PowerFX Systems AB is a small recording company, based in Stockholm, Sweden. The company has been producing music samples, loops and sound effects since 1995. They also developed singing synthesizers using the

VOCALOID is a singing voice synthesizer software product. Its signal processing part was developed through a joint research project led by Kenmochi Hideki at the Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, Spain, in 2000 and was not originally intended to b ...

engine developed by

Yamaha Corporation is a Japanese multinational corporation and conglomerate with a very wide range of products and services. It is one of the constituents of Nikkei 225 and is the world's largest musical instrument manufacturing company. The former motorcycle div ...

Products and services

Vocaloid

PowerFX was first introduced to the

Vocaloid is a singing voice synthesizer software product. Its signal processing part was developed through a joint research project led by Kenmochi Hideki at the Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, Spain, in 2000 and was not originally intended to b ...

software after the introduction of the first Vocaloids (Lola and Leon) from the British studio

Zero-G Weightlessness is the complete or near-complete absence of the sensation of weight. It is also termed zero gravity, zero G-force, or zero-G. Weight is a measurement of the force on an object at rest in a relatively strong gravitational fie ...

at the

NAMM Show The NAMM Show is an annual event in the United States that is organized by the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM), who describe it as "the industry’s largest stage, uniting the global music, sound and entertainment technology commun ...

on January 15, 2004, and were later recommended to Yamaha Corporation by

Crypton Future Media , or simply Crypton, is a Japanese media company based in Sapporo, Japan. It develops, imports, and sells products for music, such as sound generator software, sampling CDs and DVDs, and sound effect and background music libraries. The company al ...

. Their first product for the software was " Sweet Ann" a

Vocaloid 2 Vocaloid 2 is a singing voice synthesizer and the successor to the Vocaloid voice synthesizer application by Yamaha. Unlike the first engine, Vocaloid 2 based its output on vocal samples, rather than voice analysis. The synthesis engine and the u ...

powered voicebank and was first introduced at the

Musikmesse Musikmesse Frankfurt was an international fair regarding the music industry that took place in Frankfurt am Main, Germany from 1980 until 2019. In 2012, 68,587 visitors and 1,512 exhibitors from 51 countries were counted. Despite an exhibitor drop ...

fair and later released on June 29, 2007. The boxart of Sweet Ann was based on a

Frankenstein's monster Frankenstein's monster or Frankenstein's creature, often referred to as simply "Frankenstein", is a fictional character who first appeared in Mary Shelley's 1818 novel ''Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus''. Shelley's title thus compares ...

. Their second VOCALOID2 " Big Al" was released with the voice provided by ex-employee Frank Sanderson after the intended provider,

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...

impersonator An impersonator is someone who imitates or copies the behavior or actions of another. There are many reasons for impersonating someone: *Entertainment: An entertainer impersonates a celebrity, generally for entertainment, and makes fun of ...

Michael King, was unable to return for further recordings after their initial samples were considered not at a high enough quality to be released. PowerFX began their distribution of voicebanks for the

Vocaloid 3 Vocaloid 3 is a singing voice synthesizer and successor to Vocaloid 2 in the Vocaloid series. This version of the software is a much more expansive version, containing many new features, three new languages and many more vocals than past software ...

engine, with " Oliver" as their first VOCALOID3, and the first male VOCALOID3. Oliver was developed under Anders Sodergren, the leader of VocaTone, a team of fan-based VOCALOID producers. VocaTone then had PowerFx release their second VOCALOID3, " YOHIOloid", a bilingual male vocal that is capable of singing in English and Japanese, sampled from Swedish singer

Yohio ''Kevin'' Johio Lucas Rehn Eires, known professionally as Yohio, stylized as YOHIO (born July 12, 1995) is a Swedish singer and songwriter currently active in Japan. He is best known for his performances as Yohio, wearing a lolita dress in previo ...

. PowerFX released their own Vocaloids into Taiwan boasting new box art for the releases. PowerFX released an American-accented

Vocaloid 4 Vocaloid 4 is a singing voice synthesizer and successor to Vocaloid 3 in the Vocaloid series. History In October 2014, the first Vocaloid confirmed for the Vocaloid 4 engine was the English vocal Ruby. Its release was delayed so it could be re ...

voicebank "Ruby" in 2015. Ruby was developed as a collaboration between PrinceSyo and Mishakeet, her voice actress, with a strong and bright voice in mind. In 2017, the company announced that they would no longer make Vocaloid products. PowerFX's other music composers include: *''SoundShuttle'' *''Swiss Army Synth'' *''Miracle Drumlooper'' *''Dyad'' *''Humbox VM1''

Soundation Studio

PowerFX also offers Soundation Studio, an on-line free music making station complete with a number of samples and loops. Users can open their own account and buy additional samples for their account or upload their own samples into the software to work with. Those who sign up can have their own profile and save their work using ''AudioLocker''. Extracts of PowerFX's Sweet Ann and Big AL were included in Soundation Studio in their Christmas loops and sound release with a competition included.

References

External links

* Vocaloid production companies Privately held companies of Sweden {{Sweden-company-stub