Can someone explain the appeal of Vocaloid?

Since im pretty much a freak for vocaloid, ill try to explain its aspects, spread, and appeal.

As with most introductions to vocaloid it is a singing synthesizer. Some describe it as "you simply type in the words and it sings" while im not saying this is false, there is more (A LOT) more too it, which is why you have to hand it to those who can use the software well and are adapt (or have the patience) at it. When using the software, its along process; changing pitch, vibrato, typing each syllable (yeah not words) at a time etc...

While most people only know of and think of vocaloid as Hatsune Miku, there are many more vocaloids (who all have there own degree of popularity)

Each vocaloid comes from a specific company: other vocaloids besides miku include: Kagamine Rin, Kagamine Len, Megurine Luka, Meiko, Kaito, Kamui Gakupo, Gumi, Gachapoid, Lily, Nekomura Iroha, SF-A2 Miki, Kaai Yuki, Hiyama Kiyoteru, Utatane Piko, VY1, and VY2. This also includes appends for miku, rin, and len.

-Other non japanese vocaloids are there such as prima and leon but by far aren't as popular.

Even now more vocaloids and enhancements are said to be in the works such as Kaito append, Gumi extend and a CV04.

Vocaloid has appealed to many people not just in japan (but that's pretty much where all the people who make songs with vocaloid are) but around the world. Its main purpose is for music. Also not only does vocaloid popularity increase, so does the popularity of those who make the songs. Various vocaloid users have become very well at using the software and each song they do (no matter what vocaloid they use) has its own style. Popular vocaloid producers include Hachi, Deco*27, iroha(sasaki), sasakure-P, Machigerita, wowaka, Samfree, 40mp, supercell, CosMo, Dixie Flatline, AVTechNo!, agoaniki, Kz, Livetune, Travolta-P.... and the list is endless.

- On nico nico douga, there are also a lot of singers who will make a cover version of songs (ex. Yamai, Clear, Chochou etc.) Various memes on nico nico have occured to such as Fukkireta, the dance seen in Po Pi Po and a few others.

Most, pretty much all vocaloid songs come with a video or picture. This also contributes to the uniqueness of the song and gives it its own style. This also results in fanart, cosplay, and covers of the song. I mean if look at pixiv ( a japanese website where artist post their work, similar to deviant art) one or more picture of/relating to vocaloid is always (for the most part) in the daily ranking top 50. Plus there is a lot of doujinshi based off of vocaloid. Not to mention the figurines, key chains, plushies, and shirts based off of them. Along with doujinshi, there are art books of vocaloid (mostly miku) such as vocaloid "Graphics" and can also be found in various pixiv artbooks. Not to mention the artist KEI who designed some of the vocaloid's designs made a manga called hatsune mix (there are only three volumes).

Vocaloids were never given/dont have/ will not have official personalities. This lets some have fun with characteristics. Also a lot (almost every) vocaloid fans like to pair certain vocaloids together. Just as with personalities none are will or have been official.

-Concerts

Not only has there been a concert for miku, there was another just this year on March 9, in other words miku's '39' giving day ( kanji for 3 can be read as mi and 9 can be said as ku hence miku, also 3=san 9=kyu put it together and you have sankyuu in otherwords engrish for thank you.) This second concert not only featured more outfits and effects, more stage time was provided for some other vocaloids (rin, luka, and len)

There will also be another concert in LA during anime expo based off of the previous concert.

-Games

Various games have been made for vocaloid including Project Diva and Project Diva 2nd (and possibly a 2.5) for the PSP. Dreamy Theater for PS3. And even a Project Diva Arcade.

-Its Spread to other countries

since it would take to long about its cds, and other things, one signifficant thing showed vocaloids (well at least miku's) spread of popularity. Recently Supercel's hit "World is Mine" sung by miku was posted on itunes and amazon. Even reaching a peak of 7th place in the itunes ranking.

