ミク Channel

Future Single by Tripshots

2011-12-11T05:13:00.001-08:00

I feel a bit bad to post it here, since you can buy it in iTunes store, but I really like this one. It has consistent style and rythm that carries you along. Probably the best Vocaloid song I've heared in weeks.Now go and buy it too, because when we support Tripshots, he can continue making more great songs :)

2011-11-03T14:16:00.000-07:00

Lately, I was offered a job for creating augmented reality app for Android phones. I turned it down, because I don't have enough time and experience I guess. But I did some research and found this cute vid I'd like to share with you :)

Kids react to Hatsune Miku

2011-10-04T12:37:00.001-07:00

Thank you youtube for knowing (for the first time) what would interest me.

I can not blame kids for not knowing what a vocaloid is. But what disappoints me is the reaction of the kids. They like the image, the character, the song, the voice, everything. As soon as they hear that she is just a synthesizer, they start shouting whatever the media has been telling them. What is sad, is that I am not hearing the kids voice their opinions, but just repeat what they have been told. Yes, children do that, but this was a question of liking something. If you liked it before, why do you now have to deny it?

q: " so if you were to find out that your favourite singer or favourite band was computer generated, would that change your view on them?"
a: "that would be terrible"
a: "I would be creeped out and probably would never listen to them ever again"

"you can't be a fan because she does not exist"

Synchronicity trilogy

2011-08-31T02:48:00.000-07:00

I wanted to post it long time ago, but I was waiting for the last piece from the trilogy to be completed. I didn't know it got canceled and forgot about it for a while. But even without the third part, it is worth posting.

It has loads of story behind it. You don't need to know it to enjoy the videos, but in case you're interested, then as described by "DestinySeraphim" (scroll to comments):

Kamui Gakupo has doubts about the governance of the oracle over the lands due to the beliefs of dragonology due to the Dragon which must be appeased by the songs of a Diva, to prevent it from attacking the humans. Gakupo's grandfather was killed, probably by the dragon, and he probably sees the Diva system as something abhorent to him. Luka is that oracle ruling over the world. Kamui voices his opinions to Luka and is punished by him.

... (read more, scroll to comments)

Music by: ひとしずくP (Hitoshizuku P)
Art: Suzunosuke
Translation: motokokusanagi2009

1/3 Looking For You In The Sky

Nicolink

2/3 Paradise of Light and Shadow

Nicolink

3/3
Canceled :(

Project Diva desu

2011-08-21T14:16:00.000-07:00

Please play this at your next party :D

Song by t.Komine (うたたP/Utata-P)

Cinnamon Philosophy - Review

2011-08-08T08:51:00.000-07:00

The last post from Toomas reminded me of something - back in March a friend of mine visited japan, coincidentally it was 1 day after the Great Tohoku Earthquake. Her stay in Japan was short, but among other souvenirs, she brought me "a Miku album" which she picked out with care - a cute girl came to her and said "this came out yesterday, please buy it".

First off - this is not just a CD. It comes in a box that is about 2 CDs wide, the extra space taken up by a cute handkerchief. The design and overall quality are laudable, after all, this is OSTER Project.

Front:

Back, with the handkerchief:

Sadly, music-wise this album was far from impressing me. It has Miku, chibi Miku, Meiko, Kaito, Luka and the Kagamine twins, but after listening through the CD once more to make this review, I remembered why I shelved it back in march - it just does not have much appeal. The tracks are too generic and for OSTER Project, even too amateurish. The only track that I liked was Sweet Drops, but that was in the 1st Project Diva game, making it quite old. I would like to tell more about it, but as the CD didn't give me much, this would be all that I could muster.

Alice in Musicland

2011-08-02T06:18:00.000-07:00

This got my attention in the last Vocaloid weekly ranking. Presented to you by OSTER Project, reinterpretation of Alice in Wonderland played and sung by Vocaloids. Available on album Cinnamon Philosophy. Great name :D

Nico link.

Digging a bit more around I found some Project Diva 2 videos of the same song like this where Miku has Little Red Riding Hood costume. But here's something more interesting, partly dubbed into English version of it, which does not suck. Really.

Here's their youtube channel, if you want to check out more.

Enjoy!

Remote Controller

2011-07-04T15:04:00.000-07:00

I was suprised to not find it in Vocaloid Weekly Ranking, maybe I'm getting blind or it's that old song O_O

Miku's official Car

2011-05-05T23:53:00.000-07:00

It seems that Toyota has now given Miku her own set of wheels - they have made the new 2011 Toyota Corolla the official car of Hatsune Miku. Here is the promotional video:

The commercial is not that bad, considering that this is actually targeted towards the American market, the CGI model looks rather decent and you have to love how they put in the concert appearance.

If Toyota would start selling the FT-86 concept, the revival of the legendary AE86, I would just go to the dealership and quote Futurama: "shut up and take my money". Having Miku that as her official car would have meant that every anime and miku fan would go and buy it.

Here you can follow the official Toyota page: http://www.toyota.com/corollamiku/
The banner has a bit of a different design as I would like, but that is a matter of taste.

Don't Mylist me

2011-04-20T00:20:00.000-07:00

The truth about "mylist"-ing in NicoVideo. Direct analogue to "favourite"-ing in Youtube and "like"-ing in Facebook dialect.

NicoVideo link

Here are the notes from translator to help you better understand the hidden clues. These are the same as under the video in Youtube by lygerzero0zero.

0:01 - MyList is Nico Nico Douga's video favoriting system

0:45 - "imifu" stands for "imi fumei" literally "meaning unclear," I thought "WTF" was the closest English equivalent

1:12 - "Temporary just one click" refers to the button on the side of Nico Videos that allows you to add a video to your temporary MyList with one click. "Ippatsu" (which I rendered as "one click") probably also has certain -other- ways of interpreting it. "One go," "one fling" perhaps.

1:23 - "wktk" I couldn't come up with an English equivalent so I left it as it was. "wktk" is a common Nico comment and stands for "wakuteka" which in turn stands for "waku-waku teka-teka" which is roughly "sparkling with excitement." Imagine an anime character with sparkles around them and you get the gist.

1:44 - Just in case anyone didn't catch it, this refers to the video statistics, in this case probably the MyList count. People on Nico will often post congratulatory comments when a video hits a landmark such as 1000 MyLists.

2:00 - When a video becomes popular enough (I don't know the exact criteria but MyList count is definitely a factor) it will be marked as "Silver" or "Gold" and the video thumbnail will be surrounded in a silver or gold frame (incidentally the original video is currently silver. Everyone with a Nico account go MyList it!)

2:32 - This isn't really a note, I'd just like to apologize for the text being screwed up in encoding.

2:37 - Your guess is as good as mine for when she mentions "points." I wouldn't be surprised if Nico has some kind of points system but I don't know of it and couldn't find anything on NicoNicoPedia.

UPDATE: Neibaku says: "I'm pretty sure the points are from when people pay to promote a video on Nico. They get points for it."

Miku Drift in Moscow

2011-04-18T10:16:00.000-07:00

Hello, dear reader. Until now I have avoided simply taking content from Sankaku, but this is just so bewildering that it deserves to be shared.

Itasha - anime character or symbol decals on cars seems to be a rather japanese trend, most of us wouldn't be caught dead in one. But one crazy russian drift fanatic has taken his (rather beaten) Nissan 180SX and plastered it with Miku. It is one thing to see a shiny track BMW on a japanese circuit, seeing a 180SX with plastic-welded bumpers and missing rear hatch going sideways through the downtown of Moscow is impressive to say the least.

You can read the whole article and see the rest of the pictures on Sankaku Complex

If you know where to find such itasha, do leave a comment. I swear that if I can find a proper itasha, it will end up on my 1997 Saab which is the last car where it should belong.

