KAITO

KAITO is a Japanese male Vocaloid created by Crypton Future Media. He utilizes the older Vocaloid engine developed by YAMAHA. He claims the spot of the last vocal to be released for the Vocaloid engine and is the first Japanese male Vocaloid to have appeared from Crypton Future Media. The voice was supplied by a Japanese male singer Fūga Naoto (風雅 なおと). The illustration was done by Takashi Kawasaki.

Vocaloid
On 24th July, 2003, a CD 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
 * Nicozon 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

At the time of his original sale, Vocaloid was not yet a well known product, and synthesizing software was only considered successful if it sold more than 1,000 units. However, Kaito managed to sell only 500 units—deeming him "a commercial failure." In contrast, his counterpart, Meiko, had sold 3,000 units in her first year.

Kaito's initial failure was one of 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. However, later interest in Kaito arose and Kaito sold well enough to later claim the second best seller of the year in Nico Nico Market in 2008. From 2009 up until late 2011, he was in the top 10 best selling software of Crypton Future Media often competing not only with Vocaloid 2 era voicebanks, but on occasion outselling them.

In 2012, Zero-G confirmed that all Vocaloid vocals were unsupported due for retirement "in the near future".

Vocaloid 2/Vocaloid 3; Kaito Update
''It is unknown when production switched from Vocaloid2 to vocaloid3, however, it is noted that even Crypton Future Media themselves did not know if this update would be Vocaloid2 or Vocaloid3. Use of the Vocaloid 2 version is noted in Project Mirai''

Kaito Append; 2010
Crypton announced in December 2010 that they were updating their old Vocaloid vocals. However, it was unknown if Meiko and Kaito would be Vocaloid2 or Vocaloid3 as they were still planning their vocals.

Recording of Naoto Fuuga's voice started on December 10, 2010, starting off with test recordings. Several voicebanks of different expressions like the Appends have been produced for the product.

On the 10th of December, tests were done on Kaito's voice. Wat confirmed they were discussing the marketing of the Kaito product. The project development was also confirmed in December to be Meiko> Megurine Luka >> Kaito.

On the 17th December 2010, 4 appends were mentioned;
 * "Mellow"
 * "Serious"
 * "Solid"
 * "Sweet"

Wat mentioned he will be asking for the thoughts of female producers on Kaito.

During the thoughts behind the update, it was noted that the differences between Miku and Kaito's low voice were ridiculously large and this was also reflected on the engine itself, leaving Wat wondering if the compatibility was still okay. There was also the question of how to handle the male vocal, questioning if the "voice of the character" could be hung onto with such a voice such as his. Wat discussed the problems with Kaito's voice that he had been presented with, stating since Kaito's vocal was a nice all-round voice, getting to act out the "expression of colour" previously seen in the Appends was challenging as the voice was already beautiful enough.

On the 25th of Dec, Wat announced that he had been charged with the sharing of information on Kaito on twitter. One of the current concerns at the time of development was that Kaito's vocals they were working on were failing to meet quality expectations of the consumers and work was needed on them.

Kaito Append; 2011
The first commercial usage of the Kaito Append was from the album "VOCALOID民族調曲集", which features Kaito Append singing the song "千年の独奏歌 (kaoling mix) / yanagi". The VOCALO APPEND album later used beta voicebanks of Kaito's "Normal", "Soft", and "Whisper" voicebanks singing "Lost Destination" with Kagamine Len Append.

In January, CFM noted that the silhouette has a transparent muffler. 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 since there was previous outcry from fans.

In March, Wat mentioned work on Kaito's vocal had encountered a problem which halted the work. He also did not know the release date yet.

In April, work on Kaito's voice resumed. Work on the vocal along with other protects had come to a hault. Wat mentioned wanting to do a vocal with a soft tone to it as well as a down toned voice. The voice of Kaito was going through checks on α stage. 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.

Crypton Future media also noted that several voicebanks had been recorded with new high tech microphones through a series of trial and error instead of the standard U87ai, these were;
 * "Vivid"
 * "Solid"
 * "Power"

These vocals were done as a series of experiments with new equipment using Naoto Fūga's voice.

On the 11th of May 2011, Crypton went back to Yamaha to announce the current Kaito development, whose demos were at the time suspended. Crypton apologized for the slow development to their fanbase and enhancements to Kaito's Whisper Append were being made.

On the 28 of May 2011, demos of Kaito Append "Whisper" and "Power", along with Miku's English voicebank, were posted on Nico Nico Douga.

On the 3rd of June 2011 the demo からくり時計と恋の話 was released using an alpha version of Kaito's "Soft" Append.

Kaito's "Soft" Append was considered by Crypton as Kaito's most natural vocal and was noted to require little editing to make it sound good. "Soft" had also left α and entered β now. It was confirmed by Wat that release would be unknown for sometime, but would continue to give out information as soon as possible on the developements of the software. Wat noted during developement that "soft" was being adjusted in relation to "whisper". "Whisper" was also still being adjusted, as well as other data which needed to be adjusted in a hurry. According to Crypton, lowering the gender factor on Kaito's "Soft" Append renders sounding like a female vocalist. Although it was cute, it was considered a blunder on their part.

