MEIKO

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

Claim to Fame

 * First Japanese female vocal ever released
 * First Japanese Vocaloid vocal released
 * Was used in the oldest known Vocaloid related song ever released

History
On July 24, 2003, an CCCD 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.


 * Nico broadcast 【VOCALOID遺産】あの素晴らしい愛をもう一度
 * Youtube broadcast【VOCALOID遺産】あの素晴らしい愛をもう一度

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.

Append - the future of Meiko?
Both Kaito and Meiko were confirmed to have Appends on the way, however, no details have been released yet on Meiko's Append.

Usage for Music
Both Kaito and Meiko form a part of the Vocaloid "series", following a different design intention to the series of Vocaloids that followed them by Crypton Future Media. Kaito is her counterpart in the series. Both Vocaloids are designed to be professional vocals for professional muscians.

Her voice is noted to be steady, straightforward, and suitable for any musical genre. 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.

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 other functions.

Meiko had VOCALOID 1.0 editor when she was released. Users using VOCALOID 1.0 editor can update them by patching 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.


 * Comparison between the Vocaloid and voice provider

Append
Meiko is confirmed to be due for Append, however, no information has been yet released on what the Appends will be like.

Reception
Meiko was well recieved and sound well compared to her counterpart Kaito, becoming the more popular of the two. For a long time, she held onto this until the release of Hatsune Miku, of which left both her and Kaito behind.

After interest began to occur in her counterpart Kaito, Meiko users also attempted to revive the interest in Meiko as well. The Japanese fandom has taken great measures to push her voice to its limits. This is demonstrated by the fanmade derivative "Sakine Meiko" which was part of a product of Japanese producers pushing the limits of Meiko's capabilities to produce a much younger sounding voice. Though this involves heavy investment 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.

However, despite the producers efforts, by 2010 while Kaito appeared in the Crypton ranking of their best selling products, Meiko has fallen into obscurity. She is currently the only Vocaloid related product of Crypton's not in their top ten.

Trivia

 * 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 did not reveal which Vocaloid he used for a quite some time, except the fact it was a female vocaloid, many fans speculated it was Meiko. However, later he mentioned in a magazine interview that it was Lola.


 * 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.


 * 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 official artwork, there is variation.


 * Her age was never given. In Maker Hikōshiki Hatsune Mix she is usually portrayed as a middle aged woman by KEI, however, as he mentioned in a magazine interview, what he depicts in the comic is not official settings.


 * In Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei Meiko look-a-likes are seen in the waiting queue during the auditions of the role of Meru Meru, however they are not they do not have Meiko's known colours. Miku (though played by Fujita Saki) is also seen actually speaking in the auditions themselves.