Sometimes spirit is more important than the impression it gives to the ignorant. I am sure, many would like to mock him for having anime style shimapan on his hood, but with his driving, who would actually dare to?

UTAU ranking gets political

2011-04-11T02:51:00.000-07:00

I guess you all remember this song standing out amongst others.
"meltdown" by iroha(sasaki). Voice Kagamine Rin.

Due to the ongoing nuclear crisis at Fukushima, this song, I'd say, was abused to achieve something or more likely, was remade just for fun. A green faced politician "talking" about the situation (NicoVideo link). I checked that the lyrics are exactly the same as in the original song with some parts left out. It is bizarre to see how its high popularity has pushed it onto the first place in UTAU rankings. Scroll to 22:29 or click here to see by yourself.

Vocaloid covers by ichiko

2011-03-24T02:58:00.000-07:00

After being away for a while, pressure for me to post has been building up. I keep finding songs that I really like. These lead to other great ones. I do a small background research and there I have it, a story to share. This time it is about certain Vocaloid/UTAU covers.

It all started with this song. "Ten faced" (十面相). Music: YM, Vocal: GUMI, NicoNico link.

The same song sang by ichiko. Very lovely I'd say (NicoNico link)

Next. "Mosaic Roll". Music: DECO*27. Vocal: GUMI. NicoNico link.

Ichiko's version of it (NicoNico link)

Let the last one be a mashup cover of wowaka's (Genjitsutouhi-P) works sung by toco×iciko.

I hope this was enough to either scare you away (which I believe is very unlikely) or make you interested in ichiko's covers. I didn't find any playlist of her songs in Youtube, so you have to search by a tag ichiko (If you know or are willing to make a playlist, then let us know too :). A better source for digging deeper is of cource NicoNico video ( her user profile). You can also follow her in Twitter.

As a last word, I hope that people in Japan can recover from the ongoing humanitarian crisis and that they could regain trust in government which seems to be lacking of decisiveness and openness in handling the situation. If you can and feel that you want to help, you can do it from any part of the world by making a donation to Red Cross.

Jumpstart with "Escape"

2011-02-08T09:26:00.000-08:00

Hello, dear reader. If you are still here, it means that you have surpassed our expectations and we are truly happy to have you here after a hiatus of over half a year. I had personal matters to attend to and I don't even know where Toomas has been or doing in the meantime, but the matter was, that after a while of posting nothing, it is always difficult to come back - what would be important enough to break the silence? During the past months, Miku has been busy taking over the world, appearing in various parts of the world, being seen in paper articles, news broadcasts and even appearing as a tiny neondroid in an estonian IT paper magazine. If you are a fan, you have already read all about it in news channels like Sankaku and I personally did not feel a retelling would be worth posting.

So here is my idea - I shall use this blog to just share Miku's music, dozens of new songs might pop up on a daily basis, so discovering something good from 2009 is in no way rare.

Here is something different, a home-made CGI video to Miku's song "Escape". The small (or big) visual and physical glitches actually make it feel even more hand-made. The feeling is that some guy with limitless love for our electronic Diva spent ages doing this on his own, on a simple home computer. A feel, that can't be achieved by making something with dedicated graphics computers being controlled by a horde of guys on hire and no passion. The only real negative thing in the video would be Miku's eyes, which just look creepy.

If you feel that you would like to share your ideas, music and passion, please do contact us.

Going 3D

2010-07-01T15:10:00.000-07:00

First Miku video on Youtube that uses native youtube 3D player. Put on your colored glasses or cross your eyes and enjoy the video. I don't have the glasses so I chose "Cross-eyed" from 3D menu. For those who are not familiar with this viewing technique, here are a few tips. Try to look somewhere in the air between screen and yourself. You'll see 4 instances of the video this way, probably blurred. You have to match the middle ones and it should instantly become clear. If it doesn't happen, try to choose another distance. I have found that the farther away and the smaller the video is, the better is to get the effect. Still fullscreen can be viewed too when you know the trick.

The embedded player doesn't show the 3D button so I suspect you might not see the "Cross-eyed" version by default. If that's the case, click on video and go to Youtube to see it.

Near Future

One more for your pleasure. No youtube-3D player this time.

White Letter

The brave will also look this random dot noise video with hidden Miku. I saw her there :)

And I'm finishing off with something I would like to have at home, on my TV.

A taste of classical music

2010-06-16T11:07:00.000-07:00

Today it was my graduation ceremony. All the guys in suits and girls in beautiful dresses reminded the time when I sang in chorus. Especially vivid memories were from a trip to Finland where we performed Phantom Of The Opera on stage in multiple locations. I know it is over hyped, but I still like it very much. This lead me to a search for Vocaloid related classical songs, here is my selection of some of the best I found :)

Phantom Of The Opera performed by Miku and a human voice. Background music quality is good and the voice of Miku is touching. I think it was a fun to make piece - singing quality duet with Miku. Among with the good words I still must tell that even if it's the best Miku's performance of this song, I didn't like how the instruments fitted together towards the end. Also I'd like to hear wider dynamic range with such a song. Anyway, I love it.

Didn't like that the male voice was not synthesized? Here's a version for you with Gakupo. He is maybe even more enjoyable than the male voice in previous one. This video might play in mono, so you may want to click here for much better quality.

While Miku and other Japanese Vocaloids are struggling with English, this is not a case with Prima. She is a virtual professional female soprano singer and can sing in English. The next song Eden, originally sang by Sarah Brightman, gets a very cute and lovable twist when sang by Prima.

Here's one cracy one. An instrumental song by Liszt (one of my favorite classics) played through midi with Miku's voice. It is even hard to tell if it is Miku or not, but I think it is. Grand Galop Chromatique.

Let the last be not so classic, but close enough to fit under this theme. Enya - Orinoco Flow sang by Prima. I wanted to put it here, because this is a lovely song and Prima does a great job here too.

This is all for now. New news and songs next time, hopefully soon :)

Small update and congratulations

2010-06-09T14:08:00.000-07:00

First of all, we have not been kidnapped by aliens and intend to keep on bringing you, dear readers more Miku delights. As far as I know, Toomas was busy getting his Master's degree and I was busy getting my Bachelor's degree, so neither of us had any time to keep up with the news or write anything interesting.

Yesterday Toomas had his birthday and I remembered it all too late. To make up for it, here is Miku with some chocolate. Congratulations.

「NIGHT FLIGHT」

2010-05-16T00:30:00.000-07:00

Oh what lovely pure synth I'm hearing. Boarding to Lovely Night Flight with Miku starts in 5 minutes. Make sure you have all your belongings with you and don't forget the good mood :)

Originally a Pino commercial but it's more than that performed by Perfume.

Miku likes Perfume "Disco" songs?

Room Disco

... and Chocolate Disco too.

A Peek of Project Diva 2

2010-05-06T04:02:00.000-07:00

As you might already know, Project Diva 2 will be released on the PSP on 29. July 2010 and is already up for pre-order. Little was known about it until now, some speculations being that it will be the same game with a new pack of songs. As it turns out, there have been changes in gameplay - in the first game, you usually needed two buttons, sometimes three and when the game wanted to make you howl, 4 buttons. Now it seems that instead of 20-hit rows with one button, there will be 4 buttons most of the time with surprise arrow targets to keep your left thumb busy, while in the original it was only idly gripping the PSP.

I seriously hope that they have balanced the tracks better than in the original. Some tracks with ridiculous bpm were easily completed because of the near-perfect rhythm, whereas some slow tracks seemed to have random targets in some places.

Let's just hope for the best.

