The upcoming April release of Otona no Kagaku magazine, a popular science magazine in Japan, will also be including a special digital pocket keyboard that comes preloaded with basic samples of Hatsune Miku’s vocals.
The device comes with the amusing model number of “DSX-39”, and was a collaboration project between Yamaha and Crypton future media. It uses an eVocaloid “NSX-1” audio chip that contains the necessary audio samples, and is able to be played in real time. The device requires three AAA batteries, and has a USB port, but the device is not capable of exporting data to PC. Instead, a tweet by Crypton’s CEO Hiroyuki Itoh states that “you will be able to import lyrics and melody to the device via a web application”.
You can use the keyboard to make Miku sing in 3 different modes: A “do-re-mi” mode, an “a, i, u, e, o” (vowel) mode, or a preset mode of 5 other lyrics. It can’t do more than five sounds, so think of it as a sort of “super-lite” Miku editor. The device face has the keyboard itself, operated by a touch stylus, and 9 physical buttons for operation.
Buttons 1-5: sing a~o (vowels)
Button 6: vibrato
Button 7: shift
Button 8: volume up
Button 9: volume down
Button 7+1-5: choose preset lyrics
Button 7+6: Do-re-mi mode (sing the scale)
Button 7+8: octave up
Button 7+9: octave down
As it’s lacking in full-scale composition ability, and cannot export data, the device is not meant for professional use and is more of a toy for entertainment. But for those who get ideas for melodies on the go, and can’t be sitting in front of a PC all the time, this could be helpful for experimenting with those ideas.
The magazine goes on sale on April 3rd, and can be ordered from CDJapan for 4980 Yen, or Amazon Japan for 5,229 Yen. International orders are accepted.
About jrharbort
A Hatsune Miku fan since December 2007, jrharbort joined MikuFan as the Head Writer in October 2011. Follow on Twitter at @jrharbort.