Vocaloid 4

Vocaloid 4

300px Vocaloid 4 full version interface
Original author(s)	Yamaha Corporation
Developer(s)	Yamaha Corporation
Initial release	December 17, 2014
Stable release	4.2.0 / August 5, 2015
Development status	Released
Operating system	Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X
Available in	English, Japanese
Type	Vocal Synthesizer Application
License	Proprietary
Website	vocaloid.com/vocaloid4/

Vocaloid 4 is a singing voice synthesizer and successor to Vocaloid 3 in the Vocaloid series.

History

In October 2014, the first Vocaloid confirmed for the Vocaloid 4 engine was the English vocal Ruby, whose release was delayed so she could be released on the newer engine. Shortly afterwards, Wat of Crypton Future Media reacted to the news in regards to the upcoming "new Luka vocal". Megurine Luka V4X was announced on November 20, 2014. A Vocaloid 4 version for OS X has also been announced. Megurine Luka V4X will be compatible with OS X. All AH-Software vocals, with the exception of Tohoku Zunko, were also announced as receiving updated packages as well as VY1v4. The update of the AH-Software Vocaloid 2 vocals is related to Windows 10 being released in 2015, and the impact it may have on the Vocaloid 2 software.

The new engine allows the importation of Vocaloid 2 and Vocaloid 3 vocals, though Vocaloid 2 vocals must have already been imported into Vocaloid 3 for this to work. The new engine includes other features, but not all of them are accessible by Vocaloid 2 and Vocaloid 3 vocals. One of the new features is a "Growl" feature which allows vocals built for Vocaloid 4 to take on a growl-like property in their singing results. Cross-synthesis was also added, allowing the user to switch between two of a character's vocals built for the same language smoothly using a time-varying parameter. This feature is accessible by Vocaloid 3 and Vocaloid 4 vocals, but not Vocaloid 2. Cross-synthesis only works with vocals from the same character, making use with packages like VY1v4 possible, but not packages such as Anon and Kanon. Another feature included is Pitch Rendering, which all imported vocals can use. This displays the effective pitch curve on the user interface. Finally, real-time input has been included in this version and is another feature which all vocals can use. VSQX files made for Vocaloid 3 work in Vocaloid 4, but they will not work the other way around.

For Japanese users who had bought Vocaloid 3, Vocaloid 3 Editor, Vocaloid Editor for Cubase or VY1v3, Yamaha offered a free upgrade for each software. Those who bought the editor after November 10, 2014 were also offered a free upgrade until June 2015. Those who wished to use Vocaloid on a Mac, however were offered only the Vocaloid Editor for Cubase as an option for use of the Vocaloid editor on Mac as a normal Vocaloid 4 adaption was not offered.

One of the highlights of the Cross-synthesis function is that it can produce very different results depending on which vocals are mixed. Megpoid V4's two vocals "Native" and "NativeFat" will not produce much difference between them. However, by mixing Megpoid V4 vocals "Power" and "Sweet" the function will produce a result that is so different that it will be like having another voice library for the Megpoid V4 package entirely.

When it was first released, it was only available in Japanese or English even though it was fully capable of using Chinese, Korean and Spanish vocals from Vocaloid 3. This was similar to the how with the original Vocaloid software that its interface was only in English, despite having vocals for Japanese. Chinese vocals Yuezheng Ling and Zhanyin Lorra were also developed as releases intended for Vocaloid 3 despite the release of Vocaloid 4.

As of the voice "Cyber Diva", some long term bugs were fixed and pronunciations addressed. English Vocaloid libraries now use a new shorter, more effective script. A custom library was made for the vocal, the largest ever made, which caused an issue with the dictionary proxy that was addressed. English vocals now have more clarity, at the price of expressive tones. Due to the mislabeling of certain phonetic symbols, all past English built vocals were reported to have incorrect sounds assigned to certain symbols, this has been addressed with the new script.

A Mobile version of the editor was also released. Another adaption of the software came in the form of "Unity with Vocaloid", a version of the engine which allowed it to synthesis vocals at Real-Time within Unity. The job plug-in "Vocalistener" also received an upgrade and an upgrade offer for Vocaloid 3 version owners was also offered.

The engine was also the last version released while Hideki Kenmochi was head of the Vocaloid project. On January 30, 2015, he announced his retirement, at the same time noting that Vocaloid will continue its development. He was replaced with Katsumi Ishikawa.

In addition to the software side of Vocaloid4, the software also saw use via the Vocaloid Keyboard, which had first been announced in 2012. Prototypes of the Keyboard were finally unveiled in mid-2015 and did not see a commercial release.

Products

VY1v4

See also: VY1 and VY1v3

This is the latest version of the VY1 product. It contains 4 voices ("Natural", "Normal", "Power" and "Soft") and it was released on December 17, 2014, for both PC and Mac. Those who bought the previous version were offered an upgrade discount which was included on the Vocaloid shop.

Cyber Diva

Cyber Diva is an American Accented Female vocal. She was released on February 4, 2015. The voice provider is Jenny Shima, who is an American singer, theater actress, and model.