AlliumProject

2010-04-17T14:26:00.000-07:00

What would fit a Voice Synthesizer more than electronic music? Out of the vast depths of internet comes a completely unknown doujin album simply labeled "AlliumProject – Stir up Club Edition V2" The genres would be progressive electro and trance, befitting for a vocaloid, yet not that common. I was instantly hooked on it and have been listening to it ever since. Somewhat straying from the mainstream, it does not focus on the Vocaloid part, but more on the instrumental. As a listener of this type of music, I would go as far to say that this is "good electro with some vocaloid"

As it is doujin, it is legally obtainable for free from here. Can't link it directly though. It does not require registration nor does it have annoying ads.

In case the previous track was a bit too much for your taste, this is a bit more mellow, being somewhere in the dance region.

One more interesting experiment on the album was that there had been effort put into making Luka sing in english. I must say I am not a fan of her voice, it sounds atrocious in english and the track itself is not that good either. Now I only need an explanation to why I have been listening to it for 3 days.

All the info is tersely noted here and it is all in japanese. The 500 yen price tag is enough to make every vocaloid fan want to move to japan.

Black★Rock Shooter photo shooting

2010-03-30T14:45:00.000-07:00

Kodomut has posted in his photoblog quite an impressive photo shooting sessions from Black Rock Shooter figure. One is a daytime version and another is a night version. Here is a slideshow that I could embed from Kodomut's Flickr account.

I can say that I am quite a fan of his photos and keep an eye on his photoblog. In many of his shooting sessions there is a role for nendoroid Miku. In fact he has multiple Mikus and a great collection of other nendoroids and other figures too. It won't be boring.

Last pic was from here and as all pics in this post, it is shot by kodomut.

In case you were expecing real BRS shoots, then don't be dissapointed. Take a look at this outstanding *sakana's BRS cosplay session. As a vocaloid fan and great cosplayer, we've mentioned her before in Magnet cosplay post.

Introducing Genjitsutouhi-P aka wowaka

2010-03-27T16:11:00.001-07:00

It doesn't happen very often when I find such a great vocaloid song that I must find out who made it. Today I searched for the author of two such songs and they turned out to be the same. He is known as Genjitsutouhi-P or wowaka (see his blog, in Japanese). He's been around and making songs starting from May 2009. Now looking at his playlist in nicovideo I see that I have heard some, but never dug deeper.

Here these songs are accompanied with appealing video and English subs. His songs tend to go along with black and white. Somehow it suits his technically not too complex style well.

Rolling Girl

Two-Faced Lovers

The last song definately has a strong message...

Aiko singing with Miku's voice

2010-03-25T05:06:00.000-07:00

Today I was checking out the progress of Project Aiko. It is a pretty impressive fembot taking account that it is mostly built by one man. He has always been fascinated by robotics and anime. The major push came from watching Chobits.

Anyway in one old video posted to Project Aiko homepage I discovered that he has made Aiko sing and to my big surprise the voice was all familiar Hatsune Miku singing the opening theme of Record of Lodoss War Anime. I guess it was a live performance. In the future Aiko might use Vocaloids for primary speech synthesis, but the status of this development is not known.

Citing Le Trung "Aiko singing opening theme song from Record of Lodoss War Anime. I have tried integrating Vocaloid with the BRAINS software for the first time. It doesn't go as well as I have hoped (too much echo), but it's a start."

PS. And a warm welcome to our new follower :)

EDIT:
I got a reply from Le Trung. It seems it won't happen soon, but no need to bury the hope yet! Citing:
"I am still working on it slowly. Due to back to school.
Don't really have much time to work on Aiko."

Miku Live Performance - Miku's Day

2010-03-11T14:16:00.000-08:00

You might remember Miku's first Live Performance and the blog entry about it. While that was simply showing videos of Miku on a big screen, thanks to the wonders of Science, something thought to be impossible has been made possible - a full 3D "hologram" of our beloved Vocaloid on the stage. The technological miracle making this all possible is called "Transparent screen Projector". I really don't know about the details, but you can see the amount of realism it gives when compared to an average screen.

The models used are 99% perfect, you can still notice some artificial elements, but overall, it is very smooth and lifelike, the little details like changing the outfit during smoke bursts are just the little bit extra that make it even better.

The only thing that I couldn't get used to would be her size. But it is also understandable and reasonable - if they can make her visible from all across the concert hall, why not do so?

For more pictures, info and all the videos, go to Sankakucomplex.

EDIT:
First of all, I would like to apologize for the confusion on why both blogkeepers wrote on the same subject - after same careful analysis from a hired chimp squad, it turns out that we started writing the posts at the somewhat same time, so neither of us knew that the other one was already writing. I actually discovered the 2nd post 3 days later.
Second: As Toomas already said, Sega has forced youtube to remove all videos of the show, thus everything we embedded earlier might or more probably, will not work. If I manage to find reuploaded versions or videos on niconico, I will edit this post again.

Miku's Day live consert!

2010-03-11T12:16:00.000-08:00

On 9th of March at Zepp Tokyo concert hall something special and heartwarming for all Miku fans happened. The most spectacular Vocaloid concert this far was held there called "39's Giving Day" ("39" like "sankyuu ...", like "Thanks Giving Day"). It featured a wide on stage transparent screen where Miku, Luka, Rin and Len sang some of their best known hits and not just hits, but many of those I like. Unlike some previous "live events", this time I wish I could be there.

Judging from the concert footage, over a thousand visitors attended and were very pleased with the show. The virtual stage was all for vocaloid, but the non-vocal part was performed in whole by live band as it seemed to me (I wonder who they were...) Even tho the sound quality is a quite poor it is not a waste of time to look at the video footage. I did get a concert feeling. They even faked the microphone too close to speakers feedback resonance :)

EDIT: As Sega is not interested in sharing the concert footage, it is eager to take down all the concert videos from Youtube. Unless they have plans to release the concert on DVD or Blue Ray, I don't understand their actions. But for introduction purposes I still try to keep some concert content in this playlist so that people far far away from Tokyo can get a bit of feeling what such a concert is. In good faith I believe that this does no harm.

The playlist has shrunk to the concert commercial, a small part of the concert and one interesting behind the scenes capture from one previous such event.

In case you're curious the official site is here (tho I guess it's not much useful any more).

EDIT: As I can see, Riho was also very interested in writing about this event. Honestly, I didn't know about that. :D

Vocaloid Madness

2010-02-23T08:46:00.000-08:00

AS Toomas pointed out, there are no real animes about Miku, but there is the program called MikuMikuDance which in it's simplest form allows to make your character dance. If you are skilled enough and/or have enough patience, you can even make short clips with it and here is an example. It shows all of your favourite Vocaloid characters doing all kinds of weird things together and to each other with some funny narrative.

To say it is "chaotic" would be underrating it.

Merge!

2010-02-17T02:47:00.000-08:00

Sharing a rare find of Aeris from VGCats comic and Miku merged together. Excellent work by the creator of VGCats Scott Ramsoomair!

Pic from here.

The Nearing Future City vocaloid fanime

2010-02-08T12:38:00.000-08:00

There is no such thing as Vocaloid anime. Those videos you find in Youtube are just fan made videos accompanying some song, MMDs, parodys, "openings", "trailers", etc but none can be called "anime". I saw one calling such stuff fanime, so let me use that word too.

This one almost got me, it looks professional enough, long enough and has a story behind it. You may argue, but this is the most anime-like vocaloid video I've seen. Still, it is only fanime, but a good one. Whole 8 minutes of jazzy Miku and Meiko compilation for your enjoyment.

Music is by SuzukazeP [涼風P]. The songs are from Near Future City series (近未来都市シリーズ) witch you can start watching from here in NicoVideo. The whole concept also has a webpage where you can find songs and some artwork. The series is hard to follow in Youtube, but you can get something clicking here. I don't quite understand it, but it seems to a collection of songs in multiple albums. Still the whole theme promises more.

Here is one song pick from Youtube.

