A few hours ago I stumbled over a deviantart account and didn't think much about it. I noticed a link to a Miku video and wasn't expecting much either. Was I wrong.
It turns out that the illustrations and Motion Graphics for the video had been done by redjuice (redjuicegraphics), (his homepage being here.) Music and lyrics by: kz (livetune).
I have seen too many Miku videos, where the sound is muddy, Miku sounds metallic, the video consisting of blocky CGI or suffers of bad compression...or in the worst case, all of those symptoms. This here combines one of the most beautiful songs of Miku with the most beautiful music video ever done for Miku. I recommend to register to Vimeo.com just to get this video in 800x600 resolution and crystal-clear sound.
I've been looking around the internet to find anything that would link Vocaloid and Estonia or Hatsune Miku and Estonia. I found very little. Entering "Vocaloid Estonia" in Google resulted in some eBay links at top and nothing more, that is just sad, but not unexpected. Just as sad as the following song (don't miss the lyrics).
There are no Vocaloid songs made here in Estonia or in Estonian as far as I know. To compare ourselves with neighbors then Finnish people are mush ahead from us. Just remind that Miku's Levan polka is actually a remix of original song from Loituma, but there's much more.
If no more then at least this post might become first in Google search results when associating Vocaloid and Estonia (Eesti). There were some people I found, who mentioned Vocaloids in their profiles, so there might be some hope of something emerging from here. If I get motivated enough I even might try to mix some sounds together myself >:)
Many of you probably know that there is an itasha team named Studie GLAD Racing at Japanese Super GT who has designed the their car to match Miku image. If you didn't know that and want to find out more about it then search the internet for phrases like "Miku Z4" or "Studie Glad Racing". Later on I'll write down some sources I use for keeping you up to date with their progress.
Why I write about it? This is because I find it extremely interesting that two separate worlds, Vocaloids and motor sports, have merged together. Also I haven't really found any good non Japanese source to track progress of that team. Picking out info from Japanese sites is quite tedious, but I'll try to keep myself and You informed. But before I'll jump into their current progress, let me make a little introduction for those who are not familiar with Super GT and this team. To start off, this is what I am talking about:
This is specially modified BMW Z4 to fit into GT300 class. Notice the decals, these are PIAPURO design meaning that they are a collective creation of internet users on piapro.jp. Originally the the ones who designed it didn't know where their design will be used. They thought that their work would end up at Comiket itasha show or on some lower level local racing events. But no, their designs were used by Studie Glad team on probably the biggest Japanese motor sports event Super GT.
The Studie Glad entered the championship with their Hatsune Miku Studie Glad BMW Z4 car on 2008 (an awfully long name, so I like to use Miku Z4 instead). Crypton Future Media (who owns the rights on Vocaloid software and Hatsune Miku voice) fully supported the initiative. The Miku Z4 received warm welcome among itasha community despite the fact that the team itself wasn't very successful. On this picture you can see the drivers (Yasushi Kikuchi and Shozo Tagahara), team manager (Akira Yasushi Suzuki) and their racing queens. :)
On this year (2009) the same team entered the Super GT series with same drivers and manager, but with improved vehicle. It wasn't only decals that were upgraded, but now they have new mechanics and a lot of experience from last year. On the beginning of 2009 season they introduced a personal sponsor program. During a limited period of time between April 17 and May 11 people could buy merchandise and at the same time support the team. They got 693 personal sponsors. Unfortunately I didn't know about that program back then. I would have loved to get one of these:
This year their performance hasn't been as they have expected. They are not happy with the result either, but they still are my favorite team in Super GT. Actually unless Miku Z4 participation I wouldn't care much about Super GT. But since they do, they have my support.
I believe their result will get better over time because of Super GT rules that give more advantage to those cars that haven't been that fast. After all it is mostly about public entertainment and tight competition is favored. To achieve this, they have strict regulations for cars and special weight handicap system. The last one means basically that the more points you get, the more dead weight is put on your car on upcoming races. The system is designed so that towards the end of season, this extra weight is lightened and finally removed for the last race.
Here is a random pick of the last racing event Miku Z4 actually drove. It was on May 3 on Fuji Speedway. They finished 17th in GT300 class while in start there were 21 GT300 cars. Drivers weren't very pleased with that, but what can you do.
If you see some cars passing Miku Z4 like wind, then don't worry, these are probably GT500 class cars. These more powerful GT500 cars are on the track at the same time as GT300 class cars. These can be distinguished by large sticker on top of windscreen. If that is yellow then the car is in GT300 class. White stickers mark GT500 class.
The last Super GT event was Sepang race, but disaster stroke. The Miku Z4's engine didn't start and they were unable to participate even on qualification round. Hope they get that fixed soon and start collecting points on next event at Sugo held on 25 and 26 July. Studie GLAD Racing team has currently exactly 2 points and is 58 points behind from first team.
