFX did name Big-Al's voice provider, but withdraw from saying who had been Sweet Anne's.

Although there are some slight variations per company on how you can use the software, some general terms of conditions are normally shared by the studios. Under the use of the software, a user may use the program as voice simple or create an orginal song just how other synthesizer application software such as those that provide the cords for a guitar or the keys on a piano work the same. However, the avatars belong to their respected companies and premission must be gained if the character is intended to be used. Users may also not sell material under the characters name without the premission of the software provider. Users may also not use the product to create disturbing or degrading lyrics.

Crypton set up Piapro to clear up some of these problems. Users are encouraged to post illustrations, music and lyrics onto the site. Then Piapro automatically authorizes the members to utilize these secondary creations for NON-COMMERCIAL porpose. This arrangement is for the products distributed by and the derivatives adopted by Crypton only. No other company has similar plans currently.

There is also a problem with uploading licensed songs onto Youtube and Youtube has been known to remove songs that are currently still owned by license holders. Nico Nico Douga allows covers of songs to be uploaded, but draws a line at actual animations linked with cover songs. Users who upload such songs with copyrighted animations have had their accounts removed and songs deleted.

Illegal copies of the software are also seen on bittorent sites, though many of these sites will delete the torrents when they are uploaded, copies still appear reglaurly. Most of the Vocaloids will at some point have their software "cracked" and keycard registration is no longer a problem with such software. Though there is no problems reported from offical vocaloid installations, a number of problems have occured with illegal copies, such as seen with Prima and Luka in the past, wherein illegal copies caused other vocaloids to stop working. Software support will not be provided by the studios if you have illegal copies, though information to make them work is found within the fandom. Some communities have now slowly began to shun the use or linking to illegal copies of the programs.

Trivia

 * English vocaloids are often referred to as "Engloids" by fans both English and Japanese fans because of their very different reaction and contrast to their Japanese counterparts.
 * "Lily" has been said to have been reported as being linked with the vocaloids, however Crypton has denied she is theirs and she is said to have no voice bank nor confirmation Lily is a vocaloids. She is designed to be "cyberpunk" and is drawn by KEI who previously did Vocaloids for Crypton.