This may change since I haven't listen to all these songs, but one of my favorite is this (only in NicoVideo)

I guess it is not a coincidence, but the there is an animation Iron Giant from USA that is quite similar to the one used in the first video I posted here.

EDIT: Corrected one typo in the title. I am sorry for misunderstandings it caused.

Snow Miku

2010-02-01T13:04:00.000-08:00

We've just got lots of snow, but some people out there have Snow Miku. She's huge, but cute still.

By gsc-mikatan? found here.

Chrono Cross and Chrono Trigger

2010-01-21T04:57:00.000-08:00

Recently I've gotten a bit addicted to some particular Vocaloid songs generated from midi. These are from one of the best PS1 RPG Chrono Chross and it's predecessor SNES game Chrono Trigger.

Chrono Chross "Radical Dreamers" cover by Miku.

I haven't played Chrono Trigger, but I do like this song "Corridors of Time". A 100% Miku-powered MIDI.

Another addictive one from Chrono Trigger: "Memories of Green"

I rarely encounter cosplays like the following. She doesn't play perfectly, but the effort is good. A Miku cosplayer playing Chrono Chross theme on violin!

(Audio jack of my laptop is getting more and more broken. Every time I hear something having not so good quality I try moving it. That's annoying!)

Appearance in Spore

2010-01-03T04:36:00.000-08:00

This ancestor of Miku is a bit out of character compared to present day. Is she creepy or cute? You decide.

Spore is a multi-platform creature creation and evolution game. All these models and videos are created using the Spore Creature Creator. As it can be clearly seen, Spore adds its own touch to things.

Maybe a bit more "normal" Miku.

Compared to previous videos, Tako Luka fits very well into the setting.

Wrapping up 2009

2009-12-31T05:02:00.000-08:00

In May this blog was started. At the beginning I didn't have quite an idea what to write or how to write. I am generally a bad writer and writing one story takes more time and effort than it should. I am also not a fluent English user which makes writing harder. Still, I have been writing and so has Riho, and I am happy with the outcome since there are some regular readers. Without them there would be no point to write anything, so a big "Thank you!" to the readers of this blog.

The goal for this blog has not been to give up to date news. There are other English blogs for that (like Vocaloidism). Over the time this blog has become a place for us to share our Vocaloid related discoveries. I often like to do some background search on topics and then write a bit longer story, but that is not always the case. Riho is more interested in sharing particular music discoveries.

Next year we would like to liven up this blog a bit. We are preparing banners and will do some link exchange. So far we really haven't advertised this site. We also have some ideas how to extend the site so it wouldn't be only a blog. No details yet, but you'll see next year. We will also upload some our own made content which will probably be one of the first Miku works in Estonian. But all that on next year.

"Happy new year dance" MMD from Miku.

Since only me and Riho are keeping this blog, we are still short of editors. If you would like to write posts here, contact us and we'll let you do that.

I'll finish this post with greetings to all our readers around the world. That is in Estonia (of course), USA, Italy, Japan, UK, Canada, Australia, Singapore!, Argentina, Mexico, Brazil, Netherlands, Germany, Russia, Malaysia, Spain, France, Finland and other places. Everyone is welcome to spam this blog post with comments saying a few words about themselves and what they like/would like to see here.

Happy new year!

Magnet cosplay

2009-12-30T05:46:00.000-08:00

I was looking at some Comiket 77 cosplay pictures (it is currently held in Tokyo) and then I saw one with Miku and Luka on it. It seemed to be a very hard thing to do convincingly so I got interested. I searched through the web for similar cosplays to see how others have succeeded in recreating the message from song "Magnet". You all probably know that, but for reference.

I didn't expect the rabbit hole to be that deep. There so many cosplays of this and some photoshoots are just excellent (same thing here too). Definitely recommend. I can't upload galleries here, so you have to click yourself. You can do it! :)

This style sample was from previously mentioned photo shooting session where Miku role was played by S.F.Sakana. She is certainly one of the best Miku cosplayers ever.

Look, a nice pic with Len and Rin! Mood is not right, but all the costume quality, colors and lighting are just beautiful. Picture is from this cosplay gallery.

I am glad that there are people who are brave enough to express themselves through cosplaying and making photoshooting sessions. World would be much more gray without it. I know that in Italy it is common to say "bella" to strangers on street when they look beautiful. We don't have such habit here and people acting like that would look strange. I wish that people would be more brave to express themselves through clothes and others would be more accepting. On the contrary, shiny clothes with bad taste are just as bad as being plain, but I'd accept that if some of those are really vivid and nice. All this applies to men too!

For more Magnet cosplay gallerys, go to cosplay.com and search for "vocaloid magnet". Have a good time discovering.

Wooden Miku

2009-12-25T13:56:00.000-08:00

There once was a fictional character name Jason Vorhees - even if you do not know the name, imagine a maniacal killer with a hockey mask and a chainsaw - that is him. But it seems that as times change, so do people and now a new kind of Jason has appeared. This time he has dedicated himself to carving various life-size anime characters out of wooden blocks. In case you have never worked with a chainsaw, imagine drawing something with a pen that weighs 10 kilograms, vibrates strongly, makes an awful noise that can be heard miles away and has the potential to remove some of your limbs. The level of detail that he achieves with such an inaccurate tool is remarkable.

Here is the youtube playlist for the rest of Thejeisonsan' carvings. As far as I could understand from videos, titles and comments, he has made an EVA 01, Mikoto Misaka from Railgun, Mio and Yui from K-on and a lot of other sculptures.

First off, Hachune Miku, the video is in two parts and almost 14 minutes in total.
Not much of Vocaloid music, but I do hope that you can enjoy the 8-bit classic that Mega Man is.

Next up, a life-size Hatsune Miku. Accompanied by the Earthbound soundtrack.

The fact that her hair had to be supported made me realize that anime hairstyles might be even more exaggerated than we think.

Last up, the only song with Miku and chainsaws that I could find. Sadly, no translation.

Happy Christmas

2009-12-24T08:45:00.000-08:00

Best wishes from my nendoroid :)

(I do need a camera with manual focus)

IOSYS meets Miku

2009-12-17T11:54:00.000-08:00

I just want to share this overwhelming energy you can find in some of this dōjin circle works. Originally these featured Touhou characters, but there are also a few Vocaloid remakes I know of. When I first discovered their flash animations I was enthralled by how well they can put animation and music together.

I won't embed the latest MMD cup video of "Overdrive" here even if it features the voice from Miku. Even if I like song better, I still find the video in the older version much more pleasing.

Ah, and I just can't get over that Miku stole the precious thing.

It is so nice to watch this side by side with original. Yes, I like Miku version better.

Along with MAD content, IOSYS has used voices of Miku other Vocaloids to make serious albums too. This should calm you down after those energy bombs.

Since this song is from an album they sell it is likely to be removed soon from Youtube. I made a light search and it is available in Amazon.co.jp in case you want to support the author.

To tell the truth, I don't quite like all the free content sharing because those who make it want to live too, but I can't help Youtube and such are strong medium for popularizing authors works. There is no easy and acceptable by everyone solution out there, so my effort will be sharing, but also trying to give credit to the author and when possible, also how you could support the artist when you wanted to. I guess that is a right thing to do.

Miku v2 (?) and The Touhou Project

2009-12-13T12:11:00.000-08:00

After stumbling over a song that sounded a lot more realistic than most of Vocaloid-powered (just wanted to use that expression) songs. But now the problem is - even after looking about details about it, I still know nothing. So, if you, dear reader, know a bit more, feel free to leave a comment. All info I have comes from the video description: "This movie is new Hatsune Miku vocal Data Base β.ver demo song movie."
The fact remains, this sounds completely different and there are even arguments, if this really is Miku or not.

