Concert at SkeCon

This is the video of the concert by Synthesized reality Productions (SRP) at the recent SkeCon event in Sweden. It's a single fixed camera, which could have benefited from being zoomed in a little, but it will do. It isn't shaky, unfocused, distorted or any of the other audience-recorded efforts' failings, and is of high video quality.

The event starts off with SRP's Yume introducing the show, in English, followed by Miku and 'Viva Happy'. Later, Gumi, Rin and Len appear – all three at once for one item – also Luka for 'Just Be Friends'; and near the end we also have Miku's now famous 'Senbonzakura' in her correct outfit for this song. The show is rounded out with Yume re-appearing to dance with SkeCon's own mascot Rosu to dance to 'Happy Synthesizer'. Plenty of goodness is in there for just about any fan!

The whole video is almost an hour long, but I found it better to view in three or four 'chunks', simply because of that fixed, slightly distant viewpoint from which I needed to take an occasional break...

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...

Acute, Extreme, Perfect

This is a video of actual game-play from the rhythm game Project Diva Arcade F2. The song is Acute, the setting is Extreme, and the score is Perfect(!)

On top of all that, lucky Kaito gets to perform this with both Miku and Luka, the latter again showing her sheer stage 'presence' which is unequalled. The motion is as close to perfection as current technology permits; and if (more likely 'when') the play-only version of this without the game-play appears, there is no doubt in my mind that it will become one of the top Vocaloid demo pieces, raising the bar yet again...

Sing and Smile

It's about time I posted another nice video with good motion, so here's something new: Sing and Smile by Re:nG, featuring an 'all-star' cast of the six Cryptonloids (including the Sakine version of Meiko) along with Teto, Haku Yowane and Neru Akita, all of whom appear in Project DIVA Arcade future tone, from which this derives.

The motion is really good, and Rin's outfit in her initial appearance in the video – starting at 1 minute in – though simple in design is particularly appealing, I thought.

By the way: I have been spending so much time on social media and domestic matters that I haven't been able to keep up with other matters (in case anyone was wondering) – though I have been monitoring a lot of things going on, especially in the local and national political spheres. I shall no doubt comment on at least one or two of those in due course, but for now let's stay with the lighter and more enjoyable world of Vocaloid/Utau...

The Wizardry of OS-TER

If you liked OSTER project's Alice In Musicland, which I featured here a few months ago, you'll go for this similarly-presented version of Music Wizard of Oz, again with the Crypton 'Vocaloid All-Stars' playing all the parts and providing the voices, this time with the addition of Gumi..

It will help to know the original story, as no English words have yet been provided – hardly surprising, as it has only just appeared. No doubt a translation in the form of subtitles or captions will appear one day, and I shall then showcase that here.

In the meantime, it is again a mini-masterpiece, longer than the Alice production at just over twenty minutes..

Decorator

This is the intro song for the imminent (but delayed for three weeks for quality improvements to be made) Project Diva F 2nd game. The song, by kz (livetune), features all six Crypton Vocaloids who also appear in the game – which will now appear (all being well) in late March, at least in Japan.

Meanwhile, we can enjoy Decorator, in a typical setting and style of video for this series of games...

Tell Your Universe

In a busy week in the Vocaloid world, we have already seen IA's second 'birthday' a couple of days ago, and now we have Luka's fifth such anniversary today (actually in preparation for the day itself, tomorrow), and also today confirmation that Miku's Wake Up, Rosetta video-and-song message will be among those to be sent out into space.

Miku only just scraped through, though, in tenth place – and that was only because another of the original ten winners was disqualified. Her voice will be telling Rosetta to wake up, and the listening universe will also be able to hear and see her.

Regarding that contest, it was supposed to have a ninety-second time limit. That was in the rules. Several of the winning entires are significantly longer in duration than the limit, one almost doubt and another over double. What is the point in having rules and then letting some participants ignore them, especially when others have stuck to the rules.

Okay, an odd second or two doesn't matter (there are technical oddities with videos than can  make the 'count' not quite match the video's actual length, overstating the length, as I have seen a number of times) but noy the ones we have in the winners' list.

As far as voting is concerned, it is notable that four of the winners, including three or the four highest voted for, are by schoools, which must have helped (all those parents, teachers and governors for a start). Nothing wrong with that, of course: it's just worth noting in passing, just in case anyone wondered why this was.

Anyway, here's a short video featuring IA, Luka and Miku together, which seems fitting...

A Flavour of Magic

Here is a video of a couple of very short snippets from each of the songs performed at the recent Magical Mirai 2013 concert, featuring all six Crypton Vocaloids in solos, duets and one trio.

