Camui Gackpo

Kamui Gakupo (神威がくぽ) (note: on the Karen-T website his name is always written as "Camui Gackpo") is the official mascot character of Gackpoid (がくっぽいど / Gakuppoido) which is a singing synthesizer application software powered by Yamaha's Vocaloid2 and was published by INTERNET Co.,Ltd.
 * The naming about this product is very confusing. The Vocaloid software itself is under the official name Gackpoid, and Kamui Gakupo or Gackpo is the avatar character of the software drawn by the illustrator Kentaro Miura (三浦健太郎 Miura Kentaro).

History
Internet Co. wanted to utilize the voice of a singer for the creation of Vocaloid but felt it would be difficult to get a singer to agree. They consulted Dwango Co.,Ltd. who managed Nico Nico Douga, and Dwango suggested Gackt (神威 楽斗 Camui Gackt), a singer and actor, as he had previously provided his voice for Dwango's cell phone services. He lent his voice and named the Vocaloid, Gackpoid. The product was originally intended to be released in June 2008, but though Gackt existed as a model for the Vocaloid, its illustrated avatar was yet to be determined. Finally a popular manga author, Kentaro Miura, famous for his dark fantasy epic Berserk, was asked to do the illustration. Due to Miura's affection for Nico Nico Douga, he agreed to offer his services as a character designer for free. Gackpoid was released on July 31, 2008. Two of Gackt's songs and three other songs are also included as samples.

An update with Gackpoid includes a new program, OPUS Express, for mixing vocal parts with accompaniment and phoneme data. There are 10 demo songs on the official site.

Song Competition
In 2009, Gackt also challenged users of Vocaloid into a competition using Gakupo with the best song not only winning 10 million yen, but Gackt would also sing the song and include it on one of his next albums if he liked it enough. In 2011, the winning song "Episode 0" by mathru/KanimisoP and runner up "Paranoid Doll" by natsuP (SCL Project), were featured being sung by Gackt in his 39th single set for release on 7/13, 2011. The producer of the runner up song also received 300,000 yen while the producers of the other 8 top ten songs received 100,000 yen each.

This album is set to be released on the 13th July 2011, and will be Gackt's 39th single album under the title "Episode.0". The short preview for the original version of the song "Episode.0" in Gackt's version was released during the month of May 2011 Gackt-Episode.0 (Short PV However during the early days of the month of June an official video of the complete version of the song was uploaded on Nico Nico Douga Gackt-Episode.0 (Unofficial PV)

Taiwan release
On Dec 11th, 2010, the president of Internet Co. announced that Gakupo, Gumi and Lily will be distributed in Taiwan.

King Run Anison Red and White Concert
Gumi and Gakupo made special appearances in the 2010 new year celebration event known as King Run Anison Red and White.

The songs they covered were;
 * アニソン紅白2010 M-32[Love Letter]神威がくぽ(がくっぽいど) "Love Letter" covered by Gackupo originally from "Mobile Suit Z Gundam", which had originally been sung by Gackt
 * アニソン紅白2010 M-33[星間飛行]GUMI(メグッポイド) "Interstellar Flight" covered by Gumi from "Macross Frontier", which had originally been sung by Megumi Nakajima.

Their appearance was strictly a one off event.

Extend- the Future of Gakupo?
Internet co., Ltd have not announced if Gakupo will be extended like Gumi, however, they have confirmed if there is a demand for it they will consider producing one for him.

Phone Haiku
Internet Co. Ltd has released a service that offers Gakupo's voice for use with telephones, this service was first announced in April of 2009. The service is greatly limited compared to what the Vocaloid socftware allows normally but offers a chance for users to play with a limited version of Gakupo's voice for creating Haiku. The service was later updated for use with the PC in 2011. There is no fee for use of it and the service is open for use for fans across the world. The software application however can only be used in Japanese hiragana only and will take what is written as literal text, so for more complex patterns so great deal of thought may have to go into writing words. Internet Co., Ltd commented they intend to work with Twitter to open the service up more so others can share their works around the world. Users can download their creations for free as MP3's an unlimited amount of times.

Usage for Music
Gackpoid has one of the most quality voices in the Vocaloid 2 era voicebanks and one of the biggest depth ranges amongst the males. His popularity has led to a number of songs in different genres including Pop, heavy metal/rock, and disco. His pronunciations are overall smoother than most other Vocaloids and he was the only Japanese male vocal that could produce a low vocal tone until VY2's release. He is classified as a "Vocaloid Artist" voicebank. His voicebank was praised for his more realisitc results in comparison to Cypton's "Character Vocal" series Vocaloids at the time of his release and offer the consumer much more professional results in comparison.

As is often the case with native Japanese speakers, Gackpoid does not have the phoneme "z" and "Z" in the phonetic system and they are replaced by "dz" and "dZ" as well as Megpoid.


 * Comparison between the Vocaloid and voice provider

Gackpoid's software may occasionally have an installation error when installed, this is related to his engine version and may show up when installing him 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 him installation, otherwise re-installation in release order is another solution.


 * Kamui Gakupo has songs in the Nico Nico Douga Hall of Fame

Permission had not originally been granted for his works to be released on Karen-T but this was later revoked and all Internet Co., Ltd Vocaloids are allowed to be featured in works sold via the label.

Internet co., Ltd have announced they will be re-releasing Gackupo for the Vocaloid3 software engine.

Reception
His design has had a very mixed reaction from Western fans. When first revealed, some thought he was female due to his long purple hair and effeminate face, others pointed out he was wearing make-up so commented his look gave him a flamboyant appearance. However, praises were given to his design for being more unique to previous vocaloids. In the Japanese fandom, he was slow to gain popularity due to a lack of demand for male vocals at the time of his release. Gakupo eventually gained popularity because of an increase in demand for male vocals and the popularity of his voice provider. Male vocaloids had not been developed for a long time and had so little demand at that time of Gakupo's release, owed to the failure of Kaito's release early on in Vocaloid's life circle. Gakupo was also the most expensive Vocaloid 2 Japanese vocal release, beaten at his time of release in price only by Zero-g's Prima Vocaloid.

He was also praised by Western "Japanese to English" users as having one of the easiest pronunciations to mimic English, however, like all Japanese Vocaloids he is still limited.

Trivia

 * Gakupo has a samurai aesthetic—the Vocaloid is clad in a Jinbaori, a kind of kimono which was used as a battle surcoat, with parts of Japanese armor, and carries a katana which was named “Music katana, Miburi” (楽刀・美振 / Gakutou Miburi). The patterns on its blade make sounds as a musical instrument when it is swung down.
 * His fanmade character item is an eggplant.
 * He has appeared in Maker Hikōshiki Hatsune Mix, so far he has been the only non-Crypton official Vocaloid to appear in the unofficial manga.
 * Because Gackt was a major singer, Gakupo was the most expensive Japanese Vocaloid 2 release, out of all the Vocaloid 2 voicebanks his release price overall was only beaten by Prima's.

Notable for...

 * First Vocaloid to be voiced by a major singer in Japan
 * First Internet Co., Ltd Vocaloid
 * First sole male Vocaloid since Kaito's release