A version of this vocal was also added to the Mobile Vocaloid Editor app, making it the first English vocal for the app at the time of release, and for a long time the only English vocal on the app. Despite this, the app was still in Japanese at the time of its release, so she lacked an English interface.

Yuzuki Yukari V4

See also: Vocaloid 3 § Yuzuki Yukari

An update on the Vocaloid 3 product "Yuzuki Yukari". This update contains three vocals—"natural" (純, jun), "soft" (穏, on) and "power" (凛, rin)—which can be purchased individually or as a complete package. Released March 18, 2015.

All 3 vocals also appeared on the Mobile Vocaloid Editor app, each sold separately.

Yuzuki Yukari also later would have her voice developed into the Vocaloid Keyboard.

In addition, all 3 vocals were announced that they would be released for the "Unity with Vocaloid" version.

Megurine Luka V4X

Main article: Megurine Luka

An update on the Vocaloid 2 product "Megurine Luka" that was released March 19, 2015, for both PC and Mac. She comes with 4 Japanese vocals ("soft" and "hard", E.V.E.C capable versions Included as ; "Soft EVEC", and "Hard Evec"), plus two English vocals ("straight" and "soft"). She comes with Piapro studio, which features a new function called "E.V.E.C.". This adds options to change the tones of the Japanese vocals "Soft_EVEC" and "Hard_EVEC" to 9 additional Japanese tones ("power 1", "power 2", "native", "whisper", "dark", "husky", "soft", "falsetto" and "cute"). "SOFT_EVEC" and "Hard EVEC" can be used for Cross-synth possible giving Luka 4 possible XSY vocals for Japanese and 2 for English. The vocal is based on breath.

Gackpoid V4

Main article: Gackpoid

An update of the V3 Gackpoid product was announced on March 31, 2015, with a release date on April 30.

Nekomura Iroha V4

See also: Vocaloid 2 § Nekomura Iroha

An update on the Vocaloid 2 product. The voice comes with 2 libraries "Natural" and "soft". Release date; June 18, 2015.

SF-A2 Miki V4

See also: Vocaloid 2 § SF-A2 Miki

An update on the Vocaloid 2 product. Release date; June 18, 2015.

V4 Flower

An update of the V flower vocal released for Vocaloid 3, She was released on July 16, 2015. Those who bought the previous version were offered an upgrade discount which was included on the Vocaloid shop.

Sachiko

Sachiko is a Japanese female Vocaloid from Yamaha. The voice provider is the Enka singer Sachiko Kobayashi. Released on July 27, 2015. She came with a special plug-in for Vocaloid 4 called "Sachikobushi". This adjusts VSQx files to make her sing like her provider.

This vocal was later also added to the Mobile Vocaloid editor app.

Arsloid; Akira Kano

In June 2015, a Japanese male vocal was announced. Arsloid is a private male vocal based on the singer Akira Kano from Arsmagna. The vocal may be released as a full product if the reception is good. Later he was confirmed for release and will have 2 additional voices "Soft" and "Bright" bringing the total number of voices within the package to 3 and allowing him access to cross synthesis. Released on September 23, 2015.

Ruby

A female English vocal developed by VocaTone, a Japanese voicebank was also conceived but cancelled, however it may be considered if the English Voicebank sells well. Released October 7, 2015.

Kaai Yuki V4

See also: Vocaloid 2 § Kaai Yuki

An update on the Vocaloid 2 product. In the case of Yuki, due to the original provider maturing, a new provider is being used for this particular product to make the new samples needed to complete the vocal library.Released on October 29, 2015.

Hiyama Kiyoteru V4

See also: Vocaloid 2 § Hiyama Kiyoteru

An update on the Vocaloid 2 product, includes the "Natural" and "rock" Voicebanks. Released on October 29, 2015.

Megpoid V4

Main article: Megpoid (software)

The update to the Megpoid software. There are a total of 10 vocals for this package, the first 5 Native, Adult, Whisper, Sweet, Power are updates on the old Vocaloid3 versions. The last 5 are new vocals and consist of; Nativefat, MellowAdult, PowerFat, NaturalSweet, SoftWhisper. They are released within a "complete" package with all 10 vocals included, or as 1 of 5 separate packages with a pair of vocals in each.

The 5 packages are;

• Native; containing the vocals "Native" and "NativeFat"
• Adult; containing the vocals "Adult" and "MellowAdult"
• Power; containing the vocals "power" and "PowerFat"
• Sweet; containing the vocals "Sweet" and "NaturalSweet"
• Soft; containing the vocals "soft" and "SoftWhisper"

The vocals supplied in each package are especially designed to be Cross-Synthesis friendly, producing the best results such as "Native" and "NativeFat". However, vocals used with one package when used with the function with vocals from another package produce a very different result. So mixing "Power" and "Sweet" will be almost the equivalent of another vocal library entirely.

Released on November 5, 2015.

The voice was also featured in use on the Vocaloid Keyboard prototype.

Megpoid English is also currently in consideration for an update. Development currently unscheduled but estimated to begin in 2016 or 2017.

Dex

Dex is a male American accented Vocaloid by Zero-G. He is based on a hound theme and is pop-orientated.　Released on November 20, 2015.