It gives an idea of what the event was like, a lot more broadly than just one song – even though the one I featured here a few weeks ago was the jaw-dropping staging of Ryo's Odds and Ends. Here we have the lot, sampled, and topped & tailed with the aid of some nifty graphics.

It comes as no surprise that the range of models, costumes and some new (to me at least) songs raised the bar yet again, along with the extra-wide screen (just how wide is that thing?) and some completely new motions even for established songs.

On top of that, we once again get to realise, however briefly, just how good the Vocaloid composer/producers are, their material easily up there with the best in the conventional music arena, more often than not. Remember: it hasn't been tampered with by publishing agents, session musicians (though the live band here won't be quite the same as the original released version), recording engineer, studio acoustics and effects, or a human lead performer (or two, or three).

These works are essentially straight from the composer's thoughts and intentions for his or her creation to the audience – which is perhaps the single strongest reason why the fan community is so dedicated without (except in a few cases!) too 'fannish'. Here we go...

Perfectionist Complex, by Luka

You can accept yourself as you are, even though you're not perfect.

Luka explains why (with English subtitles provided by the uploader) in this song, which also has an excellent backing arrangement and a simple style of movie (by yonoP, based on another's image), which is all it needs. Indeed, it works better this way than in any of the other forms we usually encounter, I think.

I have been unable to find a non-Japanese form of the composer's name, but – from the Hiragana characters – it looks like 'Yamikuro'...

Puzzle, by Luka

For Luka fans, here's the magnificent lady performing Puzzle in a city centre – but with no audience. They must all be at their workplaces, otherwise I'm sure there'd be a crowd watching and listening. The clock shows 1:25, so lunch break is just about over, and it's looking like rain might be on the way as well, from those dark clouds. The people have all gone now. We've got her all to ourselves!

This really benefits from being switched to High Definition; so if your system and connection can cope, it's something I'd recommend...

Miku and Friends at Gateshead

This is all but the first few songs of the Gateshead concert put on by MikuUK (or 'UK39' as they now prefer to be called), video-ed from within the (somewhat chatty at times) audience. Yes, the focus drifts from time to time, but it gives a good idea of how it went.

Actually, for a fan-based vocaloid concert, it's quite good, and some is really good. Rin and Len at the start are rendered extremely clearly, brightly, and do have a three-dimensional appearance that is getting on for as good as one gets at the official events.

The motion is generally good quality, if a little unambitious much of the time (these aren't the 'official' motions for these songs) and in a couple of numbers Miku appears to be rollerblading (that 'sliding feet syndrome' I have discussed before), but overall it's a good effort. More motion capture would make a world of difference, rather than trying to create motions by bone manipulation(!)

The live band is welcome, and are quite good, though unsurprisingly not in the league of the now-legendary 39s who performed at several of the big concerts in Japan in 2011 and (I think) early 2012. The sound mix is nearly always excellent, unusually well done, I'd say. It is clear that the whole team has put a lot of hard and dedicated work into their events, in fact, breaking new ground for us here in the UK.

Anyway, here's 35 minutes of the Gateshead event, which I hope you'll enjoy despite the technical issues of focus and audience chat in places...

Yume and Friends

This dance has been prepared for Synthesized Reality Productions' (SRP) concert already planned to be held at Kami-Con next February. That event has two mascots – Shio and Kosho – and SRP has their own mascot, Yume, whom we have encountered previously.

Here all three of them dance to Gravity=Reality, sung by vocaloid Luka, in a nice dance with very good motion – though it is a little disappointing that all three do exactly the same actions in perfect sync through, including eye movements. Perhaps between now and the event a little more realism (okay, pseudo-realism) might be introduced by tweaking the three motions individually a little.

If not, it's still very enjoyable as it is, with (|left to right) Shio, Yume and Kosho. I have to admit that I do like the design of Kosho's skirt. Within the action itself, one just has to hope that Yume's hair braid doesn't whip the others as they dance...

Stardust Utopia

It has been a long time since I first featured this song, and this time it has an English translation of the lyrics provided via YouTube's annotations facility (so leave 'annotations' switched on for this video).

Here the spectacular Luka exudes sheer class as usual, in a way that isn't usually even attempted with the other Vocaloid characters because they simply can't pull it off anywhere near as well.

So, with Luka wearing one of her very best outfits, and performing on a stage that is very well suited to this song, here is Stardust Utopia whose music and lyrics were written by Otetsu...

