Vocaloids (and Utauloids)

Hatsune Miku is a voicebank for Yamaha's Vocaloid software. It may be kinda weird to be a fan of a virtual voice, but Hatsune Miku and her friends have actual characters centered around them. Plus, they're adorable.

Look at that face. How can you possibly hate that face? She's just a little cutie. Makes me wanna hug her and pinch her cheeks and give her a chocolate-chip cookie.

In this group, Miku is the one with the teal hair. The yellow-haired twins are Kagamine Len (the boy) and Rin (the girl). The blue-haired boy is Kaito. The brown-haired girl is Meiko. And the purple-haired girl looks like she's supposed to be Megurine Luka (who is usually depicted with light pink hair).

Here are a few of my favorite Vocaloid songs (each title links to a YouTube video):

• World Is Mine
• Karakuri Pierrot
• Secret
• Alluring Secret--Black Vow
• Daughter of Evil
• Servant of Evil
• LOL--lots of laugh
• Luka Luka★Night Fever
• Ten-Faced
• Magnet

There are also off-brand Vocaloids for the free software program, UTAU. These are usually referred to as UTAUloids. The best known is probably Teto.

Teto is every bit as adorable as Miku, but since her voicebank is completely computer-generated, it doesn't sound quite as natural as Miku's, which is made from actual vocal samples. I personally like that, because I don't think a synthetic voice needs to sound 100% real.