About the Touhou Project - not long ago, a simple video of Touhou characters got over a million views in one week on NicoNico. The video was the soon-to-be very famous Bad Apple. For some reason, there is yet to be a Miku version of this. But there is a Megpoid version, that sounds decent... to be polite. The problem is that the singer of the track is exceptionally good and whether it is Megpoid or the creator, it just doesn't reach it. I am still hoping that someone with lots of experience would make a Miku or Meiko version with it.

To keep the length of this post to a sane level, this shall be the last video for this time. Related to Touhou and insanely cute. There is also a Miku (-like) version, but the style does not suit me.

If you remember the Fast Food and Miku post, then those songs also originated from Touhou. Even if they are musical train wrecks, there is still something oddly catchy about those.

Another Miku Channel

2009-12-03T03:45:00.001-08:00

Can be found here. It features a collection of some of the most popular Miku videos on a self contained TV like site. I admire the absolute simplicity of the page and being non-youtube, but hate the Comic-Sans (sorry). The page got my attention for one whole evening as backround video/music.

As a bonus, all videos are in auto repeat mode. I like it, since I have a weird habit of listening to one song multiple times in a row.

Pi challenge

2009-12-02T06:43:00.000-08:00

Interestingly Pi-chorus by Len fits the original song "Incarnation" by Hanasoumen-P. I didn't count, but in this modified song Len should say PI in 2000 digit precision.

More works from Vocaloid master π-P.

Voc@loidm@ster festival 3

2009-11-07T15:58:00.000-08:00

Is a community initiated event that is currently being held on NicoVideo, that is between 6th and 8th of November. What it means is that various mashups are created based on iDOLM@ASTER and Vocaloid content. All this is uploaded to NicoVideo for others to see. Fumi25 blog seems to be a good place to keep yourself updated what is happening in NicoVideo.

IDOLM@ASTER is a raising simulation game where you act as a producer who works on finding pop idols. It is quite adictive and game idols are loved just like there are people obsessed in Vocaloids.

I haven't looked over all the content and new videos are uploaded as I write, but here are some like. This one I started liking when playing Project Diva. It is a song called "moon" by Miku and the animation features Chihaya Kisaragi.
Agh, after trying various ways I couldn't embed it, but here it is.

Next one is an animation mixup of both. I don't know about the song, but it is embed-worthy since it looks and feels like the most usual entry (it is probably not tho).

This Len song マフィアゲー makes a good mix with the video. This is currently my top favourite.

And what the hell is this. Laughs.

Keep yourself updated and see all the entries as they appear.

I have to admit that iDOLM@STER physics simulation is superior to usual hand crafted joint animation found in usual MMD. That makes iDOLM@STER animation much prettier and addictive to watch. Maybe one day MMDs will get such pysics simulation too.

Halloween songs

2009-10-30T15:46:00.000-07:00

A whole collection of Vocaloids in one fresh Halloween song. "Dream Meltic Halloween" by Machigeriita-P who is also a known author of many horror themed Vocaloid songs.

MP3 link in NicoVideo.

Here is not a fresh, but rather popular song that goes with Halloween theme. It has many different video versions with many having also English subs. There are also versions that have human vocal over Vocaloid versions and just human voice versions. Different slide show versions, bad quality and incomplete versions. Put "Trick and treat" in Youtube and prepare yourself.

MP3 link in NicoSound.

Miku Z4 on Super GT 2009 - AUTOPOLIS

2009-10-19T04:15:00.000-07:00

A lot has happened after I last time wrote about Miku Z4 on Super GT. I think that those who were more eager to follow, already know what has happened, but here I sum some things up and present some links. I used bit.ly to see how much these are clicked. I hope it won't bother you much.

New artwork on Miku Z4 at Autopolis! source

At first, congratulations! Studie GLAD Racing points were almost doubled at AUTOPOLIS circuit to total of 5 points and new driver Taku Bamba (who replaced Yasushi Kikuchi) got a first driver point. On Saturdays qualification (translated) Taku Bamba drove a promising 11th best lap. On Sundays final (translated) he managed to come on 10th place being 2 laps behind first car. This is really a good news after such misfortune on Fuji and Suzuka circuit where Miku Z4 had to cancel both of these.

Sheer joy :) source

Last time on Fuji speedway Miku Z4 got some serious engine problems (translated) during practice and they had to abandon the race. So they had to say goodbye to both qualification and final race. Still, on Sunday they organized a support tour bus (translated) where fans could drive through the circuit and see it close up. There were more.

Troubled Miku Z4 at Fuji. source. (I like that umbrella, I want one... :)

I encourage you to visit their blog and I remind that, they have some official songs on their web site you can download and listen to. "Blue Max Warrior ～撃墜王～" is still my favorite.

This year's closing Super GT event is Motegi 250km race on 7th and 8th of November. Excitement is up again.

Sweet Tooth Miku

2009-10-15T12:19:00.000-07:00

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is a question asked by the writer Philip K. Dick. But what would Miku dream about? Obviously, after singing so much, she would still see that in her dreams. But surprisingly, Miku seems to have a bit of a sweet tooth. Apparently, what would make Miku happy, is for her to find a world where there are chocolate bathtubs, pancakes with caramel and sauce, and in return, she would give you Lots Of Laughs. I find the artwork stunning, the song itself very good, but the LOL in it is like a drop of tar.

The info panel in youtube gives all the mp3 and nicovideo links and all other information. For some reason, the downloadable mp3 sounded worse than the youtube version.

The second song features Kaito running a "Love so Sweet" bakery. I won't tell you more about the story, just watch it :)

Robot Miku at CEATEC, Tokyo

2009-10-08T04:38:00.000-07:00

People, who built the HRP-4C robot, now dressed it up as Hatsune Miku for this year technology showcase event CEATEC 2009 that is currently ongoing on the outskirts of Tokyo.

Even tho their work is technologically impressive, I find it esthetically unpleasant (to express myself mildly). Probably one of my favourite robot Miku is the PSP playing Miku.

MikuMikuDanceCup 2009 Summer (MMDCUP III Trilogy)

2009-10-06T12:24:00.000-07:00

I haven't really covered any MMD related topics here before. Let this be the first light one. (This is a hard topic for me, because there are great amounts of info around and mostly not in English. But I'll still try).

MMD is a short for MikuMikuDance that is a simple program that makes it possible to animate Miku and other Vocaloids in 3D. This is used by many enthusiasts and there are a lot of those low-polygon dance videos out there. Some want to take it onto a higher level and use it for story animation. Many of these are made for special MMD events like MMDCUP III Trilogy that was held about a month ago. It featured 133 MMD videos that received a staggering 3.2 million views during the event.

Since the event is over, there is an official closing movie. I had to embed it with Korean subtitles, because there is no original one in Youtube. You can find authentic version in NicoVideo here.

Vocaloidism had a coverage on this, but to sum the most important things up, there was a competition under three themes: Season, Future and Easy. It started at 24th of June and ended on 24th of August. Activity in NicoVideo defined the rankings. All participating videos can be found here. Those who can't access NicoVideo can watch most of them in Youtube. I used this channel (find videos with 【第3回MMD杯本選】 in their name).

I could go into discussing about points and top videos, but I won't do that. Instead I will make my own picks out of the competition. These are highly subjective and you may want to watch all videos yourself. I watched most of the competion videos and favorited what I liked most and now I try to present them in more organized manner.

My favorite one is "Island" (アイランド). Nice song, natural chracter animation, nice camera work and most importantly, great story. It also reminds me a great PS1 game with absolutely wonderful music, Chrono Cross.

Another favorite is the one where Miku has birthday and gets a present. What happens there looks very realistic, you'll see.

