VOCALOID (software)

VOCALOID (hereafter stylized as Vocaloid) is the term for voice synthesis technology that was developed by Yamaha. Sung lyrics can be created by inputting the melody and lyrics into the software, which then converts into a playable audio file that has been sung by a sampled human voice.
Companies that have accepted a license agreement with Yamaha can produce their own singer libraries that contain sampled sounds and sell them as commercial products in combination with the Yahama software. VOCALOID and its shorthand Japanese form, ボカロ are registered trademarks of Yahama Corporation.

Summary and History

With the Vocaloid software, it is incredibly cheap and easy to create expressive music without the need for hiring an actual vocalist. However, as the software only handles vocals, additional software is required in order to create musical arrangements that accompany the vocals.
Since an actual human's voice is sampled per voicebank library, more natural-flowing singing elements can be synthesized, including pitch changes, vibrato settings, and other melodic embellishments.

The Vocaloid project began in March 2000 under the name "DAISY". After three years of collaborative research with Yahama and the Universitat Pompei Fabra (UPF) Music Technology Group in Barcelona, Vocaloid signal processing was developed.
Vocaloid was first announced in February 2003 and in 2004, the first packaged product for personal computers using Vocaloid technology was released by the firm ZERO-G in the United Kingdom. Since then, Vocaloid-compatible sound libraries have been released by vendors all over the world, including Japan.
Version upgrades have since been released; VOCALOID2 (2007), VOCALOID3 (2011), VOCALOID4 (2014), and the latest version VOCALOID5 which was released in 2018.

Originally developed to be used as backup vocals, Vocaloid was actively used for main vocals soon after its initial release. Since 2007, when Hatsune Miku using VOCALOID2 technology was released, many songs using Vocaloid software as main vocals were released on the Internet and the software gained global exposure. Since then, record labels have been increasingly receptive to accepting artists who primarily use Vocaloid for vocals. In 2010, "EXIT TUNES PRESENTS Vocalogenesis feat. Hatsune Miku" became the first album using Vocaloid for vocals to reach 1st place in the Oricon weekly albums chart.

Origin of Name

The name Vocaloid was created by combining the term "vocal" with the suffix "oid", which denotes form or resemblance. An example of its use is the word "humanoid" (similar to a human). In this way, "Vocaloid" has the meaning of "being similar to vocals". The name was determined early in development although many fans incorrectly consider Vocaloid to merely be the juxtaposition of "vocal" and "android". Simply put, Vocaloid is the name of the software itself, and any voice libraries using names or character art are supplemental to the software itself.

Released Vocaloid Products

There have been numerous voicebanks using the Vocaloid technology released by many different companies to varying degrees of success. Indeed, Crypton Future Media's Hatsune Miku release has proven to be the most popular of the Vocaloid voicebanks thus far.

ZERO-G

ZERO-G was the first British manufacturer to launch Vocaloid products.

Name	Engine	Available Languages	Initial Release
LEON	Vocaloid	English	January 15, 2004
LOLA	Vocaloid	English	January 15, 2004
MIRIAM	Vocaloid	English	July 1, 2004
PRIMA	Vocaloid2	English	January 14, 2008
SONIKA	Vocaloid2	English	July 15, 2009
TONIO	Vocaloid2	English	July 13, 2010
AVANNA	Vocaloid3	English	December 22, 2012
Dex	Vocaloid4	English	November 20, 2015
Daina	Vocaloid4	English	November 20, 2015

Crypton Future Media

Crypton Future Media is a Japanese company that sold Vocaloid products using the first Vocaloid engine together with ZERO-G.

Name	Engine	Available Languages	Initial Release
MEIKO	Vocaloid	Japanese, English	November 5, 2004
KAITO	Vocaloid	Japanese, English	February 17, 2006
Hatsune Miku	Vocaloid	Japanese, English, Chinese	August 31, 2007
Kagamine Rin/Len	Vocaloid	Japanese, English	December 27, 2007
Megurine Luka	Vocaloid	Japanese, English	January 30, 2009

PowerFX

PowerFX is a Swedish manufacturer that sells software based on the Vocaloid2 engine. It is distributed by Crypton Future Media for sales within Japan.

