VOCALOID

Vocaloid is a singing synthesizer application software developed by the Yamaha Corporation.

About
Vocaloid is a program that enables users to synthesize singing by just typing in lyrics and melody. It was originally intended to be a "singer in a box" and intended to provide backing to real singer.

With the introduction of "avatars", the program has become a replacement for an actual singer with each voicebank essentially being regarded as an international celebrity or star in their own right and original songs have been created with the virtual "singer" or "Vocaloid". Due to their appeal and ever increasing fandom, demand for even the older voicebanks has increased and interest in them continues to grow beyond expectations of even Yamaha. Part of their appeal is their overall nature with the limits they carry being the skills and capabilities of the user working with them.

Vocaloid


Yamaha announced its development in 2003 and on January 15, 2004, Leon and Lola, the first application software product, were launched. It was not released as a Yamaha product, but a software package of Vocaloid Singer Libraries was developed by third party licenses which included Yamaha's Vocaloid software. Leon, Lola, and Miriam (Miriam using the voice of Miriam Stockley) have were released from Zero-G Limited, UK. In Japan Meiko (released on October 5, 2004 and using vocal samples from the Japanese singer Meiko Haigo ) and Kaito (released on February 14, 2006 and using vocal samples from the Japanese singer Naoto Fuuga ) were later released from Crypton Future Media.

Released voicebanks
By Zero-G:
 * Leon: English
 * Lola: English female
 * Miriam: English female

By Crypton Future Media:
 * Meiko: Japanese female
 * Kaito: Japanese male

Additional notes
The voice banks for Vocaloid are also more fluid, and can be shaped easier. Vocaloid however has just 5 voicebanks offered to it (3 English, 2 Japanese), offering a limited range of voices. They cover soul, pop and J-pop music between them. Other genres are possible to achieve by users with further voice editing. As seen with voicebanks like Leon, different users can utilize the voicebanks offered very differently and Vocaloid has produced a wide range of different results from the same few voicebanks even without heavy editing. Also, locating the correct phonemes on its database is much simpler than the Vocaloid 2 engine that followed, making the program easier for users to use. Because of its more flexible and simple nature, there are many users still working with the dated software. However, Vocaloid is hard to make sound realistic, even though it is easy to edit. It has a much more digital sound then later engines without skilled editing. Leon and Lola, the very first Vocaloids, noticeably show this digital sound more so than the other 3 voicebanks Miriam, Meiko and Kaito. It also has difficulties with pronunciation of words, the English voicebanks being the worst of two languages in this area. Vocaloid is confirmed incompatible with the Windows 7 operating system and while Vocaloid is suppose to be compatible with Windows Vista users have reported no major problems, though initially rumors stated otherwise. However, it cannot be guaranteed that Vocaloid will work with operating systems newer than Windows XP.

Vocaloid 2
In January 2007, Yamaha announced a new version of the software engine, Vocaloid2, with various major improvements in usability and synthesis quality. Zero-G and others announced plans to release products powered by the new software engine in 2007. PowerFX released the first English package that is powered by Vocaloid2 named Sweet Ann. Crypton followed and announced a series of character Vocaloid 2 packages to be released, the first being Hatsune Miku. The second package Kagamine Rin/Len was released on December 27, 2007 and the updated edition "act2" was released in July 2008.

Kamui Gakupo, a vocaloid that utilized the voice of the famous J-pop singer Gackt, was released on July 31, 2008. Prima was introduced at NAMM Show 2008; she was released on January 14, 2008 in the UK and February 22, 2008 in Japan.

Released voicebanks
By Zero-G:
 * Prima: English female
 * Sonika: English female
 * Tonio: English Male

By Crypton Future Media:
 * Miku Hatsune: Japanese female
 * Append: A data library contains different voicebanks "Soft", "Sweet", "Dark", "Vivid", "Solid" and "Light".
 * Rin and Len Kagamine: Japanese female (Rin) and male (Len)
 * Act 2: Independant installation with updated voicebanks.
 * Luka Megurine: Japanese and English female

By PowerFX:
 * Sweet Ann: English female
 * Big Al: English male

By INTERNET Co.,Ltd:
 * Gakupo Kamui: Japanese male
 * Gumi: Japanese female

By AH Software:
 * SF-A2 miki: Japanese female
 * Yuki Kaai: Japanese female
 * Kiyoteru Hiyama: Japanese male

