Hatsune Miku (Japanese: 初音ミク), also called Miku Hatsune, and officially code-named CV01,[2][3] is a Vocaloid software voicebank developed by Crypton Future Media and its official anthropomorphic mascot character, a 16-year-old girl with long, turquoise twintails. Miku's personification has been marketed as a virtual idol, and has performed at live virtual concerts onstage as an animated projection (rear-cast projection on a specially coated glass screen).[4]

Miku uses Yamaha Corporation's Vocaloid 2, Vocaloid 3, and Vocaloid 4 singing synthesizing technologies. She also uses Crypton Future Media's Piapro Studio, a standalone singing synthesizer editor. She was the second Vocaloid sold using the Vocaloid 2 engine and the first Japanese Vocaloid to use the Japanese version of the 2 engine. The voice is modeled from Japanese voice actress Saki Fujita.

The name of the character comes from merging the Japanese words for first (初, hatsu), sound (音, ne), and future (ミク, miku),[a] thus meaning "the first sound of the future",[2] which, along with her code name, refers to her position as the first of Crypton's "Character Vocal Series" (abbreviated "CV Series"), preceding Kagamine Rin/Len (code-named CV02) and Megurine Luka (code-named CV03). The number 01 can also be seen on her left shoulder in official artwork.
Development

Hatsune Miku was the first Vocaloid developed by Crypton Future Media after they handled the release of the Yamaha vocal Meiko and Kaito. Miku was intended to be the first of a series of Vocaloids called the "Character Vocal Series" (abbreviated "CV Series"), which included Kagamine Rin/Len and Megurine Luka. Each had a particular concept and vocal direction.[8]

She was built using Yamaha's Vocaloid 2 technology, and later updated to newer engine versions. She was created by taking vocal samples from voice actress Saki Fujita at a controlled pitch and tone. Those samples all contain a single Japanese phonic that, when strung together, creates full lyrics and phrases. The pitch of the samples was to be altered by the synthesizer engine and constructed into a keyboard-style instrument within the Vocaloid software.

Crypton released Hatsune Miku on August 31, 2007. Crypton had the idea to release Miku as "an android diva in the near-future world where songs are lost."[9] Hatsune Miku was released for Vocaloid 3 on August 31, 2013, including an English vocal library.[10] She was the first Vocaloid to be developed by the company, following their commercial release handle of Yamaha Corporation developed vocals Meiko and Kaito, making Hatsune Miku the third Vocaloid to be sold commercially by the company.[11]
Additional software

On April 30, 2010, a new add-on for Vocaloid 2 called Hatsune Miku Append, was released, consisting of six different timbres for the voice: Soft (gentle timbre), Sweet (young, chibi quality), Dark (mature and melancholic), Vivid (bright and cheerful), Solid (loud, clear voice), and Light (innocent and angelic).[12] Miku Append was created to expand Miku's voice library, and as such requires the original program to be installed on the user's computer first.[13] This was the first time a Vocaloid had such a release, and more Append versions were reported from Crypton Future Media at later dates.[14]

It was mentioned that a 7th Append voicebank, a falsetto voice, had been recorded; however, since the developers did not think it would be useful on its own, no plans were made for an independent release.[15] During the Kagamine Append development, a "darkish Whisper/Sweet" append was being considered.[16] Miku's English vocal was also due for a Vocaloid 2 release, but it was not released in the engine due to low quality.[17]

To aid in the production of 3D animations, the program MikuMikuDance was developed by an independent programmer. The freeware software allowed a boom in fan-made animations to be developed, as well as being a boost for promoting Vocaloid songs themselves.[18] This spawned "NicoNico Cho Party", where fans could submit their animations to accompany live holographic performances of popular Vocaloid songs.

An English voicebank for Hatsune Miku was announced in 2011 and was to be released by the end of 2012. However, the decision to move to Vocaloid 3 and issues with English pronunciation delayed the release.[19] It was finally released on August 31, 2013 via digital distribution.

The Hatsune Miku Vocaloid 3 Japanese vocal library was released on September 26, 2013. It contained updates to all previous Vocaloid 2 vocals except Vivid and Light. These were later released separately, though they were initially offered to anyone who already owned Hatsune Miku, Hatsune Miku Append, and Hatsune Miku V3. Once imported into Vocaloid4, all Vocaloid3 Hatsune Miku vocals could use the new Cross-Synthesis system (XSY) built for the new engine of Vocaloid 3. The voice was also imported into a device called Pocket Miku, released on April 3, 2014.[20]

Hatsune Miku received an update for Yamaha's Vocaloid 4 engine under the name of Hatsune Miku V4X.[21] It makes use of the new EVEC system for Piapro Studio, a VSTi plugin used as an alternative to the traditional Vocaloid Editor. EVEC consists of recorded vowels. Along with the consonant, a different vocal tone can be achieved. Two vocal tones are included in the EVEC system: Power and Soft. Along with the new EVEC system, phoneme errors found in Miku's V2 and V3 voicebanks would be fixed allowing for easier manipulation of the software's voice. As of August 31, 2016, Hatsune Miku V4X/V4 English was released.

A Mandarin Chinese voicebank was released in September 2017, making Hatsune Miku the first trilingual Vocaloid product. Her Chinese name is 初音未来; Chūyīn Wèilái; 未来 are the kanji characters for her given name, Miku.
Marketing

Miku has been heavily promoted since 2008 and was originally aimed at professional musicians.[22] On September 12, 2007, Amazon.co.jp reported sales of Hatsune Miku totaling 57,500,000 yen, making the character the number-one-selling software of that time.[23] She was the first vocal to be developed and distributed by Crypton Future Media and sung in Japanese. Hatsune Miku's instant success is owed to Vocaloid being a cultural hit in Japan and she reportedly sold 40,000 units by July 2008, selling on average 300 units a week.[24] By January 2011, she had sold 60,000 units.[25]
Merchandising

Since the success of Hatsune Miku's Vocaloid 2 package led to an expansion of marketing possibilities, most of the mass marketing has come after the software's initial release as a response to Miku's popularity and has been on going since 2008. Even with the addition of other Character Vocals, Miku's name continues to be used as the primary source of marketing for Crypton Future Media, to the point where most products for their Vocaloid related products will usually only feature Hatsune Miku's name. In March 2012, the Nomura Research Institute estimated that the sales of all Hatsune Miku brand goods added up into the region of ¥10 billion since the release in 2007.[26] Her name is easily the most recognizable of all Vocaloids.[27]

In 2011, Crypton began to focus on marketing Miku to United States audiences. On May 7, Amazon placed a preview of Supercell's hit song, "World is Mine", as a single. When the song finally went on sale, it ranked at No. 7 in the top 10 world singles list on iTunes in its first week of sales.[28] Since Crypton had always sold Miku as a virtual instrument in Japan, they asked their Japanese fan base if it was acceptable for them to sell her as a virtual singer to the new market audience.[29] The main purpose of the Miku English version is to allow Japanese producers to break into the western market and expand their audiences.[citation needed]
Good Smile Racing
Komatti-Mirai EV, 2013 TT Zero
Racing Miku 2016
Good Smile Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 at Fuji Speedway, 2018

In 2008, Good Smile Racing began the licensing of Hatsune Mik