She is Japan’s most famous Vocaloid — a computer-synthesized
singing voice software that, in her case, comes with a virtual avatar.
Legions of fans are celebrating the 16th anniversary of
Miku’s Aug. 31, 2007, release with events including a virtual exhibition and
songwriting to showcase her standard high-pitched, cutesy voice. For sale are a
special Seiko watch and a series of dolls in the character’s likeness.
The Vocaloid’s hits have been widely shared online,
including on Miku’s own official YouTube channel, which has drawn 2.5 million
subscribers. She has CDs and DVDs out and video games focused on fun rhythms
co-produced with Sega, as well as cosmetic products plastered with her name and
famous manga artists drawing portraits of her for T-shirts.
On Friday, thousands of people packed a concert hall in a
Tokyo suburb to watch their virtual idol dance and sing while accompanied by
human musicians.
The audience bobbed colorful light sticks in time to the
music, with some people dressed like the doe-eyed Miku. As laser beams flashed
about, the cheering crowd, who knew the songs and the choreographed moves by
heart, performed them in unison. A human-size hologram of Miku was projected at
the center of a dark stage as though she was really there.
“I love the way her voice doesn’t sound human,” Koyo Mikami,
16, said while attending the event at Makuhari Messe Convention Center with a
friend. Both boys wore kimonos featuring large images of Miku.
Miku’s voice was synthesized based on the voice of Saki
Fujita, a human singer, actor and voice actor.
The Vocaloid software application works on both Windows and
Mac computers by taking inputs of melody and Japanese language lyrics and
outputting the music with Miku as the vocalist. Edits like adding vibrato are
as easy as double-clicking. Although various versions are available, the latest
official Crypton package sells for 16,500 yen ($110).
Miku is 158 centimeters tall (5-foot-2) and weighs 42
kilograms (93 pounds), is perpetually 16 years old, and favors songs with
tempos between 70 and 150 beats per minute, according to Crypton.
Whether being 16 makes a technology outdated or a classic is
up to the beholder. While Hatsune Miku, whose name translates to “first note
from the future,” pioneered a genre, many other Vocaloids are now on the
market. The technology has advanced since Miku’s early days, with all kinds of
voices and features available.
The voice synthesizer software has been featured in more
than 100,000 songs, performed in 3D concerts in Los Angeles and Hong Kong, and
inspired countless works of art.
Hatsune Miku owes her reign as the “It Girl” of the digital
era to the participatory nature of Japan’s manga, animation and pop music
culture, according to Benjamin Boas, author of “From Cool Japan to Your Japan.”
Instead of strictly guarding their intellectual property, publishers and other
copyright holders encourage fan participation, he said.
Unlike Mickey Mouse, Super Mario and other
copyright-protected characters, Hatsune Miku was offered as open-source
software, with a Creative Commons license in the West that allows people to
more freely use and distribute the content they make with the software.
“Miku’s success was always about the fan community and the
ability for fans to become all Miku’s producers at once,” said Boas, whom the
Japanese government named as the country’s Cool Japan Ambassador, a symbolic
honor.
“As long as that community is alive, I see a future for
Miku.”
Creators who make music with Vocaloids are called “Vocalo-P”
in Japan, with the “p” standing for “producer.” Some have gone on to become
superstars in Japan, including the duo Yoasobi and singer Kenshi Yonezu.
People are also having fun with various voices for
Vocaloids. Among the recent performances shared with a frenzy online is an AI
version of Frank Sinatra doing a rendition of “YMCA,” a 1978 hit by the Village
People, never performed on record by the legendary crooner.
Hiroyuki Itoh, chief executive of Crypton Future Media,
which developed Hatsune Miku and is based in the northern Japanese city of
Sapporo, said creating a character to go with the voice software was part of making
the program user-friendly.
“We wanted to make it easy to use for amateurs who want to
make music as a hobby,” he said. “Some people can’t sing very well, and here
you have a 16-year-old girl singing your song.”
There are no plans to end Miku’s perpetual adolescence or to
age her beyond 16.
“We will do our best as a company to make sure Hatsune Miku
will continue to be loved by the people,” Itoh said. -AP
0 comments:
Post a Comment