Buying your own vocaloid

Introduction

This article is actually in two parts. A major news update has be included in the other article, and you might like to check it out: Making your own 3D dancing vocaloid: http://bit.ly/v4WF5s includes MMD, DanceMixer, & Vocaloid 3.

People have been asking for videos of Hatsune Miku V3. So here is one video of many just for you (and it was really difficult to decide which one should be chosen).

☆ @toyonaga_gonta —【Ｖ3初音ミク】 suddenly awake

☆ @toyonaga_gonta —【Ｖ3初音ミク】目を覚ますように歌うコト// suddenly awake【オリジナル曲】[song/music]: http://youtu.be/MQKkTR2OOws #vocaloid

Also there have been many new Vocloids, UTAU, and there are rumors that CeVIO will include more characters as well. In 2013, for example there is music out by 3 boys  (Vocaloids) that is being placed under the title of the “ZOLA PROJECT,” and here’s some videos that you might enjoy:

♬【 ZOLA Project : WIL 】 GLIDE 【 VOCALOID 3カバー 】

♬【 ZOLA Project : WIL 】 GLIDE 【 VOCALOID 3カバー 】[song/music]: http://youtu.be/oSG5zrpYdQk

♬【ZOLA PROJECT】Soar【カバー】

♬【ZOLA PROJECT】Soar【カバー】[song/music]: http://youtu.be/kfaQWnkfigw

“looks like Miku will have to compete with some ‘hot’ boy bands girls ;)”

The fans of the Vocaloid tend to strongly associate with the vocaloid “mascot” character. So strongly in fact that a vocaloid character that performs by lip-syncing or simply dances is still considered a vocaloid to the fans.

Hatsune Miku–a vocaloid character–for example is known as a “Pop Idol” by both manufacturers, advertisers, and fans.

When a vocaloid is talked about in this article, the vocaloid “mascot” character is the base reference and focus rather than the vocaloid “voice producing” software. This may seem wrong to a musician, song writer, and dance creator–but it is the way fans see the end product of the artist’s work.

Just a note of suppliers supported

Because vocaloid software seems to be supplied through the UK or Japan, this article lists those as sources of vocaloid software.

According to http://vocaloid.wikia.com/wiki/Vocaloid3 the languages supported are: Spanish, Korean, and Chinese, Japanese, and English. So there may be other legitimate suppliers that should be mentioned here but have not been.

So, if you are from China, Spain or Korea make sure that you use a search engine like yahoo, google, bing, or whatever your local version of search engine is, and find out if the Vocaloids are sold by a company from your country.

If your from a country whose language is not supported, then by all means also use your search engine to find out if a company you like sells the vocaloid 3.

Also Vocaloids are a type of entertainer you can take with you for your whole life. If you love entertaining people, then don’t let being too young or too old stop you from making another world-wide hit!

Alternative to Vocaloid Software: UTAUloids

“Utau (stylized and most often referred to as UTAU) is a Japanese singing synthesizer application created by Ameya/Ayame. This program is similar to the Vocaloid software, with the difference that it is freeware instead of being released under third-party licensing.” [ source wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utau, accessed Jan 2013 ]

Download for free: http://utau2008.xrea.jp/

With this software you can create your own sound banks using your own voice, or a voice modified by auto-tune for example.

CeVio

CeVio comes as a free or paid for version (as of the printing of this article in Sep 2013).

This is the website if you are interested: http://cevio.jp/.The website is currently in Japanese.

While she is not a Vocaloid, she is close enough to be considered, just like the UTAU, to be almost exactly like the Vocaloids to the fans. Here is a video of her (there have been some criticisms by music producers of her voice):

✭【さとうささら】Waltz of Anomalies【CeVIO Creative Studio FREEカバー】[song/music]: http://youtu.be/_Wmy6lHXMzc

And here’s a cleaned up version of Sasara’s voice; suppose you could consider this a cover by a different artist with a similar voice; but it shows how good Sasara can be at singing, launching her career like this would have been nicer:

☆ Sasara — Words of Magic [song/music]: http://youtu.be/FB-LFJBOQbk #CeVIO #Vocaloid #UTAU

This is another producer that has not modified Sasara’s voice, but still produces a very entertaining song:

☆ Sasara — Nameless Song [song/music]: http://soundcloud.com/tady159/nameless-song-sasara #CeVIO #Vocaloid #UTAU

Introduction

“You do know the vocaloid software just makes songs don’t you?”

This is a statement that is both true and yet very untrue because one event really changed the history of the Vocaloid and that was the appearance of a “Pop Idol” called Hatsune Miku.”

Industries and fans alike have come to see Miku as a vocaloid even when she is not accompanied by the vocaloid voice.

As a result of this popularity a host of derivative products have resulted. These include:

• MMDAgent (produced by Nagoya Institute of Technology)
• Miku Miku Dance (freeware)
• NetVocalis (similar to VocaListener, produced by Bplats–the maker of VY series)
• NetVocaloid (available in both English and Japanese)
• sketchup (mentioned in this article)
• VocaListener (produced by VocaListener and is used to make realistic songs)
• Vocaloid-flex (produced by Yamaha)

Most of these will not be discussed in this article.

