SONiKA

Sonika (ソニカ Sonika) is the fifth Vocaloid created by Zero-G. Released on July 14th, 2009, she is the third English speaking Vocaloid to use the updated Vocaloid2 software. She later became the first Vocaloid to be produced for Chinese.

History
Zero-G felt that a young, frivolous singer would make for an overall interesting vocaloid, providing the fresh and innocent voice that professional singers do not provide. She is the first English speaking vocaloid to use a character design and profile as part of the product. She was released with profile/biographical information on the back cover of the software package, similar to the other Vocaloid2 products.

Sonika on Twitter
Following her release Zero-G took a unique stance with her post-release development. They have created and maintained a Twitter page for Sonika, something unheard of for any past vocaloid. Tweets have included pictures of herself with a different hair color, announcing her favorite food is sashimi tuna, and announcing upcoming interviews in media articles. She has even made direct reference to fans discussing what her character item should be.

She also reports things like Tonio's late arrival and may even make a reaction to the release of other vocaloids like Big Al.

Sonika boxart 2009
From Nov. 2, 2009 to Nov. 30, 2009. Zero-G announced a competition to give Sonika a new look. The winner would receive a copy of the "Sonika Vocaloid2 Software".

Nearing the end of November an image was uploaded on Crypton Catalog that represented Sonika's new appearance. It was drawn by artist Mario Wibisono (aka raynkazuya) at the request of Zero-G. And with the image being found during the New Look Competition and uploaded to Zero-G's site a few days later, this greatly confused fans and submitters who thought that it was the winning image.

This was quickly corrected by Zero-G stating that the competition rules never included the winning image being used for boxart.

Global Exploit
Currently, Sonika is being produced as a Chinese version under license by 飛天膠囊數位科技有限公司 (Fēi tiān jiāo náng shù wèi kē jì yŏu xiàn gōng sī, literally translated as "Flying Capsule Digital Technology Co., Ltd.", official English name of the company is "Ecapsule Co., Ltd") in Taiwan. The Chinese edition comes with new boxart. For users in Taiwan, this edition will have a list in her help file produced by the company, not to take considerable time for making it sounds closer to nature Chinese pronunciations. The list will show her accessibility to 90% of them. Also users can choose to use the original English or Traditional Chinese interface. This version when displayed at its announced convention on 24th and 25th July, 2010 will come with limited stickers and posters. This also means Sonika will be the first "chinese" Vocaloid and she will be capable of both Chinese and English.

Usage for Music
She has a strong British accent and is better suited for late 20th century pop and sings with a soft and innocent sounding voice. However she has a limited vocal range and heavy editing may be needed.

Though marketed to an English speaking audience, Sonika can potentially sing in other languages and her vocal bank is not limited to fixed syllables and phonetics so she is able to produce any consonant and vowel combination imaginable. She has an expansive voicebank list with many things that do not exist in other voicebanks giving her an almost unlimited potential amongst the Vocaloids. But while she may have many things within her voicebanks that were not included in other Vocaloids, she lacks the 5 breathing phonemes ([br1]-[br5]) that is commonly included in the Japanese voicebanks, even though her predecessor Prima had all of them. However, her voicebank is set up in such a way that, theoretically, it does not need them, although a user who is used to having the missing phonemes may need some time to adjust to using alternative means to get a similar effect.

Though her voicebanks gives her a large advantage over many other vocaloids, she is said to be difficult to work with and produces flat notes, however a tutorial was created to give tips and suggestions. Overall this makes her unsuitable for amateur users, but she is highly recommended for advance users who know how to get the most potential out of Vocaloid 2 voicebanks. Sonika provides an excellent opportunity for high levels of experimentation with the Vocaloid 2 program editing options, and a user who is confident in their skills will find Sonika a good learning tool to improve their voice editing skills.

Notable Sonika songs
There are at least 100 videos on Nico Nico Douga and 490 videos on Youtube which are related to Sonika. See NicoVideo Search: SONIKA and YouTube Search: SONIKA More than 5 of her songs were viewed over 3,000 times on Nico: Youtube Playlist

Sonika Says
Song and Lyrics by Giuseppe
 * YouTube broadcast
 * Her demo debut.

