GUMI

GUMI (グミ) is a Japanese VOCALOID developed and distributed by Internet Co., Ltd. as Megpoid (メグッポイド) which was initially released in June 2009 for the VOCALOID2 engine. There have since been three installments developed for the VOCALOID3 engine: an update of the VOCALOID2 voice bank, additional Japanese voice libraries serving as an expansion pack, and a new bank dedicated to the English language. Her Japanese voicebanks were updated to the VOCALOID4 engine in November 2015, while for the VOCALOID6 engine, she released as a Japanese AI vocal in October 2022, which allowed her to use the "Multilingual" function to sing in English and Mandarin Chinese without the need for recording fully dedicated voicebanks to each language.https://x.com/GUMIfromMegpoid/status/1580448971872665600 In July 2024, GUMI received an extension to her AI Megpoid voicebank, AI Megpoid SOLID, also for the VOCALOID6 engine.https://x.com/GUMIfromMegpoid/status/1768601279432134663https://www.ssw.co.jp/products/vocaloid6/megpoid/index.html
In January 2014, GUMI received a speech voicebank known as Megpoid Talk. She later received a speech voicebank for in September 2022.https://www.ai-j.jp/topics/7346/ In June 2024, GUMI received an update to her A.I.VOICE voicebank for .https://x.com/GUMIfromMegpoid/status/1768984185346417000https://x.com/GUMIfromMegpoid/status/1788816626978349522
In December 2023, GUMI received an voice database for .
Her voice is provided by Filipino-Japanese singer and voice actress Megumi Nakajima (中島愛; Nakajima Megumi).
==Concept==
GUMI was the second VOCALOID released by Internet Co., Ltd. and had a more retro-futuristic approach than Camui Gackpo.
===Etymology===
"Gumi" is a childhood nickname of Megumi Nakajima. Nico Nico Pedia - メグッポイド (Megpoid) The software name, "Megpoid", was taken from the provider's name "Megumi." The second half, "poid", is a combination of "ppoi" (: resembling) and "loid": "like Vocaloid". The full implied name of this product is "Megumi-like Vocaloid."
Less experienced overseas fans often mislabel GUMI as a "Megpoid" rather than a "VOCALOID" and sometimes dismiss that she is a VOCALOID entirely. Another notable mistake is labeling her name as "Megpoid Gumi" or "Gumi Megpoid". This is due to the confusion between the software package's name and the name of the VOCALOID mascot. The same issue occurs with Camui Gackpo and his software Gackpoid.
===Appearance===
The original avatar character of the software was drawn by Masami Yuuki (ゆうきまさみ Yuuki Masami). Her design is often said to be influenced by 's character (one of the first roles done by Megumi Nakajima as a ). Ranka Lee's main outfit (which she wears for the notable song "") contains the colors green, yellow, and orange. This has never been officially confirmed, but is still a popular assumption with both Japanese and overseas VOCALOID fans. Her illustrations from her debut VOCALOID2 software, through her VOCALOID3 releases including: V3 Megpoid, Native, English and up until her VOCALOID4 Megpoid V4 voicebanks had all been illustrated by Masami Yuuki. As of VOCALOID6, a new illustrator, Nou, has taken over the role acting as her official illustrator and has provided illustrations for her AI Megpoid and AI Megpoid SOLID voicebanks.
Her belt buckle incorporates the device's design.
Concerning GUMI's age, during the V3 Extend development, Noboru once tweeted that there was a rough age preferred for GUMI set around the teenage years. However, no official age was given to GUMI in her designs. When writing about Extend, it was noted the voice could be considered 'extensions' of the age conceptualized for GUMI.https://x.com/noboru1963/status/88949029383307264
Across all designs, GUMI is generally depicted as a young woman with shoulder-length emerald green hair with short choppy bangs, and energetic green eyes. Her fingernails and toenails are painted orange.
<tabber>
V2 = In her V2 boxart, she wears an orange sleeveless suit jacket over a partially see-through top. Her skirt is two-tiered with a ruffled yellow layer over a white layer. The waistband of her skirt is orange and tied with a green belt. She wears white knee-high boots with green soles and flaps, and a red garter belt on her left thigh. On her wrists, she wears white cuffs with bright pink cufflinks. Her collar is tied with a silver necklace with a red stone.
