What is this... VOCALOID?

    When you watch the amount of Anime that I watch, you can't go long without hearing Japanese music. Each anime has a unique OP (intro) and ED (ending) song, sometimes more than one if the series lasts long enough. Sometimes the songs are made specifically for the Anime, and sometimes the song has nothing to do with anything. But that's more about Anime, and not really about Vocaloid.

    Late one night while doing my rounds from The Awesomer, to Youtube, to Geekologie, and so on, I stumbled across Vocaloid. I was amazed. "But what is it?" Watch this:

    "What was that I just saw?" That was a wonder of modern technology. Her name is Miku Hatsune, created by Crypton Future Media, and she's a hologram with a synthesized voice. The voice is created using the YAMAHA VOCALOID (Vocal + Android = VOCALOID) program, which allows anyone with knowledge of the computer program to type in lyrics and melody. "But how does that work?" Well, figuring out how it works requires some knowledge of the Japanese language.

JAPANESE LESSON TIME! I'm no expert, but hopefully I can get this right. Japanese writing has three main parts: hiragana, katakana, and kanji. We'll focus on hiragana. In hiragana there are 46 characters, each making a distinct sound. Most of the time it is a consonant followed by a vowel, like 'ma', 'me', 'mi', 'mo', 'mu'. Sometimes a character only stands for one letter such as 'n' or any of the vowels by themselves. The developers take each of these letter combinations and have a voice actor say each, then the program does the rest (I think... I mean it seems that way...). From these letter combinations a person could say any word in Japanese. For example: 'Ohayou' ("good morning' informally) is made from the combination of O, HA, YO, and U each having their own character in hiragana. But that's enough of a language lesson, back to Vocaloid...

    The Vocaloid programs allow anyone with a sense of musical talent and the gift of coming up with good lyrics the ability to write music. You need not have the ability to sing; they've got that covered. Of course, it's all in Japanese, but that doesn't make it any less incredible. The song in the video above was 'Ai Kotoba', written by DECO*27 (I don't think that's his actual name, but who puts their name on the interwebs anyway...), which was played during a Vocaloid live concert. The awesome part: that guy jumping up and down in the left hand part of the screen is DECO*27. The band actually got him to come onstage and play his song while hologram Miku sings it.

    The hologram is not really a hologram, but it's as close to a hologram as I've ever seen. It's basically a clear projector screen with the projectors behind (it's pretty clear to see that from the video). Even so, I'm astounded at the quality, and the idea of a holographic singer. These are artists that will never have a mental meltdown, will never be on the news because of having to go through rehab, and will never argue about who is more popular. Well, fans may argue who's more popular... Back on topic!

    On the performance side, they will never make a mistake in their choreography, or slip up on the lyrics. They could provide a perfect performance. They have hundred of thousands of fans, both in Japan and all over the world. They are loved just like any other artist, and their music brings out emotions the same as anyone else. In my opinion, they are the best. What we need now is for them to come to America and replace terrible artists (and I use that word loosely) like Bieber and Cyrus.

    Miku isn't the only Vocaloid, and Crypton Future Media (CFM) isn't the only group who has created these Vocaloid programs. Other Vocaloids made by CFM include Rin and Len Kagamine, Luka Megurine, Meiko, Kaito. But Miku is the one that made Vocaloids famous, and continues to be the one that is focused on when the media does a story. She wasn't the first, but she is the most well known.

    It is true that because of the synthetic nature of the voice program, many Vocaloids sound really synthetic. Take Teto Kasane for example:

    Teto's voice sounds really synthetic, but sometimes that's what the song writer is going for. Other Vocaloids sound really realistic. When told that the voices are synthesized, some people responded with surprise. A Vocaloid can reach highs and lows that no human would ever be able to.

    Thousands of Vocaloid videos have been uploaded to Youtube and Nico-Nico-Douga (the Japanese equivalent of Youtube). They range from simple picture collages with music in the background, to full blown music videos utilizing CGI to create the characters and surroundings. Many are made in an Anime style; some better than others. Then there are videos that have no singing in them. Instead, the users have created a story, like a short of sorts (Ha! Funny word usage...). Again some are pretty bad, whereas others are fantastic.

    Many of the songs have a deep meaning. Ai kotoba is a song about being thankful for all the love that you have for someone, and how you don't just like them, you actually love them. I like that one a lot. I also like "I want to eat a tuna":

    The whole song is about someone's deep desire for a tuna. Not just any tuna, the best tuna in Japan. I think it's hilarious, and, dare I say it, cute. Yes, I said it. (And Gary Oak shows up at 1:28... He always shows up at the most inconvenient of times...)

    "Wait... You don't actually speak Japanese, do you Goongala?" No... And yes. I've picked up a little just by watching Anime (in Japanese with English subtitles), and I've also looked up some words and phrases on the interwebs. But, no, I don't speak it fluently. In fact, before I started watching Anime and researching Japanese, I thought "sayonara" was Spanish... *shame*. But now I know enough to be able to sort out a few words here and there. Does that really matter though? Language is not necessarily important when you can feel the emotion conveyed in a song. It goes the same for movies and TV. You may not understand exactly what's going on, but you can get a picture from the physical actions and tone of the conversation or song. Japanese is no different.

    I feel (and hope) that Vocaloids continue their rise to the top, and replace the terrible singers of our world. Right now, there are several companies working on new Vocaloid programs that will be even more amazing. I know I don't have the skills to use these programs (mostly due to a lack of knowledge of the Japanese language), but I am interested to see what will come of the new programs. It seems that every time I see Japanese ingenuity, I come to respect them even more.



     This post was only about Vocaloid, but I do enjoy other Japanese music... Mostly through Anime openings and endings, as I said at the beginning. But I do like the music, the beat, and the words I do understand. In fact, I hardly listen to American music anymore, because it's filled with terrible background and horrible lyrics. I can't stand most American music, like country and rap (ugh... *shivers*). Perhaps I like Japanese music because I don't know what the lyrics mean, but I don't think so. I try to find translations. Even after I find their meaning, I still enjoy the songs. I really do like this music, and I don't think that will change anytime soon.

    Also, my prayers go out to the whole of Japan after the disaster that happened last week. I hope they recover quickly and that they will be spared from such terrible disasters in the future. Ganbatte! Odaiji ni! 

 (Also, arigatou to Youtube and Google images for everything!)