site update

I’m slowly getting art stuff set up for future convention artist alley appearances (all of which are still up in the air at the moment…) so I’ve been working on a couple of poster designs for Aiko that should be added to the Studio VOXYZ Storenvy store soon! You can see them below! Also, I’ve modified Aiko’s charm/keychain design! While the Storenvy images have not yet updated, any orders made after today will receive this new design.

 

The old design leftovers I have will be handed out at convention appearances for free ;v;

Products featuring more characters (both Vocaloid and UTAU) to come later!

Hello all! I have a very important announcement to make, pertaining to the future of Project UTAU XYZ. It’s nothing bad (don’t worry, I’m not quitting UTAU or anything!) but it’s a decision I’ve been working on for some time. As of today, I will begin the process of rebranding and renaming Project UTAU XYZ to Studio VOXYZ permanently.

 

What will happen to “Project UTAU XYZ”?

Nothing! It’s just being renamed and expanded, that’s all. I’ll keep the utau.xyz domain and have it redirect to the new URL indefinitely; I know UTAUxyz has been my identity in the singthesizer fandom for seven years now so that will likely make it easier. My channel URL on YouTube will remain as UTAUxyz as I cannot actually change that, but the display name will be updated to Studio VOXYZ.

What does VOXYZ mean?

VOXYZ is a portmanteau of “vox” (the Latin word for “voice”) and the “XYZ” from UTAU XYZ, which originally indicated the variety of voicebanks I had planned to produce. VOXYZ is intended to be pronounced somewhat like “proxies”. Or, as “voice proxy,” in the sense of Vocaloid and UTAU being used in place of human voicers or as an artist’s alternate persona, which is an aspect of VocUTAU I’ve always found fascinating.

Why the rebranding?

Project UTAU XYZ began as a YouTube account under which my friends and I could post our UTAU covers and voicebanks. At first, I never intended nor imagined singthesizers to influence my career choices, and UTAU XYZ would remain just a hobby project for several years. But as time passed, I found myself thinking more and more about seriously pursuing a career in multimedia arts, which is something I had been wanting to do since before high school (but admittedly, I’d put off ever since finishing college). I’ve therefore decided to focus on my passions in digital art, design, and music with renewed vigor, and I plan to use Studio VOXYZ as an outlet for this.

Therefore, I can no longer justify using “UTAU” stylized in all capital letters as part of my label name; this is Ameya’s personal trademark for the UTAU software, as designated in his terms of use. Think of it like how Macne Nana changed from Mac音ナナ to マクネナナ when ownership of her trademark switched over due to her Vocaloid licensing!

Studio VOXYZ will be used for any of my multimedia projects, including those outside of singing synthesis and music production (including web design, video editing, game development, etc.).

I am NOT planning to stop creating USTs or making covers of existing songs! I’m just turning my focus onto producing more original works alongside that. Also, I am certainly NOT giving up production of ANY of my voicebanks! Aiko and the other XYZ series characters will remain an integral part of Studio VOXYZ, should my other voice providers allow it. Aiko will likely take on the role as studio mascot, though I’m not sure how much I’ll be promoting her as such yet.

 

I hope you all understand! This might not come across as the most drastic change to some, but it’s very important to me, and I hope it leads to bigger and better things along the way. Thanks as always for reading!

Aaaand we’ve moved!

The Kikyuune Family blog, formerly located at kikyuune.utau.xyz and hosted by Blogger, has been ported to WordPress and revamped as the brand new Project UTAU XYZ website under the domain utau.xyz!

Many thanks to our wonderful associate webmaster, Pachi, for hosting us, and providing incredible technical support in building the new website! You can look forward to her UTAU demos sometime in the near future.

There may be a few hiccups here and there, as there are still some details to be straightened out I’m sure. If you experience any issues with the new site, feel free to contact us and we’ll get to fixing it right away!