I'll start with a little context and explain what a "vocaloid" actually is, so everyone can fully appreciate what this actually means and enjoy what technology has brought forth.

"Vocaloids" are like vocal-androids. Musicians have many tools for practicing. For example, if they need a piano portion played for the song they are rehearsing (but don't have a person available), then they can use a "player piano" which is sometimes called a "pianola" (the piano that plays itself). If a musician needs to practice, but doesn't have an available singer, then they use something called a "vocaloid." Vocaloids are computer-generated voice banks which "sing" pre-arranged syllables to "sing" along with the music. In real life, these vocaloids are expensive and this is why they aren't as common as similar tools like a pianola.

The video game company SEGA created a rhythm game series named "Vocaloid" in which the protagonists are vocaloids who sing (in Japanese) and dance along to the music in a world where music has become less popular and these vocaloids perform to spread music everywhere and make everyone be happy and smile

The most famous of these vocaloids is Hatsune Miku. However, other vocaloids in the series are also very popular: Luka Megurine, Len Kagamine, Rin Kagamine, Kaito Shion, Meiko Haigo and many others. Hatsune Miku alone has literally thousands of songs and the other vocaloids have a myriad as well.

The video game series by SEGA is typically with Japanese lyrics and vocals, but often feature English transliterations, or direct translations in subtitles (or other languages too). The video game series takes on a bit of an "anime" approach to the art with a 3D modeling program called MMD which stands for Miku Miku Dance (named after the famous Hatsune Miku protagonist vocaloid). However, the three videos I've decided to share are from live concerts (in real life).

The vocaloids "on stage" are literally just light (despite how 3-dimensional they look). Holograms require something to see the created image such as a VR headset, or 3D goggles; these vocaloids can be seen without these things. These live concerts use something called "augmented reality" (basically lasers to create the "character"). In the videos I'll share, the lead singer vocaloid is nothing more than light and the vocals are "sung" from the vocaloid's voice bank which is computer generated. Each vocaloid "singer" has their own voice bank and personality.

Here is the most famous vocaloid, Hatsune Miku, singing the song "World is Mine." This was the first live vocaloid performance I ever saw online, so this makes it special for me as well, but this song is also one of the most famous vocaloid songs, so this is why I'll begin with this song.

Next, I'll play another famous song by the same vocaloid singer Hatsune Miku. This song is titled "Senbonzakura" which means "One-Thousand Cherry Trees/Blossoms."

The third song is from another vocaloid singer named "IA" (another fairly popular vocaloid) and this song is "Conqueror."

Again, all three of these songs are played with human performers on instruments, but the singing is entirely from the vocaloid voice-banks and the vocaloid characters themselves can be seen without any special equipment.

The talk of the next direction is to utilize the technology of vocaloids to create "live performances" of musicians who have passed away. Perhaps we could have an Elvis Presley-vocaloid or a Michael Jackson-vocaloid etc. derived from their own voices by editing voice clips of their own voices and creating concerts from them.

Not only would this be a cool way to bring music from the past into the present, but using vocaloid performers also comes with its own advantages. For instance, you don't have to worry about paying your lead singer or them quitting (vocaloids aren't human) and they never forget their lines, or have wardrobe malfunctions (voice banks means a computer won't forget lines and light sequencing to "move" the characters on stage is pre-arranged like fireworks run by modern computers).

I hope everyone enjoyed this

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