Yamaha Corporation

Template:Infobox Company

The YAMAHA Corporation is a Japanese leading musical instrument manufacturer based in Hamamatsu. This company covers a wide range of business in motorcycles, power sports equipment, and electronics.

About

Yamaha was established as early as 1887, about 20 years after the Tokugawa governing ended, by Torakusu Yamaha (山葉 寅楠 / Yamaha Torakusu) as a reed organ manufacturer. In 1900 Torakusu began the piano production and his organ and piano were awarded an Honorary Grand Prize at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair. This event has established the company's fame to this day.

In 1921 Yamaha began to produce propellers and internal combustion engines for warplanes, which became the foundation of its motorcycle and motorboat production. Soon the Second World War stalled the musical instrument production completely and the factories were attacked and damaged by the British naval gunfire.

After the war, Yamaha started to produce organs and pianos again. In 1959, it released a electric organ Electone and this model soon became the leading brand of electric organ worldwide, used in music halls, churches, and so on.

During 1970s and 80s Yamaha stretched its business to electronics feedbacking the technology of Electone. With five other companies it set the MIDI standard in 1981.

Key people

Hideki Kenmochi (剣持秀紀; Kenmochi Hideki)

HISTORY: Known as "the father of VOCALOID" is the SA Group Team leader of YAMAHA Sound Technology Development Center. In 2000 he began the first developments with a team at the Pompeu Fabra University in Spain. VOCALOID was not originally intended to be a commercial product. He continued to be an important figure with the development of the VOCALOID software up until the announcement of his retirement on January 30th, 2015. PROFILE: TRIVIA: LINKS: Twitter@kenmochi Interview in Vocaloid's Official Website: Hideki Kenmochi, yamaha+ Division (interview in English) Special Demonstration with Signal-P, Rerulili and Watame: VOCALOID™ Editor for Cubase (interview in Japanese) {{{gallery}}}

Katsumi Ishikawa (石川克己; Ishikawa Katsumi)
	HISTORY: Katsumi Ishikawa became the new head of the Vocaloid Project after Kenmochi retired in early 2015. PROFILE: TRIVIA: LINKS: < {{{gallery}}}

VOCALOID

YAMAHA started the development of the VOCALOID engine in March 2000 and formally announced it in 2003. This is the sampling and re-editing of the real singing voice. Users set parameters such as clearness and vibrato as they like so they can create "a virtual singer of their own". The first VOCALOID products were LEON, LOLA, and MIRIAM released in 2004 by Zero-G. YAMAHA produced their own VOCALOIDs: MEIKO, who was also released in 2004 and KAITO, who was released in 2006 after some adjustments were made to the VOCALOID engine, which delayed his release by a year and a half. The two products' commercial preparation and release were handled by Crypton Future Media, Inc..

This first generation of VOCALOID had artificial sound and did not become popular. In August 31, 2007, Hatsune Miku, using the second generation VOCALOID2 platform, was released by Crypton Future Media, Miku was the first VOCALOID made by Crypton Future Media themselves. This product was supported widely with its natural singing and sparked the VOCALOID trend.

Main articles: VOCALOID and See Bplats' Voicebanks section

In 2010, YAMAHA once again began to develop their own voicebanks for the VOCALOID2 program, starting with a co-involvement on Lily. Then, they began their VY series with VY1. To date, Yamaha has the largest group of Vocals release using it a either co-developer or as a distributor (such as was the case of the original Macne Nana release on VOCALOID3). It has also recommended studios to potential Vocaloid voicebanks and has led to Yuzuki Yukari's creation at least being confirmed. It has also been known to invest into some studios in contribution towards developing Vocaloid as mentioned in YANHE's development.

VOCALOID

MEIKO       Feminine Japanese vocals

KAITO       Masculine Japanese vocals

VOCALOID2

VY1       Unisex Feminine Japanese vocals

VY2       Unisex Masculine Japanese vocals

VOCALOID3

Mew       Feminine Japanese vocals	VY1v3       Unisex Feminine Japanese vocals	Tone Rion       Feminine Japanese vocals	Aoki Lapis       Feminine Japanese vocals
VY2v3       Unisex Masculine Japanese vocals	ZOLA PROJECT       Masculine Japanese vocals	Merli       Feminine Japanese vocals	anon & kanon       Feminine Japanese vocals
V flower       Feminine Japanese vocals	galaco NEO       Feminine Japanese vocals	Xin Hua       Feminine Chinese vocals

VOCALOID4

VY1v4       Unisex Feminine Japanese vocals	CYBER DIVA       Feminine English vocals	Sachiko       Feminine Japanese vocals	ARSLOID       Masculine Japanese vocals
unity-chan!       Feminine Japanese vocals	Fukase       Masculine Japanese and English vocals	CYBER SONGMAN       Masculine English vocals	AZUKI       Feminine Japanese vocals
MATCHA       Feminine Japanese vocals

Unreleased

Main article: Status

Promotional involvement

Apps

Main article: iVocaloid,

Main article: VOCALOID first,

Main article: Vocalodama,

Main article: VocaloWitter,

Main article: Mobile VOCALOID Editor

Fan involvement

During the promotions of VY1, a Youtube account called VOCALOID Store uploaded VY1's demos. The account states that it is a "Japan-based eCommerce store specialized for VOCALOID and related items. The store is operated by Bplats, Inc. under licensed by Yamaha Corporation."

Because of VY2 having been created, and officially released, VOCALOID Store has also uploaded demos of his voice.

VocaFes Competition

At VocaFes 2011, two winners were announced whose images will be used for VY1 and VY2. However VY1's redefined version was not presented alongside the original artwork like VY2's was because of an error. Previously, it was announced they would host a competition for everyone to design mascots for the characters as a method of perceiving what the fandom thought of VY1 and VY2.

External links

• Official website (English) (Japanese)
• Official business guide (English)
• Official Site: VOCALOID Store
• Official site: YAMAHA USA products
• Official Nicovideo Channel
• Official YouTube Channel
• YAMAHA Twitter for VOCALOID3 Tone Rion "tonerion"
• YAMAHA Twitter for VOCALOID3 Aoki Lapis "aoki_lapis_vc3"
• YAMAHA Twitter for VOCALOID3 ZOLA PROJECT "zola_project"
• YAMAHA Twitter for VOCALOID3 anon & kanon "anon_kanon"
• YAMAHA Twitter for VOCALOID3 flower "v_flower_jp"

Template:Nav yamahaco Template:Nav Company directory