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Hatsune Miku VOCALOID2 Append English VOCALOID3 Light Vivid eVocaloid VOCALOID4 V4 English V4 Chinese | Piapro Studio | Songs Albums Notable Originals


This article is about the VOCALOID3 software known as a voicebank. If you are looking for the VOCALOID character then click here.

History[]

At the time of her first announcement, it was unknown if this update to Miku would be for VOCALOID2 or VOCALOID3.[1]

Miku English: 2007[]

Miku was originally going to have both a Japanese and an English voicebank when she was conceptualized in 2007. However, the concept that was destined to be Hatsune Miku later became Megurine Luka.[2]

Miku English: 2008[]

Requests were made as far back as March 2008 for Miku English.

In August, they decided to try and make this a reality, it was driven by the desire to allow the world to use the Hatsune Miku voice. When interviewed about Miku Append, English was raised. The decision was driven by sales on iTunes of Vocaloid songs. Experience from Luka English had been gained and Hatsune Miku Append had taught them new recording techniques.[3]

Miku English: 2010[]

On October 8, 2010, at the New York Comic-Con, Ito Hiroyuki (Crypton's CEO) announced that if Miku's Facebook page hit 39,390 "likes", an English voicebank would be developed. The project was termed "Project MIKUCASH".

Recording had already begun and the vocal was 1/3 recorded by August 2010.[3][4]

Miku's page has reached more than 1,000,000 "likes" on her Facebook page (run by Crypton staff). On November 17, Wat mentioned he would be announcing more information in the future weeks.[5]

In December, Wat questioned if the vocal would be VOCALOID2 or VOCALOID3.[6]

Miku English: 2011[]

Early on in the English voicebank announcement, Crypton Future Media made a point that they would not make a localized version of the software if it did not meet their expectations, or if it did not sound cute enough, they would cancel it.[7]

The alpha stage of development went under review the weekend of March 19, 2011. By then, it was still far from the beta stage.[8] Crypton reported they would keep their fans up to date with its development and were aiming for a good, qualified English voicebank. Crypton also reported that they would like to do Miku English Appends in the future, however, they had no specific plans to do so.[9]

On May 28, 2011, demos of KAITO Append, Whisper and Power, along with Miku English were posted on Niconico. This voicebank was only 40% complete and there is more development left to do. As noted by a number of native English fans, her smoothness was lacking, but improvements had already been made from Luka's voicebank.[10] Wat had also mentioned previously that he would love to hear the expression change to "Dark" or "Sweet" in English.[11]

On July 2, 2011, a Beta version of Miku's English voicebank was used at the "MikuNopolis" concert in Los Angeles. It was used to enable Miku to address the audience and, with Luka, perform World's End Dancehall with English lyrics (although Luka sang most of the song).

On October 16, a video of Miku's English Voicebank singing Ballet Mecanique was uploaded on YouTube showing greater improvement.

On October 24, it was reported that Miku's voicebank was 70% complete and all the basic sounds had been captured.[12]

Wat tweeted on the December 1, 2011, noting that all previous demos had originally been rendered with the VOCALOID2 engine, and things were being redone for the VOCALOID3 engine.[13]

Miku English: 2012[]

On March 25, 2012, a demo using Miku's English voicebank composed by Fink was released. At the time, the voicebank was still in beta and her triphones were still needing adjustment.[14] It was also mentioned that in the future they would like to add Appends to the English version to give Miku English expression. However, they are currently undecided on the matter.[15]

On July 31, 2012, a usage of English Miku singing NICE AGE was released, and was purposely edited to have a strong Japanese accent. This song will also be featured the album "増殖気味 X≒MULTIPLIES", along with other songs using the English vocal.[16]

On December 15, 2012, another usage was released: a cover of Day Tripper (stylized in all caps) by The Beatles, composed by John Lennon and Paul McCartney.

Note that NICE AGE and DAY TRIPPER are not demos of English Miku and should not be treated as such.


Further adjustments were made to KAITO and Miku in early October prior to their vocals demostration.[17]

An English demo of Miku and KAITO was shown NYCCon 2012. Both were still in Beta version.[18]

Yuu Asakawa stated that Hatsune Miku English would be released in the Spring of 2013.

Miku English: 2013[]

A short usage of English Miku was uploaded on February 7, with Miku singing "Spectrum", remixed by kz (livetune). Circus-P worked on the tuning for the track. A longer version was later uploaded on February 25. "Spectrum" was written by ZEDD, a producer who has also written songs for Skrillex, Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga. The livetune remix featuring Miku is featured on the Japanese release of ZEDD's debut album, "Clarity".[19]
Note that Spectrum is not a demo of English Miku and should not be treated as such.


kz (livetune) used English Miku once again, also tuned by Circus-P, in his English version of "Tell Your World". It is featured on his album Re:Dial which was released on March 20.

