Hatsune Miku: Singing Synthesizer Sensation
The concerts of Hatsune Miku (初音ミク) are very popular—thousands of fans flock to the spectacle of her shows and rave over her singing prowess. Her appearance is unique yet appealing, with her long bubblegum blue locks of hair and schoolgirl/spy attire. But it’s not just all this that makes her extraordinary.
Hatsune Miku is a singing synthesizer “application” developed by Crypton Future Media, using Yamaha Corporation’s Vocaloid 2 synthesizing technology. Voice samples were taken from Saki Fukita, a Japanese voice actress. Using these samples, developers created words, phrases, pitches, and tones through the synthesizing engine.
When Hatsune Miku was first released in August 2007, it took Japan by storm and sales skyrocketed. The synthesizer tunes were not just catchy but the voice actually had an image, a persona created by Manga artist Kei Garō. Her color scheme and attire design were inspired by the Yamaha synthesizer’s cyan color and user interface. She even has an official personal data sheet by Crypton.
Since her emergence in pop culture, Hatsune Miku has been depicted in various forms, from anime and manga series to dolls to cosplay.
2009 marked the debut of Hatsune Miku as a live concert performer. As a 3D hologram, she would wow a stadium full of screaming and singing fans, one concert after another. Her popularity reached world-wide status and one of her recent overseas performances was last July at the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles, USA, during the 2011 Anime Expo.
It can be a little creepy seeing so many people in adulation of a hologram . . . that’s at least a gut reaction from the YouTube video. One whole reason to go to a live performance–to really connect with the entertainer, in both directions–has suddenly melted away. Did any of you feel this when you watched the video?
The latest news about Hatsune Miku is that her videos are somehow being deleted in YouTube, instigated by a person or a group that are filing false copyright infringement complaints. Read here for more details.
