Vocaloid is a singing voice synthesizer software product. Its signal processing part was developed through a joint research project led by Kenmochi Hideki at the Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, Spain, in 2000 and was not originally intended to be a full commercial project. Backed by the Yamaha Corporation, it developed the software into the commercial product "Vocaloid" that was released in 2004.
In entertainment, a virtual band is a band or music group whose members are not depicted people, but animated characters or virtual avatars. The music is recorded by real musicians and producers, while any media related to the virtual band, including albums, video clips and the visual component of stage performances, feature the animated line-up; in many cases the virtual band members have been credited as the writers and performers of the songs. Live performances can become rather complex, requiring perfect synchronization between the visual and audio components of the show.
Loituma is a Finnish quartet whose members combine the Finnish vocal tradition with the sounds of the kantele. Loituma were selected Ensemble of the Year at the 1997 Kaustinen Folk Music Festival.
"Ievan polkka" is a Finnish song with lyrics printed in 1928 and written by Eino Kettunen to a traditional Finnish polka tune. The song is sung in an Eastern Savonian dialect spoken in North Karelia. It is sung from the point of view of a young man, about a woman called Ieva who sneaks out and dances the polka with him all night. The song is often mistaken for a traditional folk song, but the lyrics by Eino Kettunen are still under copyright. Later, a scat singing version of the song by the band Loituma was incorporated into the viral animation Loituma Girl. In 2007, the song was brought into worldwide popular culture through a cover sung by Hatsune Miku, with Otomania arranging the music and providing Miku's voice manipulation.
Holly Dolly is an animated pop musician whose debut single "Dolly Song " was internationally successful in the Summer of 2006. Holly Dolly is an animated, singing female donkey from Italy. Holly Dolly's debut album, Pretty Donkey Girl, was also released in 2006, including cover versions of "La Isla Bonita" by Madonna and "Don't Worry, Be Happy" by Bobby McFerrin. Some of the tracks on the album were largely or completely a cappella.
Hatsune Miku, officially code-named CV01, is a Vocaloid software voicebank developed by Crypton Future Media and its official anthropomorphic mascot character, a 16-year-old girl with long, turquoise twintails. Miku's personification has been marketed as a virtual idol, and has performed at live virtual concerts onstage as an animated projection.
zoome was a video hosting service in Japan managed by zoome Co., Ltd. (zoome株式会社).
Repetitive songs contain a large proportion of repeated words or phrases. Simple repetitive songs are common in many cultures as widely spread as the Caribbean, Southern India and Finland. The best-known examples are probably children's songs. Other repetitive songs are found, for instance, in African-American culture from the days of slavery.
The Nendoroid series is a brand of plastic figures created by the Japanese Good Smile Company in 2006. They typically depict characters from anime, manga or video games and are designed with a large head and smaller body to give them a cute appearance. Their faces and other body parts are exchangeable, giving them a range of different expressions and poses. The Nendoroid brand spans a variety of different products: the original 10 cm figures, smaller Nendoroid Petite figures, additional display tools known as the Nendoroid More series as well as plushies and play sets. Several video games have also been released based on Nendoroid designs.
Supercell is an 11-member Japanese pop band led by musician and songwriter Ryo, which formed in 2007 as a dōjin music band. The other 10 members are artists and designers who provide illustrations in album booklets and music videos. Supercell started out by making use of the Hatsune Miku Vocaloid singing synthesizer to produce vocals for songs submitted to the Nico Nico Douga video sharing website. The popularity of the songs led the band to release their independent self-titled album Supercell (2008). Supercell later signed to Sony Music Entertainment Japan and had a professional release of their Supercell album in March 2009, which was updated with more songs.
Supercell is the eponymous debut studio album of Japanese J-pop band Supercell, released on March 4, 2009 by Sony Music. Supercell had originally released a dōjin (independent) version at Comiket 74 on August 16, 2008, before the band signed a record deal with Sony Music. The album contains twelve music tracks written by Ryo and the singing synthesizer Hatsune Miku was used to provide the vocals.
Black Rock Shooter is a Japanese media franchise based on characters created by illustrator Ryohei Fuke, also known as Huke. It revolves around its eponymous character, a mysterious black haired girl with a blazing blue eye. The original illustration inspired a song of the same name by Supercell featuring the Vocaloid Hatsune Miku, which gained popularity on the Nico Nico Douga website.
"Kimi no Shiranai Monogatari" is a J-pop song by the Japanese band Supercell, written by Ryo. Supercell released it as their debut single in August 2009 by Sony Music. The title track was the ending theme song to the 2009 Bakemonogatari anime series, and the B-side track "Love & Roll" was the theme song for the 2009 Cencoroll anime film. A music video was produced for "Kimi no Shiranai Monogatari", directed by Hirohisa Sasaki. Lyrically, the song deals with an unrequited love.
Crypton Future Media, Inc., or simply Crypton, is a Japanese media company based in Sapporo, Japan. It develops, imports, and sells products for music, such as sound generator software, sampling CDs and DVDs, and sound effect and background music libraries. The companian also provides services of online shopping, online community, and mobile content.
Livetune is a Japanese electro band which formed in 2007 as a dōjin music circle signed to Toy's Factory. The band originally consisted of two members, Kz and Kajuki P, but Kajuki P left the band in March 2009. Livetune started out by making use of the Hatsune Miku singing synthesizer to produce vocals for songs submitted to the Nico Nico Douga video sharing website. The popularity of the songs led the band to release the independent album Re:package at Comiket 73 in December 2007. Livetune made its major debut with Victor Entertainment with the professional release of their Re:package album in August 2008, which was updated with more songs. Livetune began collaborating with other artists in 2009, and has since composed music for such artists as Kotoko, ClariS, Maon Kurosaki, and fellow dōjin musician Ryo of Supercell.
Hatsune Miku and Future Stars: Project Mirai is a 2012 rhythm game created by Sega and Crypton Future Media for the Nintendo 3DS. The game is a spin-off of the Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA series of Vocaloid rhythm games and was first released on March 8, 2012 in Japan with no international release. Like the original, the game primarily makes use of Vocaloids, a series of singing synthesizer softwares, and the songs created using them, most notably the virtual-diva Vocaloid Hatsune Miku. It is also the first game in the franchise to include a Vocaloid made by Internet Co., Ltd.; the mascot of Megpoid, Gumi, appears as a guest star.
Eino Kettunen was a Finnish composer and lyricist. His most popular piece, Ievan Polkka, was popularized when a website named leekspin.com was created. The site shows an endless flash animation loop of Orihime Inoue spinning a leek while singing the song.
Vocaloid is a singing voice synthesizer and the first engine released in the Vocaloid series. It was succeeded by Vocaloid 2. This version was made to be able to sing both English and Japanese.
Sano Takayuki (佐野貴幸), more commonly known as samfree or SAM, was a Japanese music producer heavily involved in composing and arranging songs using Vocaloid software. He was also notably involved in producing theme songs for various anime television series.
Wowaka, also known as Genjitsutouhi-P (現実逃避P), was a Japanese musician. Considered to be a pioneer in the Vocaloid industry, wowaka was internationally acclaimed for his musical work over a career spanning a decade.
