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You can say this is a Part II to my Bee and PuppyCat: Adventure Time meets Sailor Moon post. The creator of Bee and PuppyCat, Natasha Allegri, revealed to her fans in an interview that the voice of PuppyCat is actually not by a human but a vocaloid. I had no idea what that is, but could take a guess from the name and the sounds of PuppyCat. Voice………android?

As it turns out, that’s sort of what it is. Vocaloids are voice synthesizers that sing. The technology was first developed by Kenmochi Hideki at the Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain in 2000 (Wikipedia). The program was at first not intended to be product for the masses, but backed by the Yamaha Corporation it became the readily available technology it is today known now as ‘Volcaloids.’

It’s actually pretty cool stuff. We’re all familiar with the robotic voices from the movies. “Hello…master…how…are you?” Even popular robotic voice Siri doesn’t come across very natural despite what I can imagine as great effort from Apple. The trouble is human speech is very irregular and different people speak in different ways: putting emphasis on various words as they talk. Everyone also has a different rhythm to their speech. I’ve seen plenty of detective/crime series on TV where the police identifies who is speaking based on their voice and speech pattern. Well imagine the added complexities when you’re singing. And that’s what volcaloids do. The program offers up a voice. It’s now up to you create a melody, lyric for the song, and any adjustment to the voice as it sings the song.

There are different voices in the volcaloid world. Each voice is based on a real human which contribute to the natural sound of the voice. The identity of some remains unknown however. In Bee and PuppyCat, PuppyCat’s voice has been changed to create squeaks instead of pronouncing the inputted words. The volcaloid used is known as Oliver. It’s created from the voice of a young English boy who’s identity is unknown. He is commonly depicted in a sailor outfit with one bandaged eye. Kinda strange, but let’s just go with it. A search on Google will reveal some cool fan art of Oliver. Some volcaloids are famous in their own right as well. The most popular at the moment is Hatsune Miku but that’s a post for another day. Below are some cool songs using volcaloid Oliver.
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