ITMedia News - June 20, 2008

Translated by: Gekka

Please do not copy, take, redistribute, retranslate or repost this translation without my permission. Thank you~

“GACKPOID” will go on sale at the end of July, with an illustration by manga artist Miura Kentaro, a regular user of Nico Nico Douga[1]

It has been determined that “GACKPOID”, the VOCALOID (software) which uses Gackt’s voice, will go on sale at the end of July. Manga artist Miura Kentaro, a regular user of Nico Nico Douga, drew the illustration of the character "神威がくぽ" (Kamui Gakupo) for free.

Desktop music software maker INTERNET (Osaka) announced on June 20 that “GACKPOID”, a software based on Gackt’s voice that can be used to sing with synthesized vocals, will go on sale at the end of July. It is on an open-price basis[2], and the expected retail price is around 18,900 yen.

The package will have an illustration of a character modeled after Gackt named “神威がくぽ” (Kamui Gakupo). The illustration was drawn free of charge by manga artist Miura Kentaro, known for “ベルセルク” (the manga titled “BERSERK”) and a fan of Nico Nico Douga. Sample songs using an adjusted singing voice have also been released to the public.

GACKPOID was originally scheduled to release in mid to late June, but it was announced that “In order to select and modify the illustration to be used for the packaging, the release has been postponed. 
Postponement of the sale of GACKPOID

It was planned from the beginning that the packaging (cover) would be an illustration. This was because there was concern that if a picture of Gackt was used, people would mistakenly believe he himself was singing. Murakami Noboru, the president of INTERNET, said frankly, “There were many drafts of the illustration, but the impact was lacking.” 

INTERNET is a business that specializes in developing music software. As such, the company was concerned because they lacked any connections with illustrators. At that time, they learned that manga artist Miura Kentaro was a regular user of Nico Nico Douga and they considered making the request to him. However, they didn’t even know how to contact him, and so they worked out a plan. They used a time signal announcement at Nico Nico Douga to call out to him.

On May 30 at midnight, this time signal announcement was made: “We would like to call out to the following customer/user. To the manga artist who writes Berserk, Miura Kentaro sensei, Miura Kentaro sensei. We have a message for you. Please contact us if you are here.”

Miura-san contacted them immediately the next day, and he readily agreed to do the illustration for GACKPOID. Moreover, he offered it free of charge. Miura said, “This project has a big connection with Nico Nico Douga, and because Nico Nico Douga is a place where users publish their works free of charge, I wanted to offer my own work for free use in the world of Nico Nico Douga.”

There are plans to include a poster that has the same design as on the packing of GACKPOID. Two of Gackt’s songs sung by GACKPOID will also be included as sample songs. There are also plans to have a free offer for users to download “OPUS Express for Windows”, a software that mixes vocals, music and phonemes. 

President Murakami enthusiastically stated, “We want to make versions of VOCALOID that feature famous artists in the future. That is, if we can make an offer for the next version by the end of the year, or the beginning of next year.”

Notes:
[1] “ニコ厨” (nico chuu): this is a slang term for people who are long-time users of Nico Nico Douga, a website where users upload and share original videos. 
[2] Open-price means that the retailer can fix their own price for the software. GACKPOID is currently listed as 18,900 yen at Amazon Japan (and is also on sale).

Source: http://www.itmedia.co.jp/news/articles/0806/20/news043.html

Top | Previous page