I know I’m not the only one who has been following the news of English Miku’s development since nearly day 1. I was just one out of 39,389 other people who also cast their vote for the English Miku campaign by liking Hatsune Miku’s Facebook page after the announcement at the 2010 New York Comic Con.
So I know I can’t be the only one who has noticed that something very wrong has been going on since the release of English Miku’s first public beta demo at NYCC2011. Since that first demo, the vocals we’ve been hearing in newer songs using English Miku’s beta voice bank seem to be getting progressively worse.
Or are they?
Please read the full story. (more…)
An interesting new creative topic has been sweeping Pixiv over the past few weeks, and it is indeed a very unusual and intriguing one. In all my years of observing the Vocaloid community, I’ve never seen this sort of thing happen before.
The concept for this new illustrative idea isn’t too difficult. You simply draw Hatsune Miku with water in place of her normal hair, usually with a fish swimming around inside of it. The result is the new fan-made design known as “Bottle Miku”.
I first took notice of the phenomenon on February 14th, just 7 days after the first image that was submitted to Pixiv by the user “PAR。“. At this point, there was already over 9 pages (180 images) of new fan creations that were inspired by his illustration. This growth rate has quickly accelerated over the past few weeks. As I’m writing this article, the illustration count has just exceeded 41 pages (820 images) after only 20 days!
The new idea has sparked a wave of illustrative creation on a scale that I’ve never seen before with any past designs. With more artists taking notice and no signs of an end in sight, I suspect it’s only a matter of time before the concept even receives official recognition.
While the concept may seem somewhat odd to some, many of the artworks are actually quite stunning and beautiful. Take a look at the image shown above, and the two linked below as examples. If you’re interested in seeing more, you can browse all related images with this link: Botttle Miku on Pixiv.
Previously featured producers: 1 – 2 – 3 – 4
This edition of the Producer of the Week review will feature a producer that focuses his music style on electronica. More specifically, the trance genre of music. Due to the constantly shifting attention and interests of the music market, and the huge popularity of Rock and Pop, the electronic side is often overlooked despite having some amazing sounding music. Aura Qualic continues to challenge this shift with his own unique styles. (more…)
My friend Tokiko over at Tokiko’s Diary Sapporo will be posting images from the 2013 Snow Miku Festival event. And as usual, her stories are done with her Nendoroid as the “protagonist” of each article. This makes for a pretty enjoyable experience while reading.
She already has an article up containing images from the first day of the event. You can find them here, or simply click the above image. Be sure to check back daily for more updates on the event! The Snow Miku Festival will end on February 11th, Japan Standard Time.
Click to see VocaNicoNight website.
For veterans of past Voca Nico night performances, you’ll be happy to hear that there’s another event scheduled for February 2nd at 18:00 JST. This is a pretty early announcement, so make sure to use this time to plan ahead.
For anyone who has never seen or heard of Voca Nico Night before, it’s a live DJ event where many notable Vocaloid producers come together and perform various tracks for a live audience, even online.
The stream is available for free viewing, although there is a risk of being kicked under high server load if you’re a free user. If you’d prefer to watch it at a later time, to avoid server load or simply not being able to watch it when it airs, you can reserve a time-shift slot.
Livestream Link: http://live.nicovideo.jp/watch/lv119691313
Here is the list of announced producers for this event (click names for details):
• 鼻そうめんP (HanasoumenP)
• さつき が てんこもり (Satsuki ga Tenkomori)
• 鬱P (Utsu-P)
• DJ’TEKINA (Yuyoyuppe)
• 椎名もた (PowapowaP)
• すけっちP (suketchP)
In case you have trouble keeping track of Japan Standard Time, here’s a clock to help you out. Mark your calendars and have fun!
Tokyo Time