Sometimes it is not Miku in trouble, but Haku instead. By some peculiar reason she just can't get off the table. Luka is also playing cute, but I can't get what she's doing. She can dance to OSTER project tho. I've seen a lot of Miku dancing videos, but some still impress me. In one video Miku wants to be with her master and actually finds a way with help of Luka. Escaping to real world would be a good idea if things would turn out like in horror movie. Maybe Miku is destined to fight for Earth or just bad guys as hero so that Haku can safely drive her trailer (for great lol, skip to 3:15 and watch to very end). For laugh, it is also worth checking out what Mona does.

I could go on, but I already doubt that many of you read this post through. I'll finish this post with one promotional video (not quite new tho) that might make you want to try MMD yourself.

I haven't tried using MMD, but would like to. Ideas and people are welcome :)

Upcoming Black Rock Shooter Anime

2009-10-02T06:00:00.000-07:00

If you have been living under a rock like me, you may not have heard about this: they are actually making a Black Rock Shooter anime. The number of episodes and release date are still unknown, the most accurate info being: "spring 2010"

So, why am I making a post like this so early? The big fuss is over the fact that on 30. September, a "Pilot Edition" was released. Don't expect much, even if these are 3 rather big files, they all come down to the same video with different mixes of the song.

Here are all the 3 videos put together in HD.

For me, it was a somewhat disappointment. I have never been a big fan of the song itself. The visual style would be K-On meeting Gurren Lagann. The story seems too cliche - average schoolgirl gets a magic boost and transform into Black Rock Shooter to defend the earth from... a scythe-wielding goth chick? Seems like we have to wait until spring to find out.

Vocal-oid

2009-09-21T04:24:00.000-07:00

Making a program sing like a common singer is a feat by itself. Some creators have taken it to a new level, giving Miku a lot more vocal depth and creativity. In my opinion, making a vocaloid sing "words" is not easy, but to make her sing utter gibberish should be next to impossible. Making it actually sound good is simply amazing.

I haven't found many songs like this and I am pretty sure that there are better examples out there. I have found some a capella versions, but nothing really good.

Only the chorus is as mentioned above, but since it is so cute, I thought I'd share.

Unofficial Hatsune Mix manga

2009-09-10T12:28:00.001-07:00

It arrived. I was very exited. It was Hatsune Mix manga, compiled from monthly releases under the same title by Comic Rush. I don't really know why it is "unofficial", but that doesn't really matter. Here it is, on my desk, waiting to be read.

I find it very interesting piece of work since it is made by the same illustrator KEI who made the original Miku design. The manga is written in Japanese, but it has furigana as reading aid. So I find it suitable for Miku fans learning Japanese, like me :)

The manga itself consists of 8 unrelated stories. Each one is a bit twisted on its own way. I don't agree with everything written here, but it pretty much describes what to expect.

It is also available for online reading, but that is not exactly the same. In my printed version there are two chapters missing: "01. Abandoned Mix" and "06. Wandering Mix". That was unexpected and a bit disturbing. A small relief is that all 16 wonderful color pages are not bloated with texts.

Getting my hand on this one was a bit tricky here. I found that the cheapest way to order it was from Amazon.co.jp here. Still the shipping to here in Estonia was a beefy ￥ 3700 while the manga itself was only ￥700. That's about 500 EEK in our local currency

I take this manga to Animatsuri this weekend, so everyone interested, can read it in such a nice place as manga reading corner :)

I finish my post with one cinematic version of Abandoned Mix (that I didn't get):

Animatsuri 2009

2009-09-10T09:25:00.000-07:00

This weekend, on 12-13 of September the biggest anime related event in Estonia is being held here in my hometown Tartu. Lots of stuff will be happening there, click the link for more info. If you didn't know about it yet (quite improbable), then now you know. :)

Both writers of this blog are also part of organizing crew. You can find me and Riho at information desk along with our mascot if all goes as planned. Riho will be selecting music for the event, so some extent of Vocaloid content will be expected.

I hope to see lots of Miku, Haku, Rin, Len, Kaito and other Vocaloid character cosplays (it is very improbable tho :P ). All Vocaloid cosplayers will get their pics posted here. I probably won't be making pics, but I can collect them from others who do :)

Let's finish this with good quality cosplay, but with a bad quality video unfortunately.

PS. Ahh... It is so good to have internet again. I recently moved to another place and there have been 9 days without internet.

2nd birthday of Hatsune Miku

2009-09-01T01:01:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was 2nd birthday of Hatsune Miku. Happy birthday! Does this mean she turned 18 now? Hmm...

Here is a special song for her made by OSTER project:

Other Miku fans celebrated her birthday too, yesterday.

Miku Z4 on Super GT 2009 - SUZUKA

2009-08-29T13:14:00.000-07:00

This time I quite missed Super GT race at Suzuka. I hope you'll forgive me. I still try to keep you informed about what happens there. Last time I wrote about Sugo.

During last weekend 22th and 23th of August there was 700km long "Pokka GT SUMMER SPECIAL" at Suzuka circuit. Qualifying round went well for Miku Z4 and they finished 12th. This gave a quite good starting grid position next day in total 20 cars. About half of the race was good for them, but then they had to retire because of the faulty accelerator wire. That's sad. You can find more about that in Studie GLAD blog (translated) and here.

Here is one video coverage of Miku Z4 race. Unfortunately it is in Japanese, but if you watch it many times, you may start to understand what happened there. :)

Also, Super GT in not all about racing. Have a look. This small video was done during pit walk.

It also appears that one Goodsmile Racng team member has been playing around with his phone, since many short "inside" videos have appeared into their Youtube channel. I suspect he hasn't checked them, because they all are 90 degrees turned. You can find more videos on their Nicovideo channel.

That's all for now. Next event will be at Fuji Speedway on 12th and 13th of September.

Michael Jackson special

2009-08-27T04:16:00.000-07:00

As we all know we'll never see Michael Jackson on stage ever again, but memory of him lives on, in various forms. One if these is combining Vocaloids with his songs. There are a lot of bad examples of it, but here are some of my favourite picks.

It isn't often when you see Miku with something else than skirt. Here is one of those cases and it suits her just as well.

Performance: Hatsune Miku (Project DIVA)
Song: Michael Jackson - Beat It!

Kaito does it even better if his tempo would be right.

Performance: Kaito (Project DIVA)
Song: Michael Jackson - Thriller

One more pick I chose because I liked the non-usual animation style of Miku. She's bad.

Performance: Hatsune Miku (a bit wierd version tho)
Song: Michael Jackson - Bad

Live performance of Hatsune Miku

2009-08-25T09:13:00.000-07:00

I remember that in Hatsune Mix it was a dream of Miku to perform live on stage. That dream bacame true. There she was on stage on Animelu Summer Live 2009 welcomed by staggering number of listeners, reportedly about 25000.

A bit more about it here.

Fast food and Miku

2009-08-10T11:55:00.000-07:00

For some unknown reason someone has mixed Miku and Ronald the clown into one person and made a video out of it. I purposely didn't embed it here, because this is just wrong. My sole opinion is that megaburgers and Miku just don't match.

Clean Tears

2009-08-09T13:47:00.000-07:00

I start off with a new song from Clean Tears with bizarre name D'zK. Clean Tears is claimed to be one of the oldest trance style composers using Miku's voice. On their website you can find all their works. Some of it can be previewed in Youtube playlist, but there are much more in this and this mylist in NicoVideo. If you liked Youtube playlist, I highly recommend these two for you too.

I haven't found any good MP3 source for Clean Tears, but I'll work on that :).
If all else fails, then there is always NicoSound you can use to rip mp3s one by one out of NicoVideo.

Robo-Miku?

2009-08-03T06:15:00.000-07:00

Do we have to be afraid and run as fast as we can, since Robo-Miku is here with her ultra-deadly leek?

Miku herself is not sure whether she is a robot or not:

I personally like the first video, "Boku wa Roboto" (I am a robot) more, mainly because of the really good artwork.

