Japanese Pop Star Draws Crowds Despite Being a Hologram

[LadyMint]

Her voice makes me want to jam pencils into my ears...

I'm not a real fan of J-Pop. It just gives me a headache, it really does. But, the technology is pretty spiff. Now if only they could apply it to something that doesn't sound like a cat dancing on a midi keyboard.

 

[Ham_authority95]

I love it how people rag on the far less artificial Auto-tune all the time, and blame it for killing music, but have no problem with Japanese vocaloids which are 100% computer-constructed.

Maybe it's because it said "Japanese" at the front of the title. Because that obviously means that it's wholesome and "unmanufactured" (pfft)

OT: Hey, if people like the music and shit, more power to them

 

[darknight910]

I love it how people rag on the far less artificial Auto-tune all the time, and blame it for killing music, but have no problem with Japanese vocaloids which are 100% computer-constructed.

I'm a little late to the game with this thread but I can argue your point easily. The reason people rag on auto-tune is that it's a system designed to fix a person's vocals, automatically fixing the pitch if needed to the point that even a talentless hack can sound like a pop goddess if needed. What's even worst is that now people like that robotic, purposely messed with sound that autotune creates that even if you suck at singing and people know it, it doesn't matter because they want to hear something that sounds like a robot anyways! You can see the horror this is creating for the music industry in this snippit from a documentary on it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irk3_p15RJY&feature=related

Which brings me to the vocaloid system, that I don't see as something replacing musicians, so much as being a musical instrument in the process. Many people think that the lead singer is suppose to be the "face" of a band or that for the most part it revolves around them but that's not true, they SHOULD be just as important as the rest of its parts but society has made it that way on purpose. The only thing that really confuses the heck out of me is that they're putting personalities behind these voices when in reality, it should be Saki Fujita, the one who did the voice sampling up there instead.

 

[BonsaiK]

I love it how people rag on the far less artificial Auto-tune all the time, and blame it for killing music, but have no problem with Japanese vocaloids which are 100% computer-constructed.

I'm a little late to the game with this thread but I can argue your point easily. The reason people rag on auto-tune is that it's a system designed to fix a person's vocals, automatically fixing the pitch if needed to the point that even a talentless hack can sound like a pop goddess if needed. What's even worst is that now people like that robotic, purposely messed with sound that autotune creates that even if you suck at singing and people know it, it doesn't matter because they want to hear something that sounds like a robot anyways! You can see the horror this is creating for the music industry in this snippit from a documentary on it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irk3_p15RJY&feature=related

Which brings me to the vocaloid system, that I don't see as something replacing musicians, so much as being a musical instrument in the process. Many people think that the lead singer is suppose to be the "face" of a band or that for the most part it revolves around them but that's not true, they SHOULD be just as important as the rest of its parts but society has made it that way on purpose. The only thing that really confuses the heck out of me is that they're putting personalities behind these voices when in reality, it should be Saki Fujita, the one who did the voice sampling up there instead.

We've had pitch-correction tools in the music industry for decades before Auto-tune came along though. We've also had synthetic machine-vocal effects for decades too (such as the vocoder). Now we have both in the same package, big deal. The only reason why people are making such a fuss is because nowadays they're noticing the pitch-correction, but this is nothing new, it's as old as pop music itself, only the techniques have changed.

I've made various lengthy posts about Auto-tune around the place before, I won't make another one here but if you're interested I can link you.

The "personalities" thing makes sense. After all if you're going to create a fictional character to sing your song you might as well give her a bit of backstory...

 

[tyriless]

Funny, a computer generated singer was the villain in Macross Plus. Just don't make her self aware, and give her ability to fulfill our deepest desires, or we are screwed.

 

[tyriless]

Ha! You beat me to the punch! Also, as long as they don't have Yoko Kanno compose her music we should be fine. The J-Pop genre is usually so darn bland and pointless otherwise.