Upcoming voicebanks

 * Zero-G intends to release another voice later this year (after Tonio?). It has now been confirmed, recording has started on their new Vocaloid. According to a representative, while details cannot be listed, this particular Vocaloid will be different to the others before it.
 * Crypton is working on a unnamed Japanese male They have also continued to work on "Append" voicebanks with Len known to be worked on currently at least..
 * After Big-Al's release, PowerFX said they are looking for input towards their next vocaloid, indicating they are at least working towards another and will continue to base their vocaloids on monsters as it is what fans seem to like.
 * It is indicated AH Software is working on new vocaloids.
 * Lily Japanese female, release date 25th August by Internet Co,. Ltd..

Vocaloid 3
Vocaloid 3 has been confirmed, and is said to be aimed to be Yamaha's most realistic voice engine yet, discussion about the engine have already occurred but no further details are known at this stage.

Software Disputation
While Japanese users are able to purchase English Vocaloids relatively easy from Japan, Japanese Vocaloids are currently harder to purchase by English Vocaloid users. Often English fans find they either must seek out a 3rd party site willing to import the Japanese software like Amazon Japan in English, or use auction sites like E-bay. Also there are high levels of illegal downloading of Vocaloids by users.

English Vocaloids currently do not sell enough to warrant extras such as seen with Crypton's Miku Append. However, it has been confirmed if the English Vocaloids become more popular, then Appends would be an option in the future.

Program Accessibility
Since Miku Hatsune became the most well-known Vocaloid among fans, questions such as "How do I make Miku Hatsune sing in English?" are commonly seen on answer sites or message boards. English speaking users often download the Japanese vocaloids with high expectations of being able to make a Japanese voicebank sing in English, only later to discover that it is often not that simple even with some aid. The program comes with a complete dictionary in the language they are designed for. However, if users wish to make the vocaloid sing in the opposing language (English vocaloid singing in Japanese / Japanese vocaloid singing in English), the library of that language must be invented from scratch and is not recommended for amateur users. This means users are required to have good hearing and knowledge of differences between target languages to some extent. Main article and detailed information:#Using the Phonetic System

Vocaloids are difficult to use by non-native speakers and even more difficult to make sing in the unintended language. Users also must download at least one version of the program in their native language in order to be able to read and use the program at all if they cannot speak the language the voicebank is intended for. Some vocaloids were created to counter this problem with release of Luka Megurine (being bilingual Japanese/English) and Sonika who was made to take the opposite approach with voicebanks containing additional notes besides syllables and phonetics, essentially allowing her to speak any language better with some work despite being only English based. Alternatively, having an English Vocaloid alongside a Japanese one is an alternative solution to overcome this problem and was the cause of a high level of illegal Prima downloads when her program was cracked. Another method is to delete the Japanese .dll files since the program was originally written in English, this will switch the program to its default English languages settings. All these solutions will aid a English user in using Japanese Vocaloids. There are many community sites that help Japanese users to use English only Vocaloids, since Meiko and Kaito are using English interface.

Language Capabilities
Like every language has its own difficult aspects, the English language and the Japanese language have different characteristic features in phonological systems, including accents, tones, intonations, moras and assimilations. The English language often put emphasis on certain letters of words (stress accent), while the Japanese language frequently use pitch accents. When two words share the same spelling for English voicebanks ("wind" - air moving and "wind" - the action of twisting), phonemes may be the only way forward. They may even pronounce the input as a different pronunciation entirely to either word depending on the Vocaloids accent (e.g. Big Al pronounces "wind" as "wee-in-da" with "da" being almost silent). Though the programs dictionary has many words in either language, there will always be absent words, the English dictionary is noted to be the most problematic at finding unusual or uncommon words and users may have to manually submit the word into the dictionary. For instance upon his release Big Al's dictionary had the words "Bingle" and "Bangle" but not "Bungle".