This whole post reminds me of a post Toomas made a while ago, it may have been about vocaloids in estonia (or the lack of), but what touched me was the song The Disappearance of Hatsune Miku

Electric Angel

2009-08-02T09:37:00.000-07:00

This is a song that could be best described as: Miku singing a little song about herself. I don't know if the term "electric angel" would be accurate, but it somehow fits Miku rather well. I adore the little clip at 0:53 when Miku peers from the dark cyberspace into the black and white real world, with the user leaving her alone.

This is the Aerial Flow remix that I greatly prefer over the original. But of course not in youtube quality that in my opinion completely ruins the song. The mp3 is here.

Miku Z4 on Super GT 2009 - SUGO

2009-07-27T13:40:00.000-07:00

Last weekend there was 5th race of Super GT 2009 at Sportsland Sugo 300km circuit. Again I couldn't cheer for 808 car since I was not at home and even if I were, there are no official live broadcasts of this event here :(. But as I care how Studie Glad Racing and car 808 performs, I follow what happens out there. I have also written about Super GT before.

Miku Z4 (808) had major problems with the engine last time so they couldn't participate at all. This time at Sugo circuit they had fixed the car and also made improvements to the car. Since they changed the shape of the car, they also had to redo the artwork. It's like changing for summer clothes as they write.

This gallery features more pictures from both qualifying day and race itself at Sugo.

On Saturday at Sugo circuit Miku Z4 had a bit of trouble completing qualifying round because they didn't get good enough best lap. Therefore it was not clear if they can participate on race itself on Sunday. Fortunately they were allowed to come to start, but they were put on the last position on start grid. During the race they drove over grass and also had problems with back spoiler. But pushing their Miku Z4 hard they managed to finish 17th out of total 21 cars being 6 laps behind from the winner. Currently Studie Glad Racing has 3 points total, while the leading team has 65. That is they are at 20th position in GT300 ranking out of 22 teams total. Yeah, I know it could be better. And I believe it will.

It is good to see that there are people who make Super GT available for those who can't watch it live. Here is the best video I could find of final Sugo race that took place on Sunday.

And here is one more Sugo compilation dedicated to Miku Z4 :)

Next Super GT event is on 22th and 23th of August. Good luck to Miku Z4 and I hope to be watching (somehow)!

Mario GO GO

2009-07-18T09:16:00.000-07:00

Wohoo, this video now has English subtitles. Unfortunately subbed video has bad sound quality :(

When Mario eats mushroom, he becomes Super Mario. Hmm, I never thought about it like that.

Here is a nice gameplay video where music and sound effects are performed by Miku. If you listen carefully and understand a bit Japanese, you'll notice words like "入ります" (hairimasu) when Mario is entering a pipe. This is just what the word means. The level played seemed difficult. Every time Mario looses a life, it was like "Oh nooo! Doooon't die Miku!!!" :P

Nico link.

Actually I would like to see Miku mod of Mario game, but I haven't found any yet. I'd like to see Miku jumping around and rescuing... ermmm... Kaito?

What are you doing Kaito?

2009-07-09T02:31:00.000-07:00

Is Miku mocking on Kaito? Or is it Kaito who is to blame in the first place? I don't really get it, but I think Kaito did something embarrassing and now Miku has revenge on him or something like that.

Nico link, MP3 from author and author's blog.

Kaito is always been mocked on. I don't really know why, but he is just like that. But Kaito sings well, really well at times.

Nico link, and MP3 from Nicosound (as usual, press パソコンへ転送).

Project Diva - small Review

2009-07-06T11:52:00.001-07:00

Toomas already made most of the introductory work, so I'll just share the game experience.

First of all: I am a heavy critic and if you give me a reason to criticise, I will, so don't think that the game is bad just because I point out things that I didn't like.

First of all, the biggest problem - everything is in japanese, making navigation in the menu next to impossible. Selecting songs, saving the progress etc basic navigation will be clear after a few minutes of trial-and-error. Although I would be very grateful for a fan translation or a walkthrough.

One thing that you will notice very soon: this game is HARD. I have had previous experience with Stepmania on the PC and Elite Beats Agents on the DS, but this is by far the hardest of them. Failing the song completely is a task not easily done, but not having enough points to pass as "standard" will be the usual end result. It strongly emphases on combos, with the "chance mode" actually giving you points in an arithmetic calculation: 100, 200, 300 etc for each consecutive good hit.

The gameplay itself is somewhat tricky. In Stepmania, the arrows follow straight lines to fixated target points. In this game, the targets pop up all over the screen, the speed of the flying "arrows" (can't describe them in a better way) varies from song to song and the most difficult aspect: some songs require all 4 action buttons and sometimes with the screen full of buttons, you will end up mashing the wrong one.

Background videos vary from stunning to simple slideshows. Be careful when playing the song Packaged, Miku's dancing is actually so cute that you might lose your combo while staring at her cheerful skipping. Sometimes the background video is too busy and you'll have a hard time seeing the targets. Amazingly, Ievan Polkka didn't have Hachune Miku with her leek, but had a slideshow. For me it would have sufficed if the whole video had been like the original - Hachune Miku shaking her leek and changing facial expressions.

The quality of the gameplay also varies. For example, Packaged has a stunning video, all the targets are placed very accurately and balanced, making the song somewhat difficult, but very reasonable. Then you get a song with a background of random images and completely random targets that sometimes don't even bother to follow the song. In the middle of a slow ballad one can get a row of targets that have to be hit at a pace more suited to grindcore.

A bit more about the difficulty: there are characters and costumes, but to unlock them, you have to be really good, no next to perfect. here is a list of the unlockables. After hours of gameplay I have yet to unlock a single one of them.

There are also a few extras, for example a music player that features Miku in a random (could be selectable, the menu is still in japanese) room and you can select any song the game has. Amazingly, if you have other music in your PSP, it will also play it. It was kinda awkward watching Miku walk around in a library with hard rock in the background.

The final verdict would be: it has flaws, it is the first game, it is awesome. I personally would recommend at least someone in the development crew to play some stepmania. For instance, the song preview works with a button, you can't see the highscores before selecting the game, the gameplay itself could use little revisions etc. But all in all, it is a really great game and I am a nitpicker.

One new song (maybe it isn't new) from the game that I found really good.

What is OSTER project?

2009-07-06T11:12:00.000-07:00

Now "what", but "who"! OSTER project is a famous Vacaloid user of course... see what he/she has done. That's right, he/she, we don't know. In fact we know almost nothing of person behind OSTER project.

Here is "koizuru radio". It somewhat explains who OSTER project is (it was also made by OSTER project) but most importantly, it is just very entertaining to watch. :)
Yes, I know, it is old, but I haven't seen it before. Also, youtube quality is much lower than in nicovideo, but in nicovideo there are no English subtitles. :(

Oster Project feat Miku Hatsune in koisuru Radio 01:

Nico link.

Oster Project feat Miku Hatsune in koisuru Radio 02:

Nico link.

Oster Project feat Miku Hatsune in koisuru Radio 03:

Nico link.

Oster Project feat Miku Hatsune in koisuru Radio 04:

Nico link.

初音ミク - Project DIVA - PSP

2009-07-04T10:50:00.000-07:00

I wanted to make a post about this game awhile ago, but haven't gotten this far. Now I can't prolong it any further, because the game is officially out (released on 2 June 2009). It was long waited among hardcore fans, but since I don't own PSP I wasn't particularly eager to preorder it just because.

Let's start off with promo video by game producer SEGA. It quite much tells what the game is about. There are a lot more of videos on Youtube that you might want to look.

