Virtual Voices

When perusing the internet, one may stumble across pictures of characters like these.

They seem like normal-looking anime characters, so it seems safe enough to ask 'Oh, what anime/manga/video game are those guys from?' HOWEVER think twice before doing that, because I know you might get your head bitten off. Believe me, I've seen it happen on youtube plenty of times.

The characters up above are only a sampling of the now thirty or forty-something Vocaloids. What is a Vocaloid, you might ask? They are computer programs. Voice synthesizers. You put in the lyrics and the musical notes into the program, and the voice will sing it back to you. They have all different kinds of Vocaloids, ones that sing in English, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, and they are even coming out with a Celtic one soon. It provides a way for songwriters to get their songs out without using a vocalist or singing it themselves.

Vocaloids are crazy popular in Japan, and the original seven or so even have concerts. That's right; concerts. Hatsune Miku, the blue-haired girl in the picture above, is currently touring in Hong Kong. How does that work, a concert for a singing program? Holograms, of course.

Miku and some other prominent Vocaloids have toured many parts of Asia, even coming to Los Angeles to perform at the Nokia theater, a sold out show. If you ever want to see something interesting, watch some videos from their concerts - its still a live band performing, but the vocals are pre-recorded, obviously, and the crowd is just as energetic as those that go to see "real" musicians. However, I'm not here to talk about their concerts (though they are pretty flippin' sweet). I want to talk about their music videos.

Since anyone who has 200 bucks can buy their own copy of whatever voice they want (and the selection is growing bigger every day it seems now), there are a multitude of songs on the internet, some even available for purchase on itunes. When the songs are released, they are always accompanied by a video of some sort, whether that just be a picture in the background to the song, or a full fledged animated spectacle. These illustrations and pvs (promotional video) are sometimes done by the writers of the songs if they are artistically talented as well, or they collaborate with others on the internet to do so. The results are often fantastic, and I hardly watch normal music videos anymore because these are so rich and beautiful.

I've provided a few prominent examples below, and I know, I know, you may not like them or understand them or anything, but maybe watch at least one anyways? I only used videos that had english subtitles so that you would know what's going on on.

 

First up is For Campanella by Sasakure.uk feat. Gumi. It goes hand-in-hand with our children and death conversation.



Rolling Girl by Wowaka feat. Hatsune Miku

 

Two Breaths Walking by Deco*27 feat. Hatsune Miku

Mozaik Role by Deco*27 feat. Gumi (those are supposed to be two side of a mirror image of a person, just fyi. I can see how the preview picture makes it look like the song is a little...different)

 

I've added some more down here, but just links. They are all pretty good and if you want to hear some good music and cool music videos, I say check them out ^__^ And this is only a small percentage of the many songs and videos out there.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dp1SQgc6X98
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_BANzQccyo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JGaQ3g8WU4