 

[tyriless]

Curious to know if you checked out The Pillows. Discovered them watching the head trip of an OVA called Fooly Cooly.They are quite good at putting together a punk
melody.

 

[Snownine]

Somehow, I'm seeing a possible Macross tie-in.

If she helps stave off the Zentradi she is a-ok in my book.

 

[PrototypeC]

I knew this was an inevitability since the popularity of the Vocaloids, but... this is getting disturbing. I wonder how many people in that stadium holding up glowsticks had their other hand down their pants?!

I heard a few amazing Vocaloid2 songs, and figured they were all like that. Noooooope. Most of them are pure rubbish that I would never listen to... it's the quality of the songwriter behind it that matters. The scary thing is that they're characters, but they have no personality of their own. People can make them sing anything. Homo-erotic songs between Len and Kaito? Why not? Miku singing about how much she loves Winston, from West Virginia, and would like to marry him and have his children? It's possible. Meiko singing an ode to Adolf Hitler and the Third Reich? No limits.

They have no parents to say, "you can't sing that, that's filth and you're my son/daughter", they have no mind to say no, they have no sense of shame or embarassment; they're just singing programs with automated voices. Put holographic projections of them, and the sick things that can happen without a sane voice to say, "this is going too far" are unimaginable. Maybe I'm overreacting. I hope so.

 

[Tetranitrophenol]

Cant say that this hasn't been seen before. Gorillaz anyone?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-AhYnjKEzs

 

[emeraldrafael]

I'm not sure why everyone is surprised about this. Its been going on for three years now. And she's probably one of the popular anime figures on the net. Its just giving way to a new genre. and at least she'll never have controversy.

 

[Cinnamonfloss]

As soon as i saw the title, i knew it was about Hatsune Miku lmao.
Pretty old news though

 

[spartan1077]

I read hologram singer and thought of Bunky or something from Arthur...back when I watched it...>.<

 

[dalek sec]

Funny, a computer generated singer was the villain in Macross Plus. Just don't make her self aware, and give her ability to fulfill our deepest desires, or we are screwed.

How can it fullfill our deepest desires though, it's just a singer program. It's not like it's some daemon from the Warp. >.>

 

[RTR]

I wouldn't compare her to the likes of Gorillaz, though.
She seems she'd be right at home right alongside the DJ.

 

[BakaSmurf]

Holograms... Holy fucking shit, I've been waiting for the future to come my entire life, and all this time I hadn't realized... TEH FUTAR IS NAO!

Now where's my damned Holo-Shed already!?

Anyways, I have to admit... I liked the song; "The World is Mine." It was catchy. Very catchy. The others? ...Ehhh... Not so much.

[small]Is it wrong that the first thing I thought after she rose up on to the stage was; "I wonder if she has panties under that skirt?" :|[/small]

 

[Ghored]

I knew Hatsune always existed, but damn, I didn't know people were crazy about her enough to go to a festival and watch an illusion dance and sing. This is great and all, but..... I know at least one of those people in the crowd was supposed to be somewhere doing something important.

"Its not holograms, Its just 3d images reverse projected onto a 2d piece of glass. If you want real holograms&#65279; go to SigGraph."


Age old quote is old.

 

[clarissa]

It is really strange when you see flashing news about something you have known for ages.
And it is even strange when you see people commenting like they do not really know what is going on.
Hatsune Miku is now (according to a documentary a saw a few months ago) the most successful musical phenomenon of Japan. Not only because of her visual appel, but also because she and the other vocaloid characters generated a enourmous confluence of viral videos, songs as doujinshi.
Remember: in Japan, doujinshi are sold and wanted like best-seller books here. The market there is very open in relation to this, and Hatsune Miku simply fit into this market.

 

[Ih8pkmn]

that is freaky... I mean, if I saw someone looking like that walking down the street, I'd run the other way! It's a cool bit of technology, but COME ON. I can think of many better uses for this technology. Like, say, generating holographic food as a prank on your friends.