Hatsune Miku / 初音ミク

 

The very word Vocaloid makes you instantly think of Hatsune Miku for most of us. She is likely the very first Vocaloid you have listened to and is by far the most popular Vocaloid to date. However though Vocaloid itself was released in 2004, she didn't appear until 2007. In fact she wasn't even in the first version of the program Vocaloid whatsoever. Hatsune Miku was not released until the second program by Yamaha, Vocaloid2 and was released August 31st of 2007. She is often confused in being the "first Vocaloid ever" or "the first Japanese Vocaloid" or even "the first Vocaloid of Vocaloid2" which all three are untrue. Hatsune Miku was actually the second Vocaloid to be released for Vocaloid2 however she was the first Japanese Vocaloid of the Vocaloid2 era.

 

Let us begin with her basic breakdown of how she was created. Miku is voiced by Saki Fujita and is the 3rd Vocaloid released by CFM (Crypton Future Media). Miku marks the very first Vocaloid of CFM's CV (Character Vocal) series being marked CV01. This code is shown on her left upper arm and became an iconic trend for Vocaloid fan-mades and UTAU's alike. She is one of three CV Vocaloids to date currently (the other two numbers belonging to Kagamine Rin and Len and Megurine Luka). 

 

Hatsune Miku has 17 voice banks in total; the original V2 Hatsune Miku  (Vocaloid2), Hatsune Miku Append featuring Dark, Vivid, Light, Solid, Soft, and Sweet, Hatsune Miku V3 (Vocaloid3) an update of the original voice bank, Hatsune Miku V3 Append being an update of the original append voice banks and finally Hatsune Miku English.