MEIKO

MEIKO is a Vocaloid DTM(Desktop Music) software created by Crypton Future Media. She is the first Japanese vocaloid and utilizes the older Vocaloid engine developed by YAMAHA. Her voice is based on a Japanese female singer Meiko Haigō (拝郷 メイコ, Haigō Meiko), which is steady, straightforward, and suitable for any musical genre. The illustration was done by Shogo Washizu, who is often called わっしー(Wasshi) and was once a member of Crypton. .

History
On 24th July, 2003, an CCCD album "HISTORY OF LOGIC SYSTEM", which included a song using Japanese vocaloids commecially 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 prototye version of Meiko and Kaito before their realease. Crypton placed this product on the market with a box art which depicted Meiko in anime form. This character had nothing to do with the singer's image, but her appearance appealed to the mainstream audience and the software sold well. The success of this marketing strategy influenced the development and art style of other Vocaloids such as Kaito and Miku Hatsune.
 * Nicobroadcast
 * Youtubebroadcast

Usage for Music
Until Luka appeared, she was also the most mature sounding of the Japanese voicebanks. She is fit to sing anything from pop, rock, jazz, R&amp;B to children's songs. Vocaloid digital sound is still heard in her voicebank and editing may be needed. Her overall tone of voice is more fluid and gives her a large vocal range. When compared to her counterpart Kaito, her voice is much firmer and mature sounding then he is, as he was created to harmorize her.

Meiko had VOCALOID 1.0 editor when she was released. Users using VOCALOID 1.0 editor can update them by patching VOCALOID 1.1.2 update file for Meiko. There are many differences between ver1.0 and 1.1, and they sound differently even if they are edited in the same way. The main differences are Singing Style and Portamento Timing.

The Japanese fandom has taken great measures to push her voice to its limits. This is demostrated by the derivative "Meiko Sakine" which was part of a product of Japanese producers pushing the limits of Meiko's capablities to produce a much younger sounding voice. Since Vocaloid has some functions that Vocaloid 2 do not have, such as Resonance. Different users can utilize the voicebanks offered very differently and she can produce a wide range of different results from the same few voicebanks with further editing by using several Resonances and otehr functions.

Though this involves heavy investiment of time to make such a big adjustment of her vocals, it does highlight the overall potential of the Vocaloid era voicebanks as the same techniques have also from time to time been applied to others of her era with the same levels of results.

Trivia

 * Meiko and Kaito are often referred to as "Nenchou-gumi" (年長組, The Seniors) compared to Vocaloid 2.
 * One Cup Ozeki (a sake widely available through vending machines) often serves as her character item in some videos.
 * A Japanese electropop-artist Susumu Hirasawa announced that he used a female vocaloid in the original soundtrack of "Paprika" by Satoshi Kon on his blog. Since Susumu Hirasawa has not told which Vocaloid he used for a long time, many fans speculated it was Meiko. However, later he mentioned on a magazine interview that it was Lola..
 * Because Meiko's boxart hides the front of her jacket, it is difficult to tell what design she has and the result is even in offical artwork, there is variantion.
 * Her age was never given, however, in Maker Hikōshiki Hatsune Mix she is usually portrayed as a middle aged woman by Kei.
 * Her boxart was made by a Crypton employee.