UNI

UNI (유니) is a new Korean VOCALOID to be developed by ST MEDiA, with an expected release on the VOCALOID4 engine in the summer of 2015.

2014
UNI was announced on the VOCALOID EMPIRE fan-cafe on November 9th, 2014. The announcement stated that YAMAHA portrayed a positive position on UNI's development, which will commence so long as there are no "huge unforeseen consequences," and that SBS A&T promised to provide assistance for UNI's voicebank development. Demo songs for UNI will be selected from the most popular original songs uploaded to VOCALOID EMPIRE.

The announcement also stated that Korean Vocaloid development "may not end with UNI only."

Dr. Yun, Korean producer and admin of VOCALOID EMPIRE, revealed in the comments section that they plan on recording UNI's voicebank with a professional voice actress who would be chosen before the end of November. He also confirmed that UNI's design concept was finalized and that she will only have a Korean voicebank for the time being.

On November 29th, the staff stated that they were looking for voice provider suggestions. Fans could comment the voice provider they think would suit UNI and the staff would check periodically to see the most recommended choices. They would keep the most popular suggestions in mind.

On December 7th, one of UNI's full designs was revealed at the Shanghai Exhibition Center in China. However, if fans do not agree with the design or if the design receives backlash, editing or changing the design is in consideration. The design that was revealed was a finalized design, but it is not the finished product. It was also stated that the design on the banner was also not final and they wanted to showcase the hairstyle, which will be kept. In terms of the voice provider, they were looking for someone who would have a calm, warm and mature sounding voice.

2015
Around the end of April 2015, fans had asked questions about UNI's development to the staff of ST MEDiA. The company answered that they could not reveal whether UNI would be put on the VOCALOID3 or VOCALOID4 engine, as well as who the voice provider was at this point in time. They were still hoping for a 2015 release and they confirmed that overseas fans would be able to purchase her.

On July 11th, when asked about whether UNI was in the VOCALOID3 engine, VOCALOID EMPIRE confirmed that UNI was in production for the VOCALOID4 engine since the beginning.

On July 27th, several questions were brought up to VOCALOID EMPIRE's twitter account. UNI will have more than one voice bank, and it was hinted that she may be able to sing in multiple languages. It was also noted that she may not meet the estimated summer 2015 release.

Her design was originally intended to be revealed August 15th 2015, but was announced early on August 4th due to the silhouette hitting 300 likes. VOCALOID EMPIRE said they wanted to produce banks in Chinese and/or English, but that UNI would most likely be released with 2 in total. However, the certainty of these claims was later thrown into question by a translator. Korean tweets suggested UNI would only be released with one voicebank, but more if she was successful.

Concept
UNI is described as having strawberry milk and electronic dance music as her 'favorites'. It also states that her sizes are 34-23-25.

Etymology
Her name is derived from the word "Universe," thus dubbing her as the "Universe VOCALOID." It is pronounced 'ju:ni'.