On Tuesday, March 18, 2014
★Hatsune Miku
Name Meaning: Hatsu (first), Ne (sound), Miku (future)
Release: 31 August 2007
Gender: Female
Age: 16
Height: 158 cm
Voice Base: Fujita Saki
Illustrator: KEI
Character Item: Spring Onion
Before Miku was
released, Vocaloid was not much more than an obscure program. Soon after its
release, users of Nico Nico Douga started posting videos with songs created by
the software. According to Crypton, a popular video with a comically-altered
Miku holding a spring/Welsh onion, singing "Levan Polkka". As
recognition and popularity grew, Nico Nico Douga became a place for collaborate
content creation. Popular original songs written by a user would generate
illustrations.
Hatsune Miku
performed her first "live" concert like a virtual idol on a
projection screen during Animelo Summer Live at the Saitama Super Arena on
August 22, 2009.
★Kagamine Rin and
Kagamine Len
Name Meaning: Kagami (miror), Ne (sound), Rin (right), Len (left)
Release: 27 December 2007
Gender: Rin (Female) and Len (Male)
Age: 14
Height: (Rin) 152 cm, (Len) 156 cm
Voice Base: Shimoda Asami
Illustrator: KEI
Character Item: (Rin) Roadroller and Mikan, (Len) Roadroller and Banana
Since they are based
on the same voice provider, both successfully harmonize with each other and
therefore are often used in duets together.
★Megurine Luka
Name Meaning: Meguri (round), Ne (sound), Luka (Japanese words of "nagare" (flow) and "ka"(song))
Release: 30 January 2009
Gender: Female
Age: 20
Height: 162 cm
Voice Base: Asakawa Yuu
Illustrator: KEI
Character Item: Frozen Tuna
Crypton advertised
Luka's 3GB vocal database as "Japanese/English bilingual" and chose
her name to express its hope that she will transcend borders and cultural
barriers. Only a few days after her release, many songs were produced. Many of
Luka's songs appeared in the Top 30, making it the song with the highest
one-week score.
★Kaito
Release: 17 February 2006
Gender: Male
Age: -
Height: -
Voice Base: Fuga Naoto
Illustrator: Takashi Kawasaki
Character Item: Ice cream
Kaito was created as
a counterpart of Meiko and developed together. Kaito managed to sell just 500
units deeming him a commercial failure. Kaito's raise to fame was only by
fluke, Kaito was a commercial failure and few had any interest in him
★Meiko
Gender: Female
Age: -Never given-
Height: -
Voice Base: Haigo Meiko
Illustrator: Shogo Washizu (Wasshi)
Character Item: One Cup Ozeki (Sake)
She
is the first Japanese female Vocaloid. Her voice is noted to be steady,
straightforward, and suitable for any musical genre. Her overall tone of voice
is more fluid and gives her a large vocal range
★Gumi
Release: 25 June 2009
Gender: Female
Age: 20
Height: 162 cm
Voice Base: Nakajime Megumi
Illustrator: Masami Yuuki
Character Item: Carrot
At the time of her
release, she had one of the most realistic sounding voicebanks in Vocaloid 2
and sings with a soft clear voice. Amongst the female voicebanks she has one of
the biggest ranges and is considered easy to tune. Her pronunciations are of a
good quality and she has smooth vowel sounds compared to other Vocaloids within
her era. The weakness of her voice is that she is raspy, however, this can be
removed if a user does not want her raspiness.
She was also praised
by Western "Japanese to English" users as having one of the easiest
pronunciations to mimic English, however, like all Japanese Vocaloids she is
still limited.
★Sonika
Release: 14 July 2009
Gender: Female
Age: 17
Height: 167 cm
Voice Base: -
Illustrator: ???
Sonika is the third
English speaking Vocaloid to use the updated Vocaloid2 software. She has a
strong British accent and is better suited for late 20th century pop and sings
with a soft and innocent sounding voice. However she has a limited vocal range
and heavy editing may be needed. Though marketed to an English speaking
audience, Sonika can potentially sing in other languages and her vocal bank is
not limited to fixed syllables and phonetics so she is able to produce any
consonant and vowel combination imaginable.
★Kamui Gakupo
Release: 31 July 2008
Gender: Male
Age: 20
Height: -
Voice Base: Camui Gact
Illustrator: Kentaro Miura
Character item: Eggplant