Now this has been a long post with lots of links, but I just wanted to write it down. I hope that I didn't mess up names and the sources I used were reliable. Before giving some official links, I'd also point out that Studie Glad has some their own official Miku songs on their web page. My favourite one is this one: Blue Max Warrior ～撃墜王～ (mp3 link). I recommend watching this slideshow while listening this song :)
Some links I keep track of: Super GT official site (in English) - good place for results and schedule. Studie Glad Racing site (in Japanese) - direct source for team related info.
I would be happy if I could watch the race live here in Estonia, but no channel is broadcasting it here. The situation is even more sad, since no TV station is broadcasting it in whole Europe. Motors TV used to do it last year, but not any more :(. If you know a way how to watch it here, give me a hint. I'd really appreciate that.
This video made my day. It seems there isn't a thing Miku can't handle. Starting with three negis she takes more and more harder things to juggle with. Have a look.
The next video is made by the same person. It has a bit more realistic look because of using motion blur. This time Neru tries to interfere the process.
Most of the people who have listened to a song of a Vocaloid probably know how the interface of creating it looks like. But I believe not to be the only one wondering, how the rest of the music has been created. Here is a video of "something" that I can only describe as "music machine", but are usually referred to as "KORG instruments". The ones used here are KORG Electribe MX, KORG Kaoss Pad 3 and KORG Kaossilator. It is only a remix, but gives a small peek behind the scenes.
The music I listen depends on my current mood, this time it is needs some energy and beat. I'm not really into trance (I even somewhat hate that word, because there is so much crap out there), but still I like some songs of that genre. Here are a few finds from Miku music collection I like to listen at times like this. Oh.., and it reminds me that I have to organize my music so I could listen to is according to my mood, right now I am just picking songs one by one.
To start with, here is one quite old, but good one. Silence by NAYUTA.
Someone has taken time, remixed it a bit and put together a very long MMD edition of this with MikuMikuDance to accompany the song (some day I want to write more about MikuMikuDance and related programs):
I found a rather curious gameplay video of PS3 hit game Little Big Planet. It seems that someone has taken time and built a character quite similar to Miku and also a level that suits her well. The level features an orchestra of many Hachune Mikus and Lens playing part of "Miku Miku ni shite ageru" (みくみくにしてあげる). The song itself is between 1:25 and 2:20. I imagine how hard it might have been to put it together.
I don't have this game on PS3 and therefore can't check if that level is published or not (in Little Big Planet a user can publish levels so that all LBP users can download and play it). Probably if you search levels in game you will find some Miku levels (maybe this one for example).
For comparison, this is the original well known song "Miku Miku ni shite ageru":
First of all, I want to apologize to Toomas for slacking off. He gave me the access to the blog ages ago and I never got to using it.
Toomas and me already discussed this and it will probably end up in this pattern: Toomas will be posting interesting videos and news, while I concentrate on the audio-only, so when you see a post from me, don't expect a stunning video. I will also be introducing some other Vocaloids.
Now to end the chatter and start off with one of my own favourites and probably one of the well-known songs from Miku:
Now, another personal pick, Crystal, sung by Meiko, another Vocaloid. Compared to Miku, who has acquired the impression of a young energetic girl, Meiko has a more mature voice and also a more mature character design. This song has made me jump around in my room looking like an idiot on many, many occasions. :)
Short version of "Chiaki Ishikawa - Uninstall" (石川智晶 - UNINSTALL) is also known as an opening song of Bokurano (ぼくらの). An anime that I am currently watching and so far liked.
The following piece is an interesting use of Miku's voice. Her voice is actually accompanying Chiaki's voice, not overriding it. Also an actual Vocaloid program interface can be seen so that you can listen and learn how this nice effect was achieved. Enjoy!
The original song is quite hard for Miku, because it has low notes and the original voice has a lot of spirit within (if that's the right way to say it). But Miku is brave and adds her own touch to the song.
I particularly didn't like the beginning very much, because there were some editing cuts and the "ee" sound was a bit flat. But starting from the verse part, it was all good. Great effort.
Even tho it is not directly related to Miku, I would still embed the original song here also for comparison and translated lyrics.
I find especially interesting the 4th track, since that is "unvocaloid remix" meaning that original Miku song "anger" is remade using human voice. The second interesting is 3rd track, because it seems like "mitsumushi" is singing "Nebula" in English. Unfortunately (or fortunately) I couldn't find these tracks on the Internet for previewing. Other 3 tracks are already widely known. More info about this album is available on the official site.
If you'd like to support Tripshots and can access iTunes Music store, then this is your chance. Unfortunately this is currently the only way to buy it according to Tripshots.
There has been Miku albums also before (nothing official, but gives an overview). In the future I'd like to announce new albums that come out and also point out how to order these. If I miss something, You can always write to me.
Sometimes I get a bit tired of happy music and want something not so soft. Today I stumbled on this refreshing piece of music:
Here is original NicoVideo link and you can download the mp3 from here. Just click on the link パソコンへ転送 (transfer to PC) and the mp3 download should automatically start.
The lyrics are quite chilling. Google Translate doesn't do the best job on translating it, but you can get the song idea from here.
