‘Pocket Miku’: A Synthesizer That Sings

The Pocket Miku is a tiny synthesizer that turns its key presses (or audio input) into Hatsune Miku’s voice. For those of you unfamiliar, Miku is a Vocaloid software voicebank created by Crypton Future Media and its official anthropomorphic mascot, a Japanese idol with long, turquoise hair. And now I can make songs with her! I guess I can go ahead and add Music Producer to my résumé.

In the video below, YouTuber David Hilowitz Music actually does a fantastic job using the synthesizer to create a song with Miku on vocals. I probably don’t have the necessary musical talent to do the same and suspect my song would end up sounding like Miku yelling for me to take her batteries out.

If you’re seriously interested, some Pocket Mikus are available on eBay, but they’re going for around $400, so I guess you’ll have to be SERIOUSLY interested to buy one. Me? I’m not really that serious about anything besides what’s for dessert. I’m hoping for a berry crumble with ice cream!

Hatsune Miku Keytar Bag: J-Pop Purse

Japan is home to some wonderful creations. One of the more popular franchises of the past decade has to be Hatsune Miku, a fully digital J-Pop musician, whose vocals are created synthetically. The vocaloid singer’s voice has been featured in over 100,000 songs, has sold out digital concerts around the world, and even has her own GT series race car. In other words, she’s more popular than most human singers.

One of the things that Hatsune Miku plays in her virtual concerts is a Keytar, one of those musical instruments that I always wanted to own, but never have. For now, maybe I’ll settle for this Keytar sling bag, done up to look like the one Hatsune Miku sometimes plays.

Whether you’re into J-Pop or ’80s synth pop, you can’t go wrong with a bag that looks like a keytar. The bag has enough space inside for a tablet, notebooks, and some other small accessories, and features colorful zipper pulls that look like musical notes. It’s made from polyester, and that control panel has dimensional control “buttons” made from silicone.

You can grab one now exclusively from ThinkGeek for $29.99(USD). It’s too bad the keyboard doesn’t actually play music – I’m sure that would be a massive seller.

It takes a village: The rise of virtual pop star Hatsune Miku

The crowd waves neon green glow sticks in the air. The performer they came to see is loading on a screen. After a kaleidoscopic burst of magic dust, Hatsune Miku, one of Japan's preeminent pop stars, appears on stage. As she breaks into a song-and-da...

Vocaloid Cyber Diva American English Voice Bank: Harder Better Faster Singer

Synthesized music can now sound less synthesized with the latest voice bank for Yamaha’s Vocaloid software. Announced earlier this year, the Cyber Diva is the first library to have an American English female voice.

yamaha_vocaloid_4_cyber_diva_american_english_voice_bank_1zoom in

Here’s a sample of a song created with the Cyber Diva and the new Vocaloid 4 Editor:

While she still doesn’t sound like a real person, Cyber Diva is still a massive upgrade to earlier Vocaloids like Lola…

or Miriam:

Yamaha also said that the voice bank comes with a feature called Growl Expression that gives the samples a “harsher, gruff tone.” You can pre-order Cyber Diva, Vocaloid 4 Editor and Vocaloid 4 Editor for Cubase from Amazon for $130 (USD). Head to the Vocaloid website for more info on and samples of Cyber Diva.

LEGO Vocaloid Hatsune Miku is Life-sized and a Bit Creepy

I’m not much for animation outside of Archer, so I am not too familiar with Vocaloid and its animated star Hatsune Miku. I am a fan of LEGO construction though, and the thought of building a life-sized recreation of an animated character is interesting.

vocaloid 7magnify

That is exactly what LEGOmaniac Chaos Brick has done with the construction of a life-size Hatsune Miku. There is no indication of exactly how tall the LEGO build is, or how many bricks were used, but the character is supposed to be 5’2″ and presumably “life-sized” matches those dimensions.

vocaloid 1 300x250 vocaloid 3 300x250 vocaloid 4 300x250 vocaloid 5 300x250 vocaloid 6 300x250 vocaloid 2 300x250

The builder made everything from the characters green hair to her thigh high socks. The detail in the face is impressive and it looks like everything was made from LEGO. Check out the pictures to see the construction process.