One last thing all talk of thats show vocaloids ( or miku's ) spread/appeal is a commercial recently aired in the us. Its a commercial for toyota, which has miku in the car while World is Mine is playing in the background.

All in all it could be vocaloid itself or its diversity that helped it to appeal to people. Well i hope this posably helped explain vocaloid, its effects on things and its appeal to people.

As others have said, its not a singing game although there WAS a singing game released on it (Project Diva).

The appeal is the way the music making software is used. It is completely Indie music based, the voice is given to the user and the user makes a song out of it. Its something that anyone and everyone can enjoy and theres music in every type of genre, 24 different vocals (so far) and 39 voicebanks... Some English, some Japanese.

There is a page on wikipedia on Vocaloid, a Vocaloid website and you can read up on it generally around the internet.

It is a Vocal Syth Voice Program that is 100% Computer Made Voices. People are around the world make it and it allows you to make songs and music with a voice that can sing throughout the entire Human Vocal Range. It is not a game, it is a computer program. And what is happening is that people work together to make the Anime Videos.

Think of it this way:

You can have Brinity Spears sing Happy birthday or can sing the Imperal March from Star Wars.

As long as you know some deal with music producing, you can make a very great song.

This website tells you the whole story:

http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/miku-hatsune-vocaloi...

I don't know... I just love it. I can't fathom why I do, but I just do.

Vocaloid is obviously not an anime. Besides being a game for the psp, it's a voice synthesizer. (Basically a computer-made voice)

I think you should search "Hatsune Miku Vocaloid" on youtube to understand it better or just watch this video that explains everything.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBZOlipfj%E2%80%A6

There's a manga for vocaloid called "Hatsune Mix"

There's also an anime based off of 1 of Miku's songs called "Black Rock Shooter" (The song is the same name as the anime.) It's 1 episode (OAV) and has nothing to do with vocaloid except for the song. It's a completely different story.

If you want more information about it, either look around on youtube comments or read about it on wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vocaloid

I hope this helped!

Vocaloid, despite being very well known, is really a rather minor part of the overall anime culture as far as I can tell. I'm not sure why you mentioned it in particular. Although I wouldn't call myself 'obsessed', I watch anime on a regular basis and enjoy it; and I intend to continue doing so for the foreseeable future. As to what the appeal is...I would have to say there are several different aspects. First and foremost, for cultural reasons the japanese seem to be more willing to combine the best features available from animation with the kind of depth, production quality and overall dedication that westerners reserve almost exclusively for live-action shows. If I could sum it up in as few words as possible, I'd say that 'the japanese treat animation as a medium whereas the americans treat it as a genre', which is a bit tricky but I hope you take my meaning. Tying in with this, the cultural difference also lends itself to a subtly different slant of plots, themes and humor. This is in addition to a dizzying level of variety; anime features a huge number of crazy premises that often defy the traditional genre boundaries we have in the west. I think the combination of these two factors intrigues a lot of people, particularly those who have gotten bored of the endless progression of stereotypical western stuff and want something refreshing, in addition to those with a genuine interest in foreign cultures for their own sake. Speaking of cultural differences (and speaking of speaking), for those who watch subbed (or raw) anime, there is the opportunity to pick up a bit of the japanese language, and even without that, many people agree that the japanese voice actors just do a better, more authentic, more sincere job than their western counterparts. Plus, let's face it, the girls are hot.

the way it was explained to me, was it's a voice program you can download and put the vocaloid voices to songs or something. I really don't know what it is other than that.

First, its not just a singing game. They are music artists and they sing/make songs. They sing really good, have good beats, and have good lyrics.

it's also a singing program , It's kind of easy to use once you know how to use their voices .

100% Computer created , just click and drag on the notes and write in lyrics .

They make awesome music !! :D

Why do I like it ? Because each song gives me a little story ,like how Len always dies . :P And the first song , servant of evil . And daugther of evil ,so I just think of it like that .

Hope this helps