The Silhouette Series are a series of vocals released for VOCALOID, specifically that of the VOCALOID6 engine released since October 2022. The series name was coined by the Yamaha Corporation, following the releases of GekiyakuV and KazehikiV, where it was noted the "Silhouette Series" was not included within their respective Starter Pack packages.
Since October 2025, they are sold (together with Amy, Chris, Kaori, & Ken as a bundle) by Yamaha as the VOCALOID6 Voicebanks.[1]
About[]
While several VOCALOIDs are classified as "Yamaha VOCALOIDs", the Silhouette Series follows a similar principle to the VY series or the VOCALOID5 Standard set of vocals (Amy, Chris, Kaori, and Ken), acting as "standard" vocals of notable quality aimed at professionals and are designed to allow producers the freedom to shape them as they please. They are given only basic details such as tempo and vocal range and lack any form of character mascot, only featuring as illustrated silhouettes by Kagemaru Himeno.
The first four of the series, SARAH, ALLEN, HARUKA, & AKITO (a set of Japanese and English male and female voicebanks) lack any form of identity besides the gender of their voicebanks, and a silhouette. This makes them partially impersonal and it is up to the producer to fill in the blanks. The following releases, SAKURA, ASAHI, SHION, & TAKU (a set of four Japanese vocalists), MICHELLE & LUCAS (a pair of English vocalists), YUINA & NAOKI (another pair of Japanese vocalists), JESSICA, MATTHEW, BRIAN, & SANDRA (a set of four English vocalists), KANA & HAYATO (yet another pair of Japanese vocalists), and AYA & KAZUYA (again another pair of Japanese vocalists) continue the series.
Originally, the Silhouette Series vocals could only be owned by purchasing the full VOCALOID6 Editor from the VOCALOID SHOP (which also included as part of the bundle Amy, Chris, Kaori, and Ken, which previously could only be owned by buying the VOCALOID5 Editor itself). Thus, buyers of the various VOCALOID6 Starter Packs (first offered by Internet Co., Ltd., then later by Yamaha) were locked out of accessing these vocals (unless they again bought the V6 Editor separately) until October 2025, when they were finally allowed to buy the Silhouette voicebanks (bundled with the V5 Standard set) as a separate standalone purchase.[2][3]
Products[]
Announced[]
History[]
2022[]
On October 13, 2022, four vocals were introduced upon the release of VOCALOID6: the English female vocal SARAH, the English male vocal ALLEN, the Japanese female vocal HARUKA, and the Japanese male vocal AKITO. If purchasing VOCALOID6 from Yamaha Corporation, the editor was bundled with the four vocalists as well as the VOCALOID5 standard vocals: Amy, Chris, Kaori, and Ken. They were only made available as a bundle pack with the editor in digital form, with no options to purchase each vocal individually or as a physical package.[4] In addition, a DTM livestream was launched following the release of VOCALOID6. The livestream confirmed that a total of sixteen new vocals were upcoming at the time, all with their own color themes. Eight of the vocals (AYA, SAKURA, NAOKI, ASAHI, KENJI, SHION, YUKA, and HAYATO) had revealed designs, while four had revealed names (YUINA, KAZUYA, KANA, and TAKU) but no designs yet. The remaining four did not have a confirmed name or design. It was confirmed that these products would be a variety of Japanese and English vocals that would be added as free updates.[5][6]
2023[]
On February 15, 2023, VOCALOID6 was updated to version 6.1.0, carrying out support for Mandarin Chinese song synthesis among other updates, allowing for SARAH, ALLEN, HARUKA, and AKITO to be able to sing in the newly supported language via the "Multilingual" function.[7]
On December 25, upon the release of the VOCALOID6 version 6.3.0 update, the second set of four of the sixteen announced vocals were added to the engine: SAKURA, ASAHI, SHION, & TAKU, with TAKU's design finally being revealed in the process. This update also improved model data synthesis.[8] It should be noted that TAKU's color was changed from the blue color first shown in the livestream to green.
2024[]
On February 19, 2024, upon the release of the VOCALOID6 version 6.3.1a update, two vocals were added to the engine: MICHELLE & LUCAS, a female and male pair of English voicebanks respectively.[9] They were also among the newest additions to the VOCALO CHANGER standalone program version 1.2.0 update, in addition to the previous set of released vocalists SAKURA, ASAHI, SHION, & TAKU.[10] MICHELLE and LUCAS were not a part of the previously named vocals from the livestream, nor were their representative colors shown on the unknown "???" vocalists listed. It is unknown whether the pair were part of this announcement (with their colors now changed) or are new vocals entirely.
Up until the releases of GekiyakuV and KazehikiV in July for VOCALOID6, there was no clarified name for the group of vocals, often only being marketed as vocals that came bundled with the engine when purchased from the VOCALOID SHOP website. They traditionally were not included with other Starter Packs from different companies, such as AI Megpoid or AI Otomachi Una. The releases of GekiyakuV and KazehikiV also followed this pattern with the pair releasing as their own Starter Pack set. It was clarified on this Starter Pack that the "Silhouette Series", referencing HARUKA and AKITO as examples, would not be included in this package, coining the official name for the series of these vocals.[11]
On October 9, upon the release of the VOCALOID6 version 6.4.3 update, two more vocals (YUINA & NAOKI, a female and male pair of Japanese voicebanks respectively) from the livestream's original set of sixteen announced vocals were added to the engine, with YUINA's design finally being revealed.[12] They were also added to the VOCALO CHANGER standalone program version 1.2.1 update.[13] It should also be noted that YUINA's color was changed from the brown color first shown in the livestream to a maroon/red shade.