Because of the accent differences between the two languages, the English Vocaloid voicebanks are often much larger (avg. 5,200 sound file samples) than their Japanese counterparts which usually need to edit pitches for accents in Japanese (avg. 1,400 sound file samples). The larger amount of sound clip means the English Vocaloids need more hard disk space than the Japanese Vocaloids, Big Al for instance, consumes more memory space on a hard drive (4 GB) than Miku Hatsune (2 GB) yet no other software requirements are different. Luka Megurine(6 GB), Kagamine Len/Rin (3 GB) and the Miku Append (8 GB) are the installations which do not comply with this as their plug-in has more than one voicebank. The large capacity of software does not directly mean it has a large quantity of data since the progress in data compression technology enables to compact the same quantity of data much smaller and it relies on each company’s technology and performance. However, Luka Megurine has smaller capacity in her English dictionary than most of English only vocaloids. This effects her performance when she sings in English, therefore, an extra data library of English words for her English dictionary is available now.

Another aspect to take into account is the actual quality of the sound clips, just a few bad recorded sound clips has potential to effect the Vocaloids clearness entirely.Engine Version is also critical in how well a Vocaloid will sing (e.g. the original Vocaloid 1.0 and the final version Vocaloid 1.1 can often be heard).

Although some fans compare English and Japanese Vocaloids in all respects and try to judge which is better, Vocaloids of both languages are using the same engine and a small note is that it is easier for fans of either language to identify problems in Vocaloids of their own language than the one they do not speak and, for instance, what one presumes is perfect Japanese, may not be so. There are other factors that can effect a Vocaloids language capabilities. The criticisms with the language skills of the original two Kagamine voicebanks, which especially made beginners to think they were hard to use, caused Crypton to make an Act 2 to fix the problems. However, after the release of Act2, the fact came out that it is impossible to make an easy comparison to judge which is better. Act 2 has clearer pronunciations and milder voices and can sing smoother without skilled pre-settings and advanced editing for beginners, while Act 1 has stronger, moe vivid and flexible voices and give a wider range of expression to experienced users, and now users utilize them in accordance with the intended use. Since each software or version has different features and each user’s purpose, liking or way of editing/settings is different, it is a common belief that their assessment of the strength and weakness can vary appreciably from person to person and which is better cannot be easily measured.

Criticism
While Japanese Vocaloids are noticeably well received and have an extensive usage, English Vocaloids however often face hard criticism from Vocaloid fans. This is particularly aimed at the early Vocaloid era voicebanks Leon and Lola and common concerns are expressed within the fandom.

Part of this was earlier Vocaloids that were created not to have "Avatars", and Boxart was not important to the function of the program so while Meiko and Kaito had images that could later be used as avatars, Leon, Lola and Miriam (although there is a clear image of a person) did not. When avatars became common with Japanese Vocaloids, the English Vocaloids, without official avatars, were left to interpretation by fan artwork. Zero-G has since confirmed that they are interested in revising the boxart of their Vocaloids since interest in Vocaloids has greatly increased. PowerFX's Sweet Ann, who had a image that could be used as an avatar but was often mocked, has been hinted to be considered for a competition and a change of boxart, in light of Big Al's satisfactory reaction to his new look.

Early Vocaloid voicebanks were also criticised for their poor pronunciation problems, on top of this Leon and Lola were considered hard to make sound like their intended genders. .

Additional notes
Vocaloid 2, while having a more realistic human tone, is said to be a harder to edit. The new additions and cleaner engine make Vocaloid 2 overall the superior to its predecessor, although the improved engine results in less voicebank possibilities as it is less flexible then its predecessor. The voicebanks however, have more editing options possible then Vocaloid and more varied voices can be achieved. Japanese voicebanks are now greatly improved. While most of the English voicebanks are much clearer, there is still a few noticeable language handlings remaining, however Vocaloid 2 English voicebanks are still a vast improvement over Vocaloid English voicebanks.

Vocaloid and Vocaloid 2 are incompatible with each other. Users wishing to have a Vocaloid and Vocaloid 2 voicebank sing together have to transfer via midi format between the two programs to have the singers sing the same song and then use an additional music/media program to organize the voicebanks into.

Currently there are 13 voicebanks for Vocaloid 2 (5 English, 8 Japanese). They offer a wider range of voicebanks then the previous version and cover the music genres pop, J-pop, children’s songs, classic rock, classical music and opera. Further genres are possible to achieve by users with voice editing.

The current version of Vocaloid 2 has no reported problems with the current operating systems.

Legal implications
Though the program is distributed for use by anyone, there are somewhat problems about using or creating the software for legal reasons, particularly copyright issues. To avoid such problems, companies keep the name of their voice providers anonymous or use voice actors instead to avoid the legal implications of using a professional singer. Other complications, such as expenses can also be a problem for the company while singers themselves may down right refuse to provide a voice for the program.

