Happy Galaco

Uploaded just a couple of days ago is kagomeP's I'm Happy Girl, performed by Galaco. It's a sheer delight, even though the only English words are the few actually within the song. Hopefully one day it will be subtitled.

It's fun, happy and upbeat; and it is certainly good to hear Galaco sounding like this, accompanied by some nice simply-animated illustrations. My favourite image appears at 2 mins 10 seconds...

Galaco's Last Day

Unless the campaign to save her has succeeded by now, at the end of tomorrow Galaco will be deactivated so that it will no longer be possible to use her in new projects that require codes from her 'parents' (Internet Co Ltd).

Fortunately there are a number of videos of performances by her, and these of course are stand-alone so can remain as a memory of this perhaps under-appreciated vocaloid, who was rarely used for original material so has given an impression of not being valued by users. My understanding is that it is this, as well as some hacking associated with her voicebank data, that has prompted the decision to deactivate her on 31 October 2013 (i.e. tomorrow, as I post this).

Here is a reminder of the cute character that was designed for Galaco in a video of the full version of Galaxias! with a particularly nice model. I showcased a different video of this three months or so ago, but this one is even better, and the subtitles even include a few English words (as they appear that way in the song). If you understand French, you can follow the whole song via the second line of subtitles..

It is not clear from the YouTube page whether it is Galaco herself singing this, or her voice provider performing it directly (it sounds like the latter to me, one Ko Shibasaki, but I could be wrong) but there is little apparent difference in practice...

Galaco says Hello, How Are You?

...The rest is in Japanese!

I haven't featured this song in almost nine months – and this version is quite distinctive, featuring a new Galaco model by the video's uploader, Danna Akasuna. It's a very good model, with an excellent (and quite expressive) face that is more human-looking than many Vocaloid characters' faces have tended to be.

The motion is really good, though not perfect, and with a couple of technical glitches in the middle section of the video. Also, despite having standard-level High Definition capability, the source isn't sharp enough to take advantage of the HF setting, which is a shame: this deserves it.

With just over two weeks to go before Galaco looks like being permanently deactivated, this seems an appropriate time to post this here, as a (hopefully permanent) reminder of what Galaco was and was capable of becoming, given the chance...

Eden by Galaco

With just a month to go until Galaco's scheduled deactivation, I thought it a good time to share this version of Eden with you. It features a very well detailed Galaco model wearing two high quality outfits (though the first is a little too short to work quite as well as it might have done), each in turn.

As a matter of personal taste, I am not entirely sure about the optical distortions in parts of this, though it is certainly an original feature. No English words this time, but the significance of the moment and the sheer quality of the Galaco model (this can be switched to High Definition, for best effect) make it important to put this up now...

Duet – PonPonPon

With just a month and a half to go before Galaco is scheduled to be deactivated, I thought it might be nice to feature her here again, this time in a duet with Mayu.

So we have two lovely ladies, two good voices which, though markedly different (most obvious when they do short solo parts, one after the other) and not handled quite as well as they might have been in this video, go very well together.

I hadn't encountered this particular Mayu model before: although it's very good, I think I personally prefer the Saboten that we saw in another duest a couple of months ago (Magnet, with SeeU). Her dress tend to hang lower, though, which is definite plus point. The stage is rather basic, but as a counter to that, the glitter effects work quite well.

Anyway, this is PonPonPon, without English words – but there aren't more than a handful of actual words, repeated a number of times, so it doesn't really matter. High Definition is available, and recommended if your system and feed can cope...

Galaco in my Fluffoughts

Along with the standard SeeU, Galaco performs Leave In Summer, You're In My Fluffoughts as a duet. There are no English words provided, but I thought it was important to remind everyone that Galaco is set to be 'deactivated' at the end of October – just ten weeks or so away.

I think it is very sad; but in the meantime we can enjoy performances such as this, and such things will not vanish as they at least are not dependent upon her continued on-line presence and support. There are a few technical glitches in the video, which is a shame (it might be the 'bones' in the skirt, or it might be something else that is at fault) but it's still good, once one allows for that.

It is also sad to note that, even sooner, it appears that the South Korean support community for vocaloids, the excellent CreCrew, is planning on shutting down its website. This could leave SeeU (and her male counterpart, USee a.k.a. SeeWoo) without sufficient support to keep going indefinitely.

This is all very worrying; but for now let's just enjoy the performance. Note SeeU's alpaca depicted on the rear wall of the stage: if your reactions are quick enough you can get a good view of the two of them in-shot together by pausing the video at 46 seconds in...

Galaxias! by Galaco

That title sounds odd, doesn't it? Galaco is quite an interesting Vocaloid of whom we hear little, and who is under threat of deactivation by her creators. I do not know the full background to this or what her exact status is, beyond the fact that she was given away free, which is unusual in itself. Only UTAUs are free, normally..

Although her typically rather 'flat' but clear voice benefits from careful tuning (such as that done by one AbstractCactus), it would be a shame to dismiss her and then to lose her in the coming weeks. There is a petition to try to save her, here. and I have now signed it.

For now, let's listen to her full version of Galaxias! (as distinct from the more common 90-second short form of the song) which I think works reasonably well...