Hatsune Miku (初音ミク), codenamed CV01, was the first Japanese VOCALOID to be both developed and distributed by Crypton Future Media, Inc.. She was initially released in August 2007 for the VOCALOID2 engine and was the first member of the Character Vocal Series. She was the seventh VOCALOID overall, as well as the second VOCALOID2 vocal released to be released for the engine. Her voice is provided by the Japanese voice actress Saki Fujita (藤田咲, Fujita Saki). [2] [3] Her strong association with VOCALOID has lead to the view she must be included in all things related to VOCALOID. This view itself has led to criticism. For example, critics at the VOCALOID:AI performance made notes towards and against Hatsune Miku. For a brief moment she appeared on screen during explanation on the technology. The criticism was related to the fact she had nothing to do with the VOCALOID technology demo. This was a performance was in regards to a beloved real-life singer, Hibari Misora, and that Miku was a fictitious singer fans did not come to see and did not like. The general criticism was fans were there for Hibari Misora's render of voice and image. Miku's inclusion felt out of place and included for the sake of inclusion because VOCALOID was mentioned. [65] Livedoor News -「初音ミク」で選挙活動計画「政治利用ダメ」で民主議員頓挫 June 30, 2010 -- Election Activity Plan Standstill of a Democratic Diet member with "Don't Use Politics" Sound Horizon, a popular band that uses music to tell stories, used Hatsune Miku in their third single "Ido e Itaru Mori e Itaru Ido" and its corresponding album, "Marchen". Saki Fujita, Miku's voice actor, also does narrations. It was stated in 2013, that videos tagged with Miku's name reached between 1,000 and 1,500 videos each month. This was by far the most videos of any Vocaloid on Nico nico Douga. [62]

The digital design on Miku's skirt and boots are based on synthesizer program colours, and the bars represent actual bars within the program, following Crypton's ideas. Part of her design is based on some of YAMAHA's keyboard models, particularly the DX-100 and the DX-7. [12] [13] The thin squares around her pigtails are futuristic ribbons made of a special material that floats in place. As seen in KEI's art for Miku, they are able to hold Miku's pigtails in place without having to physically touch the hair itself. The ribbons are also reported by KEI to be the hardest item on the character's design for cosplayers to recreate. https://www.tokyohive.com/article/2010/11/the-gazettes-aoi-stirs-up-debate-about-vocaloid-artists-through-controversial-tweets/ When the tsunami hit Japan in 2011, Miku was chosen as a character who would help represent Japan. This was because of how common her image was appearing with many younger people knowing who she was. She was already in music based textbooks and her influence on music was heavily known by the Minister for Education for Japan. [25] When Miku became more well-known in 2010, the media also followed this misconception. On more than one occasion Crypton Future Media have labelled her as the first, though this is likely an error as they usually introduce her as "the first of the character vocal series".

Deviation Actions

Hatsune Miku - Chinese The Chinese version of the Hatsune Miku vocal. Despite the fact this is the Chinese version, it does not always match the tone of the "Original" voicebank. https://soranews24.com/2014/12/11/state-of-the-otaku-union-survey-reveals-vocaloids-up-adult-games-down-in-2014/ Hatsune Miku - Vivid VIVID is a high but strong pitched vocal with a different tone to "original", being lower in pitch than "Light". Designed to be more strong and powerful voice acted vocal. She was originally aimed only at professional producers; the amateur and Otaku market hadn't fully formed yet, and so it was not initially considered. [15] [16] For a variety of reasons, Miku received unexpected commercial success. Due to Miku's popularity boom, Crypton had the chance to take advantage of early technical support for Miku and several guidebooks and magazine support were released solely focused on her vocals. This type of technical coverage was even possible long after Miku's initial release and methods of adapting her vocals are the most well documented among the VOCALOID2 era vocals.

In 2012, a poll was held for the London Olympic Games 2012 which asked people which singer or group they would like to see at the Olympics. Miku reached the no.1 spot, beating famous singers such as Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber. The poll was not official and was done for popularity reasons. [71]Digital goods, open DVDs and Blu-rays, smart art prints, mystery bundles, and final sale items are excluded from the return policy.

Corolla Miku, presented in 2011, wears slightly different attire compared to KEI's original design: instead of one skirt stripe and single floating ribbons, she now has two, as was intended by the client. Cover feat. Minato Aqua by Gozu (mix), Oshiruco (illustration), Rairi (video), Amane Kanata, Kagura Mea, Murasaki Shion, Nekomata Okayu, Houshou Marine, Hoshimachi Suisei (special thanks) - YT When KEI illustrated Miku, he was given a color scheme to work with (based on the YAMAHA synthesizers' signature blue-green colour) and was asked to draw Miku as an android. Crypton also provided KEI with Miku's detailed concepts, however, Crypton said it was not easy to explain what a "Vocaloid" was to him. KEI said he could not create an image of a "singing computer" at first, as he did not even know what a "synthesizer" was. It took him more than a month to complete the commission. [10] I can't quite figure it out, but it’s not too much. Quietly, it stands in my way all through the nightThere have since been numerous installments, such as additional voice libraries dubbed ' Append', as well as an upgrade for the VOCALOID3 engine, which contained an English vocal release. She received a VOCALOID4 update to her Japanese and English voicebanks in August 2016, as well as a Mandarin Chinese voicebank in September 2017. Because she is the first VOCALOID many got to know and the first to draw a large amount of attention, there are a number of common misconceptions about her: Hatsune Miku's popularity had a major impact on the development of other Crypton Future Media voicebanks. Due to the huge market for her voicebank and character image, Crypton have sometimes been overwhelmed by demand. This caused delays to other VOCALOID2 projects, including the release of an additional character, CV04. How much impact her popularity has had on other VOCALOID™ voicebanks is unknown, but Crypton Future Media has many delayed voicebanks that were originally set for a VOCALOID2 release.

Despite her popularity as a Vocaloid, both Hatsune Miku and Vocaloid itself were both reportedly struggling to make an impact on the west by December 2015. Though SEGA had imported games like Project Diva X into the west, the target audience was still considered a "niche audience". [63] http://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-news/2013/07/22/video-hatsune-miku-sings-theme-song-for-a-japanese-national-election-candidate In 2017, she was reported as the most popular cosplay character, while the song " Miku" also made it into the book for most viewed original Chiptune song on YouTube, putting her in the Guinness World Records twice. [64]

Special Round Base

https://web.archive.org/web/20121114235741/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/virtual-star-to-be-unleashed-on-us-2291713.html (archive) With a total of 15 voicebanks released, Miku has the second highest number of vocals developed for the VOCALOID™ engine, first being GUMI.