History Music / Vocaloid

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[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/crypton_vocaloids.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Luka, Rin, Len and [[Music/HatsuneMiku Miku]]...[[CastHerd we couldn't fit them all in if we tried]].[[note]]And, trust us, we ''did''.[[/note]]]]

* SuicideByPills: Discussed in Nashimoto-P's "Suicide Song" sung by Music/HatsuneMiku. The narrator first says she is going to [[HangingAround hang herself]], only to give up once she realizes that she doesn't have a rope. She then decides to commit briquette suicide, only to realize that her lighter is out of oil. Finally, she chooses to chug a bottle of pills, but gives up on killing herself entirely once she realizes that she has no water to take the pills with because she forgot to pay her water bill. It is clear that she doesn't really want to kill herself because her excuses are rather flimsy: [[FridgeLogic if she could go out and buy a bottle of pills, what's stopping her from buying a rope, or a new lighter, or a bottle of water?]]

* TrivialTragedy: The song ''[[https://youtu.be/YgaOroHyUHc Pudding Annihilation]] is a hard rock song expressing the despair of...dropping a pudding to the floor.

[[caption-width-right:350:Luka, Rin, Len and Miku...[[CastHerd we couldn't fit them all in if we tried]].[[note]]And, trust us, we ''did''.[[/note]]]]

* ''LightNovel/OutburstDreamerBoys''

[[caption-width-right:350:Luka, Rin, Len and Miku...[[LoadsandLoadsofcharacters we couldn't fit them all in if we tried]].[[note]]And, trust us, we ''did''.[[/note]]]]

[[caption-width-right:350:Luka, Rin, Len and Miku...we couldn't fit them all in if we tried.[[note]]And, trust us, we ''did''.[[/note]]]]

Vocaloids are predominantly Japanese-speaking, but there are also many English, Chinese, and Korean vocaloids. There are currently five generations of the Vocaloid software with over 70 vocaloids across the generations. Vocaloid also has a speech-synthesizing-only sister program called VOICEROID, and features both voice banks ported from Vocaloid and its own original voice banks.[[note]]And despite being purely a text-to-speech program with no musical functions, some artists have managed to successfully create songs using VOICEROID.[[/note]]

** Miku has a fully voiced cameo in episode 1 of ''Manga/DropkickOnMyDevil'', where she gets robbed of her spring onion by the titular character. She doesn't mind because Jashin-chan gives her 100 yen in exchange, and she only paid 90 yen for it originally. Unlike the aforementioned cameos, the other Virtual Singers are not present here. She made another cameo in episode 2 of the series, where she used her leek to poke Jashin-chan's [[HalfthemanHeusedtobe half-sliced]] corpse, hoping for Jashin's response. She made [[RuleofThree another]] cameo in episode 3 of the series, where she was handcuffed and arrested by Pekola under the assumption of a stolen leek.

* IdiotHair: IA, Miki, and Piko all have one. Piko's is especially notable in that [[http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110427080453/vocaloid/images/4/46/Illu_Vocaloid_Utatane_Piko-bust.png it's even shaped like a P]] to reflect his name.

* ''LightNovel/TortureTowerDoesntSleep''

* ''Music/{{Vanishing World}}''

[=Vocaloid6=], which utilizes AI voice banks, was released on October 13, 2022. With it, 5 voicebanks were released: 4 "standard" voicebanks HARUKA, AKITO, ALLEN, SARAH, and AI Megpoid, which acts as an updated AI voicebank for GUMI. The software is backward compatible with voicebanks as far back as [=Vocaloid3=].

Vocaloid6, which utilizes AI voice banks, was released on October 13, 2022. With it, 5 voicebanks were released: 4 "standard" voicebanks HARUKA, AKITO, ALLEN, SARAH, and AI Megpoid, which acts as an updated AI voicebank for GUMI. The software is backward compatible with voice banks as far back as Vocaloid3.

