MAIKA

MAIKA is a Spanish VOCALOID being developed by Voctro Labs, S.L.. It was revealed on September 12, 2013 by Voctro Labs that ONA, their new VOCALOID, was MAIKA's Voice Provider.

Involvement in Plan B
This vocal had first appeared during the involvement of a collaboration between Voctro Labs, Ballantine's, theFACT™ and La Oreja de Van Gogh where the people could help to create the lyrics for the famous group. VoctroLabs provided the tools that allowed the participants to listen to their written lyrics sung by the voice through the official website.

It was revealed this voice was a new Vocaloid that was being developed by the company, and was based on the main singer of the band.

In answer to fan's curiosity as to whether the voice would be sold, the company announced they were planning on releasing the voice to the public. However, they stated they did not yet have a date.

Illustration Contest
A contest was held to look for an illustrator that would draw a design for the Vocaloid. Voctro requested that those interested send a sample of their work to the company's email. The deadline for this was 8th of July 2013. After they had reviewed the works of all of their entrants they picked the potential candidates. Over 200 entries were received. The chosen artists then had until the 15th of July to enter a design for Voctro Labs. They were asked to draw a 'pop star', and were given a couple of samples of the voice as reference.

The results were revealed on July 24th. The overall winner was Noriko Hayashi, who also happened to be a runner-up in the previous YOHIOloid design contest. At the announcement they also revealed a silhouette of the design.

Appearance
According to Noririn, MAIKA was made following the "Pop Diva" appearance requested by Voctro-Labs.

After the winning design was chosen, Voctro-Labs requested to Noririn change the face expression and hair color scheme. The last one was for avoid comparisons with IA or Luka, as originally the hair was peach to light pink. Noririn tested various color combinations with Voctro choosing the final color scheme.

She has a play/pause tattoo (▶ ll) on her left cheek. The little droid that accompanies her acts as pet, microphone and speaker.

Contest
The illustration contest before her release helped increase awareness of the upcoming Vocaloid, with many submitting their designs.