Strictly speaking a vocaloid requires at least four things:

1. software like your own voice, vocaloid or AutoTune to make Miku or other character sing
2. software or music instruments to make music to go with song
3. Multi-track mixer to combine the individual sound tracks into one sound file.
4. MMD or some 3D software animation software (such as DancexMixer) that can also combine sound files so the 3D character can sing to the sound (as indicated in the below–by young genius’–lip-sync tutorial). There is a strong association with a vocaloid voice, and a vocaloid “mascot” character.

If your broke or really good at music you can sing and play music at the same time to produce a sound track. This avoids needing steps 1,2 and 3. However there is an article that explains how to use steps 1, 2 and 3.

This is the article: Unwritten – Undefined (various songs by Samantha Lombardi, @KellyLaunder, and @stefdaugilis):  http://bit.ly/ujSsPS

I’m going to include one of the relevant videos here:

This video covers steps 1,2 and 3 (but assumes you use your own voice)

Recording and using multi-track recording software : http://youtu.be/OigIc1RrUTY

The author also interviewed a band about how they did their multi-track recording, and they said they liked to use “adobe audition cs6:” http://www.adobe.com/products/audition.html. When the adobe website was checked in 2013, it had a free download option for users that wanted to trial “audition” to see if they liked it.  [reference: Good Morning [music]: http://wp.me/p10Tww-1lV, accessed Jan 2013]

If you don’t want to use your own voice, you can AutoTune or GarageBand your own voice [video]: https://youtu.be/B1XQs0L4tBY, or use vocaloid software discussed here.

If you are wondering how to find the key of a song, so you can set the key on AutoTune or GarageBand:

• How to Find The Key of A Song – By Ear : https://youtu.be/9bQouq9a_CA  #Mixing
• ♬ What key is my song in? Find the key of a song. Takes only minutes to learn! : https://youtu.be/G6bD1qJxRow

Yuki Kaai – Every Breath You Take [song/music]

♬ Yeah I know… does Vocaloid community use Audacity?… Oh, Sure, Yeah! Yuki Kaai – Every Breath U Take [song/music]: http://youtu.be/1hkUoqlAE9s

So with the free MMD software and the so-called $2 microphone you should be ready to make your own songs and get a vocaloid to sing & dancing for your video. If you can get hold of AutoTune (or GarageBand for apple) you can even make nice songs–if you have not learned to sing well yet. Of course the vocaloid software could handle the singing for you.

The vocaloid voice could grant you popularity simply because it’s promoted all over the world. There are of course strict rules to using vocaloid software so the voice (and related 3D vocaloid mascot character) does not get an unsavory reputation.

If you get a vocaloid, then it can do the singing, and you can focus on the dance and MMD 3D model animation.

Downloading others songs and/or music for use with your 3D vocaloid.

Some people skip the music and song creation part and down load other people music. Currently this subject is not covered here. Possibly the artist that produced the song and/or music would need to sign some public use licenses before you could make use of their songs and music.

A number of people also make music and songs that are covers of popular music. It appears they simply include the word cover in their song title. Again, how this works is not covered here. With vocaloid voices becoming more like real singers, this might have to be considered.

Simply downloading music and/or songs from other people could get your videos banned or worse, you could get in trouble depending on where you are in the world.

Governments around the world are considering very harsh copyright laws to prevent unauthorized copying of stuff… it’s hard at the moment to know if such laws will come into effect or fail as they will probably wreck the internet as we know it. The United States for example has been examining laws called SOPA and PIPA. SOPA has failed to come into effect due to protests at its harsh nature, but as of Jan 2012 PIPA is still being considered.

The current laws are quite harsh already as many legitimate creators of music have had their videos banned–even though they have done nothing wrong. It appears that videos are simply banned and then you are forced to prove that you have done nothing wrong. For the inexperienced people this might put them off making music–don’t give up, ask others in the music industry (vocaloid directors & choreographers like yourself) how they handled it.

DancexMixer

Shortened link to video: dance mixer CG animation software (3DCG character design) [& short dance]: http://youtu.be/enuTcgZNsjU

Here is the official website for DancexMixer [website]: http://dancemixer.jp/

Dance mixer can quickly create a vocaloid character. The process of making the character dance is also a lot easier and faster. Sample tutorial videos are provided at “Making your own 3D dancing vocaloid:” http://bit.ly/v4WF5s.

Also here is the YouTube channel that the tutorial videos were taken from in case you want to pick and choose them yourself: http://www.youtube.com/dancexmixer.

Using a search engine, there were some sites that claimed that you could get a download of this software for free. At this time the author does not have enough referenced material to decide if this is reliable information. Certainly check the official site for information of course.

A bit more about MikuMiku (MMD) 3D model freeware

In 2008 MikuMiku (MMD) 3D model freeware was released. This software was made by Yu Higuchi (HiguchiM) and become a must have part of making vocaloid dance, music and songs. The box art formed the basis for creating the 3D characters.