On March 9, Crypton updated their product page for the English version of Miku. It stated that English Miku was pushed back to summer 2013, with planned collaborations with popular labels and artists. The page was shortened on March 11, removing any details about her release and advertisement to potential business partners.[20][21]

At Anime Expo, it was announced that Miku English would be the first VOCALOID to be made for Apple's Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows. Later, this was confirmed on the official Facebook page of Miku as well.

Crypton put up this website, confirming the VOCALOID's summer release.

Hatsune Miku V3 English was released on August 31, 2013 as download only software.

Later on in regards to a talk on Miku's 6th anniversary, aspects of Miku English were discussed. Some of the things discussed was why an online sale was chosen first for the vocal. Crypton mentioned that they wanted simultaneous sales world wide for the release. Sweet ANN was used as a guide for Miku's development. They also noted that Miku English did not produce good results on the VOCALOID2 engine so it was not released for this version. They also discussed that they had to make changes in art and vocal tone in order to appeal to the new cultures they were selling Miku to abroad. Wat confirmed that her voice had been adjusted to make her sound more mature.[22] Miku English also faced problems that even native English VOCALOIDs have faced, in that English, unlike Japanese, had no definite sounds, which lead to problems collecting data.[23]

In an interview, Saki Fujita stated that she had to do many more takes for the English voicebank whereas she did not have to do this for the Japanese vocal unless something unexpected came up. In addition, her pronunciation had to be approved by an English instructor. She noted that she has become fast at reading the Vocaloid script and when first presented with the English one, was taken back by how different it was to the Japanese one, causing her to think she would have to re-learn how to read scripts. The V3 development team said that it was difficult to achieve the same sound during a re-recording for artificial and physical reasons. Fujita also went through training on how to produce the 'R' and 'L' sounds of the English language.[22]

Product Information[]

Demonstrations[]

2011[]

Demonstrations

Miku singing Ballet Mecanique by Sakamoto Ryuichi (Demo Version) YouTube
Miku singing Ballet Mecanique by Sakamoto Ryuichi (Full Version) YouTube

2012[]

Demonstrations

Tokyo x Nicofarre YouTube
NICE AGE NicoNico YouTube
DAY TRIPPER NicoNico YouTube

2013[]

Demonstrations

Spectrum (short ver.) YouTube
Spectrum (longer ver.) YouTube
Coming Together YouTube
Let The Music Speak YouTube
FATE YouTube
Second Star YouTube
Let me fly YouTube
Shine for me YouTube
New world YouTube

System Requirements[]

PC version
  • OS: Windows 7(32/64bit)/ Windows 8(32/64bit)/ Vista(32bit)/ XP(32bit)
  • CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo 1.8 GHz processor or better
  • RAM: 2GB or more
  • HDD: 10GB or more
  • Other: DVD-ROM drive / Sound Device (with DirectX Support) / Graphics Card that supports OpenGL 3.0 or higher / A monitor resolution no lower than 1280 x 768 pixels / Internet connection
Mac
  • OS: OS X 10.7, 10.8
  • CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo 1.8 GHz processor or better
  • RAM: 2GB or more
  • HDD: 8GB or more
  • Other: DVD-ROM drive / A monitor resolution no lower than 1280 x 768 pixels / Internet connection

Voicebanks[]

Product Information
Optimum
  Genre: House, Techno, Crossover  Optimum Range: B2 ~ B3  Optimum Tempo: 100 ~ 130 BPM
  Total Tempo (min-max): 30 BPM  No. of Keys: W ~ 8, B ~ 5, Total ~ 13
Versions
  Trial/Demo Vers?: Yes  Starter Available?: No
Package details as noted:

This is the English version of the Hatsune Miku software. The vocal sings with a Japanese accent and as Miku is a member of the CV series, her vocals focus on sounding cute – although she was adjusted to sound more mature than her original bank.

This vocal package comes with Piapro Studio included.

The software comes with a Piapro Studio version of Crypton's DAW "Studio One ARTIST", which includes various vocal effects and other tools. This includes also a resource pack with 200 virtual instruments. The complete package of Piapro Studio and Studio One ARTIST means that anyone buying this release can get started in music straight away with no need to purpose any further software, and all will work together with each other without any problems. This bundle is included in both the normal and English bundled versions of the software.

Prior to August 2018, this vocal was available to be bought as a standalone product [24], currently it can only be purchased bundled with the Hatsune Miku V3 release.

