, is a software product developed by

Internet Co., Ltd. or Internet, is a software company based in Osaka, Japan. It is best known for the music sequencer Singer Song Writer and Niconico Movie Maker for Nico Nico Douga, a video sharing website. It also develops singing synthesizers using the Vocalo ...

for 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. His voice is sampled from Japanese singer and actor

Gackt , better known by his mononymous stage name Gackt (stylized as GACKT), is a Japanese musician, singer, songwriter, record producer and actor. Born in Okinawa, Japan, to a Ryukyuan family, Gackt learned the piano at a young age and was raise ...

. The mascot of the software is called , after Gackt's alias name. Gackpo is sometimes referred to as Gackpo Camui or Gakupo Kamui, and usually referred to as Kamui Gakupo.

Development

Gackpoid was developed by Internet Co., Ltd. using Yamaha Corporation's

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 ...

synthesizer software as their first venture into the voice synthesizer industry. The initial version was released on July 31, 2008. The name "Gackpoid", meaning "Gackt-like Vocaloid", was chosen by Gackt himself during the voice recording process. Camui Gackpo, the software's mascot, was designed by

manga artist A is a comic artist who writes and/or illustrates manga. As of 2006, about 3,000 professional manga artists were working in Japan. Most manga artists study at an art college or manga school or take on an apprenticeship with another artist be ...

Kentaro Miura was a Japanese manga artist. He was best known for his acclaimed dark fantasy series '' Berserk'', which began serialization in 1989 and continued until his death. As of 2021, ''Berserk'' had more than 50 million copies in circulation, making i ...

(notable for manga '' Berserk'') and chosen by Internet Co. from a pool of several competing designs. His vocals were one of the Vocaloid 2 male vocals which was used in reference to the creation of

VY2 VY2 is a Japanese masculine vocal developed by Yamaha Corporation and distributed by Bplats, Inc. to act as a "standard" vocal for Vocaloid. It has the codename of "Yūma". It was originally released for the Vocaloid 2 engine. The fan design "Ror ...

Additional software

''V3 Gackpoid'', an update to the original Gackpoid using 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 ...

synthesizer software, was released on July 13, 2012. It was released as a package with three different vocal tones: Native (the basic voice), Power, and Whisper. On July 25, 2013, Internet Co., Ltd. announced that Mac OS X versions of all of their software, including Gackpoid, were in development using the ''Vocaloid Editor for Cubase NEO'' software for Macintosh. The OS X versions were rolled out as a free download for all registered users in October 2013, though Internet Co. advised users to choose only one version—Mac or Windows—due to only one license being available per user. On December 2, 2014, Noboru Murakami, president of Internet Co., Ltd., stated that an update of Gackpoid from Vocaloid 3 to

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 ...

was forthcoming, but declined to specify release dates or schedules. ''Gackpoid V4'', an update to the voice library using the Vocaloid 4 synthesizer software, was released on April 30, 2015. It added growl samples to each of the three voice banks and contained general improvements to the V3 program. Both Vocaloid 3 (once imported into the newer engine) and Vocaloid 4 versions of the software have access to the new Vocaloid 4 "Cross-Synthesis" system, though the vocals can only cross with their respect engine versions. Noboru had expressed hope to one day make a Gackpoid English. He noted, however, English vocals could only occur if they were profitable. V3 Gackpoid and

v3 were also the focus of vol.4 of the Vocaloid-P data series.

Characteristics

Gackpo is designed to resemble a

samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They h ...

clad in a

jinbaori The is a traditional Japanese garment and the national dress of Japan. The kimono is a wrapped-front garment with square sleeves and a rectangular body, and is worn left side wrapped over right, unless the wearer is deceased. The kimon ...

, a type of kimono which was used as a battle surcoat along with parts of traditional armor, while carrying a

katana A is a Japanese sword characterized by a curved, single-edged blade with a circular or squared guard and long grip to accommodate two hands. Developed later than the ''tachi'', it was used by samurai in feudal Japan and worn with the edge fa ...

Contest

On June 12, 2009, Nico Nico Douga announced a "Gackpoid Contest", in partnership with

Dwango The Dial-up Wide-Area Network Game Operation, better known by the acronym DWANGO, was an early online gaming service based in the United States. Launched in 1994, it was originally known for its compatibility with ''Doom'', for which it function ...

and CELL, to encourage song creators to use Gackpoid for the creation of quality, original songs. Gackt had previously hinted at the contest on June 10 during a Nico Nico live broadcast challenge, where he announced that he would not appear in another broadcast until viewers created "spirited" music using the software in an upcoming competition. Competitors were asked to attach a "Gackpoid Contest" tag to their submitted videos in order to compete in the contest, which accepted submissions until the end of August. Finalist entries would be awarded 100,000 yen (US$1,220) each. Gackt promised viewers that he would choose one or more of the winning songs to cover for eventual recording and release. On December 15, Nico Nico Douga aired a live broadcast announcing ten finalists for the contest, which would win "Excellence Prizes". The official winning entry was declared to be ''

Episode.0 "Episode.0" is the thirty-ninth single released by Japanese solo artist Gackt. It was released on July 13, 2011 by HPQ. It became Gackt's thirty-ninth consecutive single to reach top ten on Oricon's singles chart, a male soloist record for most t ...

'', by mathru/Kanimiso-P, during the “NicoNico Daikaigi 2011 in Taiwan” event, where Gackt announced that ''Episode.0'' and another finalist, natsu-P's ''Paranoid Doll'', had been covered by him and would be released together as his thirty-ninth single. Kanimiso-P was awarded 300,000 yen (US$3,660) and the nine other Excellence Prize winners 100,000 yen. The single was released on July 13, 2011.

References

External links