SeeU

SeeU (시유, シユ) is an up coming voicebank for Vocaloid3 and the first Vocaloid capable of Korean and the first "Korean/Japanese bilingual" Vocaloid. The voice provider will be artist Kim Dahee (17 year old member of the K-pop girl band "Glam"). Her release is set for the Autumn 2011.

SeeU's release date was announced on SeeU's official site as well as on the SBS Artech_vocaloid twitter page. She will be released on the 21st of October.

History
A demo i-fantasy produced by Bang Shi Hyuk (a.k.a. Hitman Bang) was originally released introducing her to the Vocaloid fandom during the Vocaloid3 announcement. On August 30, 2011, her name and appearance were revealed. There will be a limited edition version of her software as a starter pack.

An art competition was held related to her. According to SBS Artech, the winner receives a limited version of her software and a Intuos tablet, second place will win the normal software package and the Vocaloid 3 editor, and third place will just receive the limited edition voicebank. The winners of the competition were revealed on September 17, 2011. All winning and notable entries appeared in SeeU's newest demo PV. The demo was expected sometime around September 23rd-25th, 2011. On the 23rd, her official first demo song was uploaded, featuring all the winners and honorable mention artwork. A second demo was also released.

Usage for Music
She will have both a Japanese and a Korean voicebank, allowing her to switch between the languages where needed. Her voice will be light-hearted. She, however, is not one of the Vocaloids who have been announced that will have the Vocaloid 3 software packs with them.

Until her release, all information is based on her demo songs.

Japanese
Her Japanese is unknown right now.

Korean
Based on the demos, fans have attempted to place her vocals. As the first Korean Vocaloid, there have been reports that there is still room for improvements and she lacks clarity in her first demo song "RUN!". However, this is expectant of any new Vocaloid development and the early English and Japanese Vocaloid voicebanks were far from perfect with progress made over the course of their existence. She is however smoothe sounding. It is also noted that her regional acccent sounds "Seoul-based", accounding to one fan she pronounces "o" sounds as "u" sounds which is common from those of that peninsula. As also pointed out by the same source, she pronounces "se" as a "e" sound, which is common in modern Korean dilects nor does she pronounce her "w"s. However, one of the hardest things to place currently is her overall tone, this is because all 3 demos of her voice have had complications behind them that prevent precise anaylysis of her vocals.

According to SBS artech at the Vocaloid 3 introduction, her Korean voicebank can recreate a fair amount of English. However, this has proven to be just a quasi equallevent of English, just as how Sonika can recreate 90% of the Chinese language using an English voicebank. Without subtitles, some English speakers were strained to understand her "English" in her first demo song "Run!". It has been pointed out that naturally the Korean language is missing several phonetics needed for English and to achieve the "r" sound of "dream", SeeU can be heard using a rolling R sound; something a native speaker doesn't have to do to pronounce the word.

Reception
Out of the Vocaloid 3 releases, SeeU has had quite a bit of interest in her pre-release form because she was the first Korean Vocaloid. Despite a general praise for her design and vocals, there have been some pre-release complaints.

Mostly, her demos have proven to be the single most controversal issue about her. While it is not uncommon for auto-tuning software to be used for demo songs SeeU's demo "i-Fantasy" has been criticized for heavy use of auto-tuning software to the point where some argue it is impossible to actually tell how good the Vocaloid 3 engine is or really hear how her vocals truly are. When demos of Vocaloid 3 Mepoid, Mew and Akikoroid-chan surfaced, comparisons were done and SeeU sounded remarkably realistic compared to them which won her merit. However, it was revealed after a fan reduced the vocals on her demo until only the backing was left that a real vocal was used alongside the Vocaloid voicebank. Both the real singer and Vocaloid voicebank had been blended together to make the song smoother, in theory this hid any robotic results her voicebank produced. The result of the reduction revealing the use of a human singer can be heard here (if you have trouble 0:52-0:59 is most obvious point a human can be heard).

The demo has been rated a misleading song by veteran fans within the overseas fandom. However, despite the heavy criticism, the song has been very popular and has already seen a large number of covers by other Vocaloids. Her next demo and her official "1st demo" "Run!" was more focused on the voicebank and SeeU was able to be heard more clearly as a Vocaloid. The issue with this song, however, was that the pitch was dramatically different to i=fantasy. Further more, the second demo song "Never Let You Go" displays yet another pitch range, though more on par with i=fantasy, was also different to "Run!". The constant change of tone of SeeU caused some backlash by fans, who complained that you could not hear the true SeeU voice. Later, a clip without the auto-tune was released. Further more, there were concerns about SBS's early claims of being able to recreate English with the Korean voicebank, when it has been pointed out that Korean doesn't have all the phonetics for English.

SeeU was also subject to pro-Crypton fans within the overseas fandom who disliked the idea of Korean Vocaloids. However, this was nothing new and this kind of treatment was also found already in anti-English Vocaloid fans. Also within the Japanese fandom there has been a lot of reported hate spread on Nico Nico Douga and 2chan, which has left her hitting a hard pre-release start. It has been pointed out, it is harder to judge a unreleased Vocaloid let alone one for a new version of the software, although the criticism towards the inconsistency with demos has been her hardest issue amongst fans.

Of all the Vocaloid 3 voicebanks, SeeU has grabbed some of the biggest attention seen thus far.

Trivia

 * Her name can be read in English as "See you" its Korean pronunciation is along the lines of "shi-yu".
 * About her design:
 * Her cat ears/nekomimi are speakers
 * Her neckband is a CD player
 * Soundwaves light up on the rectangle at her flat-shoes
 * There's a pause button at the back of her clothes
 * There's a power button at the ribbon on her neckband

Notable for...

 * First Korean capable Vocaloid
 * First Vocaloid by SBS Artech
 * First female Korean Vocaloid
 * First female Vocaloid by SBS Artech