On a brief conversation with Zero-G team about the upcoming celtic vocaloid, they informed me that she should be released on the next summer.

I guess this is the time where we site and patiently wait. I have high hopes on this one! ^^

It’s been seven months since Yamaha redesigned the official vocaloid site adapting for vocaloid3. When that redesigned happened English was left behind, forgotten. After 4 months since the japanese website release, an user from VocaloidOtaku found that an english version of vocaloid.com was under development, calling you a dummy.

Fortunately, they filled the replacement text with actual info and the website is now, almost, in english. Motoichi Tamura announced that now official information from Yamaha will also be provided in english.

If you want to check out the new cool vocaloid website and Mr. Tamura’s official note here it is: Vocaloid Site / Tamura’s announcement

In an unprecedented move PowerFX has negotiated an official distribution deal for the physical release of the Full VOCALOID 3 Editor to the west as well as a discounted Oliver DVD Bundle that includes both the Oliver V3 voicebank and the full VOCALOID 3 editor.

Pricing for their physical products are as follows:

• $149.00 Oliver (DVD) 
• $119.95 Vocaloid 3 Editor (DVD)
• $199.00 Oliver + Vocaloid 3 Editor (DVD Combo)

So for those interested in Oliver + Full Editor you can look forward to almost $70 in savings with a combo purchase. All prices should include shipping.

We are unsure if this “special offer” pricing for combo purchase is a limited time affair.

Source: Bill Bryant, CEO of PowerFX, via Twitter –   

In a Q&A session on the official website SBS Artech fielded a question regarded SeeU’s English capability and highlighted their plans for a full English voicebank before the year’s end.

The fan wrote in asking why an English voicebank wasn’t included with SeeU’s when early reports stated she was planned to be tri-lingual with Japanese, Korean, and English as the planned languages. Then the fan then mentioned specific examples including an early demo of Shining Star which featured English, some aspects of which not possible with release SeeU.

The questions were fielded by SBS Artech’s Vocaloid development manager who went on to explain how they had planned to include English, but due to time restraints they weren’t able to. He went on to highlight how they included some sounds such as /f/,/z/, and /v/, which are unpronounceable in Korean, as a sort of stopgap measure so that SeeU would have at least limited English with her release. He also directed the questioner to the forums where there was an unofficial guide on how to use the Korean inputs to help achive passable English.

At the end of his response he went on to highlight that the English SeeU is still in development and was never completely scrapped, just delayed, and even revealed a tentative timeframe of “within this year”. He went on to explain that they wanted a full and complete English voicebank, of the highest quality possible, and how that was the cause of the delays.

He then ended the article thanking the person for their question and their continued interest in Vocaloid & SeeU, hoping that the fandom would continued to make more awesome songs featuring their products.

Its nice to see that SBS Artech is taking their English voicebank so seriously.

From the way the development manager phrased his response he emphasized how important the English language is to them and how it was something they weren’t willing to rush out, and how dedicated SBS Artech is in making sure they released quality.

Hopefully English SeeU’s actual English is more than just ‘passable’ and is something English natives can enjoy. No word yet as to if this English voicebank would be an expansion of her existing capabilities or if this will be a separate purchase, targeting westerners specifically.

For those interested in reading more on these developments you can visit the news thread on VocaloidOtaku or read the complete transcript after the jump below.
Continue reading “SBS Artech Reveals English SeeU Plans” »

What ever happened to the good old Lorem Ipsum content placholders?

Its been 4 months since we covered the original’s demise in Yamaha Updates Official Vocaloid Site, Snuffs English Version and finally we got wind of a new English Vocaloid.com in the works.

At the moment it password protected, hidden from the public, and is limited to placeholder, ahem, “dummy” info but it is a good sign of things to come. For those of you who would like a sneak preview of whats in the works I have compiled a composite image.

It is very much in line with the main Vocaloid.com and is very VOCALOID3-centric promoting the various Vocaloid 3s, the full Vocaloid 3 editor, and the English version of VocaloidStore.com that we covered earlier in VOCALOID3 Editor Available for Purchase

Hopefully this time around Yamaha will get around to updating the thing every once in a while. The old one was neglected and hadn’t been updated since 2009. If you want to enjoy a blast to the past I saved a screenshot of the old website.

So here is to the future, to Yamaha, and (hopefully) to their renewed commitment to the English speaking audience and those abroad.