I’m pleased to announce that as a part of her 15th anniversary celebrations this year, Aiko will be joining the first generation of AI vocalists for Mikoto Studio!
“Kikyuune Aiko 3510” (as it will be called to distinguish it from her UTAU voicebanks, which will continue to be developed alongside this new project) features a brand new design by ExpressiveLabs character designer Jay Dawson (aka Lovesick Hospital). I’m super excited to be working with ExpressiveLabs and I’m looking forward to seeing how Aiko develops as the engine improves and more training data is added to her model!
And please note, I have not at all forgotten about Aiko’s Nimbus, Cirrus and Stratus UTAU voicebanks (collectively called “Atmosphere”). I have 3 out of 6 voicebanks totally recorded, and Aiko’s Arpasing banks are currently being developed in cooperation with Chorical LLC., who are assisting with some modified reclists and oto.ini configuration. While I’d originally aimed to have all of Aiko’s new UTAU banks released on her anniversary date, as usual I bit off slightly more than I could chew. However, I will be posting 1 or 2 demos per month leading up to November 12th (my own birthday) which is the new planned release date. As promised, this release will include a physical edition, previews of which will be dropped in the coming months. The first demo featuring Nimbus Arpasing should be uploaded in the coming days!
Along with these voicebank demos and physical package progress, each month I’ll also be revealing 3 pieces of Aiko standing artwork I gathered from fellow artists that will be packaged with her anniversary voicebanks. This first month’s featured artists are LucaBGT, MewKwota, and Chiguma!
There are 15 pieces in all, and I’m so excited to share them with everyone!
As a reminder, I’ll be attending ConnectiCon this month from the 18th to the 21st, where I’ll be presenting a vocalsynth panel and also selling some merch in the Artist Colony. I’ll have Aiko enamel pins, signed prints featuring her 2020 character artwork, Aiko 3510 buttons, and I’ll have a Mikoto Studio postcard featuring the ELEMENT vocalists illustration from this article as a freebie. Of course I’ll have plenty of other goodies in a few other fandoms, so please feel free to stop by if you’re attending the con! After the con is over, the pin, print and buttons will all go live on the VOXYZ Shop.
Last but not least, as I believe it should be obvious, the Studio VOXYZ website has gotten a major overhaul. We are on a new (and significantly faster) web host, and the overall site has been completely redesigned from top to bottom.
So here’s to the Year of Aiko — I can’t wait to share more of what I’ve been working on over the course of the next few months!