On December 5, Yamaha's official VOCALOID Twitter account announced that, along with version 6.5.0 of the VOCALOID6 engine (which would add Direct Pitch Editing for VOCALOID:AI tracks), four more vocals (JESSICA, MATTHEW, BRIAN, & SANDRA, a female and male quartet of English voicebanks) were announced to be released soon. Although no release date was given for either the engine update or the new voicebanks, it was announced that on December 7-8, people attending the Yamaha Sound Crossing event at Shibuya would be able to experience the updated VOCALOID6 Editor along with all its new features as well as the four new voicebanks.[14] On December 13, Yamaha tweeted that the VOCALOID6 6.5.0 update and the four new Silhouette voicebanks would be released on December 18.[15][16] None of these four new names were present on the original DTM livestream from two years earlier, and only JESSICA's grayish color resembled any of the colors on the four unnamed "???" slots from the livestream (while MATTHEW's brick-red color may have been close enough to, or changed from, the peach color on another of the four unnamed slots).
2025[]
JESSICA, MATTHEW, BRIAN, and SANDRA were added to VOCALO CHANGER version 1.2.2 update on January 29, 2025.[17]
On May 28, Yamaha's official VOCALOID SoundCloud channel inadvertently published two demo songs attributed to two more vocals (KANA & HAYATO, another female and male pair of Japanese voicebanks respectively) from the livestream's original set of sixteen. No designs were featured though, and both demos were promptly deleted by Yamaha.[18] On June 11, upon the release of the VOCALOID6 version 6.6.0 update, KANA and HAYATO were finally added to the engine, with KANA's design finally being revealed in the process.[19]
On October 1, 2025, Yamaha started to offer the Silhouette Series vocals (together with Amy, Chris, Kaori, and Ken) as a separate purchase called "VOCALOID6 Voicebanks" on the VOCALOID SHOP, thus allowing owners of VOCALOID6 Starter Packs (which did not include the Silhouette Series, nor the VOCALOID5 Standard vocals) to access these vocals without having to buy the VOCALOID6 Editor again.[2][3] Users who had upgraded their copies of the VOCALOID6 Editor Lite to the full V6 Editor without voicebanks (through discounted offers made by Crypton Future Media, Inc. via SONICWIRE[20] and by Internet Co., Ltd. via the SSW Store)[21] would also be able to benefit from this new offer by Yamaha to obtain the Silhouette vocals & the V5 Standards.
On November 19, upon the release of the VOCALOID6 version 6.9.0 update, two more vocals (AYA & KAZUYA, yet another female and male pair of Japanese voicebanks respectively) from the livestream's original set of sixteen were finally added to the engine, with KAZUYA's design finally being revealed in the process.[22]
Updates[]
Ver 6.1.0, included with the VOCALOID6 Editor Updater Version 6.1.0, added support for singing in Mandarin Chinese.
Ver 6.3.0, included with the VOCALOID6 Editor Updater Version 6.3.0, added 4 new voice banks (ASAHI, SAKURA, SHION, TAKU) and improved model data.
Ver 6.3.1, included with the VOCALOID6 Editor Updater Version 6.3.1a, added 2 new voice banks (MICHELLE, LUCAS).
Ver 6.3.2, included with the VOCALOID6 Editor Updater Version 6.4.3, added 2 new voice banks (YUINA, NAOKI).
Ver 6.3.3, included with the VOCALOID6 Editor Updater Version 6.5.0, added 4 new voice banks (BRIAN, JESSICA, MATTHEW, SANDRA).
Ver 6.3.4, included with the VOCALOID6 Editor Updater Version 6.6.0, added 2 new voice banks (KANA, HAYATO).
Ver 6.3.5, included with the VOCALOID6 Editor Updater Version 6.8.0, only updated the installer.
Ver 6.3.6, included with the VOCALOID6 Editor Updater Version 6.9.0, added 2 new voicebanks (AYA, KAZUYA).
References[]
- ↑ https://www.vocaloid.com/en/products/show/v6vb_voicebanks_en
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 https://www.vocaloid.com/en/news/news_25/
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 https://x.com/vocaloid_yamaha/status/1973281732729381023
- ↑ https://www.yamaha.com/en/news_release/2022/22101301/
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFmPe8pAgUU
- ↑ https://x.com/uchuuzentai/status/1580539870451490816 - DTM Livestream as translated by @uchuuzentai
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 https://www.vocaloid.com/en/news/support_11/ Voicebanks Update 6.1.0
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 https://www.vocaloid.com/en/news/support_24/ Voicebanks Update 6.3.0
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 https://www.vocaloid.com/en/news/support_27/ Voicebanks Update 6.3.1
- ↑ https://www.vocaloid.com/en/news/support_28/
- ↑ https://www.vocaloid.com/en/products/show/v6std_gkvset_en
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 https://www.vocaloid.com/en/news/support_38/ Voicebanks Update 6.3.2
- ↑ https://www.vocaloid.com/en/news/support_39
- ↑ https://x.com/vocaloid_yamaha/status/1864637295774847394
- ↑ https://x.com/vocaloid_yamaha/status/1867483897753481504
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 https://www.vocaloid.com/en/news/support_41/ Voicebanks Update 6.3.3
- ↑ https://www.vocaloid.com/en/news/support_46
- ↑ https://x.com/VocaproE/status/1927704472374903187
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 https://www.vocaloid.com/en/news/support_48/ Voicebanks Update 6.3.4
- ↑ https://sonicwire.com/news/special/vocaloid6-editor-lite
- ↑ https://x.com/INTERNETjp/status/1968570687737753748
- ↑ 22.0 22.1 https://www.vocaloid.com/en/news/support_53 Voicebanks Update 6.3.6
- ↑ https://www.vocaloid.com/en/news/support_52 Voicebanks Update 6.3.5
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