Zero-G refuses to reveal a singer who provided the voice for legal reasons to prevent users creating fake songs of the real singer and only Miriam's voice provider is to date known. Crypton also has commented that they shy away from professional singers due to similar legal reasons. PowerFX did name Big-Al's voice provider, and was vague regarding Sweet Ann's voice, stating that she was voiced by an Australian singer under the stage name of "Jody".

Although there are some slight variations per company on how you can use the software, some general terms of conditions are normally shared by the studios. Under the use of the software, a user may use the program as voice simple or create an original song just how other synthesizer application software such as those that provide the cords for a guitar or the keys on a piano work the same. However, the avatars belong to their respected companies and permission must be gained if the character is intended to be used. Users may also not sell material under the characters name without the permission of the software provider. Users may also not use the product to create disturbing or degrading lyrics.

Crypton set up Piapro to clear up some of these problems. Users are encouraged to post illustrations, music and lyrics onto the site. Then Piapro automatically authorizes the members to utilize these secondary creations for NON-COMMERCIAL purposes. This arrangement is for the products distributed by and the derivatives adopted by Crypton only. No other company has similar plans currently.

There is also a problem with uploading licensed songs onto Youtube and Youtube has been known to remove songs that are currently still owned by license holders. Nico Nico Douga allows covers of songs to be uploaded, but draws a line at actual animations linked with cover songs. Users who upload such songs with copyrighted animations have had their accounts removed and songs deleted.

Illegal copies of the software are also seen on bittorent sites, though many of these sites will delete the torrents when they are uploaded, copies still appear regularly. Most of the Vocaloids will at some point have their software "cracked" and keycard registration is no longer a problem with such software. Though there is no problems reported from official vocaloid installations, a number of problems have occurred with illegal copies, such as seen with Prima and Luka in the past, wherein illegal copies caused other vocaloids to stop working. Software support will not be provided by the studios if you have illegal copies, though information to make them work is found within the fandom. Some communities have now slowly began to shun the use or linking to illegal copies of the programs.

One of the most controversial uses of the legal agreements of any Vocaloid producing studio was from the Democratic Party of Japan, whose running candidate, Kenzo Fujisue, attempted to secure the use of Miku's image in the Japanese House of Councillors election of July 11, 2010. The hope was that the party could use her image to appeal to younger voters. Although Crypton Future Media rejected the party's use of her image or name for political purposes, Fujisue released the song "We Are the One" using her voice on Youtube, by only replacing her image with the party's character in the music video.

Trivia

 * An essay on Vocaloid history (see) VO: Vocaloid a History thread.
 * As well as "Vocaloid" some other terms are:
 * Engloid; English Vocaloids are often referred to as "Engloids" by fans both English and Japanese fans because of their intended voicebanks.
 * Monsteroid; occasionally seen, it is a name that refers to PowerFX vocaloids, because their vocaloids all mimick monsters.
 * Operoid/Operaloid; refers to the Opera based Vocaloids Prima and Tonio
 * Japanoid'; several variations of this name exist, but all refer to the Japanese Vocaloids
 * Vipperloid; describes a fake vocaloid put out as a real one. Often, Vipperloids are very convincing and some go onto later become UTAU voicebanks.  The most famous is Teto Kasane.
 * UTAUoid; refers to a voicebank for UTAU, more specifically the ones with avatars like Vocaloids.
 * Fanloid; refers to a fanmade character. In Japan, they are often referred to as a variant or derivative.
 * Pitchloid; refers to a fanmade character whose voice is just a pitch of the voicebanks. Pitchloids were previously very common, however over time opinion of them has changed and now "Pitchloids" are largely becoming less frequent fanmades. Part of this is owed to the fact that there were so many Pitchloids it was impossible to tell some apart. Pitchloids can cause arguments amongst fans as to whom created their fanmade voice first, leding to accusations of "copying" the original fanmade.
 * Voyakiloid; meaning "Grouching Vocaloid," pertains to Fanmade Vocaloids representing failure of purpose and failure of proper singing.
 * Roboloid; refers to a particular branch of fanloids that are meant to sound metallic, to mimic the sound of a robot supposedly singing.