What is VOCALOID?
Released by Japanese musical equipment company Yamaha in 2004, VOCALOID is a music software that uses vocal synths. Vocal synths (or Vsynths for short) are synthetic voices made from voicebanks, and they can be tuned just like instruments. Voicebanks are sets of samples given by a voice provider which are required to give Vsynths their voices. A large number of Vsynths have multiple voicebanks that all sound slightly different depending on which one you’re using, and it is common for Vsynths to receive new voicebanks when transitioning to a new software. Since Yamaha is a Japanese company, earlier versions of the VOCALOID software only included Japanese voicebanks. However, nowadays, although Japanese voicebanks are still in the majority, there are many voicebanks that support other languages as well (such as English, Spanish, Chinese, and Korean). Choosing a voicebank and tuning it in their own way allows Vocaloid producers–music producers who use Vsynths in their music–to give a unique voice to their music that they might otherwise not have, and it can be changed or altered in any way they like to give it their own unique flair.
Most individual Vsynths have a character design created for them and used as the face of them, and these designs are frequently used for marketing, music videos, album covers, and much more. These designs are typically given new official variations with each new voicebank a Vsynth is given, but a large number of Vocaloid producers choose to create their own versions of these designs. Vsynth designs don’t tend to have any “canonical” information about them (such as personality, age, etc.), and they can be changed and interpreted in any way you want. This, along with the versatility of voicebanks, makes Vsynths amazing for expressing one’s feelings through music, and every new song tends to have its own unique variation of the Vsynth used in them.
The most well-known Vsynth (a.k.a. Vocaloid) by far–though not the first one created–is Hatsune Miku. Developed by Crypton Future Media (CFM) and voice provided by Saki Fujita, Hatsune Miku was released for VOCALOID 2 in 2007. Hatsune Miku’s design was created by the manga artist Kei Garō, and the most recognizable aspect of her design is her blue-green twin-tails. Her design has become so recognizable that most people on the internet are able to recognize her, even if they don’t know anything about Vocaloid. Upon release, Hatsune Miku quickly rose in popularity and brought Vocaloid’s popularity up with her, and she is credited as the reason Vocaloid is as big as it is today. Hatsune Miku has received a near infinite number of unique songs and designs since her release and initial popularity, and she is still beloved by Vocaloid fans to this day.
Now, back to Vocaloid. There tends to be a bit of confusion for newer fans when it comes to the various different things which the term “Vocaloid” can refer to, so here’s an explanation of the many uses of it: When referring specifically to the VOCALOID software, every letter is capitalized. However, every letter does not need to be capitalized when referring to anything Vocaloid-related which isn’t the software. “Vocaloid” is also commonly used as an adjective to refer to anything that involves Vocaloid (e.x. “Vocaloid music”). Additionally, Vsynths which are made specifically for the VOCALOID software are simply called Vocaloids. And finally, even though “VOCALOID” specifically refers to the software owned by Yamaha, the overwhelming majority of Vocaloid fans tend to refer to everything Vsynth-related as Vocaloid, even if it isn’t affiliated with Yamaha.
Other prominent Vsynths
CFM has created Vocaloids other than Miku as well. The other Vocaloids created by CFM are commonly referred to as “Cryptonloids” and there are 6 of them in total: MEIKO, KAITO, Hatsune Miku, Kagamine Rin, Kagamine Len, and Megurine Luka. There have also been many more non-Cryptonloid Vocaloids released for the various installments of VOCALOID over the years, such as Megpoid/GUMI, KAFU, v flower, Kaai Yuki, and more.
However, despite being the first and the most well-known, VOCALOID is not the only Vsynth software out there. One notable alternative to VOCALOID is UTAU. Released in 2008 by Ameya/Ayame, UTAU is a free shareware software which uses its own (mostly) community-made Vsynths. Similarly to VOCALOID, this software contains primarily Japanese voicebanks, but there are voicebanks with other languages as well. Despite not being nearly as fancy as VOCALOID, UTAU is also responsible for some very well-known Vsynths, such as Adachi Rei and Kasane Teto (who you may know, due to her semi-recent surge in popularity). Although Kasane Teto’s original voicebank was released for UTAU, she has become more well-known for her SynthV voicebank in recent years.
Released in 2017 by Dreamtonics, SynthV is another Vsynth software (as the name suggests), and many would consider it on-par with or even better than VOCALOID in multiple aspects. SynthV is much closer to VOCALOID than UTAU due to it not being free and also having much more professional and higher quality voicebanks (although UTAU’s voicebanks can certainly still sound good). Additionally, like the previously stated softwares, SynthV also provides voicebanks of various languages. As previously stated, Kasane Teto has a SynthV voicebank, but some other well-known SynthV voicebanks are Eleanor Forte (who is original to SynthV) and Megpoid/GUMI, who was also given a SynthV voicebank in addition to her Vocaloid voicebanks.
VocaPs, Niconico, and YouTube
Vocaloid producers (or VocaPs for short) are people who make music with Vocaloids/Vsynths. There are countless VocaPs around the globe, but some of the most recognizable and influential ones out there are Ryo (Supercell), DECO*27, Mitchie M, and Kikuo. You might recognize these producers from songs such as: “World is Mine” by Ryo, “Ghost Rule” by DECO*27, “Viva Happy” by Mitchie M, and “Aishite Aishite Aishite” by Kikuo. Ryo has (mostly) retired from Vocaloid production since 2012, but every other one of the listed producers is still active in the Vocaloid scene to this day. Some of my personal favorite VocaPs are Inabakumori, PinocchioP, Masarada, and JamieP (a.k.a. Jamie Paige).
Since the early days of Vocaloid, the Japanese video sharing service Niconico Inc. (a.k.a. Nico Nico Douga) has been prominent for housing the Vocaloid community, and it was the main place to find Vocaloid music videos for a pretty long time. However, nowadays, Youtube is used more frequently than Niconico by Vocaloid producers and fans alike. Despite this, there are still many Vocaloid producers that still use Niconico, but most of them tend to upload their works to both Youtube and Niconico.
How to get into Vocaloid
There are many different ways to get into Vocaloid, so it may seem daunting at first for newer fans. Although others’ opinions may vary, I believe that the best way to start is by playing through any Project Diva game (Mega Mix is the easiest to get). The Project Diva series is a series of rhythm games featuring many of the most popular Vocaloid songs of all time, and they are a great way to learn about the history of Vocaloid. However, if you’d rather skip out on the Project Diva series, then just simply listening to any Vocaloid songs you enjoy and branching out from there can be good enough. Although I would recommend trying to do your own research on the history of Vocaloid, you don’t need to if you don’t want to. All you need to do in order to get into Vocaloid is listen to Vocaloid music, and you can figure out what you like from there.