Vocal traits as noted:
  • Improvements since Megurine Luka English have resulted in Miku having a higher level of language capabilities, bringing her to a "Standard" level of English.
    • The template for this voicebank was based on Sweet Ann, who has the basic VOCALOID2 English Dev Kit build Vocaloid build.
  • Has good pitching abilities.
  • The vocal itself is overall weaker sounding than the original Japanese vocal and loses strength on sounds where strength needs to be maintained.
  • The tone of the voice was made less tense than the original Hatsune Miku vocal, as it was noted that a "cute" sound felt inappropriate for Europe and the United States; Crypton noted that a childish voice could be perceived as childish and may be negatively viewed in the West, where there are countries that are strict about pedophilia (specifically lolicon). As a result, a more calm voice for English was selected, and was noted to have a calmer feel than Miku's "DARK" and "SOFT" appends.[25]
  • Has some singing style inconsistency between short and long notes with longer notes being more "singing" style while shorter notes can sound more "talking". This means Miku is often not smooth.
Phonetic notes as noted:
  • Her [aU] samples warp oddly when followed by [-].
  • Miku will pronounce her [@r] as [Q@]
  • Like other Japanese -> English vocals before this one, she has trouble separating "R" and "L" sounds in general. In this case she is overall hard on "R" related sounds due to the Japanese accent, though she has improved definition on "L" sounds compared to KAITO V3 English.
  • Miku has some issues with vowel transitions. A sequence of multiple [V] or [e] phonemes (as opposed to using [-]) will distort pronunciation, and some vowel-to-vowel transitions produce a strained sound or an "intrusive R" effect.
Software issues as noted:
  • The English vocal and its closest Japanese equivalent from the Hatsune Miku V3 package have different vocal ranges and tempos listed. There may be some inconsistency matching the two vocals with each other as a result.
  • At 10GB this is the largest of the English vocals for VOCALOID3. Do note, however, this large size is because of the inclusion of Piapro Studio within the package and the actual vocal itself does not consume the full 10GB.
  • One of the biggest issues of the vocal is its tempo range.
    • Overall, its small tempo and vocal range put it as one of the least capable VOCALOID3 vocals and ties with MEIKO V3 English on its overall capabilities and both cover a range of just 30 BPM. This seriously limits the vocals capabilities with the types of music genres.
    • At 100 BPM, this is the fastest minimum tempo range of any Vocaloid, a title it jointly holds with Meiko English.
Voicebank sample

Hatsune Miku V3 English

Cross-Synthesis as noted:

Once imported into VOCALOID4, this vocal becomes available for XSY, however, this is a single release voicebank and there are no additional vocals included for her to utilize this function. Users must purchase another voicebank from the XSY group "Hatsune Miku V4 English" to use XSY.

This vocal is able to use XSY. Note this is a standalone vocal with no additional voicebanks released to accomply it. Users wishing to use Miku for XSY in her English version must acquire another voicebank from the "Hatsune Miku V4 English" XSY group.

  • From Ver.4.3.0 of the Vocaloid engine, a XSY group "Miku V4 English" was added to VOCALOID. All vocals within the "Miku V4 English" group can XSY with each other. This vocal release is part of this group. If the User owns another vocal from the "Miku V4 English" group, XSY between the vocals can occur.
  • In total the package offers the equivalent of 2 additional voicebanks achievable via XSY. The total tone variation offered by the package comes to a theoretical 4 voicebanks in total.
  • Note that also "GWL" does not become viable for use with a V3 vocal used as the primarily vocal. Users need to take this in mind when using the Hatsune Miku V3 English vocal for this role.
  • XSY is only possible with the full VOCALOID4 software.
  • Compared to the Megurine Luka V4x English XSY group, this has more contrast between the vocals held within the group. Therefore there is a better impact on XSY within this English group then the Megurine Luka English group.

Hatsune Miku V3 English also includes Piapro Studio.

References[]

  1. link
  2. link
  3. 3.0 3.1 link
  4. link
  5. link
  6. link
  7. link
  8. link
  9. [1] Tweet - Potential English bank of Hatsune Miku's - 11:06 PM Mar 17th
  10. link
  11. link
  12. linl
  13. link
  14. link
  15. link
  16. link
  17. link
  18. link
  19. Vocaloidism Upcoming Japanese Release of Zedd Album to Include Remix Using English Miku February 7, 2013
  20. Crypton Future Media, INC. Who is Hatsune Miku? March 9, 2013
  21. Vocaloidism The Evanescent English Hatsune Miku Website March 12, 2013
  22. 22.0 22.1 [2]
  23. link
  24. link
  25. link

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