[via NerdApproved]

Yamaha Vocaloid on Miselu Neiro synth: exclusive hands-on at Google I/O 2012 (video)

Yamaha Vocaloid on Miselu Neiro synth: exclusive hands-on at Google I/O 2012

Did you enjoy our first look at the latest apps being showcased on Miselu's Neiro Android-powered synth here at Google I/O 2012? Want more? You've come to the right place. As promised here's an exclusive hands-on with Yamaha's Vocaloid app demoed by the man behind the technology himself -- video game designer Tetsuya Mizuguchi. We got the chance to play with an early build of the software running on the same 3-octave prototype version of the synth that we last saw at SXSW. The verdict? It works pretty well considering the pre-alpha status of the code. The app features two modes of operation -- edit and play -- the former letting you type or speak text and map it to an existing melody and the latter allowing you to chose preset sentences and "sing" them with the keyboard. Pictures are worth a thousand words, so take a look at our gallery below and watch our hands-on video after the break.

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Yamaha Vocaloid on Miselu Neiro synth: exclusive hands-on at Google I/O 2012 (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 28 Jun 2012 18:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Miselu Neiro synth at Google I/O: exclusive first look at apps from Korg and Yamaha (video)

Miselu Neiro synth at Google I/O: exclusive first look at apps from Korg and Yamaha

Remember Miselu's Neiro -- that prototype app-based Android-powered synth we last played with at SXSW? Not only is it being showcased at Google I/O 2012 here in San Francisco, but we got an exclusive first look at some of the apps being developed for the new platform ahead of the event. The company's been on a roll since our meeting in Austin, gaining (ex-OQO CEO) Jory Bell as CTO and building relationships with partners like Korg and Yamaha.

Now on its second iteration, the laptop-like synth has evolved from the hand-built prototype we saw at SXSW to a more polished reference design -- complete with breakout board for SD card and Ethernet support. As before, the device runs Gingerbread on a dual-core TI OMAP processor and features a two octave velocity and pressure-sensitive keyboard, a capacitive multitouch widescreen, WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity, audio and MIDI I/O, plus USB and HDMI ports. This version even adds XLR and quarter-inch audio jacks -- just keep in mind that those specs have not been finalized.

What's really exciting about the synth is the apps. The company's ongoing partnership with Retronyms to create a suite of touch-controlled, cloud-enabled musical apps has evolved beyond the drum-machine demo we covered at SXSW. Called nStudio, the suite now also includes a pad-based sampler / sequencer and a mixer. Plasma Sound is a touch-based musical instrument that's part theremin, part keyboard / sequencer. It's already available for other devices on Google Play, but was easily tweaked to run on the Neiro -- sight unseen -- thanks to Miselu's musicSDK and OS X-based emulator.

Miselu will be showcasing two more apps on its synth here at Google I/O: Korg's Polysix and Yamaha's Vocaloid. The Polysix app fainthfully recreates Korg's legendary 1981 synth -- known for its rich, thick analog sound. A real, mint-condition Polysix was even available for comparison during our brief time with the app (see our gallery). Vocaloid takes full advantage of the NSX-1 DSP chip that's built-into the Neiro. It's a singing synth app produced by Yamaha that "uses concatenative synthesis to splice and process vocal fragments extracted from human voice samples."

We'll be spending some time with the Vocaloid app and its creator -- video game designer Tetsuya Mizuguchi (of Sega and Lumines fame) -- later today. In the meantime, check out the gallery below and watch our hands-on video with the other apps after the break.

Continue reading Miselu Neiro synth at Google I/O: exclusive first look at apps from Korg and Yamaha (video)

Miselu Neiro synth at Google I/O: exclusive first look at apps from Korg and Yamaha (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Jun 2012 12:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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