GUMI

GUMI (グミ) is an official mascot character of Megpoid (メグッポイド / Meguppoido) which is a singing synthesizer application software powered by Yamaha's Vocaloid2 and was published by INTERNET Co.,Ltd. The name GUMI is from the voice provider Megumi Nakajima's nickname in her childhood.
 * The naming about this product is very confusing. The Vocaloid software itself is under the official name Megpoid, and GUMI is the avatar character of the software drawn by the illustrator Masami Yuuki (ゆうきまさみ Yuuki Masami).

History
Megpoid was voiced by Megumi Nakajima and released on June 25, 2009. It comes with 3 sample VSQ files, "Happy Birthday", "be MYSELF", and "Hitori Yurari". "be MYSELF" is an original song by Nakajima.

There are five demos on the official site;
 * be MYSELF,
 * be MYSELF (one chorus),
 * Fly Me to The Moon-Part1,
 * Fly Me to The Moon-Part2,
 * BLUE BUTTERFLY.

Gumi was illustrated by the manga artist Yuuki Masami.

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

Robot Gumi
Megpoid was one of 3 voicebanks the robot model HRP-4C was set up to react to, the other two being Miku Hatsune and Crypton's non-commerical vocaloid named CV-4Cβ.


 * Youtube broadcast: 開発者による産総研ロボット＆ボーカロイドの解説 CEATEC Japan (HRP-4C as Gumi)
 * Youtube broadcast: 産総研ロボットHRP-4C 未夢（ミーム）「異邦人」CEATEC Japan (HRP-4C Singing)

Extend - the Future of Megpoid
Following the success of Crypton's Append, Internet Co., Ltd had confirmed Gumi will receive a "Megpoid Extend" edition in 2011.

On 2011/20/1 confirmation was released that recordings had started for the Megpoid Extend, several vocal recordings have already been recorded.

The first voicebank demo, Megpoid Extend Power β was uploaded on the 21/05/2011 onto Nico Nico Douga, its time spent up was only brief. Demos for Power and Whisper were also put up, but also removed a short time later. A more perament version was uploaded later. Gumi's whisper Extend was used to sing "Fly me to the moon" and "BeMyself" in her power Extend, their upload was also temporay and were removed at a later date.

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 himself.
 * 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 herself.

Their appearance was strictly a one off event.

Usage for Music
At the time of her release, she had one of the most realistic sounding voicebanks in Vocaloid 2 and sings with a soft clear voice. Amongst the female voicebanks she has one of the biggest ranges and is considered easy to tune. Her pronunciations are of a good quality and she has smooth vowel sounds compared to other Vocaloids within her era. The weakness of her voice is that she is raspy, however, this can be removed if a user does not want her raspiness.

Like many native Japanese speakers, Megpoid does not have the phoneme "z" and "Z" in the phonetic system and they are replaced by "dz" and "dZ" as well as Gackpoid.


 * Comparing VY1(β version), Miku Append (Soft), Gumi, Lily
 * Comparison between the Vocaloid and voice provider

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


 * Gumi has songs in the Nico Nico Douga Hall of Fame

Permission had not originally been granted for her works to be released on Karen-T but this was later granted 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 Gumi for the Vocaloid3 software engine.

Extend
The new Extend will add another vocal expression to the original voice bank and another breathe sound, and also her pronunciations will be improved and become clearer. Confirmed voicebanks include; Power, Whisper, Adult, Sweet. Extend will have the same properties as the Crypton Vocaloid Appends and quality may vary per voicebank. The voicebank will be released for Vocaloid 2 but will be possible to get a Vocaloid 3 version when it is released.

Reception
Gumi has seen a faster growth of usage within the Japanese fandom, gaining popularity faster than her predecessor Gakupo. She has quickly become a fan favorite in both Japanese and Western fandoms and arguably has been the most commonly used non-Crypton Future Media Vocaloid. When she was released, many commented that she sounded the most realistic of the Vocaloid2 voicebanks. However, the western fandom were slow to gain interest at first. This was owed to the fact that her avatar appeared more plain than Gakupo's; not everyone was fond of the art design and too many comparisons were made between her avatar and a past character role Megumi Nakajima portrayed.

This is possibly due to her previous monicker, Rankaloid, which stems from one of Megumi's voiced characters from Macross Frontier, Ranka Lee, and initial expectations for Megpoid to originate from Megumi's most popular work.

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

Trivia

 * Gumi has proven to be quite a popular Vocaloid for MMD model makers and has several models compared to most other Vocaloids.


 * Many Filipino fans have considered Megpoid as a special favorite among other Vocaloids and considers her as a Filipino-Japanese as well, due to her seiyuu being one. However, by tradition, Vocaloids do not assert their nationality, nor do their seiyuu's nationalities carry over to the characters they voice.


 * More than 3 body models for MikuMikuDance has been created in her likeness.


 * ISAO's model is available by purchase of Windows 100% magazine and MMD Starter Pack magazine.

Notable for...

 * First female Vocaloid from Internet Co. Ltd.
 * Being hailed by fans as one of the most realistic-sounding out of the box.
 * One of 3 voicebanks used by the robot HRP-4C