The Vocaloid subculture is known for its close relationship with the ''{{utaite}}'' subculture, who are vocalists that produce cover songs of anime, video game, and Vocaloid songs on the internet. The independent nature of Vocaloid songs made them readily available for cover songs, while their non-human vocals created interest for Vocaloid songs with human vocals. Many Vocaloid procuers are in fact also ''utaite'' themselves.

* Creator/Deco27

It is these singer {{Digital Avatar}}s that made Vocaloid more than just a software; the Vocaloid characters have gathered ''massive'' followings in Japan[[note]]The earliest Vocaloids with no official character design are ''significantly'' less popular than the ones with character designs[[/note]], with flagship Vocaloid Music/HatsuneMiku becoming an outright VirtualCelebrity. These Vocaloid characters were incorporated into Vocaloid-using music videos, have their characterizations expanded in fan works, or even rendered into 3D and projected on stages for live concert "performances".

* AnimatedActors: In some songs the Vocaloids will often be described as "playing" certain characters, rather than being the actual character. The most famous example of this in the ''Evilious Chronicles'', which also is used to explain why some of the characters look exactly the same as the others. The Vocaloids are simply playing more than one role.

* ThemeTwinNaming: Rin and Len are puns on "R" (right) and "L" (left). Ultimately played with, as official descriptions state that they're not exactly twins. anon and kanon are a straighter example though.

** Miku has a fully voiced cameo in episode 1 of ''Manga/DropkickOnMyDevil'', where she gets robbed of her spring onion by the titular character. She doesn't mind because Jashin-chan gives her 100 yen in exchange, and she only paid 90 yen for it originally. Unlike the aforementioned cameos, the other Virtual Singers are not present here.

* PinkGirlBlueBoy: Whenever a male/female vocal set is made, they're usually set up like this. Leon/Lola, Meiko/Kaito,[[note]]though it's more Red/Blue in their case[[/note]] [=VY1=]/[=VY2=], Bruno/Clara, and Amy/Chris are examples of this.

** Miku has a fully voiced cameo in episode 1 of Jashin-chan Dropkick! X where she gets robbed of her spring onion by the titular character. She doesn't mind because Jashin-chan gives her 100 yen in exchange, and she only paid 90 yen for it originally. Unlike the aforementioned cameos, the other Virtual Singers are not present here.
* CastHerd: The fanbase tends to categorize Vocaloids by the company they exist as products under, such as Miku, Rin, Len, Luka, Meiko, and Kaito in a "Crypton group", both because it's easier to sort out the many characters this way and because it does make a functional difference in their promotions as companies generally don't like to cross-promote with others (hence why only the Crypton Vocaloids ever appear in the VideoGame/HatsuneMikuProjectDiva games). Some of these will be split into smaller subsets as well, such as company subseries or by engine type ([=V2s=], [=V3s=], etc.). This is only in terms of listing characters, however; actual songs and other creative media will use whatever characters the producer or creator has access to or feels like using regardless of product origin.

* FanConvention: They and their producers feature at many of them, but their first and arguably most famous is THE VOC@LOID M@STER.
* [[invoked]]FollowTheLeader: Many synthesisers, such as UTAU, the MACNE series, Voiceroid,[[note]]Albeit with just text-to-speech[[/note]] [=CeVIO=] Creative Studio, [=Alter/Ego=], [=SynthesizerV=], [=DeepVocal=], and NEUTRINO were developed in Vocaloid's wake due to hardware incompatibility with certain operating systems (as is the case for ALYS), and some general criticisms about certain voices.

* ImprobablyFemaleCast: A quick look at the wiki shows that the total number of female voice banks is over ''three times'' the number of male voice banks. [[note]] Although, the English and Spanish vocals are much closer to being even.[[/note]]

** After Crypton swapped to their ''NT'' software, they accordingly rebranded all of their characters as "Virtual Singers", with the term and logo being appearing prominently in ''Project SEKAI''. They also accept the name "Piapro Studio characters".