By 11 June, Wat tweeted they were in the middle of the Kaito recordings and working hard for the first time in years to get the vocals completed. Wat noted they were trying to finish the main voice of Kaito to give them extra time to work on "Whisper". Later it was confirmed that by the end of the month, "Whisper" would be at the same stage as Soft. Later they announced that the data had been settled on "Whisperβ".

Wat reported that Kaito's "Whisper" vocal would have a demo due soon. Wat also referred to the process on Kaito English as "Annoying". Also, in July, in relation to the introduction of Hatsune Miku in America, Wat noted that there was a high level of female vocaloid fans in America compared to Japan. Based on this, Wat planned to test the demand on Kaito to see what the reaction was. Crypton also finished recording Kaito's vocals after work was previously suspended for an interval. Crypton was in discussion with Fuuga, Kaito's provider on the image and vocal outputs. A classic Kaito Vocaloid style recording had also completed recording, one which will sound close to the vocal tone of the original voicebank that users were familiar with. It was then noted that there will be some wait for more information.

On the 14th October 2011, Crypton updated via their twitter noting that English Kaito will take some time to produce. Not long after, it was announced via Piapro and Miku's FB that a surprise concerning Kaito will be revealed at the 2011 New York Anime Festival. When the 16th of October came, the panel revealed a demo of Kaito Append's English VB. Footage of the demo was captured and uploaded onto YouTube:


 * Kaito singing "Top of the World" by the Carpenters

It was later tweeted that Kaito's English voicebank was in its alpha stage and that it still needed brushing up on. Checks were also done on the English vocal in Dec. Kaito's lower tones also had to be fixed.

Wat tweeted on the 1st Dec 2011, noting that all previous demos had originally been rendered with the Vocaloid2 engine, and things were being redone for the Vocaloid3 engine.

Crypton also ran a contest involving Kagamine Len Append, where the winner received exclusive information on Kaito's update.

V3 Kaito; 2012
In Feb Wat discussed the differences between the CV series (Hatsune Miku, Kagamine Rin/Len and Megurine Luka) and Kaito/Meiko and stated their updates were being adjusts using editing techniques to achieve the results, whereas the CV series Appends had been done by acting performance. English Kaito voicebank was reported to have received adjustments to a few of it diaphonetic data in Feb 2012.

Crypton Future Media began looking for Japanese producers who can use English capable Vocaloids to work with for the English version. Kaito himself is currently being compared to overseas male English Vocaloids. On 23rd of Feb it was announced that they were able to talk about the progress of both Japanese and Kaito voicebanks in production. The company is exchanging VSQ files with producers to see how the current English Vocaloids compare with Kaito. Several overseas producers were now taking part with Kaito's production. Kaito's double vowel and vowel to vowel sounds had been adjusted after a report came back on him.

It is confirmed that Kaito's clothes would not change in March 2012, they will just get a facelift. The boxart will also use a 2.5D style drawing. In early March 2012, Kenmochi Hideki was given the voicebank to make further adjustments to. The English vocal was sent to Kenmochi Hideki to check the vocals. Crypton noted that all that was left over was that Kaito's vowels had to be adjusted.

In April, Crypton commented on "Whisper" use of triphones as "wonderful". Kaito's "Normal" voicebank was also officially declared as part of the new version. Wat also confirmed the manual will contain a history of Vocaloid Kaito.

In May, Kaito's voice was still being adjusted.

Checks were run on Kaito's voice in October. Further adjustments were made to Kaito and Miku in early October prior to their vocals demostration. Crypton were also considering what to call the default vocal for Kaito and had suggested names like "Neutral", "Natural" and "Default".

A English demo of Miku and Kaito was shown NYCCon 2012, both are still in Beta version. Kaito's V3 "whisper" and V3 vocal were shown. Kaito's release of his English vocal was expected "by the end of this year or the begining of the next".

In December it was reported that news on the update of Kaito is due within the next few days.

According to Crypton Future Media, there had been some delay on Kaito's V3 version due to their desiring to include "Piapro Studio" with his package.

More demos are being added on this page; Demo page

V3 Kaito; 2013
He was set for a Feb 2013 release.

In early Jan 2013, adjustments to Kaito's voicebanks were completed and Kaito was set to be released in mid-Feb 2013 as scheduled. DTM Magazine is due to run a series of tutorials on how to use Kaito V3 for beginners. The idea of the bundles being offered with Kaito V3 software is to give users a means to create everything they need in basic sound making. The reason why Kaito has 4 vocal libraries is to minimize the amount of troubles they would encounter with the pack. A special discount will be offered to Vocaloid Kaito users, price is being based on the difference between Vocaloid Kaito and the CV series price.

Concept
Kaito was created as a counterpart of Meiko and developed together.