La Chica Ye Ye (The Girl Of Ye-Ye)
Sung by Concha Velasco Cover by Giuseppe
 * YouTube broadcast

Whispering Waves
Sung by Donna Summer Cover by Giuseppe
 * YouTube broadcast

Sora (Sky)
Song and Lyrics by kuriputon-P Cover by Giuseppe
 * Nico broadcast
 * YouTube broadcast

Lillium (Lily)
Song uses east west symphonic choirs From: Elfen Lied Sung by Kumiko Noma Song and Lyrics by kuriputon-P Cover by Giuseppe
 * YouTube broadcast

Dinky Dink No Time To Think
Music and lyrics by So-Pop
 * Nico broadcast
 * YouTube broadcast

Come to me
Music and lyrics by So-Pop
 * YouTube broadcast

Ninety-Nine Red Balloons
Sung by Nena Cover by So-Pop
 * YouTube broadcast

USBMine
Music and lyrics by SeriousMF
 * YouTube broadcast

eMancipation
Music and lyrics by SeriousMF
 * YouTube broadcast

Artificial Love
Music and lyrics by SeriousMF
 * YouTube broadcast

Cybermoon
Music and lyrics Andromeca
 * YouTube broadcast

Unifikation
Music and lyrics Andromeca
 * Nico broadcast
 * YouTube broadcast

Sensemaking
Music and lyrics Andromeca
 * YouTube broadcast

えんばん (Discus)
Music and lyrics by PressureRain
 * Nico broadcast
 * YouTube broadcast

TIN-GE
Music and lyrics by PressureRain
 * Nico broadcast
 * YouTube broadcast

グリーングリーン～ミドリムシ～ (Green Green Euglena)
Song and lyrics by Nem
 * Nico Broadcast
 * Youtube Broadcast

3
Sung by Britney Spears Cover by Doofus-P (matt9five)
 * Youtube broadcast

If U Seek Amy
Sung by Britney Spears Cover by Doofus-P (matt9five)
 * Youtube broadcast

Bad Romance
Sung by Lady Gaga Cover by SONiKA-P (Icelilac1)
 * Youtube broadcast
 * Nico broadcast

Real Emotion
From: Final Fantasy X-2 Sung by Jade Villalon Cover by Doofus-P (matt9five) (official English ver)
 * YouTube broadcast

Still Alive
From: Portal Sung by Ellen McLain Cover by Doofus-P (matt9five)
 * YouTube broadcast

Poker Face
Duet with Tonio as back up

Orginally sung by Lady Gaga

Cover by Doofus-P (matt9five)


 * Youtube broadcast

Koi Wa Sensou (Love is War)
Song by ryo (Supercell) Cover by Doofus-P (matt9five) (in English)
 * YouTube broadcast

Lion Sleeps Tonight
Sung by The Tokens
 * Youtube broadcast

Love Game
Sung by Lady Gaga Cover by icreps105
 * Youtube broadcast

Butterfly
Song by SMiLE dk Cover by cityedge
 * Nico broadcast
 * YouTube broadcast

Yamete yaruyo utaite nanka (I'll Quit Singing)
Sung by Teto Kasane Song by Namahage-P Cover by GothicBlue0 (an original rewrite)
 * YouTube broadcast

Meruto 3M MIX (Melt)
Song by ryo (Supercell) Cover by Anmerutsu P (in English)
 * Nico broadcast
 * YouTube broadcast

Meruto (Melt)
Duet with Prima Song by ryo (Supercell) Cover by AkyuP (Piano Ver)
 * Nico broadcast
 * YouTube broadcast

Last Night, Good Night
Song by Kz Cover by SONiKA-P (Icelilac1) (In English)
 * Youtube broadcast

サイハテ / Saihate (The Furthest Place)
Song by Kobayashi Onyx Sung by Miku Hatsune English lyrics by Hamu Cover by NoNeed4Vocaloid (in English)
 * YouTube broadcast

Migikata no Chou (Butterfly On Your Right Shoulder)
Song by Nori-P Cover by NoNeed4Vocaloid (in English)
 * Youtube broadcast

Trivia

 * The winner of Sonika's New Look Competition was Kjbionicle, her entry was number 30.
 * She was initially poked fun at by both English and Japanese fans for resembling Gumi/Megpoid. Her look was said to resemble a simplified version of Gumi's outfit and the colors were similar to each other.
 * The reaction to Sonika's new look has been mixed, with positive comments stating that the look is an improvement over the original CG and stylish, and negative comments stating that the look appears too sexual and nothing like the original Sonika. Others have pointed out that the new look does not fit Sonika's soft voice. Sonika herself reacted on Twitter to the negative feed back.
 * The English community debated over which item would be Sonika's character item. The most popular choices were a golden ring, based off her name's similarity to "Sonic the Hedgehog", and a bell, based off her demo song "Ring my Bell". The Japanese community has focused on a pineapple due to her appearance's similarity to a pineapple (patterned gold shirt and spiky, green hair).
 * Although she was not the first English vocaloid to use an avatar on her boxart, she was the first to mimic the Japanese style of avatars.
 * While a noticeable voice amongst the Vocaloid fandom has expressed a desire to see an improved version of Sonika it has been confirmed by Zero-G that they have no intentions to improve her voicebanks.
 * According to her twitter messages, Sonika's hair color is able to change color (e.g. from green to red), she also has freckles that show in the summer heat.