KAITO

KAITO is a Japanese male Vocaloid created by Crypton Future Media. He utilizes the older Vocaloid engine developed by YAMAHA, the predecessor of Vocaloid2. The voice was supplied by a Japanese male singer Fuuga Naoto (風雅 なおと). The illustration was done by Takashi Kawasaki. The product's name was invited from the public, and "KAITO" was selected from among applicants, which was the idea of Shu-tP.

History
Kaito was created as a counterpart of Meiko and developed together. One of the reasons why his name "KAITO" was selected was that it would be easy for non-Japanese speakers to pronounce, and another reasons was that it looked fitting to the name "MEIKO" when they were put next to one another. On 24th July, 2003, an CCCD album "HISTORY OF LOGIC SYSTEM", which included a song using Japanese vocaloids commercially for the first time, was released. It was a duet song of "Ano Subarashii Ai wo Mou Ichido (That Wonderful Love Once More)" and it was covered by prototype version of Meiko and Kaito before their release. Meiko was released 1 year after this and Kaito followed her 2 years later.


 * Nico broadcast 【VOCALOID遺産】あの素晴らしい愛をもう一度

Also in 2003, Yamaha gave out his first demo song, "Kimi no Uwasa (Rumor of Yours)" 3 years before his release.
 * Nico broadcast 【プロトタイプ KAITO】 ヤマハが作ったデモソング『 君の噂 』(フル)
 * Youtube broadcast Yamaha vocaloid KAITO DEMO song "Kimi-no-uwasa" 君の噂

Crypton did not set his character and profile except his package design, as well as Meiko, for not having a concept of giving a certain character to an synthesizer application software. It was carried over to the following vocaloids to encourage creative activities by free individuals and expanding the characters based on each user's individual needs.

Later Rediscovery
Kaito sold only 500 packages in the initial distribution and Crypton deemed it as a failure. On September 16th, 2007, Tatsunami uploaded a parody of the song in Higurashi no naku koro ni, "A Request From Hatsune" onto NicoNicoDouga. During this time, Miku was extremely popular on NicoNicoDouga, yet almost nobody knew of Kaito let alone produced songs using him. The video begins with the words "please sometimes recall [KAITO]," as well as Miku saying "where are you and what are you doing now?" which is from the song Dear You. About four hours later, "An Answer To Hatsune Miku" was posted by Ice-P. In this video, Kaito responds with, "yes? I was eating an ice cream," and then proceeds to sing a cover of The Ice Cream Song (originally sung by Saeko Shuu in 1960). Kaito's last dialogue in this video is "Miku, let's eat it together next time." It just so happened that Ice-P was producing the cover when he saw the video Tatsunami uploaded. After the rediscovery, Kaito was sold well and also he won the second best seller of the year in Nico Nico Market in 2008.
 * Nico broadcast / Nicozon broadcast 初音ミクからのお願い.
 * Nico broadcast / Nicozon broadcast 初音ミクへの回答

Append - the Future of Kaito
Crypton announced on twitter that they are developing a new production of Kaito named "Kaito Append". Recording of Naoto Fuuga's voice started on December 9, 2010. Several voicebanks of different expressions like the Appends have been produced for the product. There are four appends empirically under development; temporarily "Mellow", "Sweet", "Solid" and "Power".

Crypton announced that Kaito's muffler in his silhouette version was going to be transparent. However, they have since reconsidered this due to the fan outcry. On February 17th, 2011, Crypton released a temporary silhouette of Kaito's Append. They said that it has not been decided whether he will have a transparent muffler or not.

There is a Piapro demo song contest for Len's Power Append. The prize is a package present of information on KAITO Append dates and when it is commercialized.

On the 13th April, 2011, it was confirmed 6 vocal expressions had been recorded, two of which were dropped and the remaining were being brought forward with one having reached a completed alpha stage already. The Character Vocal (Hatsune Miku, Kagamine Rin/Len and Megurine Luka) series Appends had been created from vocal performance of their voice providers. The new Kaito Appends were created by adding echo, force and tension to the samples.

Usage for Music
Both Kaito and Meiko form the Vocaloid "series", following a different design intention to the series of Vocaloids that followed them by Crypton Future media. Kaito is the male designed to be the counterpart to Meiko within their series.

Kaito's vocal engine has been updated several times. He can utilize two kind of Vocaloid editors, VOCALOID 1.0 and VOCALOID 1.1, and they have different functions and features. There are many differences between ver1.0 and 1.1, and they sound differently even if they are edited in the same way. (Comparison of ver 1.0 and ver 1.1 without further editing Nico broadcast, Nicozon broadcast). The main differences are Singing Style and Portamento Timing.

To use his 1.0 version, users who are NOT using 1.1.2 version need to patch Vocaloid Ver1.1.2 update file for Kaito distributed on Crypton’s official page first before they use VOCALOID 1.0 editor. Without patching, an critical error will occur.

He is fit to sing anything from hymns and children's songs to R&amp;B and pop, though the style that he is best used for is singing pop ballads.


 * Comparison between the Vocaloid and voice provider

Append
Kaito's Append were created from a different process compared to the Character Vocal series of Vocaloids. There are 4 Appends confirmed for him.

Trivia

 * Kaito's initial failure was one the main reasons why other male vocaloids have not been developed for a long time after his release. The male voicebanks had so little demand at that time.
 * The story of his character item firmly established ice cream as KAITO's character item.
 * Kaito and Meiko are often referred to as "Nenchou-gumi" (年長組, The Seniors) compared to Japanese Vocaloid2s.
 * His age was never given officially. In Maker Hikōshiki Hatsune Mix he is usually portrayed as a middle aged man by KEI, however, what he depict in the comic is not official settings as he mentioned in a magazine interview.
 * In Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei Kaito look-a-likes are seen in the waiting queue during the auditions of the role of Meru Meru, however they do not have Kaito's known colours.
 * Since Yamaha and Crypton printed different dates for Kaito's release (Yamaha; 14th, Crypton; 17th), some fans within the Japanese Vocaloid community celebrate Kaito's release date anniversary during all days between the different dates.