Vocaloids - the sound of the future

by Whitney H

Vocaloids are singing synthesizers not living singers - but their beautiful J-Rock and Enka songs might suit your fancy. And a FREE YOUTUBE TO MP3 CONVERTER means you can scrape MP3s, vocaloid or otherwise, off YouTube...

The first vocaloid software was created by Yamaha in 2003 and released by Vocaloid Singer Libraries in 2004. Vocaloid software creates songs by entering lyrics and choosing a melody. The first vocaloid products were called Leon and Lola, as well as one called Miriam, modelled after Miriam Stockley's voice. Next in the series were Meiko (female) and Kaito (male), two Japanese speaking vocaloids, released in 2004 and 2006, respectively.

The second vocaloid software, Vocaloid2, released in 2007, is the best sounding and most natural of the two vocaloid software. The first Vocaloid2 singer was Hatsune Miku. As well as being the first in the Character Vocal Series she's probably the most popular vocaloid, most notable for her long teal pigtails. The vocaloids in the Character Vocal Series are mostly used to produce J-Pop songs. Unsurprisingly, Miku's anime character is sixteen, and sings pop/dance style songs.

Kagamine Rin and Kagamine Len are next gen, and their story is somewhat argued upon between fans. They are not brother and sister, as someone might assume judging by their similar appearances, but are in fact reflections of a mirror, which makes their relationship not incestuous, but odd. Rin's style of music differs from her boytoy slightly. Her style of music is electro-pop, rock, and enka, while his is enka, rock and dance. They are both 14.

Megurine Luka, the latest in the series, has quite a different voice to her three predecessors. She is supposed to be 20 years old, so her voice is much more mature than her teenage counterparts. Luka is bilingual, speaking Japanese like the first three vocaloids, but she also speaks English,in the hopes of reaching out to multicultural fans. Her style of music is House / dance / electronica.

It's not easy to find free downloads of these guys, but guess what! You can download the song right off oYouTube for free! Click on this free YouTube to MP3 converter to achieve what used to be impossible. Don't worry, this youtube to MP23 conversion tool is free of all bad things: Cost, spyware, virii and zombies. Now, when it's all loaded onto your computer, you'll open it up and see a big box at the top and that's where you paste the URL of the YouTube video you want the song from. Then choose where you want the song to be when it finishes downloading (I don't recommend the default spot, it could be hard to find when you're ready to load your iPod). Click the download button and you're set. And you can do that with absolutely anything and everything on YouTube.

I'd recommend the following songs for each vocaloid if you're a virgin vocaloid listener:

FREE vocaloid MP3s

• Hatsune Miku: Romeo and Cinderella
• Kagamine Rin: Miyako Wasure and Emo Love
• Kagamine Rin/Len Duet: Adolescence (Cendrillon Kagamine Ver.)
• Megurine Luka: RIP=RELEASE

PS we lied. Vocaloids are entertaining, but unlikely to be the sound of the future, unless it is a distant one. People, not programs are still writing books. People are still singing and buying vinyl as well as CDs. Some forms of entertainment are so integral to our soul that we like them to be at least a bit organic. Moguls like selling real artists because they're more likely to screw up in rock and roll excess, and the world is hardly likely to run out of people desperate to be in a rock band. Music as we know it is here to stay. But there's still room in our hearts for the delicate, future-that-never-quite-happened, robot-butler-and-flying-cars charm of vocaloids! And who knows... With japanese experimentation at the helm, anything could happen...

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• Girl's guide to J-Horror (japanese horror films)
• Beginner's guide to Anime
• Make your own kanzashi flowers
• Learn to speak basic Japanese and get 30% off with 'mooky' voucher code. Less than £15!

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