User blog:Serza5/A "Vocaloid" - An explanation by Serza

Nearing time to go back to University has made me want to write for some reason- maybe it's to get myself back in the habit of such things.

Continueing on, todays topic is going to be on "Vocaloids". To clarfify I will explain Character vs Software.

What does Vocaloid mean?
This sounds like a really obvious question but the actual meaning of the word does vary upon context. But allow me to explain each meaning of "Vocaloid".

Software
This is propably most people's first answer, for those that are somewhat knowledgeable of Vocaloid that is. After all it makes sense; the term was first used as the name of the software we all know and love, and has expanded into "Vocaloid 2" and "Vocaloid 3" for all the different engines which have been released. That's really all to say about it.

Character
Another obvious answer but a bit more difficult to explain. A "Vocaloid Character" would be one which features on the boxart for the Vocaloid software, acting as the "owner" of the voice that features on the product. But not all them have characters however, VY1 and VY2 both feature objects on their boxart, and Lola, Leon and Prima only feature parts of a human (Their face to be exact).

So does that mean these Vocaloids are "character-less"? The obvious answer is yes but most would argue they do in fact have one; either because they're stupid and think 66 (Roro) is the official VY2 character, or they simply define a "Vocaloid Character" as "a voice source". It sounds strange but when you think of it; all voices come from a person, so even if the character isn't shown there is a person is the voice of the "character-less" Vocaloids. You see it in PVs too; characters that act as the role of the singer, even for ones which have character's on their boxart.

To put that simply: A Vocaloid Character is defined by a character which acts as the role of the singer. Some of these characters feature on the boxart of a Vocaloid, these could be defined therefore as "Official Vocaloid Characters".

Series
Even though Vocaloid is a Vocal Synthesizer software "Vocaloid" can still refer to a series of "Vocaloids". To put it simply the "Vocaloid Series" or "Vocaloids" refer to the software that make up a series. Well that wasn't hard.

What it is not
Hoping most of you know this by now but, here we go :


 * Anime; There are anime-esque PVs and animes inspired by Vocaloid songs (See Black Rock Shooter and Kagerou Project*), and even one for Project 575, however "Vocaloid" has no anime.


 * Manga; Again there is KEI's unofficial manga Maker Hikōshiki Hatsune Mix but the keyword there is unofficial


 * Game; Ok so yes there is Project Diva which feature Vocaloids and Project 575 which even use the Vocaloid software but again "Vocaloid" is not a game. There are games based on Vocaloid but that's it; the Vocaloid software in itself isn't one.

* At the time of this writing there was no Kagerou Project anime, but yes one is being made at this time

Anyway am I done here? Good, I have nothing more to say, mainly because I got distracted by a fine piece of husband material- I mean Wallace cosplayer.