Voiceroid is a speech synthesizer application developed by AH-Software and is designed for speech. It is only available in the

Japanese language is spoken natively by about 128 million people, primarily by Japanese people and primarily in Japan, the only country where it is the national language. Japanese belongs to the Japonic or Japanese- Ryukyuan language family. There have been ...

. Its name comes from the singing software

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 ...

, for which AH-Software also develops voicebanks. Both AH-Software's first Vocaloids and Voiceroids went on sale on December 4, 2009. It differs from regular

text-to-speech Speech synthesis is the artificial production of human speech. A computer system used for this purpose is called a speech synthesizer, and can be implemented in software or hardware products. A text-to-speech (TTS) system converts normal langu ...

programs in that it gives users more control over settings like

tempo In musical terminology, tempo ( Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (ofte ...

, pitch, and intonation.

Overview

Voiceroid uses an engine called ''AITalk'' developed by AI Inc. The user is able to adjust the

, pitch, and intonation to make the program sound more natural. The original two products, Tsukuyomi Shouta and Tsukuyomi Ai, were packaged with the animating software, Crazy Talk SE. On October 22, 2010, a new version of the engine was introduced, known as ''Voiceroid+''. The first voicebank released for this new engine featured a character from the children's anime '' Eagle Talon'', known as Yoshida-kun. Much like Shouta and Ai, he is aimed at young audiences. The first three Voiceroids were subject to censorship, and inappropriate words were filtered out. However, Tsurumaki Maki was designed specifically for a more mature audience and is the first of the series to have no form of censorship. Yuzuki Yukari is also the first

to have a Voiceroid voicebank. For Tohoku Zunko's release the software was vastly improved compared to previous Voiceroid+ voices. The first two Voiceroids to come in one package are Kotonoha Akane and Aoi. In 2015, the software was upgraded to ''Voiceroid+ EX''. In 2017, the newest version of the software, "Voiceroid 2", was announced. This version has a number of new features and differences, though users can still import the past Voiceroid and its variants into it. However, older engine versions will not be able to use any new features. A number of releases for the software have been produced after successful

crowdfunding Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and alternative finance. In 2015, over was raised worldwide by cro ...

campaigns; since 2016, this has become the main source of funding for new voicebanks.

List of products

Voiceroid

Voiceroid *Tsukuyomi Shouta: Designed to be based on a seven-year-old male. Release date: December 4, 2009. *Tsukuyomi Ai: Shouta's "sister" product, designed to be based on a five-year-old female. Release date: December 4, 2009. Voiceroid+ *Yoshida-kun: Based on the character of the same name from the anime '' Eagle Talon''. Release date: October 22, 2010. *Tsurumaki Maki: A teenage female, voiced by

Tomoe Tamiyasu is a Japanese voice actress and singer from Hiroshima, generally performing for adult games. She debuted in 2005 as a voice actress and started her singing career in 2006. Tamiyasu has been the host of three Internet radio shows, and has been a ...

. She was the first Voiceroid to not contain censorship of vulgar words. Release date: November 12, 2010. *

Yuzuki Yukari , sometimes referred to as Yukari Yuzuki, is a Vocaloid character produced by Vocalomakets and distributed by AH-Software. She is also voiced by Chihiro Ishiguro. Development A Japanese female released for the Vocaloid 3 engine by AH-Software ...

: An 18-year-old female, voiced by Chihiro Ishiguro. She is the first

to also have a VOICEROID library, as well as several emotion parameters (joy, sadness and anger). Release date: December 22, 2011. * Tohoku Zunko: A 17-year-old female, voiced by

Satomi Satō is a Japanese voice actress and singer. Biography Satō is affiliated with Aoni Production's Junior Talent. She attended Tokyo Announce Gakuin Performing Arts College. She is known as , as means "sugar" in Japanese. She announced her marriage ...

. She was originally created to help promote the recovery of the Tōhoku region after the

Great East Japan Earthquake Great may refer to: Descriptions or measurements * Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size * Greatness, being divine, majestic, superior, majestic, or transcendent People * List of people known as "the Great" *Artel Great (born ...

of 2011. Her character design is based on zunda mochi, a Tōhoku specialty. Release date: September 28, 2012. She later received a VOCALOID3 singing voicebank in June 2014 and a n3utrino singing voicebank in July 2021. *Kotonoha Akane and Aoi: A pair of twin sisters, voiced by Sakakibara Yui. Akane's voicebank has Kansai-ben intonation whereas Aoi's has

standard Standard may refer to: Symbols * Colours, standards and guidons, kinds of military signs * Standard (emblem), a type of a large symbol or emblem used for identification Norms, conventions or requirements * Standard (metrology), an object th ...

intonation. They also have a singing voicebank for

Synthesizer V A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and f ...

