MEIKA Hime & Mikoto (VOCALOID5)

==History==
===Pre-VOCALOID5===
Kotori Koiwai did not initially wish to voice a VOCALOID, expressing interest only after hearing Hatsune Miku when she became a voice actress. The reason for this was the appeal to the inorganic nature of the voice in music performance. VOCALOID was noted for its inability to express emotion and simply sung lyrics typed in. Kotori saw it as an ultimate idol system with its own set of idols and wished to leave behind a voicebank someday.https://www.dtmstation.com/archives/23988.html
Initially, Kotori saw a public recruitment video on Nico Nico Video. Even though it disappeared, she heard enough about it and realised she could make a voicebank possible. At some point, she applied for a character but failed.https://x.com/koiwai_kotori/status/1103964494454116353
Two years prior to the release of MEIKA Hime and Mikoto, Kotori joined Gynoid Co., Ltd. and helped with VOCALOID production. She was encouraged to try and make a VOCALOID. One year later, she received confirmation of acceptance though did not know the nature of the VOCALOID she was being used for. Many of those around her were using VOCALOID and told her the side effects of it, but she just wanted to make a good product that was easy to use.
Entering the recording sessions, Kotori knew many voice providers found the process difficult. The VOCALOID captured certain aspects of how the singer felt at the time of recording, so she wanted to make the process as fun as possible. Many of those working on VOCALOID took the process of recording a voice seriously, but despite that, she found the process enjoyable. The pitch of the vocals was known as "Aimayei" (アーイマイー). She remained positive throughout the three-day recording session that was done for the two characters. After she finished, she was told to do more recordings due to the successful performance as the recording process was better than expected.
A couple of days before the recording session, △○□× (miwasiba) began to draft a design similar to flower in style. One character was girly while the other was boyish.
For the recording session, several pitches were recorded with Hime being recorded in a usual voice. During recording, Kotori noted that she could produce a higher pitch, and though it was not a falsetto voice, it was higher than most women were capable of. Higher vocals were normally unstable and require a great deal of hard work. As a result, the voice had the ability to perform a higher range without needing clean up.
During the recording sessions, the designs of the characters were worked upon as miwasiba listened to the recorded voices. Kotori recorded the vocals in an unconventional manner, with the final third day being head and "butt" vocals.
===VOCALOID5===
On August 16, 2018, Gynoid tweeted that a new VOCALOID was being planned.https://x.com/gynoid_jp/status/1030111674546630656
On February 8, 2019, Gynoid tweeted a photo of Kotori holding flower's VOCALOID4 box.https://x.com/koiwai_kotori/status/1093837260296843264 This was followed by a short series of tweets from flower and Kotori, giving hints of her being a voice provider but did not explicitly specify the character.https://x.com/v_flower_jp/status/1093838212257112064
On March 7, it was discovered on Gynoid's Japanese Amazon website that new voicebanks were to be released on March 30 under the names of MEIKA Hime and MEIKA Mikoto.https://www.amazon.co.jp/gynoid-GVMJ10001-2-VOCALOID-鳴花ヒメ・ミコト/dp/B07P9C5SGJ/ref=sr_1_4?s=software&ie=UTF8&qid=1551983193&sr=1-4&keywords=VOCALOIDhttps://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B07PBH8QX7/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_awdo_c_x_kMwGCb5WXMCZ1 On Gynoid's website, a page was also created to introduce the two characters.http://www.gynoid.co.jp/items/view/18 Here, it was confirmed that they were illustrated by miwasiba and their voice provider was Kotori.
Other announcements included Hime and Mikoto having speech voicebanks on Gynoid Talk,https://x.com/gynoid_jp/status/1103853576751742976 a voice package,https://x.com/gynoid_jp/status/1103853755471028224 MMD models by mqdl, and a set of 2D images by niijimaakiichi.https://x.com/gynoid_jp/status/1103853995070697472 It was confirmed that they could be purchased together or separately.https://x.com/gynoid_jp/status/1104597426592075777
On March 26, Gynoid stated on Twitter that the trial versions of the voicebanks are not supported for fixes as they are not considered official, and purchase with an activation code is required for support.https://x.com/gynoid_jp/status/1111861447024209921 Users who downloaded the trial reported silence when attempting to use the voicebank.https://x.com/cillia/status/1111859897686093825
==Product Information==
===Demonstrations===
===System Requirements===
*OS:
** Windows: Windows 7, Windows 8.1, Windows 10 (All 64bit, latest updates applied)
** Mac: OS X 10.11 (El Capitan) or later (All 64bit)
*CPU: Intel Multi-core processor
*RAM: 8GB (Lowest: 4GB)
*Hard Disk Capacity: 1GB
*Internet connection.
*DVD drive
===Voicebanks===
==References==
==Navigation==
Category:MEIKA Hime & Mikoto
Category:Voicebanks
Category:Japanese voicebank
Category:VOCALOID5 voicebank
Category:Voicebanks with trial versions