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 a synthesizer application software. This was empathized during the development also of the v3 vocal banks, with Wat stating how different the intention of the CV series and Kaito/Meiko were. This even led to the direction of the updates leading a totally different course of development compared to the Appends of Miku, Len, Rin and Luka.

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 depicts in the comic is not official settings as he mentioned in a magazine interview.

Because of the story of his rediscovery in 2008, Kaito was often depicted with ice cream. This gave birth to the "Item War" Internet Meme tradition.

Kaito's muffler has become one of his more iconic items. In regards to his V3 update, after fan outcry at the idea of it being made transparent, Crypton noted that cloth can be made out of anything, including plastic and there was a lot more freedom then many realised with it.

Etymology
The product's name was invited from the public, and "KAITO" was selected from among applicants, which was the idea of Shu-tP. One of the reasons why his name "KAITO" was selected was that it would be easy for non-Japanese speakers to pronounce, and that it looked fitting to the name "MEIKO" when they were put next to one another.

Marketing
The act of putting a character on the boxart 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.

Kaito's V3 release repeats many aspects of what made the CV series popular and he is already due a series of "beginners guide" in magazines such as DTM magazine.

Figurines
Kaito has had a few figurines based on him. Despite being older than the CV series Vocaloids, Kaito's merchandise tends to sell particularly well. The Nendoroid Kaito figurine had a high demand, causing a second re-issue of the figurine. A second version of the Nendoroid Kaito has been released, apart of the Cheerful Japan line.


 * For more see Figurines

Guest Appearances
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.

Birthday '12
In 2012, CFM held the Kaito "Birthday '12" event. This lasted the full week of the 14th-17th 2012.

Calender
Crypton Future Media Vocaloids have also appeared in 2013 calenders.

Vocaloid

 * Comparison between the Vocaloid and voice provider

Kaito

 * -|Kaito =

Kaito V3
Unreleased

In his upcoming software package, this will replace the original product and it will be retired from sale. This originally was intended to be a Vocaloid 2 release. This product has been stated several times to be a far different extension to the Character Vocal's Appends. Whereas their extensions are meant to be expressive vocals, Kaito and Meiko's are still focused on singer performance, therefore the tones within these voicebanks are more natural sounding tones in comparison. There are 3 vocals within this package in Japanese and 1 in English. You do not need the previous Vocaloid version to use this pack like the appends for the CV series, the vocals are also complete new recordings using none of the past Vocaloid data.

Kaito V3 also includes Piapro Studio.


 * -|Straight =
 * -|Soft =
 * -|Whisper =
 * -|English =

Examples of Usage
To our readers and editors, for section notes please read; Notes; Examples sections.

Popularity
Kaito's rise to fame was only by circumstance, since Kaito was "a commercial failure" and few had any interest in him. Kaito is now amongst the most popular of the Vocaloids in both Japanese and Western fandoms. However, despite that fact he is very dated in terms of engine and newer, better Vocaloids have been released.

The story of the sudden change in opinion of him occurred on September 16th, 2007, when 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.
 * 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

At the height of his sale he was the only one of the two Vocaloid engine vocals to have a consistent ranking as one of the Crypton's Top Ten Products. 2010, Kaito was ranked as the 7th most popular Vocaloid product they sold. In some instances, he was even more popular than the Vocaloid 2 engine Appends for Miku and the Kagamines. His design has also spawned many producer based derivatives.

A independent Vocaloid search on Nico Nico Douga revealed that most Vocaloids had less than 1,000 videos uploaded on Nico Nico Douga in between July 1 and December 15 2011. Kaito managed to make it into the top six of a few lists. Kaito was the 6th most popular Vocaloid in terms of uploads, recieving 1404 uploads. KAITO had the 6th highest number of views with 1561894 views and 118479 mylists. Kaito did not make the top 6 average list, however, he was the 3rd most popular Vocaloid based on the mean number of views, which is a more truer reflection of his popularity with 414 views and 19 mylists.

Trivia

 * 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.
 * When it came to the Kaito update, the voicebanks went under much experimenting throughout the developing process. This was because although Crypton were veterans at producing Vocaloid voicebanks, they did not have so much experience with masculine toned vocals such as Fuuga Naoto's. This was due to the fact all of their other Vocaloids intended for the consumer market had come from female vocalists.
 * Owed to the difference between vocaloid Kaito and Vocaloid3 Kaito, Wat himself referred to the two packages as like "brothers" due to their very seperate natures.

Notable for...

 * Was used in the oldest known Vocaloid related song ever released
 * First Japanese male vocal ever released
 * Only Vocaloid voicebank announced as a "failure"
 * Subject to a sudden opinion change around
 * Most popular Vocaloid voicebank
 * Last Vocaloid voicebank produced
 * First Vocaloid voicebank to be updated

Gallery
[source]
 * -|Boxart =
 * -|Promotional art =
 * -|MMD models =
 * -|Game art =
 * -|Misc. =