Many dancers love to imitate the dances the Vocaloids do, so take advantage of that and don’t make the dances they do impossible to do in real life.

You will notice that VY1,2 & Vocaloid 3 do not tend to indicate a mascot character that vocaloid fans have come to love. Still many fans have used what little art is on the box to create characters they think belongs to a particular vocaloid software version.

The MMD freeware is widely used in Japan and it is for this reason learning Japanese or using a translator at minimum, will get you access to a lot of Vocaloids and accessories like clothing and backgrounds.

The MMD freeware takes the original audio source material and dubs it over the original footage of Miku characters and so creates an original scene with sound. You have to lip-sync the model to the audio file singing. To do this use play wave with frame option.

The previous video that was here has disappeared, no doubt due to some nasty notice by the copyright people I would suspect–so the kid I said should be my university professor is no longer featured here. The replacement video is more sexy I suppose.

MMD Tutorial: Lip Syncing

Shortened link to video: How to make your #Vocaloid lip Sync to a song: http://youtu.be/9Rs8Ge9_-yk

This incidentally means that you can auto-tune your own voice and make Miku or a character you created lip-sync to your song. Cool huh.

Making your very own 3D dancing vocaloid

Want to create your own unique vocaloid character?

An entire separate article has been produced to cover this topic. The link below will let you read more about this topic.

Making your own 3D dancing vocaloid: http://bit.ly/v4WF5s

sketchup

Well not much is know about this subject. But here’s a link if your interested:

• Sketchup: http://www.sketchup.com/

Colorful x Melody [song/music]

Shortened link to video: The sketchup community says hi to the Volcaloid community: Colorful x Melody [song/music]: http://youtu.be/tb7TThIdPmU

Should there be more connections between the “Vocaloid/MMD community and the SketchUp community?”

So where can I get my MMD 3D Vocaloid Dancer & Singer

Wikipedia directs me to this site: http://www6.atwiki.jp/vpvpwiki/

Clicking on vpvp gets me to this site: http://www.geocities.jp/higuchuu4/

This where you can do a download (free)

My search engine (in English suggest this site): http://www.geocities.jp/higuchuu4/index_e.htm

The author downloaded: 1.3 MikuMikuDance (DirectX9 Ver.) and it did not take long and worked straight away. You get quite a few vocaloid models with it.

This is the MMD article from wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MikuMikuDance

The Author Also Came Across These additional MMD Websites

The following websites have been referenced by a wiki site: http://mikumikudance.wikia.com/wiki/Relatable_links

While the author had not tried the software on this website, apart from MMD, feel free to check out what the website offers: http://www.mmdsekai.com/–the upload MMD link led to http://www.geocities.jp/higuchuu4/index_e.htm (when accessed in Feb 2013), which is exactly the same link that is mentioned above. The http://www.mmdsekai.com/ website however has other interesting stuff that might be of use–such as stages.

These are additional website links that the above wiki supplied (when accessed Feb 2013):

• Learn Miku Miku Dance: http://learnmmd.com/
• VocaloidOtaku.net Forum: http://www.vocaloidotaku.net/

So where can I get my vocaloid software.

You may be able to download vocaloid software from amazon.

Currently only vocaloid 3 is listed here

The vocaloid voice banks have a signature voice that gives you song and music credentials because you are joining a world-wide community that promotes that vocaloid voice.

These companies also are involved in selling 3D Vocaloid dancer Software, that allow you to add one or more dancing vocaloids to music videos! The technical difficulty of producing (Choreography) of making 3D Vocaloid dance ranges form moving your mouse around, using simple commands, to more complex methods of making the Vocaloid take up poses designed by you.

Again, the below companies are a good source of information on what is available to make your Vocaloids dance. It is also discussed in more detail here: Making your own 3D dancing vocaloid: http://bit.ly/v4WF5s includes MMD, DanceMixer, & Vocaloid 3.

The current list of companies are:

• Internet Co Ltd
• Crypton Future Media & What is the “HATSUNE MIKU movement” ?
• Zero-G
• AH-Software
• Power FX
• Vocaloid Dot Com, Yamaha Vocaloid on FaceBook Includes Vocaloid 4 when checked in 2016

This is the Vocaloid store: http://www.vocaloid.com/compare/#lineup. In 2013, Like Zero-G, they let you do free trial downloads (but they list a lot of conditions that you need to stick to so the song making—character—software is not abused) Unless you can use a translator or can read Japanese, you will have no idea what this page says! Fortunately in 2018, they English version of the site is available: http://www.vocaloid.com/en/compare/#lineup

Here is an example of where you can buy the vocaloid 3 on amazon japan: http://amzn.to/yVRnev. It might be to your advantage to by a packaged deal of two boxes at once.

Usually a mascot (vocaloid character) is associated with the voice to make the link even more powerful. Most fans will associate the vocaloid “mascot” character as the vocaloid rather than the software that simply makes the song.

Shortened link to this article: ☆ Buying your own vocaloid (3D dancing & singing character included) [article]: http://wp.me/p10Tww-Su

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