So what is this about? To put it short, then this is a rhythm game that features Miku and many other Vocaloids. You can choose among character (Miku, Haku, Rin, Len, Luka, Kaito or Meiko), costumes and songs and off you go. The gameplay itself is Stepmania like, you have to press buttons at given times for Miku to sing. I think there are people who might find it just boring, but taking all the music and visual performance into account, I think you'll just love it even without actual gameplay. I would :) And if that is not enough for you, then you can compose your own songs and stage performances.

Since there is so much info about this game around internet, this post is mainly for creating appetite. If you are already drooling then there are bad news for you. The game is only in Japanese and it is very unlikely for it to be released in English. But the good news is that you can order it around the world, because the game is not region locked. I believe very little Japanese is needed to figure out the menus.

I know you can click, so here are some good sources:
Probably the best English source for the game.
Official site in Japanese, but clicking around you will find music and videos of the game.
Sankakucomplex way of Project Diva.
One English review of the game.
Buy game from Play Asia (shipping worldwide).
Buy game related merchandise from Hobby Search (shipping worldwide).

I'll end up this post with one very nice "on stage performance" of Miku that appeared in PS3 Home available only in Japanese PlayStation Network a few days ago.

Nico link.

This clearly promotes the Project Diva, but at the same time is the first on stage live performance of Miku I have seen. Here's one more Miku's appearance on PS3 Home.

Aagh, maybe I should buy PSP just because of the game before it is sold out. XD

Logic Designer

2009-07-02T03:38:00.000-07:00

This encounter sounds very familiar. Starting of the video also helps to recognize the song I have in mind. Can you guess it?

Nico link. MP3 can be found from Mintiack homepage who is the author of the song.

Here is "the original" from Norway, but I doubt the author had it in mind when making this song. But you'll never know.

Last Night, Good Night

2009-06-28T10:12:00.000-07:00

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.

Last Night, Good Night PV from redjuice on Vimeo.

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.

Vocaloids in Estonia

2009-06-26T05:36:00.000-07:00

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 >:)

Miku Z4 at Super GT

2009-06-25T07:43:00.001-07:00

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.

Juggling Miku

2009-06-23T03:04:00.000-07:00

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.

Nico link.

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.

Nico link.

The Music Machines

2009-06-17T06:20:00.001-07:00

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.

Denki Groove - "Niji" sung by Miku and MEIKO

mp3 download

Tunak Tunak Tun by Miku

2009-06-16T11:51:00.000-07:00

Random encounter if I may say so. Just brilliant!

Nico link and MP3. Original song is Daler Mehndi - Tunak Tunak Tun and it also has misheared English lyrics version by buffalax.

Appetite for hardcore music

2009-06-16T07:02:00.000-07:00

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.

Nico link and MP3.

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):

Hatsune Miku - Plug Out.

Nico link, MP3 link.

This one is rather interesting. It is a remix of a remix of Miku's LightSong. Here is the original remix and here is the original.

Nico link and MP3 link.

If you got sick from previous ones, then this piece of retro sounding techno should help you to recover. Miku - Youthful days' graffiti:

Nico link and MP3.

Miku appearance in Little Big Planet

2009-06-13T07:47:00.000-07:00

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":

Reinforcements to the crew

2009-06-12T07:09:00.000-07:00

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. :)

mp3 download

Chiaki Ishikawa and Hatsune Miku - Uninstall

2009-06-11T04:23:00.000-07:00

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!

Here is MP3 from author.

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.

nico link

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.

Tripshots album "synthesis"

2009-06-09T04:34:00.000-07:00

Here is a small promo video for Tripshots first album "synthesis".

It features 5 tracks:
1. anger [Extend-RMX] feat. Miku Hatsune
2. Extended [Sirius-RMX] feat. Miku Hatsune
3. Nebula [type J] xxJulexx feat. mitsumushi
4. anger [Extend-RMX] feat. Luna
5. Nebula feat. Miku Hatsune

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.

Lloyd's murder (殺人ロイド)

2009-06-02T08:04:00.000-07:00

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.

Weekly Vocaloid ranking #86

2009-05-26T07:17:00.000-07:00

This time I have something fresh for you. "Weekly vocaloid ranking #86" got just transfered from NicoVideo to Youtube. If you can, I recommend watching it in NicoVideo here, because it has better quality than in Youtube. For those who can't watch NicoVideo, here is the first part of it in Youtube:

Here is the second and third part.

When I get a bit more time, I will look that ranking over again and sort out some new music and videos I liked the most. This time I present only first two songs that were both newcomers this week.

Second place goes video "1" by lamazeP. This is also my favourite newcomer. The opening of the video is just so cute:

Here is the MP3 and NicoVideo link.

First place this week goes to parody arrange song from "Cirno's Perfect Math Class" (here):

Here is the MP3 and NicoVideo link.

Ordinary day

2009-05-23T15:57:00.001-07:00

At Tripshots studio there is always a lot to. Here's a small peek behind the screen.

After work at studio she returns home. It is time to take some time to herself.

A good sleep is needed every night to her keep voice clean and moves fresh next day.

Thank you Tripshots for providing us such an insight.

Houki Boshi

2009-05-23T04:47:00.000-07:00

I like this video, because in that you will see the same Miku model as in Nebyula and Anger. Unfortunately I don't know who that animator is and maybe he/she has created more videos. Probably some digging in Nico Video would give me something. One day I will do some research on that.

Here is a video that I believe was an earlier attempt from the same animator to illustrate this song. Between this video and the latest version, there has been a lot of progress. Take a look:

Here is the original Younha - Houki Boshi. That video was also used in Bleach ending.

Leek and rice = healthy and delicious meal

2009-05-21T12:01:00.000-07:00

Today I bought a leek. I had never prepared any dish from a leek before, so I was a bit suspicious about what may come out. I had previously looked out one simple recipe that included mainly rice and leek here (sorry, it's in Estonian).

During the attempt, Miku was also in help:

All the preparations and cooking took about 40 minutes, but it was worth it. It turned out very delicious and nothing was left for tomorrow. Here is how it turned out and Miku is promoting it:

It is good that Miku is promoting healthy food. I don't think I would have gone and bought a leek just because. I think there are more folk out there who have found leek thanks to Miku. Maybe at first they have spinned it for some time and then ate it.

Here is the leek promotional material from Miku:

Here can be seen how fond of leek Miku actually is:

And finally here is the probable reason why Miku got fond of leek in the first place.

Hatsune Miku: The World’s Virtual Diva!

2009-05-21T05:20:00.000-07:00

Today I tried to dig deep into some topics about about Hatsune Miku. For example about the artwork about her or the 3d models of her. I didn't really succeed, because whichever topic I took, it seemed to have very deep roots and needed lots of time to get a comprehensive overview. This was something I expected, but I didn't think it would be that hard.

Todays finding is this video. You may have see it already, but if you haven't, then this is certainly worth watching. This video is a documentary about Vocaloid and Hatsune Miku success in music industry. It was released quite recently by Channel ASAHI and in my opinion gives a good introduction to the topic. This is the source where I found this video.

This video contained many well known videos and music from Miku, but here is my most favorite of them:

In the video one produces said "Western people have been exposed to this music longer... ". Here is the proof, sortof.

Hope ya ease up here!!! (ゆっくりしていってね!!!)

2009-05-20T04:00:00.000-07:00

This nice video is so about me:

source

Welcome

2009-05-20T03:11:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the "ミクchannel" blog. This blog was made to promote a wonderful talent Hatsune Miku (初音ミク) and bring together her fans. This should be a place where you come back often for new videos and news and more.

Since this is not an official blog and I write it as a hobby, you will also find here stuff about my doings related to the channel... or not, I don't know, time will tell.

Since I also have my own life, I can't guarantee you the latest news or videos, because I can't keep my eye on everything. If you feel YOU could help me with writing this blog then you are more than welcome to contact me. I'd be very happy if this would turn out to be a community effort.

*** looking for a nice layout for the blog ***