#Miku vocaloid software
Due to problems with schedule, her VOCALOID2 software did not have time to go to public beta testing unlike most past VOCALOID vocals, although the same had happened to Sweet ANN released prior. Her last name, "Hatsune", was unveiled on July 7, 2007, after a 12 hour journey to Yamaha to gain permission to release the "CV01" voicebank. According to Crypton Future Media, she was worked upon for more than 10 hours a day for 2 months. Her voicebank was at 90% completion at the date of her unveiling and was the first of the CV vocals planned for the VOCALOID2 software. Hatsune Miku was unveiled on June 25, 2007, at which time only the name "Miku" was known. Hatsune Miku's voice was originally recorded using nonsense phrases the script was changed over time to give more stretch. Though recording normally takes over 4 hours, she had great concentration and was able to do and her first recording went really well. Wat wanted a simple and clear voice and had picked Saki Fujita due to her roles in anime. However, the original concept for Miku later became the Megurine Luka vocal, Miku at first only receiving a Japanese voicebank. Immediately after VOCALOID2 was announced, the idea for a bilingual Vocaloid called "Hatsune Miku" was put forward.
#Miku vocaloid series
The idea behind her was first established as being "a cute female vocal that professionals can create with", part of the "CV" or "Character Vocal" series who were designed to combine recognizable characteristics in their voices and clear color schemes. In 2009 she was also offered alongside the Sonar8 software package. The Vocal Character Series was designed to be a set of vocals with specific characteristics to them her software allows for manipulation in a variety of ways while maintaining a 'cute' sounding voice. A second manga called Hachune Miku no Nichijō Roipara! drawn by Ontama began serialization in the manga magazine Comp Ace on December 26, 2007, published by Kadokawa Shoten.The first release for the the Vocal Character series, Hatsune Miku was the first VOCALOID developed by Crypton Future Media and the third they would distribute. The manga is drawn by Kei, the original character designer for Hatsune Miku. Images of Miku were re-listed on Yahoo on October 19.Ī Hatsune Miku manga called "Maker Hikōshiki Hatsune Mix" began serialization in the Japanese manga magazine Comic Rush on November 26, 2007, published by Jive. Both companies expressed a willingness to fix the problem as soon as possible. Google and Yahoo denied any censorship on their part, blaming the missing images on a bug that does not only affect "Hatsune Miku" but other search keywords as well. On October 18, 2007, an Internet BBS website reported Hatsune Miku was suspected to be victim of censorship by Google and Yahoo!, since images of Miku did not show up on the image searches.
Other creators would show their unfinished work and ask for ideas. Popular original songs written by a user would generate illustrations, animation in 2D and 3D, and remixes by other users. As the recognition and popularity of the software grew, Nico Nico Douga became a place for collaborate content creation. According to Crypton, a popular video with a comically altered software mascot holding a leek, singing Ievan Polkka, presented multifarious possibilities of applying the software in multimedia content creation. Soon after the release of the software, users of Nico Nico Douga started posting videos with songs created with the software. Nico Nico Douga played a fundamental role in the recognition and popularity of the software. Unlike general purpose speech synthesizers, the software is tuned to create J-pop songs commonly heard in anime, but it is possible to create songs from other genres. The data for the voice was created by actually sampling the voice of Saki Fujita, a Japanese voice actress. The name of the title and the character of the software was chosen by combining "hatsu" (初, first), "ne" (音, sound), and miku (未来, future).
Hatsune Miku is the second Vocaloid2 after Sweet Ann and the first installment in the Vocaloid2 Character Vocal Series by Crypton Future Media released on August 31, 2007.