Dex was also sold for the Mac version of the software, this was a first for Zero-G Vocaloid softwre.

Daina

Daina is a female American accented Vocaloid by Zero-G and the partner vocal to Dex. She is based on a fox theme and is pop-orientated.　Released on November 20, 2015.

Daina was also sold alongside Dex for the Mac version of the software, this was a first for Zero-G Vocaloid software.

Rana V4

Rana was also announced for an upgrade. At "The Voc@loid M@ster 33" event, the first 100 visitors to the "Rana Experience" booth were given the chance to obtain Rana V4 early access.

Her Vocaloid4 version was released 1 December 2015. As a note this voice is identical to the Vocaloid3 version, with only difference being the addition of the growl function. Those who had registered all 30 issues of the magazine Vocalo-P ni Naritai (ボカロＰになりたい！) version were offered an upgrade discount which was included on the Vocaloid shop. The voice is identical to the Vocaloid 3 version, except the inclusion of the growl function.

Kagamine Rin/Len V4X

Main article: Kagamine Rin/Len

An update on the Vocaloid 2 product "Kagamine Rin/Len" was released in Q3, 2015 for both PC and Mac. The vocals are based on tension and strength while being able to control power. They also both come with an English Voicebank On August 31, 2015, their homepage was launched, confirming their "V4x" status and their use of E.V.E.C.

The package contains updates on the original Vocaloid2 Append vocals ("Power", "Warm" and "Sweet" for Rin and "Power", "Cold and "Serious for Len), with improvements. E.V.E.C. is only possible with their "Power" vocals, in comparison to the past Luka package, only options "Soft" and "Power" are given.

In addition to the main package a separate English vocal package wads produced for Kagamine Rin and Len. The package contains natural sounding vocals for creation of English. They are currently being sold as an expansion pack and are sold bundled with the Kagamine Rin/Len V4X package, or on their own with only the lite version of the Vocaloid4 engine.

There have been many comments on the close similarities between Luka's English vocals and Len's English vocals. Both Rin and Len's English vocals are softer and less defined than their Japanese sounds.

The release date was the 24th of December 2015.

Unity-chan; Kohaku Otori/AKAZA

Kohaku Otori is a female Japanese vocal being voiced by Japanese novice voice actress, Kakumoto Asuka. She is expected to be released around December 2015. She will be released for the Unity Engine version of the software "Unity with Vocaloid". A special version of the package call "『C89特別仕様 『VOCALOID4 Library unity-chan!』PROJECT:AKAZA スペシャルパッケージ』" was sold at the COMIKET 89 booth.

She was released on 14 January 2016.

She will also be released for the Mobile Vocaloid Editor.

She has a special licensing. For use of her vocal within projects, for the non-upfront cost of 10 million Yen the voice will be provided for free (10 million is the consultation cost) with no additional charges. For other public uses of the vocal, a Vocaloid engine fee will have to be paid. This is due to the Yamaha royal system and users will have to seek consultation with 3rd parties for use with Vocaloid and other companies vocals.

Fukase

Is a Japanese male Vocaloid whose voice comes from the singer of Sekai no Owari.

He was set with a 28 January 2016 release date and came with 3 vocals; "Normal", "Soft" and "English". is software also comes with a special plug-in for Vocaloid 4 called "Electric Tune" which allows to add distinct pitching effects to the voice such as a robotic sound. . It also includes a booklet with information about how to operate the VOCALOID4 editor and Fukase's vocal using SEKAI NO OWARI'S song "Starlight Paradise".

Fukase came with a strict license instructions which meant anyone who wanted to use him for commercial use had to seek permission first. The definition was covered as meaning any exchange of money for profit.

Xingchen

Xingchen (星尘), known under the English name of "Stardust", is a female Chinese vocal released on April 13, 2016. She was developed by Shanghai HENIAN, and her character was conceptualized as "Quadimensionko", a mascot for the Quadimension album series and group.

Yuezheng Longya

A Chinese Mandarin male vocal is currently in development. He will be voiced by the Chinese singer and voice actor, Zhang Jie.

Hatsune Miku V4X

Main article: Hatsune Miku

On August 31, 2015 the title of her update was revealed. She is due for a Q1 2016 release. Like Megurine Luka V4X and Kagamine Rin/Len V4X, she will have E.V.E.C.. So far one core vocal and three different E.V.E.C vocals have been unveiled; Original, Soft, Normal, and Power. "Soft", "Normal" and "Power" being E.V.E.C vocals.

Uni

Uni is a new Korean VOCALOID to be developed by ST Media and expected for release in 2016.

Luo Tianyi V4

Tianyi's update production was officially announced on March 12th. Her original voicebank would be improved and it was confirmed that she would be receiving at least one additional vocal. However, the name of it was not revealed at the time and it was unknown if she was receiving any more vocals.

Critical reception

In 2015, Zero-G reported Vocaloid 3 vocal "Avanna" was No. 1 for top 50 products of 2015, Dex and Daina had been in high position.

Crypton Future Media's download website "Sonicwire" reported that the Megurine Luka V4x product had the no.1 position in Vocaloid sales.

External links

• Official website (English)