SF-A2 miki

SF-A2 miki (SF-A2 開発コード miki, SF-A2 development code; miki) is a Japanese Vocaloid released in December 4, 2009. She is developed by AH-Software.

History
She is voiced by Miki Furukawa (former bassist of the band Supercar and now a solo singer) and illustrated by Yuusuke Kozaki. Two demos have been released, "Touyou no Noumiso" and "±". Also another demo songs were given out on her official page.

An album with her singing Christmas songs, "VOCALOIDS☆Ｘ‘MAS" was also set to be released in November, 2009. Notable vocaloid song creators' works are included in the album. She was also used for the introduction of the Hello Kitty game, Hello Kitty to Issho! Block Crash 123! on its official page.
 * Hello Kitty to Issho! Block Crash 123!

Usage for Music
SF-A2 miki is the first member of AH-Software's "Artist Vocal" series, the series based on vocal artists and follows a different intention to that of Kaai Yuki and Hiyama Kiyoteru. SF-A2's vocal has been used mostly for pop and rock songs. She was created to have a wide range and to sound different greatly when she is in a high voice and in a low voice, some users say her voice is smooth and can be emotional, but her pronunciations are weak and it is difficult to control her pitch without further editing or pitch correct software. Because of this she is often said to be not easy for beginners to use.

Her voicebank is easy to blend in with current voicebanks and she can be used to close gaps between the other female ranges to smooth out the differences between the singing group. This also ensures with some minor adjustments she can be the partner to almost all of the female voicebanks within her era and harmonizes well with them.


 * Comparison between the Vocaloid and voice provider

SF-A2's software may occasionally have an installation error when installed, this is related to her engine version and may show up when installing her over a more updated Vocaloid 2 like Gachapoid or Lily. Help can be found within the fandom on fixing this. This can be fixed very easily, however, if a newer Vocaloid installed after her installation, otherwise re-installation in release order is another solution.

Until late May 2011, works made using the AH-Software Vocaloids were banned from being published through Karen-T because permission had not been granted for their use with the website by AH-Software.

Reception
In the western fandom, she was fortunate enough to not be the subject of complaints of her design being too plain unlike Kaai Yuki and Hiyama Kiyoteru upon her release. However since then some fans have expressed some complaints that her look is a step back in the Vocaloid design.

In both fandoms, her voice is often compared to other existing vocaloids and is noted for her voicebanks sounding similar to other Vocaloids among fans. This makes her a varied Vocaloid but led to many complaints at her release that everything Miki does has already been covered by other Vocaloids in the Vocaloid 2 era.

SF-A2 miki was the most popular of the three Ah Software Vocaloids, however the three were slow to gain popularity and for a while were amongst the least popular of the Japanese Vocaloids.

Trivia

 * Kio's model is available by purchase of Windows 100% magazine and MMD Starter Pack magazine. Previously the model was available to download from his site, however it pulled after users violated the models 'terms of use'.
 * She is the only member of the "Artist Vocal" series to date.

Notable for...

 * One of the first 3 AH software Vocaloids
 * One of the two first female AH software Vocaloids