Think Garageband for otakus.
This Japanese software suite lets you plug in lyrics and melody and generates an "authentic-sounding" song via its music and vocal synthesizers.
As you can see above, the software features a 16-year- old "Virtual Singer," which croons out whatever disgustingly sweet (or just disgusting) lyrics you enter in (Japanese only, we're assuming).
It's so popular in Nippon that it's actually the #1 selling software on their Amazon. And for good reason—the songs they generate actually sound like it could have come from a generic teenaged anime. Hit the jump for two videos.
Hatsune miku
Pop princess Hatsune Miku is storming the music scene.
With her long cerulean pigtails and her part-schoolgirl, part-spy outfit, she’s easy on the eyes.
Yes, her voice sounds like it might have gone through a little –- OK, a lot –- of studio magic.
Legions of screaming fans and the requisite fan sites? She’s got 'em.
And, like many of her hot young singer peers, Miku is extremely, proudly fake. Like, 3-D hologram fake.
Miku is a singing, digital avatar created by Crypton Future Media that customers can purchase and then program to perform any song on a computer.
Crypton uses voices recorded by actors and runs them through Yamaha Corp.'s Vocaloid software -– marketed as “a singer in a box.”
The result: A synthesized songstress that sounds far better than you ever have in your shower.
Crypton has even set up a record label called KarenT, with its own YouTube channel.
The Vocaloidism blog has more details about the software.
A few months ago, a 3-D projection of Miku pranced around several stadium stages as part of a concert tour, where capacity crowds waved their glow sticks and sang along.
Here's the starlet performing a jingle titled, appropriately, "World Is Mine."
