Moé Idolatry
The photogenic idolisation of pixel, plastic and nonsense
Vocaloid Idolatry
Moé Idolatry Article
Hatsune Miku
Infatuation, something that happens to everyone, but with a virtual “identity” is something that doesn’t.
I’m not sure if this is relevant to any of you figure lovers but I’m in love with Crypton’s newest entry, Hatsune Miku.
Before I start, I’m going to explain a little bit about what all this about. So if you’re not into music then just look at the pretty pictures XD
Vocaloid is a technology developed by Yamaha systems, it produces a synthetic voice set that sounds pretty awesome in itself. Third party companies have used this technology to bring it to the consumer market and packaged them with their own voices. Crypton is one of these companies, they produce these packages for the Japanese market. They’ve developed a few for the Vocaloid 1 series but their popularity isn’t so prominent with the anime otaku, until of course they released the Vocaloid2 series, with Hatsune Miku as the first.
Because they’re synthesized voices, you can tell it’s fake depending on effort of the producer, but for the most part Miku sings amazing (if you like Japanese pop). She’s so popular that apparently all the first prints of the Vocaloid2 Hatsune Miku package have sold out, and it has also made amazon’s #1 bestsellers software rank despite the 15,750 yen price (which I’m still wondering if I should buy…)
Okok, so why am I posting about something that doesn’t seem to fit? Well, this site includes moé items and issues, as you can already see, Hatsune Miku is incredibly cute (ok, I admit I have a weird hair fetish) and there’s quite a few fanart of her already.
The kanji for Hatsune apparently means The first voice or something according to a friend of mine, which makes sense I guess, she is the first of the Crypton Vocaloid2 series, a second is going to be announced in December and a third is going to be in 2008. The second seems to be a younger idol from the silhouette so expect more moé-ness.
I’m in no way a musically creative person so actually owning Hatsune Miku (huhu, i like the way it sounds…) is somewhat a waste. I’ve tried the software and while it does seem like an easy thing to pick up, not knowing extensive Japanese is a hassle. *sigh* Sometimes I wish I was living in Japan lol
Anyway, ever since Hatsune Miku appeared, niconico video (think youtube but for Japanese and it also allows rolling comments over the videos) has had it’s fair share of user created videos featuring Miku singing originals and also other songs such as you from Higurashi no Naku Koroni and even Ievan Polkka. There’s so much of a fan base that on November 3rd there’s going to be a Hatsune Miku Vocaloid only event!
So, here’s a few of my favourite Miku videos from YouTube :3
you - Higurashi no Naku Koroni
Beautiful World - Rebuild of Evangelion
Here’s some official sample songs from the official site, short and sweet songs.
*sigh* I’m in love… so ronery~!!
Details
Name
初音ミク - Hatsune Miku
Series
キャラクター ボーカル シリーズ - Character Vocal series
Maker
Crypton
Price
Open Price, but seen at 15,750 yen
Links
Crypton’s Official Vocaloid2 site JP
Hatsune Miku tumblr JP (Contains some NSFW material)
THE VOC@LOiD M@STER Event JP
Hobby Blog’s Hatsune Miku entry ENG
Canned Dogs’ Hatsune Miku entry ENG
P.S. I’ve taken photos of most of the figures I intended to at Manifest over the weekend, I’ll post those photo shoots soonish, after I get some other work out of the way >.<
So expect Saber & Irisviel, Pachira, N@gi (GSC), Princess of Full Ani, and Fate (Alter) :3
16 Responses for "Vocaloid Idolatry"
I’m not really into music, so I look into those pretty pictures instead hehe.. I like the character design, she looks like Fyuria from agarest senki
http://www.otadesho.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/record-of-agarest-war-20070717081918251.jpg
Hunh….Virtual Idols take a step further with synthetic voices? Not sure how it’ll go, but definitely worth a listen…
Speaking of Idols…this one isn’t too good, but:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiGxEpYLrLY
Could use a bit more tweaking to sound less electronic, though.
@ron~, indeed she does lol~
@Wavehawk, Not a huge fan of that iM@S one since it’s reaaally obvious that it’s robotic lol. I’m trying to get Miku to sing Akatsuki no Kuruma at the moment >.<
I’ve tried the software, but it’s awfully tough for me to set the pitches, modulation and all sorts of other stuff to make it sound right, and school isn’t helping >_>
Yea, it’s a lil hard @_@;
But oh so cute~ XD
/me peers over and looks at Aya’s copy of Vocaloid 2 on the table
Damn! I need this software xD
Moreover Miku is super kawaii!
15k yens is a lot though, and if you say it’s already sold out…
@Hectic3, ;_;
@lu-k, the first prints are, but there’s still some available, Hectic3 managed to get me a copy from Akiba~ I…I couldn’t wait so I downloaded it to curb my craving until my actual copy arrives~
Yes, they are still available at Yodobashi Akiba on the 2nd floor where all the software are. Many other places around Akiba has completely sold out like Azo Bit City and Sofmap.
Btw, Sofmap has grown really big. They’ve even taken over the 8 storey Yamigawa Soft building!
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do u hve the song lyrics of go my way? pls send to me tnx
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[...] As some of you may know, Crypton’s Vocaloid2 CV2 Kagamine Rin & Len was released yesterday! For those of you who don’t know what a Vocaloid is, you can find out a lil about it from a previous post. [...]
I have tryed the program and its hard , if you dont have hour upon hour to waste but i picked up on the MikuMikudance program which was not to hard to find its not official but its free and you get to play with miku in 3D how can you beat that! and you can tweak it to do most things you want her to do ,,, um err like dance!
And il going to cosplay her! yay
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