初音ミク Hatsune Miku

If you said “What Anime is she from?” or “Is she a real singer?” you have two choices: jump off the cliff of ignorance, or, read this post.

Artist unknown. If you have any info, please let me know =]

Hatsune Miku is a masterpiece created by the Yamaha Corporation, a Japanese company that’s been around for over 120 years, and designed by artist Kei. Their products are seen everywhere, and they kick ass. Instruments, synthesizers, motorcycles, speakers, watercraft, ATV’s, computer stuff. I have an electrical guitar and a few speakers by Yamaha. They’re awesome.

Now, Yamaha teamed up with Crypton to create something completely different. It’s called VOCALOID and it’s been out since 2004. Think of it as Garageband for the Mac, except instead of working with instruments, you work with computer voices sampled from actual Japanese singers. In short, VOCALOID is like Garageband for Otakus. =]

Hatsune Miku is just a voice used for the program. She’s not in any official Anime, but she’s done cameos in Zoku Sayonara Zetsbou Sensei (Episode 13) and in the Lucky Star OVA. There’s also a few other cameos I don’t know of yet. She was released in August of 2007, and cost over 100 dollars. Her voice was based on Saki Fujita and runs on the newer VOCALOID 2 program.

System Requirements:

• Windows XP/Vista 32&64-Bit
• Pentium 4 2 GHz
• 512 MB RAM
• 1.5 GB Free Hard Disk Space

Specs:

• 5.18 Ft. (158 Cm.)
• 95 Lb. (42 Kg.)
• 16 Years Old.

Her name looks like this: 初音ミク (初音未来). It’s a play on two words: 初 (Hatsu) meaning “First” with 音 (Ne) meaning “Sound.” 未来/ミク (Miku) means “Future.” Hatsune Miku = First Sound of the Future.

Her voice is good for Japanese pop and dance music. The trance/techno songs produced using Hatsune Miku are actually very good.

One of my favorite songs: Incarnation- Hatsune Miku:

Although this song uses the same beat as above and is made by the same artist, it’s still awesome! Plug Out- Hatsune Miku:

I long for the day when a Hatsune Miku song is played at a dance club or a rave in an Anime convention.

Want full wallpaper version?

Nico Nico Douga is a Japanese video site much like Youtube that has many members visiting everyday. It’s also a site where hundreds of Hatsune Miku videos have been posted, featuring songs, animations, and artwork that put many professionals to shame. Ever since the release of Hatsune Miku, we are being reminded that the line between amateurs and professionals is blurring more every passing day.

Hatsune Miku is the most popular character for VOCALOID, and here are some achievements:

• Hundreds of both professional and non-professional artists have created fan artwork.
• More than 10,000 songs writen using the software.
• Appearances in television broadcast Anime.
• Reached 4th Place in the Oricon Charts for selling over 50,000 copies of the Supercell Ft. Hatsune Miku CD within the first week!
• Official High-Quality Figmas released by Good Smile Company.
• Hatsune Miku is a common character for cosplay.
• Many High-Quality doujinshi, both erotic and non-erotic produced.
• Dakimakura pillow was made.
• An official PSP game has been released featuring Hatsune Miku.
• Piapro.jp is a site that opened for creative VOCALOID artists.
• A BMW Z4 was decorated with the Hatsune Miku color scheme.
• You can get the program from anywhere!

Crypton is a company that is very defensive about the use of Hatsune Miku. When they noticed that people were creating Doujinshi, Games and other products for commerical profit (other than songs) using Hatsune Miku, Crypton decided to crack down on them. One example was a dakimakura made by doujin circle CLOCK☆HEARTS featuring an erotic illustration of Hatsune Miku and Kagamine Rin. Source from DarkMirage.

Crypton told the doujin circle to stop distributing their products or else they would take legal action. However, let’s remember one thing:

Hatsune Miku is a product that was mass popularized by the media. Starting with her Nico Nico videos, and the Levan Polka phenomenon, the fans pretty much took it from there and have been in charge of not only bringing Crypton money and popularity, but also the development of high-quality art and music from artists. VOCALOID 2 couldn’t have been able to be this popular if it wasn’t for the fans.

Crypton’s Official Hatsune Miku Profile featuring Kei’s work.

Crypton realized this, and has decided to allow doujin works of Hatsune Miku. You can interpret this turn of events as an over-protective father who just loves his daughter very much.

Sega is working on a game for the PSP featuring Hatsune Miku. It’s scheduled to release on July 2nd, 2009. Looks like it’s going to be very popular. Hatsune Miku: Project Diva.

Summary:

Hatsune Miku is a voice for Yamaha & Crypton’s program: VOCALOID 2. It’s a voice-synthesis software. Loved by fans around the world.

If you want a CG set of some of the best Miku pics around, go Here. You can also download some free songs.

Defaulting VOCALOID to English:

About the actual program: It’s in Japanese. If you manage to get hold of Hatsune Miku, yet you don’t know how to use it becuase you don’t know Japanese, don’t fret! Just go to the program folder for VOCAlOID, Stienberg and VSTPlugin and just delete the files with names beginning with “Japanese” in them. This will default the program back into English becuase you will be removing the Japanese language configuration.