galaco (VOCALOID3) Prize

galaco VOCALOID3 (prize ver.) VOCALOID3 NEO VOCALOID6 Talk A.I.VOICE | Songs Albums Notable Originals

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galaco (VOCALOID3) Prize
Product information
Company	Stardust Music, Inc. Distributor: Internet Co., Ltd. YAMAHA Corporation
Release	August 5, 2012
Status	Prize (Limited access); replaced with galaco NEO
System	Windows
Language(s)	Japanese
Type	VOCALOID3 Exclusive voice bank
License	Proprietary
Affiliation	Internet Co., Ltd. YAMAHA Corporation

This article is about the VOCALOID3 software known as a voicebank, which was released as a contest prize. If you are looking for the VOCALOID character then click here.

History

galaco first appeared in the music video galaxias! by an artist unit of the same name, composed by the singer Kou Shibasaki and musicians DECO*27 and TeddyLoid.

galaco was first referred to as a VOCALOID when the VOCALOID Shop's competition for VOCALOID3 voicebanks was extended to allow new VOCALOIDs V3 Megpoid - Native and V3 Lily as possible entrants. She was offered as a prize for anyone who managed to get 1,000+ views on Nico Nico Douga in the Yamaha Shop music competition, but neither her name nor image was announced until late April 2012.

Due to the fact that she was only obtainable via competition, it was only possible to legally gain access to galaco by using another pre-bought VOCALOID3 voicebank, even though her software itself still acted as a normal VOCALOID vocal library. She is the first case of needing a previous VOCALOID to gain access to a completely new voicebank of a new character.

Around the month of March, a Demo of her voice was revealed. On the 29th of June, 2012 another demo and PV were released, featuring Kou Shibasaki's song, ANOTHER WORLD.

The vocal was to be awarded in conjunction with the end of the competition on the 30th of June 2012 and the voicebank itself released on August 5, 2012. As of June 30, it was awarded to 697 people. She is available only via download. This download service expired on December 31, however until then new codes can be obtained to continue using her. The code for activating her expired on January 31, 2013; new codes must be obtained to extend her usage. Any codes obtained to extend the use of galaco expired on April 30.

Continued Use

galaco continued to be used after 31st Jan 2013 by one of two methods:

• Registration with P-Club
• Contacting UGC Publishing

Further news on galaco was released and continued use via the allocated methods were extended up to the 30th of October 2013. Support to extend the use of galaco ended on June 30. Users were to post their serial code to galaco@beat.yamaha.co.jp to get an extension completed. As galaco is a Japanese database, technical support was only offered for galaco in Japanese. Yamaha did not accept any new applicants for use of galaco nor personnel data in the e-mail.

Yamaha also wished that users read and understood the conditions set out for use of galaco and respect the restrictions on her. They formerly apologized for the inconvenience this has caused users in the process.

For Yamaha's privacy policy related to the e-mailing process; read here (Japanese)

There are no further plans to extend use of her original voicebank legally past the 30th of October 2013.

It was later confirmed the reason for the discontinued use of galaco was simply that Yamaha could not find a way for galaco to continue to exist in her current form, as they could not release a non-expiring serial code. There had been calls for an official release and continued use. The team behind galaco were promised to make an announcement before October 31, 2013 on galaco.

In early August 2013, a new update for galaco was shown and a demo song released for galaco's next project. Users who were given their free codes to extend galaco's usage were asked to keep hold of them for future reference.

As of October 31, 2013, this vocal is now retired and has since been replaced with galaco NEO. It is no longer possible to legally acquire or maintain a working full copy of this version.

Product Information

Voicebanks

Product Information
Optimum
Genre: Pops, Ballad  Optimum Range: F2 ~ G4  Optimum Tempo: 60 ~ 175 BPM   Total Tempo (min-max): 115 BPM  No. of Keys: W ~ 16, B ~ 11, Total ~ 27
Package details as noted:
galaco's vocal was handed out as a prize exclusively for those who managed to get 1,000 views in the VOCALOID shop music contest, so there are currently no plans to release this vocal as a commercial product. Despite being offered as a prize, permanent use of this particular vocal version was never intended, and access to this particular vocal was restricted even right up until its retirement. The vocal was recorded in a everyday speech tone of voice. According to the later commercial release that would replace this particular version, galaco was supposed to be a faithful recreation of the provider's voice.
Vocal traits as noted:
According to the later "Red" vocal that would be produced, this vocal was designed to handle fast, upbeat songs. However, due to various issues, this version of galaco was left better suited for slower songs. According to some users, galaco's tone of voice does not lift well and stays flat and emotionless. Although this is common among VOCALOIDs to sound like this, galaco's issue is significant enough to notice the impact. She has a lot of breathiness in her voicebank, and therefore cannot handle more being added without issues. This can also result in a loss of clarity.
Software issues as noted:
On March 10th, after US daylight savings adjusted in Windows, some users had reported galaco causing problems with the VOCALOID3 engine. This issue caused VOCALOID3 to fail to work and a expire notice appeared. The only apparent solution to this problem was to uninstall galaco or disable daylight savings updates. For more information see here It should be understood that while it was possible for galaco to be won by overseas producers, technical support and intended continued use was only offered to Japanese speakers. Prior to galaco "Red" being made in the official release, little was given in what galaco was supposed to achieve as a vocal. Issues with the quality of this version of the vocal resulted in galaco's original prize version having far less overall quality and failing to met some of the things that the later "Red" version was more adapt at achieving.
Voicebank sample
galaco VOCALOID3
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