NicoNico Mega Party 2014

This year's Chokaigi (Mega Party) event was really good much of the time, with some very good and audience-grabbing DJ-ing. It was, though, the Vocaloid concert that was the highlight for many, myself included – and then I forgot to post it here!

Well, thanks to a memory jog a few minutes ago, that is remedied now. This year's concert was just half an hour long, but with so much (thirteen songs) crammed into its almost non-stop format that there is plenty for everyone, including original staging, new band arrangements, and Luka playing the harp (very accurately!)

Lots of vocaloids were featured, as is the norm at this event, including the four Crypton Character Vocals (Miku, Luka, Len and Rin), IA, Gumi, Gakupo, Lily, Teto and more.

This is best viewed full screen, and listened to via headphones if possible...

Voc-Xmas 2013 – How Many Nights Until Christmas?

Not many now; but here's Vocalekt Visions' original song of that title from two years ago, featuring GUMI and CUL and lead vocalists – and don't they go well together? There is also a chorus of SF-A2 Miki, Iroha Nekomura, Miku and Gakupo.

No English words are provided, unfortuinately, though there are some obvious ones actually in the song. As it happens, with this song, it isn't essential (though it would be helpful) and it is essentially a getting-in-the-mood number, which it does well enough as is, complete with cartoon-y graphics.

This is also yet another reminder of just how good the two primary driving forces of Vocalekt Visions – Tempo-P and neutrinoP – were as a composing team, and it is so good that the bond between them has just this past few weeks been re-established, after a period of several months when they were going separate ways. Perhaps, in a way, that 'mending of fences' is the best Christmas present the Vocaloid community will have this year...

Voc-Xmas 2013 – Jingle Bells

With the voices of (alphabetically) Gakupo, GUMI, Iroha, Miki, Miku and Yukari, it's Jingle Bells as produced by my composer/producer friend neutrinoP, whose real name also happens to be Miki, and whose home town this is – Hunedoara in Romania – and where these scenes were shot (by someone called Pixelino) last Christmas (2012).

I think those responsible for the decorations in Hunedoara did a splendid job, much better than we tend to do in similar sized towns here in Britain. Perhaps our local council might like to watch this and have a bit of a think about their own offerings...

It's So Hopeless for Gakupo!

On Samurai Gakupo's 'birthday', it seems appropriate to post this funny cartoon-illustrated tale of woe, set to the tune of Mozart's Rondo Alla Turca.

It was done by OwataP some four years ago, but there is an important message for mobile 'phone (a.k.a. 'cellphone') users everywhere that is just as valid today. Read the English captions and enjoy the story...

Backing vocals are by Miku and Rin, and it all works rather nicely, in a fun if slightly tragic way, and with a neat twist in the tale...

Happy Birthday, Papa GUMI!

Another simple but brilliant song from neutrinoP to which I was privileged to contribute some of the (short) lyrics, which is a very kind gift from 'neutrino' to Noboru Murukami, head of the company that produced the vocaloids GUMI, Gakupo, Lily and CUL, all of whom are featured here. Murukami-san turns fifty today!

If the widget fails to appear, force a page re-load: there seems to be a bug in the widget's code that sometimes needs this...

We actually produced this song yesterday; and although it has been publicly visible since then, I thought that in my own case it was better to wait until the man himself had heard it, which has now been confirmed.

If you hover your mouse pointer over the little lilac square (you might need to click on the sound widget's background first), you'll find someone's comment displayed; and you can add your own comment as well if desired...

NicoNico Party 2013

Six months ago, almost to the day, I brought you last year's so-called MMD multi-Vocaloid concert, (the 'MMD' standing for MikuMikuDance, the famous character animation software).

This year's has been up on YouTube for over two months, so there appears to be no problem with having it there, and embedding is allowed. Therefore I feel I can safely place it here.

It is much the same concept as last year's such event, and its full title is NicoNico Cho Party – by now you can no doubt suss out where the 'NicoNico' part originates, as I've mentioned that website a few times in recent months.

The very start is slightly unorthodox(!) but leads onto the trade mark (for these partyicular events) Miku sitting on a crescent moon supported on two ropes, like a swing. The sixteen songs this time come one immediately after another in most cases, and we have twelve Vocaloids and UTAUloids this year – one up on last year's eleven. Alphabetically they are: Gakupo, GUMI, IA, Len, Lily, Luka, Meiko, Miku, Ritsu, Teto and two others I haven't yet been able to identify, though I am fairly sure that one of them is the UTAUloid Yowane Haku.

There are good solos for Teto and IA (and watch the latter's eyes, by the way) and an interesting version of World's End Dancehall, with different choreography and some other variations, by the Kagamine duo.

As before, because the character motions are produced in MMD, which is designed for display on computer screens and PlayStations rather than for life-size projection, the quality isn't as good as the SEGA in-house professional software used for the what are usually referred to as the 'official' concerts. It's still good, though, and some is very good indeed, including the motion quality (which is variable, but never poor). The stage is superb too!

Anyway, this is a good way to spend forty minutes, probably best once the sun has gone down...

Hallelujah Chorus

"This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it" (Dr Robert Schuller, Crystal Cathedral)

This version of Handel's world-famous Hallelujah Chorus works very well overall, with the chorus being provided by nine Vocaloid voices (three male, six female), none of whom had an English voicebank at the time this was produced, which was a little over three years ago as I write this.

The fellas are Gakupo, Len and Big Al, and the ladies are Miku, Rin, Luka, GUMI, Miki and Sonika (a Vocaloid from Zero-G of whom I had been essentially unaware until now), and I think they do a credible job – though there are a very few occasions when the English subtitling is helpful. It's a superb uplifting way to go into a Sunday – or any other day, but it rightly starts here, on Sunday..

Handel would approve...

Phantom of the Vocaloid

This is a really good use of the amazing high-range compass of Miku, along with the invariably impressive Gakupo, in their interpretation of the Phantom Of The Opera title song, accompanied by a succession of largely static images.

I suggest that, before getting anywhere near 48 seconds in, you remove all glass and other breakable objects from your listening room.

I have the distinct feeling that Andrew Lloyd-Webber would be impressed and amazed if he were ever to hear this version. Perhaps he already has...