Danceroid – Twinkle Twinkle

This is just so cute, by two members of the excellent Danceroid group. Here we have the (shorter) very popular Kozue Aikawa, who seems to have a big fan-base but who went solo about a year ago, and the lovely Ikura, who is just so feminine that I feel a dance-off between her and SeeU might well be in order: it's hard to work out which is the more feminine dancer. 'Adorable' seems so inadequate a word to describe Ikura!

Ikura is also the only remaining original member of the group, and is therefore quite naturally Danceroid's leader. Her 24th birthday will be in four days from now, so this seems a good time to post this here.

The song is Twinkle Twinkle, performed by Miku (played here by Ikura) and Luka (Kozue). By the way, I think their 'microphones' might really be hairbrushes...

Love Words – For Five

I featured Love Words (Ai Kotoba) not so long ago; but this version, featuring five Lat-designed models, is I think very good so warrants a spot here, even without the English words on this occasion.

Personally, I do like the outfits: the classic high-waisted, plain light-coloured, virtually sleeveless, medium-length, boat neckline summer dress that is just so lightweight and feminine. I much prefer it to (but can live with) the shorter fashions that have become the norm – especially for stage performances – in recent decades.

Now, look closely at our five artistes. From right to left, they are: Luka, Teto, Miku, Akita Neru, and...who? Apparently this fifth lady might be Kiku, about whom I know next to nothing. Checking Google Images, I find that this could be correct, though Kiku doesn't usually have a Teto-like 'double drill' hairstyle...

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...

Where It All Started

The Vocaloid era for me, that is: it started with the Sapporo 2011 concert, and I have just gone through it again. It genuinely was brilliant, helped a lot, I think, by the lighting that brought out the performers much better, brighter and clearer than in some other events of this nature.

I previously featured this here last year, so it merits a reprise – deliberately without the distraction of captions or subtitles as this is an event to be enjoyed as it stands. You'll understand as you go through it.

High spots for me, now that I am more familiar with the scene: Miku's wonderful blue yukata (and check out the back of it!), Rin's equally wonderful blue eyes and wavy bow in her hair, the sheer emotion in Time Machine and Even Though My Song Has No Form, Miku's a-capella section of the beautiful Starduster, and the fun stuff such as the 'Ohayo hayo' bits in Hello Planet and the upbeat, happy Yellow and Melancholic.

Do have a go at this, even if just for a short way in, or broken into chunks over a period rather than all in one go. The purity of the direct connection between composer and audience is something that no human performer can ever equal or even approximate – except possibly those who compose their own material, and even they are bound to have a 'performing ego' that can get in the way, as I suspect at least some of them would readily acknowledge.

I still find this familiar (to me) event makes my heart melt even more than ever, and all those hundreds of 'I love Miku' comments on YouTube become less surprising as time goes by. No wonder this is one of the very biggest phenomena in the sphere of music worldwide that there has ever been...

Alice in Musicland

Now here's one I've been saving for a while. You might recall the opening track of this musical version of Alice in Wonderland as the intro to one of the (several) live Vocaloid concerts I have featured here in recent months.

This is the extended version, by no less than OSTER Project, telling much of the original story in music, presented in a kind of pantomime stage format with the Crypton Vocaloids personified by a simulation of animated cardboard cut-out figures. We have the White Rabbit in a hurry, the Mad Hatter's tea party, and the Queen of Hearts, and a few other parts of the Lewis Carroll story as well. There are English subtitles throughout, so it's easy to follow.

It really does have the flavour of the Wonderland story, and is a mini masterpiece, well worth twelve minutes of anyone's time to watch and enjoy. It's infectious...

Luka is Spectacular

Yes, well we knew that already; but in this case it refers to her spectacles, of which we see quite a variety of styles in this video of the song Megane, which means eyeglasses.

It works well for Luka, who has the elegance to be presented convincingly as a librarian (the classic 'glasses girl' that some men apparently find appealing), and crams a lot of video into an under three minute song. There are no English words, but I think it's easy to follow what is going on without really needing them...

Bad Apple – for Four

This is an interesting experiement: that highly memorable song Bad Apple sung by four Vocaloids. Here we have (left to right) Luka, Lily, Miku and GUMI. Lily is taller than I realised, and it really shows here.

This song is usually performed as either a solo or (better, admittedly) a duet. The four voices give it a different effect, though I'm not sure it's an improvement. Just different, I suppose.

The motion is a little robotic, so obviously doesn't have any or proper motion capture data. The light streamers, each matching the performer's hair colour, are very effective in this, I think.

Anyway, the funny thing to look out for is Miku's spins, which result in her hair swiping poor GUMI's face. I heard of'blue in the face' but this brings a new meaning to that decades-old expression...