Yes, they’re back, and I believe my last post on Miku involved these two. But besides that, I don’t write very often for the music section of this site. Let’s rectify that.

I stumbled upon a Miku & Gumi song called Matryoshka. It employs a favorite song structure technique that I tend to use myself. It shifts it’s key upwards towards the minor third from the first root heard. My wording is probably off; I never properly studied music theory so I can only do so much. Just imagine the standard guitar minor scale being shifted to the right on the neckboard (on a right handed guitar) three frets.

Anyways, there’s that. Back to playing the Final Fantasy XIV Open Beta.

-maserbeam

I’m pretty late to the party, but now or never. I found two VOCALOID videos of Miku and Gumi singing the song Dearest that’s from the ED of Inuyasha’s 3rd season. If you haven’t heard that song yet, you can go visit youtube and find it there. There’s a couple of duds though, so try to find the Japanese one with Hamasaki Ayumi singing. After that, hit these links:

(Miku version), and (Gumi version).

I already knew Miku and her cohorts would be able to sing like humans if they simulated the effects of breathing. A human sings on lung capacity and a machine doesn’t. I find that interesting to realize that a perfect singer (i.e. vocaloids) needs to have human flaws if we want to hear good singing.

In any case, my nutbladder nearly exploded when I heard Gumi sing Dearest. Japan, the land of Nutbladder Targetting Weaponry, I salute you.

-maserbeam

The image above is of the “new” Hatsune Miku designed by Crypton Future Media which graced the cover of the box for the virtual idol’s second release entitled “CV01 Hatsune Miku Append”. Crypton is widely accepted to be the leader in the VOCALOID world when it comes to vocal quality and merchandising, so when Crypton made the unexpected announcement that they would be changing the pictures for all of their characters with the new releases, people were generally displeased.

It is not the fact that the image has changed that makes this so big a deal, it’s the principle of the matter. Put simply, Crypton made an unforgivable mistake. They forgot that their entire operation is 100% community-driven. In the VOCALOID world, making a change in what a character looks like is tantamount to changing the words to a national anthem. It’s true that it may not be that big of a deal on the outside, but it changes the heart and soul of the thing. Crypton’s decision to change what Miku looks like came without researching how the community would react, and now they feel the consequences. Sales of Hatsune Miku Append, though expected to be high due to very advanced technology and sound-quality, came short of what was expected and now Crypton has some serious decisions to make.

The main problem VOCALOID fans now face is, “Which one is the right one?”, and to a lesser extent, “what about the old images?” Crypton’s misguided move has possibly made tens of thousands of fan-created images incorrect, and more than this actually causes damage, it makes the community feel less attached to Miku, which is terrible news for Crypton indeed, given that their largest income comes straight from the people’s love for the virtual singer.

I understand that playing hardball in the business world is necessary, especially when it involves idols (virtual or not). But this is not the normal business world; this is a business that took off after a joke video that became an internet meme, and is supported entirely by a cult following. There is really no margin for error.

For now, the question remains unanswered, “Does this mark the beginning of the end for Crypton and Miku?” Possibly yes, and possibly no. Crypton still has enough income to stay afloat after a haphazard mistake like this, but if they continue with their previously-stated plan to re-design all of their VOCALOID characters, who knows what could happen?

Close-up of the new “Hatsune Miku Append” Figure

-Koda-P

While I was organizing and archiving stuff on my HDD, I completely forgot I had this sitting somewhere in my hard drive. Have a Miku.

Gimmeh teh Miku.

-maserbeam

The following video is a news feature by Asahi Shimbun on their Youtube channel. It goes on about the creation, fame and global reach of Miku, which most of us understand first-hand. 13 minutes of Miku goodness. Interesting watch.

Video video please video.

-maserbeam