Hatsune Miku V2 Program Box

In the year 2000, Yamaha's music branch had been working with a new type of way to produce music: a voice synthesizer software under the name “Vocaloid” that could substitute professional singers in a pinch. However, sales of the 2004 voicebanks Leon/Lola were unable to break past Japan's local audience because of the idea of replacing human voices with noticeably robotic computerized melodies. That was the case until Hokkaido-based music production company Crypton Future Media was called upon to assist the corporation in marketing such a product for the global audience. 

To combat negative connotation, software developer Sasaki Wataru would team up with illustrator Kei Garou and voice actress Sakiko Fujita to form a humanoid character that could invite the most sheltered people to creatively represent themselves. In her most recognizable form of a 16-year old futuristic android girl with turquoise twintails, Hatsune Miku (meaning “first sound of the future”) was officially released using Version 2 of the Vocaloid program in 2007. From the past to the present, this voicebank revolutionized the idea of a flexible, nonexistent virtual singer made for everyone to enjoy.

Although not the first voicebank, Miku was the first to make widespread appeal to overseas audiences with her iconic design and internet accessibility, which expanded rapidly with many creators sharing their works online. Crypton continued to encourage the creative possibilities from all users (commonly ending their producer names with -P) and fans with the freedom of self-production right from the bedroom. Never being adhered to her original design, Miku is a musical canvas of self-expression and voice for the voiceless. Her image is popularized in many ways from producers making their own versions of the idol (ex. Pinocchio-P's mascot “Aimaina”) to different styles of tuning her voice to any genre of song possible (ex. Utsu-P's metal “I Thought I Was An Angel”). She continues the success with western producers like Circus-P utilizing her V3 English voicebank in “Goodbye". 

Today, this diva touches the hearts of many in online communities, conventions, and live concerts featuring producers all over the world. Miku's boundless legacy continues with a V4X voicebank and mobile rhythm game named "Project Sekai” featuring her and the rest of the mainline virtual singers that came after V2's release.

Jørgensen, Stina Marie Hasse, Sabrina Vitting-Seerup, and Katrine Wallevik. “Hatsune Miku: An Uncertain Image.” Taylor & Francis Online, October 2017. https://www-tandfonline-com.proxy.lib.pdx.edu/doi/full/10.1080/14626268.2017.1381625.

Lam, Ka Yan. “The Hatsune Miku Phenomenon: More Than a Virtual J-Pop Diva.” Willey Online Library, October 2016. https://onlinelibrary-wiley-com.proxy.lib.pdx.edu/doi/10.1111/jpcu.12455.

Yamagishi, Hayase. How Hatsune Miku was born, June 2017. https://www.tjf.or.jp/clicknippon/en/mywayyourway/11/post-29.php.