50 Fun Facts About Vocaloid

Toward which planet did Japan's Akatsuki probe carry three plates etched with Hatsune Miku drawings?

Venus was the destination, and the plates doubled as balance weights for the spacecraft. More than 14,000 fans signed the petition that put Miku aboard.

Which pop star had Hatsune Miku as the opening act for the first month of a 2014 world tour?

Lady Gaga had the virtual singer warm up the crowds at her ArtRave: The Artpop Ball shows from May 6 to June 3, 2014.

Which 2011 internet meme is set to a cover of a song first sung by Hatsune Miku?

Nyan Cat loops a cover by the UTAU voice Momone Momo of a tune that the producer daniwell had uploaded in 2010 with Miku on vocals.

Which Japanese star behind the hit 'Lemon' first won fans by posting Hatsune Miku songs as Hachi?

Kenshi Yonezu started releasing Vocaloid music as Hachi in 2009, and 'Lemon' later topped Billboard Japan's year-end chart two years running.

Which vegetable became Hatsune Miku's trademark after she twirled one in an 'Ievan Polkka' video?

A spring onion became her prop because the clip paid homage to the Loituma Girl animation, which spun one to the same tune. It is often taken for a leek, which the Japanese variety resembles.

On which host's late-night show did Hatsune Miku make her US network television debut in 2014?

David Letterman introduced her on the Late Show on CBS on October 8, 2014, where she performed 'Sharing the World'.

Which maker of the Vocaloid engine built the synthesizers behind Hatsune Miku's turquoise colours?

Yamaha began developing the singing engine in March 2000, and the control panel on Miku's left sleeve is modelled on its instruments too.

Which Japanese city, home to Miku's maker Crypton, hosts the winter festival behind Snow Miku?

Sapporo is where Crypton began in 1995 as a trading house for sounds, importing sound-effect and sampling CDs long before it sold a singer.

Which Japanese singer voices the Vocaloid whose mascot was drawn by Berserk creator Kentaro Miura?

Gackt chose the product name Gackpoid himself during the recording sessions, and the mascot Camui Gackpo borrows one of his aliases.

Which virtual singer did 2channel users invent in 2008 as a fake Vocaloid for an April Fools' prank?

Kasane Teto was pieced together from traits picked at random from users' suggestions, then given a real voice in the free UTAU program. She is officially 31 years old.

Which voice actress, Akagi in Kantai Collection, recorded the samples behind Hatsune Miku's voice?

Saki Fujita recorded single Japanese sounds at a controlled pitch and tone, and the software strings them together into full lyrics.

Which Vocaloid, drawn as a 20-year-old woman, was the first built for both Japanese and English?

Megurine Luka, code-named CV03, was also the first adult in Crypton's Character Vocal Series, following a run of teenage characters.

Which pair of 14-year-old Vocaloid singers did Crypton first imagine as a girl and her mirror image?

Kagamine Rin and Len are both sampled from one voice actress. Crypton dropped a plan to present them as twins and has left their relationship unconfirmed.

Which Japanese game company created the Hatsune Miku: Project Diva rhythm games with Crypton?

Sega launched the series on the PlayStation Portable in July 2009, and it later spread to arcades and home consoles.

Which US music festival booked Hatsune Miku in 2020 and again in 2024 after a pandemic cancellation?

Coachella is held in Indio, California, and its 2020 edition was called off because of COVID-19 before the virtual singer could appear.

Which Japanese pop duo's songwriter, Ayase, first made his name releasing Hatsune Miku songs?

Yoasobi pairs Ayase with the vocalist Ikura. Before that he sang in a band called Davinci, then released the Miku EP Ghost City Tokyo in 2019.

From which country does 'Ievan Polkka', the folk tune behind Hatsune Miku's early viral hit, come?

Finland's quartet Loituma revived the tune with an a cappella television performance in 1996, more than a decade before Miku covered it.

Hatsune Miku's name joins the Japanese words for 'first' and 'sound' with a word meaning what?

Future is the meaning of 'miku', so the full name reads as the first sound of what is to come. It suited the first voice in Crypton's Character Vocal Series.

Which Vocaloid of 2004, named to match her voice provider, was the first to sing in Japanese?

Meiko went on sale on November 5, 2004, sampled from the singer Meiko Haigo, eight months after the first English voices.

Which male Crypton Vocaloid sold only 500 copies in his first year before a surprise rediscovery?

Kaito needed 1,000 sales to count as a success. His name was picked from public suggestions, partly because non-Japanese speakers could pronounce it easily.

Which pair of voices from the British studio Zero-G became the first Vocaloids on sale in 2004?

Leon and Lola were sold as virtual soul vocalists, and their British accents were later blamed for weak sales in the United States.

In which city did researchers at Pompeu Fabra University help develop Vocaloid's signal processing?

Barcelona is home to the university's Music Technology Group, which worked on it in a joint research project. The first Spanish-language voices, Bruno and Clara, followed in 2011.

Which working name did the Vocaloid project carry, a nod to the first song ever sung by a computer?

Daisy pointed to 'Daisy Bell', the 1892 song that an IBM computer at Bell Labs was programmed to sing in 1961. The name was dropped for copyright reasons.

Which Vocaloid mascot has the childhood nickname of the voice of Macross Frontier's Ranka Lee?

Gumi is what the singer Megumi Nakajima was called as a child, and the product name Megpoid is taken from her first name too.

Which group led by Ryo broke through with the Hatsune Miku songs 'Melt' and 'World is Mine'?

