Jul 312012
 

Today on July 31st, just one month before Miku’s 5th anniversary, we’ve been treated to another song that’s been created using a beta version of Miku’s English voice bank. Because this is still the beta version, this does not reflect any changes that would be present in the finished product.

The song is titled “NICE AGE”, and comes from HMO a.k.a PAw Lab. The music was done by Yukihiro Takahashi / Ryuichi Sakamoto, and the video was done by y0c1e. There’s far too many other credits to list here, so be sure to read the video’s description here.

The song itself is honestly not too bad. I see many people complaining about the accent, but this is something that had been confirmed by Crypton as a feature well over a year ago at Anime Expo 2011. It’s an English voice bank coming from a Japanese company using a Japanese voice actor, so there will be some accent to the voice. I personally think it adds to her character.

My only real complaint is that the song could have been mastered better. The music suffers from some heavy crackling, static, and loss. This makes it hard to enjoy, and also makes it hard to hear Miku at all in some areas of the track.  Have a listen for yourself, and let me know what you think. Be sure to also express your thoughts on the video on youtube.

EDITED 8/10/2012: A newer version has been uploaded with better audio. This one doesn’t drown out the voice as much.

[youtube:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2zzy5-R5g8]
Jul 312012
 

I’m not really late to the party with this one, I just never thought of making a post about it when I first saw this (however, I did post about it two weeks ago here). But it’s exploding in popularity, even to the point where the official Hatsune Miku facebook page posted about it. It is rather neat though, so I’ll add it here for those of you who haven’t seen it yet. This will teach me a lesson to not let even seemingly small Vocaloid gadget videos slip by.

So a man in Japan has managed to create a system that projects a 3D image of Hatsune Miku onto the surrounding environment using a special pair of goggles equipped with a Kinect sensor. The system manages to work quite well at keeping track of Miku’s position, even when you’re not “facing” in her general direction. For the most part she seems to follow you around where ever you go, and doesn’t seem to do much interaction-wise. However, the creator did add in some reactions and physics for when you try to “touch” the character.

You can move her tie, pat on her head, and even try to grope her (but she wont be very pleased with this). The only downside to this system seems to be the somewhat poor image detail. This is likely attributed to either the Kinect’s low resolution camera, or the low processing power of the system that needed to be small enough to make it portable. Overall, it’s a very interesting idea that will likely lead other people trying to create their own versions of the mod.

So even though I’m horribly late with this one, enjoy the video below if you have not yet done so.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jpWiTVR0GA]
Jul 292012
 

 

So there’s been speculation on that new website that was teased in MitchieM’s newest video. People have been wondering what will be happening on the dates that are circled and underlined on the calendar, and it turns out that August 1st is a pretty simple one to guess. The date has two squares next to it, to indicate something square shaped. And it just so happens that the two albums pictured above have been announced for release on August 1st.

The two albums are up for pre-order on CD Japan, and there’s still some first press bonus releases available.

Impacts Album + DVD + Sticker and Image CD Bonuses

Memories Album + DVD + Sticker and Image CD Bonuses

Since the first mystery is solved, does anyone have any ideas on what will be happening for August 8th? Discuss your ideas in the comments!

Jul 272012
 

This newest video was posted just a few minutes ago, and it showcases a rather large number of tracks from the game, many of which have remained unconfirmed until now. So this is a spoiler alert for those of you who’d rather wait until the game itself is released. Enjoy! A list of all known songs can be found here: [Click]

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14usnXpuOx0]

And in case you missed the release from yesterday, here’s the video that will be displayed in stores to showcase the game’s various features.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CX_OMTy2nSY]
Jul 262012
 


 
It’s been over a year since we’ve last seen a Vocaloid release from the circle known as 2D M3NTION Records, with their last hit being the song “Love Song Excuse” along with various remixes. For those of you unfamiliar, the song and album was released as a tribute to the tsunami disaster in Japan earlier last year. You can view the pv for that release here.

Thankfully, the release of this new album comes under much happier circumstances. And just like their last release, it’s completely free for download! You can not only download the original mix and watch the official PV on their site, but you can obtain the remix album with 7 additional tracks.

Official site and download for original mix: [Click to View]

Official site and download for Remix EP: [Click to View]

Each track is the same song, but in a completely different style. Some are slow and relaxing while others are extremely upbeat. Below are two different mixes of the song, and one of them is an additional mix not included in the album, created by Revolution Boi (and also free for download!). Free albums are the best kind of albums, wouldn’t you agree? =P

NU Break Remix by RevolutionBoi. Free download via SoundCloud.
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTnAeJtqLNk]

P’n’B Remix by DJ Seven. Free download via 2D M3NTION site.
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJWPqWYkFug]