Miku & Kaito News Blip From The NYCC

 Posted by at 1:46 pm  English Miku, Hatsune Miku, Other Vocaloids  23 Responses »
Oct 142012
 


 
Thanks to the efforts of some live tweeters during the panel, there’s already some new information from the New York Comic Con regarding Kaito and Miku’s upcoming V3 and English voice bank releases.

Two sample songs of Kaito’s English voice bank were shown, and they plan an early 2013 release with both the Japanese and English voice banks.

Hatsune Miku also had a new English demo played. And from what I hear, some people are saying they didn’t like it. I’m unsure if some fans had their expectations too high, or if they opted for yet another non-English speaker to create the demo, the same as they did with the song “Nice Age”.

They plan a Spring 2013 release at the earliest. This is an entire year later than what was originally announced back in 2011, but this is what happens when you make the switch to V3 and start working on 6 Vocaloids at once.

As for the other Cryptonloids, Crypton has said that they have “a desire to create an Append for all Vocaloids eventually”.

They also demonstrated a new custom model of Miku for use in MikuMikuDance, although I’m unsure if this is intended for public release or private company use. It will be based on the same model shown at the summer caravan event.

They also expressed that there are no announced plans for another concert in the U.S., and that overseas performances are quite expensive. Another sponsorship would likely be necessary to make it happen, just as it did before with Toyota and Mikunopolis.

Source: [Link]

There are no audio or video feeds available at this time, but I’ll be sure to update this article later when they come up.

EDIT: Here’s a demo of “1/6 Out of Gravity” using Miku’s English voice bank. Remember that’s it’s still beta.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sg-6o-ja48E]
 
Kaito’s V3 Japanese demo:
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFOUZ_eWewI]
 
Kaito’s V3 English demo:
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4a2gW-JlCQ]

Amazon Opens Promotion For $2 Free MP3 Store Credit, Go Buy Some Vocaloid Music!

 Posted by at 2:01 am  Other  20 Responses »
Oct 122012
 

 

We all love Vocaloid music. And while I love listening to it, I believe very strongly in supporting Vocaloid producers by purchasing their music when possible. But this may not be an option for some people for whatever reason. Thankfully, a new promotion from Amazon allows you to get $2 in music for free, while still benefiting the producers who created the music. This isn’t a gimmick!

To start off, all you need is a registered Amazon account and a Facebook account. After you’ve done that, just visit the following link and answer the blank space with any answer (I personally said “More Miku”):

http://www.amazon.com/gp/socialmedia/promotions/cp-anc-mp3/

Be sure to untick the box before submitting so your email isn’t spammed. Accept the Amazon app permissions, and voila! You just earned $2 in free Amazon MP3 store credit. You can use this to buy any of the music available, including Vocaloid music.

You can head over to Karent.jp to browse their album and song selection before you make your purchase (the option to switch to English is at the bottom of the page). Many of the albums listed are only 2 songs each, so this promotion is perfect for grabbing those hard-to-find tracks. I used it to buy Sunrise by Clean Tears.

The best part about this? Even though you’re getting the music for free, Amazon is still compensating the producers for the purchase. This means you get free music, and the producers still get paid. It’s a win-win! This promotion ends October 24th, and is available to U.S. residents only (sorry!).

Minna Miku Miku Ni Shite Ageru: The Full Length Remake To “Miku Miku Ni Shite Ageru” Released After 5 Years

 Posted by at 3:58 pm  Hatsune Miku, J-Pop, MMD  9 Responses »
Oct 092012
 

It’s been just over 5 years since the release of the classic song “Miku Miku Ni Shite Ageru”, and to this day it remains one of the most viewed and iconic songs in the history of Vocaloid. While extremely short, the song was also very catchy. However, I don’t think many of us were expecting a complete remake from the producer himself, Ika.

The PV itself is already under very heavy traffic on Nicovideo, pulling in over 300,000 views in just 2 days. The video, created by MasatakaP, is incredibly bright and almost overwhelming in the amount of effects and transitions used. The wide number of models, characters, and environments used shows that this was certainly quite a time consuming project.

Onto the song itself, this was a complete from scratch remake of the original. The instrumental and vocal work were completely redone. While different, the instrumental keeps true to the feel of the original song. However, I feel the vocals themselves differ far too much from the original piece. It feels like the song itself was made by someone other than Ika (to the point where I thought it was by someone else, thus the late publication).

Despite that small complaint, the song and video are both incredibly fun to watch and listen to. You can find an mp3 of the instrumental as well as the lyrics from piapro here and here. Enjoy the official video below! The producer’s official YouTube channel can be found here: [LINK]

Official video from YouTube. Nicovideo version available here.[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dx9m4jpocAc]

Vocaloid Producer of the Week #3: OSTER Project

 Posted by at 5:54 pm  Classic, Hatsune Miku, J-Pop, MMD, Other, Other Vocaloids, PotW  10 Responses »
Oct 062012
 


 
This week’s channel promotion goes back to one of the very first Vocaloid producers to appear on the scene, becoming popular within the first month of Hatsune Miku’s release. OSTER Project is definitely an important producer in the Vocaloid community.

OSTER Project’s first success can be dated all the way back to September 13th, just two weeks after the debut of Miku’s software. The song, titled “Koisuru VOC@LOID“, was one of the first major hits on nicovideo that helped lead to the explosion of Miku’s online popularity. She was extremely surprised, yet pleased with the success of the song, as she talked about in a rather cute online interview.

Just a few months later, she released yet another instant classic titled “Miracle Paint“. This cute and catchy song with a “stage show” type musical style was extremely popular and well received. It has been featured as a playable track in Project Diva, and received a few very impressive MikuMikuDance remakes.

The last notable track I would like to mention is Trick and Treat, featuring Kagamine Rin and Len. Released on the Halloween of 2008, this eerily addictive song is easily among one of the most popular pieces using the twins. It has even been featured as a live piece in the recent Hong Kong and Taiwan concerts.

Official Channel Link

http://www.youtube.com/user/fuwacina

Official Twitter Link (Japanese)

https://twitter.com/fuwacina

 
Quite a lot of time has passed since then, and OSTER Project has accomplished many other feats in the community. Far more than I could mention in a single article. OSTER didn’t start using YouTube until just a few months ago, and her audience is rather low to her channel being relatively unknown. As always, if you enjoy this producer’s work and would like to help her audience grow, please share this article to spread the news of the producer’s official channel.

Below is the latest video from her channel featuring the song “Summer Idol”, which has also been used as a playable song in Project Diva ƒ. Enjoy!

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kY6Xe4Au_sI]
 Newer Entries