Hello and welcome to the wonderful world of:
HATSUNE MIKU
Intro
Thank you so much for visiting my page! If you're here that means you've either stumbled upon this page on accident or you seemed confused/curious about Hatsune Miku when I (Becky) kept bringing her up in conversation. However you ended up here, welcome!
I've built this page to share what I feel is the most important and meaningful information about Hatsune Miku for those who are interested in learning more about her. Of course, you could find all this info through the Hatsune Miku Fandom wiki, but this way I get to learn how to code while also building a digital shrine for my favorite virtual girl. Two birds one stone. Let's get started.
F.A.Q.
Who/what is Hatsune Miku?
Hatsune Miku is the personification a music software. More specifically, she's a voicebank used in a voice sythesizer software called VOCALOID developed by Crypton Future Media. This music-making software is designed to replicate human speech that can then be added as vocals to music tracks (think Microsoft Sam, but if Sam was marketed as a music instrument). Each separate voicebank in this software is represented by a name and character to help distinguish it from the others.
Is this some sort of AI program?
Absolutely not. To create music using AI-generated vocals, you first need to feed voice samples into an algorithm. These samples are usually taken from past songs, movies, or interview clips featuring the person who's voice is being replicated. The algorithm takes this information and pairs it with data scraped from popular music streaming platforms, like apple music and spotify, and exports a ready-made song based on the prompt it's given. While there are incredible AI-generated music that's been made, it's not a reliable process since the results are determined by the quality of the voice samples used.
However, where VOCALOID software differs is the quality of the voice samples as well as the tedious music-making process. While generative audio relies on voice samples taken from pre-recorded media, Crypton pays voice actors to record their voice for each VOCALOID voicebank. For each new VOCALOID or update to a pre-existing one, voice actors are required to stand in a recording booth and sound out syllables to build out a library of vocal fragments. The user can then take these clean voice samples and string together a unique song, raising and lowering octives as they go and creating harmonies by hand. Having dedicated clean vocal samples available gives users freedom to create a variety of singing styles, from covers to original pieces. The goal for those using VOCALOIDs in their music isn't necessarily to create realistic vocals, but to produce an intersting and unique song that's true to their individual style.
Why is there such a huge fan base just for a software?
While she does represent a software, Hatsune Miku as a character is incredibly multifaceted. While other company mascots are tied to a strict brand identity, Crypton openly encourages creative freedom with their VOCALOID designs. This means you have thousands of artists creating different Mikus to match their own music, art style, mood, whatever they want. As an artist, if you want to use Hatsune Miku's voice in your music but you're not too fond of her standard design, you have every right to commission an animator to redesign how she looks to better represent your song. Additionally, if you'd like to listen to music featuring Hatsune Miku but you're not a big fan of Japanses pop music or electronia, there are hundreds of music featuring her voice in various other music genres such as heavy metal, mariachi, 80's rock, you name it. For every person there is a Hatsune Miku that represents them, and if there's not then they can create one!
Vocaloid History
Computer-sythesized speech is far from a new concept. In 1938, Bell Labs engineer Homer Dudley invented the Vocoder, a complex machine that allows the user to take every vocal component It was the first attempt to electronically synthesize human speech by breaking down each acoustic component. He improved upon it making it Later in 1961, physicist John Larry Kelly Jr. and his colleague Lois Gerstmas programmed th IBM 7094 to sing "Daisy Bell" with the help of computer music pioneer Max Mathews.
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