, released on July 30, 2020. Release date: April 25, 2014. Voiceroid + EX *All 6 past Voiceroids except Kotonoha Akane and Aoi were upgraded. *Minase Kou: The first new male vocal released for this version of the software. Release date: October 29, 2015. *Kyomachi Seika: A 23-year-old female, voiced by

Rika Tachibana is a Japanese voice actress, singer and model. She worked at the Holy Peak talent agency until 2018. She is represented by With Line since February 2019. In July 2019, she transferred to PUGNUS. She married baseball catcher Kenya Wakatsuki on D ...

. Her character serves as a mascot for the town of

Seika, Kyoto is a town located in Sōraku District, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. the town has a population of 36,198. The total area is . Seika, although largely agriculturally based, has in recent years become the center of a national project, the Kansai ...

. Release date: June 10, 2016. *Tohoku Kiritan: An 11-year-old female, voiced by

Himika Akaneya is a Japanese voice actress and singer from Akita Prefecture who is a member of the idol group i☆Ris. She is affiliated with 81 Produce. She has also revealed that "Himika Akaneya" is not just her stage name, but her actual name as well. Film ...

. She is the younger sister of Tohoku Zunko. The goal for her to become a VOICEROID was pitched at ¥4,500,000 to be raised by 18 May 2016. At time of closing she raised ¥6,983,080, 55% more than was required. Release date: October 27, 2016. She also has singing voicebanks available for UTAU, n3utrino and CeVIO AI.

Voiceroid 2

*Yuzuki Yukari and the Kotonoha sisters were announced for Voiceroid 2. *Tohoku Itako: A 19-year-old female, voiced by

Ibuki Kido is a Japanese voice actress from Aomori Prefecture who is affiliated with HoriPro International. She began her career after participating in a voice acting audition held by Horipro in 2011. She played her first main role as Akiko Himenokōji in ...

. She is the eldest sister of Tohoku Zunko and Tohoku Kiritan. Confirmation of her production began after a crowdfunding campaign which raised ¥10,300,000 upon closing. Release date: November 8, 2018. *Kizuna Akari: A 15-year-old female voiced by

Madoka Yonezawa is a Japanese voice actress and singer from Osaka Prefecture. Personal life On 30 August 2017, she announced her marriage and first baby. In 2020, she announced her second baby. Filmography Television animation ;2005 * ''Shuffle!'', Schoolgirl ...

, simultaneously released as a VOCALOID5 singing voicebank. Release date: December 22, 2017. *Haruno Sora: A 17-year-old female voiced by

Kikuko Inoue is a Japanese voice actress, singer and narrator. She has been part of the singing groups DoCo and Goddess Family Club. She is the founder and manager of her voice-acting company, Office Anemone. Inoue tends to play the " perfect girlfriend" o ...

, simultaneously released as a VOCALOID5 singing voicebank. Release date: July 26, 2018. *Tsuina-chan: A 14-year-old girl and a demon hunter. She was confirmed to become a Voiceroid after yet another successful crowdfunding campaign; her goal was ¥4,800,000 and she reached ¥14,052,884, a total of almost 300% more than needed. Similarly to the Kotonoha package, she has a

standard Japanese is spoken natively by about 128 million people, primarily by Japanese people and primarily in Japan, the only country where it is the national language. Japanese belongs to the Japonic or Japanese- Ryukyuan language family. There have been m ...

voicebank and a Kansai-ben voicebank, both voiced by

Mai Kadowaki is a Japanese voice actress and singer from Tokyo, Japan. She was previously known as 門脇舞 (pronunciation identical). Biography She is popular as a radio actress who wears glasses. She is also known for portraying meganekko characters on a ...

. Release date: November 1, 2019. *Iori Yuzuru: A male voicebank voiced by Yoshiyuki Matsuura, developed in collaboration with AI Inc. Release date: February 27, 2020. *Otomachi Una: A 11-year-old female, voiced by

Aimi Tanaka is a Japanese voice actress affiliated with 81 Produce. She won the Best Rookie Actress Award at the 10th Seiyu Awards. She debuted as a singer under Wave Master with her debut album "Cobalt". Filmography Television anime Original video ani ...

. Release date: December 11, 2020. She was originally released for VOCALOID4 on July 30, 2016.

References

External links