* MultinationalTeam: A group of over 70 vocal banks, all with vocals from across the globe. So far, there are English, Spanish, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, with some being able to be used on two languages. [[note]] Some languages, while not officially supported, have Vocaloids designed to be able to sing them with editing, such as Catalan and Taiwanese. [[/note]]
* JustForFun/OneMarioLimit: A visual variant. Any other character with big twintails of a similar color will be confused with Miku. This created problems when Stardust's original design was revealed, with many fans accusing her of stealing Miku's design.

* VisualKei: VanaN'ice, the fictional band created by SCL project and comprised of Kagamine Len, KAITO, and Camui Gackpo, is themed after this. As well, their songs tend to fit into this genre.
* TheVoiceless: In Project Diva F, DLC characters Yowane Haku, Akita Neru, and Kasane Teto are not given voices when in the interactive mode. They do sing, however, which is odd. Curiously enough, Haku and Neru, who were adopted as "official" characters by Crypton, do not actually have official voices, which leads to Miku and Rin users downpitching the vocals to give them some semblance of a vocal identity.

** Nekomura Iroha has a surprisingly deep and mature voice, which constrasts greatly with her cutesy Hello Kitty design.

** Sega released what can be considered the first proper Vocaloid mobile RhythmGame in the form of ''VideoGame/ProjectSekai Colorful Stage! ft. Hatsune Miku''. Similarly to ''Project DIVA'', it only features the Crypton Vocaloids [[note]]Now referred to as Virtual Singers[[/note]], though it differs in that an OriginalGeneration of characters is also introduced to act and sing alongside them. As well, unlike in ''Project Diva'', the game also includes famous songs sung by non-Crypton Vocaloids (such as Gumi, Flower, and IA), though some of these are given Virtual Singer covers in the form of SEKAI versions, which are sung alongside the original characters, or Another Vocals [[note]]''Project Sekai's'' equivalent of a Vocal Switch[[/note]].

* Music/PorterRobinson (in "Sad Machine")

* ''Manga/HatsuneMix''

[[caption-width-right:350:Luka, Rin, Len and Miku...[[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters we couldn't fit them all in if we tried.]][[note]]And, trust us, we ''did''.[[/note]]]]

Vocaloids are predominantly Japanese-speaking, but there are also many English, Chinese, and Korean vocaloids. There are currently five generations of the Vocaloid software with [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters over 70]] vocaloids across the generations. Vocaloid also has a speech-synthesizing-only sister program called VOICEROID, and features both voice banks ported from Vocaloid and its own original voice banks.[[note]]And despite being purely a text-to-speech program with no musical functions, some artists have managed to successfully create songs using VOICEROID.[[/note]]

* CastHerd: The fanbase tends to categorize Vocaloids by the company they exist as products under, such as Miku, Rin, Len, Luka, Meiko, and Kaito in a "Crypton group", both because it's easier to sort out the LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters this way and because it does make a functional difference in their promotions as companies generally don't like to cross-promote with others (hence why only the Crypton Vocaloids ever appear in the VideoGame/HatsuneMikuProjectDiva games). Some of these will be split into smaller subsets as well, such as company subseries or by engine type ([=V2s=], [=V3s=], etc.). This is only in terms of listing characters, however; actual songs and other creative media will use whatever characters the producer or creator has access to or feels like using regardless of product origin.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: There's quite a few already and the number is only growing. And that's not even getting into the fanmades and genderbends. Note that this number increases ''exponentially''. In 2010, the number of Japanese Vocaloids could be counted on both hands, and the number total were still easy to keep track of and to recite without issue. By the time 2012 arrived, the number had almost tripled.

* RapunzelHair: Miku, and to a lesser extent Luka, Galaco, Iroha, Mew, Haku and Neru. Fanartists tend to draw it ''even longer'', to the point of it being longer than the character is tall.
** IA's hair is so long that ''it goes down to her ankles''.