Supercell has 11 members, but only Ryo writes the music: the other ten are artists and designers who illustrate its booklets and videos.

Which Hatsune Miku song by Kurousa-P did enka star Sachiko Kobayashi perform on Kōhaku Uta Gassen?

Senbonzakura, whose title means a thousand cherry trees, went viral in 2011: its video passed one million views within 42 days.

Which anime franchise grew from a Hatsune Miku song inspired by an illustration by the artist Huke?

Black Rock Shooter reached television as an eight-episode series in 2012. The heroine looks like Miku but is not linked to her by design.

Which 2014 anime adapted Jin's Kagerou Project, a story first told through Vocaloid songs?

Mekakucity Actors came after a light novel and a manga. The project had taken off with its third song, 'Kagerou Daze'.

Which Vocaloid developed by the Tokyo company 1st Place sings Jin's popular song 'Children Record'?

IA takes her name from her voice provider, the singer Lia, and was the first release of the Aria on the Planetes project.

What Japanese word names cars covered in anime artwork, like Good Smile Racing's Hatsune Miku cars?

Itasha liveries carried the team to the GT300 class title in Japan's Super GT series in 2011, with three wins led from pole position.

Which website did Crypton launch in 2007 so Vocaloid fans could upload and share derivative works?

Piapro answered an explosion of fan-made songs and art, and Crypton followed it with a music label, KarenT, to sell Vocaloid songs.

Which designer worked with Louis Vuitton on Hatsune Miku's costumes for the Vocaloid opera The End?

Marc Jacobs dressed a production with no human cast: the opera opened in 2012 at the Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media with Vocaloid performers in every role.

Which American producer remixed Livetune's Hatsune Miku song 'Last Night, Good Night'?

Pharrell Williams reworked the Livetune track. Another Miku song by the same act, 'Tell Your World', went on sale in 217 countries at once.

Which American band opened the 2016 Hatsune Miku Expo tour and recorded a single named after her?

Anamanaguchi performed the track, simply titled 'Miku', live with the virtual singer as an encore on the tour.

Which Vocaloid, sampled from a 13-year-old boy, provides the voice of PuppyCat in Bee and PuppyCat?

Oliver was the first English voice released for the Vocaloid 3 engine. He was designed as a choir boy, and the child who provided his voice has never been named.

Which Chinese Vocaloid, the country's first, played a Shanghai arena with the pianist Lang Lang?

Luo Tianyi got her look from a public design contest, held to build support for the new voice, and is sampled from the voice actress Shan Xin.

Which Vocaloid 3 singer, sampled from Dahee Kim of GLAM, was the engine's only Korean voice?

SeeU could also sing in Japanese, and her makers at SBS A&T said the name came to mind from a line in the film Avatar.

Which Vocaloid 4 voice was sampled from the lead vocalist of the Japanese band Sekai no Owari?

Fukase sings in both Japanese and English, and his licence requires permission before the voice is used in commercial products.

Which character merchandise giant created the Vocaloid Nekomura Iroha together with AH-Software?

Sanrio shared a convention booth with AH-Software, using it to promote the new voice alongside one of its Hello Kitty games.

The Vocaloid Hiyama Kiyoteru was designed to be what in the life of the earlier character Kaai Yuki?

School teacher is the role he was given as AH-Software's third Vocaloid, released in December 2009. Kaai Yuki herself was presented as an elementary school pupil.

Besides a colour scheme, the artist Kei was told only that Hatsune Miku was what kind of being?

An android was the whole brief, so Kei took cues from synthesizers, including the control panel drawn on her left sleeve.

Which mobile rhythm game teams Hatsune Miku with twenty original human characters in five units?

Colorful Stage is set in a world where the virtual singers exist only as fiction, until the characters stumble on another dimension called Sekai.

Which carmaker worked with Crypton to promote the launch of a 2011 model using Hatsune Miku?

Toyota used her to launch the 2011 Corolla, three years before she first appeared on American network television.

Where did Hatsune Miku give her first overseas live performance, at Anime Festival Asia in 2009?

Singapore saw her on November 21, 2009, three months after her first projected concert at the Saitama Super Arena.

Which English voice from the studio PowerFX was the first voicebank released for Vocaloid 2?

Sweet Ann had been built for the original engine, then was ported and released on June 29, 2007, two months before Hatsune Miku.

Which Vocaloid producer of 'Rolling Girl' and 'World's End Dancehall' later fronted Hitorie?

Wowaka first heard Vocaloid music in December 2008, formed Hitorie in 2011, and sang and played guitar with the band until his death in 2019.

Which online game added Hatsune Miku outfits and cosmetic items in season 7 of its Festival mode?

Fortnite added her to Fortnite Festival, its rhythm game developed by Harmonix, and she also received vehicle cosmetics in Rocket League.

In which city was the first Vocaloid concert in North America held, during Anime Expo in July 2011?

Los Angeles hosted it at the Nokia Theater, with a set nearly identical to a Tokyo show from March 2010 plus a few new songs.

Which yearly game series has featured the Hatsune Miku songs 'Ievan Polkka' and 'PoPiPo'?

Just Dance added one Miku track a year for a while: 'Ievan Polkka' in the 2016 edition, 'PoPiPo' in 2017 and 'Love Ward' in 2018.

In which country was Vocaloid first announced, at the Musikmesse trade fair in March 2003?

Germany's Musikmesse, held in Frankfurt, saw the reveal three years after development began and a year before the first voices went on sale.