ミクミク

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Long time no see. Half of what you are about to read here is old news. Crypton Future Media released some information of Kagamine Rin/Len Act 2 quite some time ago. Basically Act 2 is an updated version of Kagamine Rin/Len.

In Act 2 the notes will connect more smoothly and there will be less noise. The updated version of Kagamine Rin/Len will be easier to use especially for users new to DTM (desktop music). Hopefully with this update we can see more Rin/Len songs online.

According to the information page, Act 2 will go on sale in mid-July, 2008. There will also be アップデータディスク (up data disk, probably disk/disc with some kind of patch on it) available for existing Kagamine Rin/Len owners, free until September 20.

License registration can probably be done at Crypton’s My Page portal from the looks of what’s on the page…

In addition to the news about Kagamine Rin/Len Act 2, a new demo song of Act 2 was released today. The song’s name is “Action” and can be heard on this page. The MP3 file of the demo song can be downloaded from the page as well.

Rin/Len’s voices in the demo song do sound a lot smoother than the original Rin/Len, and I find their voices to be a bit cuter too. Kagamine Rin/Len in Act 2 will probably work even better with other Vocaloids than they already did.

That’s about all for today. For those wondering where I’ve been… I’ve been selling things in and around the house. My desktop computer was sold not long ago and I’m typing from my notebook PC now. I will be flying back to Taiwan at around the time Act 2 comes out. After that I’ll start making posts from there (easier to get Miku related stuff there too).

Brand new look and a new “mascot” that introduces you to the week’s charts, but still the same ol’ Vocaloid Ranking we all grew to love. Which really could not have come at a better time - Vocaloid in-general really, really needs a boost nowadays from wanning interest.

Anyways… How are Fortune Diver and Uta ni Katachi “NEW” songs…? Didn’t we see those way before? Confounded newfangled ranking system… BLARGH!

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AAAAAAAAAARGH~!!! Noooooo~!!! Alto Saotome on title page!!! Can’t unsee! They sure like to hype Gackpoid this early, don’t they…? Anyhoo… now that we have four ryo songs bound to stay on-chart, like, FOREVER (to illutrate this point, last week’s 3rd and 1st place didn’t even budge this week…), this gives us even less songs to look forward to hitting it big. Thus, here’s just me giving you guys the link:

Did I mention that Urotanda went back up to Top-2 this week…? Urgh… enough already…

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Name: 神威がくぽ / Kamui Gackpo(?)
Illustrator: Kentarou Miura
Planned release date: Late July
Price: 18,900 yen

Gackpoid Official Page

The comments I’ve seen so far for the character illustration:
- LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL
- “No comment”.

I’m waiting… I’m waiting… still… waiting… any time now… any… time… Zzzzz-zzz-z-zzzz-zzzzz~

Ha-!? Who-!? Wha-!? Oh gawds, I almost slept through the upping of this week’s ranking! Jeebus! It’s almost 1 hour late again! Cookies to anyone who can guess where I live… *yaaaawn~!!!*

Anyhoo, here be it: number 37!

Ranking comments and other stuff after the brief snooze… Zzzzz-z-z-zzzzz-zzz-z-zzzz~

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I just noticed that KOISENN has been absent for the past couple of rankings now… Must’ve been because it was replaced by ryo’s new masterpiece: [the] World is Mine. But wait, ain’t it supposed to be boosted because of the new song? Hmmmmm~

But who am I to talk about Nico politics (and Vocaloid-politics at that!)? Resident expert, Miyuki, would be more than willing to answer a few questions. Anyways, seems like the Vocaloid album effect has finally worn off. Some new songs have finally made it past 30, with a few new songs here and there. However, they feel a bit lackluster compared to some of the epic classics that managed to stay in-rank for more than a dozen weeks. Wanning of interest, perhaps…? Again, I’m not one to say about the current situation of Vocaloid on Nico… Now, on to the usual shenanigans!

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I’m sorry I copy and paste my own writings sorry sorry s(ry

Anyways, Nendoroid Kagamine Rin and Kagamine Len, with their release set to October, are officially available for pre-order beginning today. Rin will come with a mic and Len will come with a keyboard, along with the interchangeable face expression. But that’s not all… They will also come with a blank face with expression seals for you to put on it and create your own customized face. Thumbs up to GSC for this! Click the picture below to go to Mikatan Blog, GSC’s official insider blog, for more photos of the Nendoroids.

As of now, to my knowledge, only the following online shop that will ship oversea have them up for pre-order:

• Hobby Search

Hurry up and grab your’s if you’re planning to get them~ They may just end up like Miku’s and requires you to wait a few months if you missed the first round.

Edit @ 12hr 10min later:

Apparently the pre-order for Len on Hobby Search is already closed. That is a bit TOO fast… (^^;; Rin is still available for pre-order, but she’ll probably go out pretty soon too, so if you want her, hurry up~ If your target is Len… HLJ still haven’t put up pre-order for them yet so you have your hope there.

I’m late, late, LATE again! Argh! What’s happening to me!? Blame it on BAD ACOUSTICS!

Hmm… y’know, I really don’t have anything to say about this week’s charts… Pretty much the same as the previous one, with the Vocaloid album still in effect (AsaMiyuki literally beat this info right into my head, and I’m still reeling). Some new songs here and there, with Dearest being the most amazing (I love it! They should release an MP3 for it…), just imagine all that without the help from VocaListener. Simply godly…

Well, I guess that’s that for now.

I’m selling my desktop computer in about one month. After that I will move back to Taiwan and get settled there. I am currently looking for a responsible person to keep this site in good working order (delete spam, take appropriate action against misbehavior and so on).

There’s still enough money in my PayPal account to last for another ten months or so, so there’s no need to worry about money. Hopefully I can add more to the PayPal account after I get settled down in Taiwan.

If you’re a responsible person and wish to help me out for a few months, please send me an e-mail at armycats_roar [at] hotmail [dot] com. You should have basic HTML skills, and should know how to use FTP. That’s about all… I’ll post again if there’s anything new…

We all love Miku’s voice and take our hearing for granted. Yet such a simple task can be extremely difficult, if not impossible, for people with hearing disabilities.

Luckily there are people out there who did not forget those with special needs. Apparently some people in Japan used MikuMikuDance to make Miku sing while using sign language. That way, not only can we hear Miku, people with hearing disabilities can “hear” her too. Sort of…

There are already a few on Nico Nico Douga, some more complex than others, but they’re all quite interesting nevertheless… Let us take a look at a few of them…

This one is someone’s school anthem. Sung by Miku and accompanied by sign language.

Miku singing the ABC song. I think she’s a bit off the beat at the end but that’s the cute thing about this video…

Miku singing いろは歌.

Miku’s self introduction using Japanese sign language. There’s background music but no voice.

Miku teaching people to count with Japanese sign language.

I only did a simple search and there’s probably more out there. The last two videos are more educational in nature and they are labeled number one and number two. Which means there will probably be more of them in the future. Keep an eye open for them if you’re interested!

That’s about all for today. Going off topic for a bit to end this post, I used to think that sign language is universal, but a quick search in Wikipedia corrected me. Apparently there are many different sign languages for different languages. For example, for English there’s American sign language and for Japanese there’s Japanese sign language. Thanks to Miku (and everyone behind the scenes to make her move and sing), I learned a lot today.