Name	Engine	Available Languages	Initial Release
SWEET ANN	Vocaloid2	English	June 29, 2007
BIG-AL	Vocaloid2	English	December 22, 2009
OLIVER	Vocaloid3	English	December 21, 2011
YOHIOloid	Vocaloid3	Japanese, English	September 10, 2013
Ruby	Vocaloid4	English	October 7, 2015

Internet Co.

Internet Co. is a long-established desktop music (DTM) manufacturer in Japan who soon after entered the Vocaloid production industry.

Name	Engine	Available Languages	Initial Release
Gakupoid	Vocaloid2	Japanese	July 31, 2008
Megpoid	Vocaloid2	Japanese, English	June 26, 2009
Lily	Vocaloid2	Japanese	August 25, 2010
Gachapoid	Vocaloid2	Japanese	October 8, 2010
CUL	Vocaloid3	Japanese	December 22, 2011
kokone	Vocaloid3	Japanese	February 14, 2014
Chika	Vocaloid	Japanese3	October 16, 2014
Otomachi Una	Vocaloid4	Japanese	July 30, 2016

AHS

AH-Software is a Japanese software sales company.

Name	Engine	Available Languages	Initial Release
Hiyama Kiyoteru	Vocaloid2	Japanese	December 4, 2009
Kaai Yuki	Vocaloid2	Japanese	December 4, 2009
SF-A2 Miki	Vocaloid2	Japanese	December 4, 2009
Nekomura Iroha	Vocaloid2	Japanese	October 22, 2010
Yuzuki Yukari	Vocaloid3	Japanese	December 22, 2011
Tohoku Zunko	Vocaloid3	Japanese	June 5, 2014
Kizuna Akari	Vocaloid4	Japanese	April 26, 2018
Haruno Sora	Vocaloid5	Japanese	July 26, 2018

Yahama

Name	Engine	Available Languages	Initial Release
VY1	Vocaloid2	Japanese	September 1, 2010
VY2	Vocaloid2	Japanese	April 25, 2011
Mew	Vocaloid3	Japanese	October 21, 2011
Tone Rion	Vocaloid3	Japanese	December 16, 2011
Aoki Lapis	Vocaloid3	Japanese	April 5, 2012
ZOLA PROJECT	Vocaloid3	Japanese	June 21, 2013
Meruri	Vocaloid3	Japanese	December 24, 2013
Ano Kano	Vocaloid3	Japanese	March 3, 2014
Galaco NEO	Vocaloid3	Japanese	August 5, 2014
CYBER DIVA	Vocaloid4	English	February 5, 2015
Sachiko	Vocaloid4	Japanese	July 27, 2015
Arsloid	Vocaloid4	Japanese	September 23, 2015
Unity-chan!	Vocaloid4	Japanese	January 14, 2016
Fukase	Vocaloid4	Japanese, English	January 28, 2016
CYBER SONGMAN	Vocaloid4	English	October 31, 2016
Nemu Yumemi	Vocaloid4	Japanese	February 16, 2017
AZUKI	Vocaloid4	Japanese	July 12, 2017
MATCHA	Vocaloid4	Japanese	July 12, 2017
Mirai Komachi	Vocaloid4	Japanese	May 24, 2018
Amy	Vocaloid5	English	July 12, 2018
Chris	Vocaloid5	English	July 12, 2018
Kaori	Vocaloid5	Japanese	July 12, 2018
Ken	Vocaloid5	Japanese	July 12, 2018

1st PLACE

1st PLACE is a Japanese music production company.

Name	Engine	Available Languages	Initial Release
IA	Vocaloid3	Japanese	January 27, 2012

EXIT TUNES

EXIT TUNES is a Japanese record label owned by Pony Canyon.

Name	Engine	Available Languages	Initial Release
MAYU	Vocaloid3	Japanese	December 5, 2012

gynoid

gynoid is a Japanese record label.

Name	Engine	Available Languages	Initial Release
v flower	Vocaloid3	Japanese	May 9, 2014
Shinfa	Vocaloid3	Chinese, Japanese	February 10, 2015
Meika Hime, Meika Mikoto	Vocaloid5	Japanese	March 30, 2019

References

VOCALOID - Wikipedia
Crypton Product Page
IT Media News
The Independent
Crypton Product Page CV01A
Vocaloid Blog