Yuezheng Ling (VOCALOID3)


 * This is an article about the Yuezheng Ling software for the VOCALOID3 engine.

 days to go until release!

2012
A contest titled "VOCALOID CHINA" was held to determine the design of the first Chinese VOCALOID, which ended on January 3, 2012. On January 17, the winner was revealed to be Yayin Gongyu, the original version of Luo Tianyi, in Shanghai. She was the top ranked design of 5 winning entries for the contest, with one of the winning entries being Ling Caiyin, now known as Yuezheng Ling. Their finalized designs were revealed on March 22. Since then, Ling was only used as a promotional character concept.

2014
On January 31, 2014, it was announced that VOCALOID CHINA ceased activity, but YAMAHA would continue making Chinese VOCALOIDs. Later, in February, it was confirmed in an interview that YAMAHA was selling the two Chinese VOCALOIDs and four mascots to Shanghai He Nian permanently. The project was launched as VOCANESE once the sales were finalized around March and the joint between Shanghai He Nian and Bplats ended.

On July 13, VOCANESE announced on their weibo account that Ling would receive a VOCALOID voicebank and that YAMAHA is investing 100 million yuan into the project. On July 27 and 28, members of the recording team traveled to Japan and received training in order to learn new techniques into creating a VOCALOID voicebank in a systematic way. This was due to the fact that Bplats helped with the voicebank developments for the previous two VOCALOIDs, Tianyi and YANHE. Since Shanghai He Nian and Bplats ended collaboration, there was a need to train a new recording team.

On August 2, starting at 10 AM, VOCANESE announced that they were holding an audition for the voice of Ling. According to the rules, the activity was limited to females only. The sound files were to be in MP3 format, and 320 Kbps. The sound files included a 3 minute speech and a 3 minute recording of singing, both in Mandarin Chinese.

For the speaking portion, the participant had to express their anticipation and/or congratulate Ling. While speaking, it was emphasized that the participant must use their natural voice and refrain from voice acting.

For the singing portion, the participant was allowed to sing in any genre that they were familiar with and record the singing acapella. When submitting their work, personal details must be included (such as name, mobile number, QQ account, contacting address, and personal photo). The deadline for the auditions was August 20 at 3 PM.

Later, in an answer to a fan's question, VOCANESE stated that they had contacted some voice actresses for Ling and considered them to be less risky and had better efficiency. However, they did not want to ignore any other potential voices for their new VOCALOID, thus the audition was launched. In another response, Shanghai He Nian stated that the participants' voices would be posted on the official Weibo page for Ling. Weibo members would be able to vote on their favorite entry by liking and/or sharing the post with a voice featured.

On August 15, VOCANESE revealed the silhouette of the mysterious Chinese VOCALOID. They also announced that there would be six finalists out of all 390 entries for Ling's contest.

On August 26, at the Beijing, Chaoyang district, the six finalists were revealed on stage along with four more additional potential voice providers for the other VOCALOID, Zhanyin Lorra. For Ling, the finalists were: SUSU, Yumiya, Ju Hua Hua (菊花花; Jú Huā Huā), QI Inory (祈Inory; Qí Inory), Shao Yuan Yuan (少愿愿; Shǎo Yuàn Yuàn), and Yu Wu Yue Shan (幽舞越山; Yōu Wǔ Yuè Shān). Fans could vote on the voice they like the most on Lorra and Ling's official website.

On September 5, it was revealed that three of the six competitors for Ling were chosen as finalists: Ju Hua Hua, QI Inory, and Yu Wu Yue Shan. It was also revealed on Ling and Lorra's official website that their voices would be recorded and samples of the voicebanks would be released in Mid-September, demonstrating how the contestants would sound in the VOCALOID3 engine. On September 11, they finish recording all six contestants for both VOCALOIDs.

On September 22, the voicebank samples were featured on Ling and Lorra's official webpage. Fans were able to listen to the samples and vote for the voicebank they liked the most. All voicebanks were singing the Chinese classic, Mo Li Hua (Jasmine Flower). This portion of the contest ended on October 13.

On October 15, the winner was revealed to be QI Inory and recording for the two VOCALOIDs began soon afterwards. On October 22, Gui Shen Ren, the voice provider for Lorra, announced that she had finished her recording session and that QI Inory would begin next.

On November 20, VOCANESE confirmed that even though VOCALOID4 was revealed, they were still going to release Ling as a VOCALOID3.

2015
On January 14, 2015, an admin on VOCANESE's official Facebook page noted that they heard Ling's voicebank.

On January 29, QI Inory talked about her feedback towards Ling's voicebank. While a demo was completed, she was not allowed to reveal it to the public. She expressed concern about trying to create a voice to match Ling's image and because of this, the result of the final voicebank became very different in comparison to the "Mo Li Hua" clip that was posted on the contest page. She tried to describe the voice to be "a stubborn and energetic girl, but a little boyish. However, she certainly has a feminine voice". From what she knew, Shanghai He Nian was submitting the voicebank and demo to YAMAMA. She was also not sure about the release date for Ling, but she said that the VOCALOID would be shown around the upcoming months.

On April 11, it was announced that Ling would be featured in the Quadimension 3 album, hinting progression of her voicebank. However, it was unknown whether this album would be an official product distributed by VOCANESE.

On May 1, VOCANESE attended YACA to remind fans that Ling was still in progress. While no news were announced, a fan reporter did attend the event to interview the staff. The staff confirmed that Ling would be released in Summer 2015, with July being the earliest possible release and August being the latest. At this point in time, Ling was receiving finishing touches to her database and they were still working on some debugging.

On May 28, along with the announcement of Stardust, Shanghai He Nian confirmed that Ling's release was more likely to be in June or July.

On May 29, Shanghai He Nian posted a thread that answers the many questions that Chinese fans had about Stardust and the VOCANESE characters. Here, it was discussed why Ling was still a VOCALOID3 vocal. By the time the VOCALOID4 engine was announced, Ling was already in the production process and she was too far into development to switch to VOCALOID4. It was also announced that Ling was in the packaging process by the time this thread was posted.

On June 10, it was mentioned that VOCANESE would appear at Firefly Con in Guangzhou on July 17 and used Tianyi and Ling's image for the upcoming panel, hinting at the possible announcement or appearance of Ling. On the same day, a voice sample was revealed on Weibo.

On June 23, it was announced that Ling would be available for preorder from July 1 to July 16. By preordering her, customers would receive a 22% discount off her original price. She would be officially released on July 17 and would be sold at the Firefly Con.

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