GUMI's headset is unique as it is attached to a pair of silver goggles with red lenses.
|-|
V3= 
====V3 Megpoid====
GUMI's V3 Adult, Sweet/Power, and Whisper outfits consist of an orange jacket over a green crop top. Her skirt is light green with a pale yellow ruffle in the center. Attached to it are black suspenders. In her Sweet/Power design, she wears green shorts, stylized after her skirt. In her Adult and Sweet/Power designs, she wears orange over the knee boots with yellowy-green soles, while in her Whisper design, her boots are orange short boots with golden hoop zippers. Around her neck is a white cravat with a gold and red pin.
====V3 Native====
The design for V3 Native is exactly the same as her V2, with only the background and labels of the box being changed to fit "VOCALOID3".
====Megpoid English====
Regarding the box for V3 English, it features a silhouette of her V3 Japanese Power design. The character design to represent English was not used for the box illustration and instead portrays her in a short orange dress with frilly green and white ruffles on the hem. A large lime green bow is worn the back of her dress. Spaghetti straps on the neckline of her dress attach to a gold necklace with a red gemstone. She wears yellowish-orange opera gloves and stockings. Her stockings are supported by two red garter belts with white frilled trim. In her left hand, she holds a pair of wine red heels. Her hair is pulled up into a beehive, held fast by a gold and red clip styled after her signature goggles. Silver and emerald earrings are worn on her ears. This design was meant to have a different direction to previous illustrations.https://x.com/noboru1963/status/304536862360469505
|-|
V4= GUMI's V4 design consists of a crop top; a short-sleeved orange collared jacket with coattails, a number "4" printed on the left sleeve, and "Megpoid" printed on the right; jean shorts held fast with a thick belt, the belt buckle being stylized after the zipper in her V3 Adult, Sweet/Power, and Whisper boxart; and toeless sneaker-like wedges. She wears her red-lensed goggles atop her head, alongside a plain headset. Her ensemble is completed with a silver bracelet with a pink stone on her left wrist and a silver and red brooch on her collar. The only major differences in each design are color and socks/gloves, or the lack thereof.
* Native: Yellow belt and detailing on her jacket; white shorts; orange over the knee socks; teal hem on her sleeves, soles, and belt; white top, sleeves, shoes, goggles, and headset; pink graphics on her sleeves, shoelaces, garter belt, and orange nails.
* Adult: Yellow belt and detailing on her jacket; pink shoes, graphics on her sleeves, coattails, and garter belt; white shorts, soles, hem on her sleeves, and headset; black top, goggles, sleeves, and over the knee socks.
* Power: Yellow soles, graphics on her sleeves, garter belt, and detailing on her jacket; pink shoes and coattails; white top, hem on her sleeves, and shoelaces; black goggles, sleeves, over the knee socks, and headset; orange shorts.
* Sweet: Yellow top and shoes, one of the latter in each hand; teal graphics on her sleeves and detailing on her jacket; pink belt, and hem on her sleeves; white shorts, gloves, sleeves, goggles, and soles; black headset; orange garter belt; yellowy-green coattails and over the knee socks.
* Whisper: Yellow shorts and gloves; teal detailing on her jacket; pink shoelaces, nails, and graphics on her sleeves; lavender shoes, coattails, and hem on her sleeves; white top, goggles, sleeves, soles, and headset.
|-|
V6 = GUMI's V6 boxart is largely based on her previous designs, namely V2 and V3 Native.https://x.com/noboru1963/status/1580443717952884738 She wears a see-through honey-yellow sleeveless top with a green strip over her bosom, over which is an orange jacket with white cuffs and yellow lapels. The jacket is almost identical to the one she wears in her V3 Adult, Power, Sweet, and Whisper. Her skirt is green with see-through yellow fringe. It has the same orange scalloped waistband and green belt as seen in her V2 design. Her heeled boots are orange with lime green soles and white flaps, closely resembling those in her V3 Whisper. She wears a collar around her neck that's decorated with a red brooch. Atop her head are her signature white goggles with red lenses and a headset like that featured in her V2.
 WORK IN PROGRESS FOR SOLID
</tabber>
==History==
===Marketing===
GUMI originally did not have much marketing, but since gained enough popularity for further possibilities. She is Internet Co., Ltd.'s most successful VOCALOID and since the launch of VOCALOID3, has seen an increase in merchandise.
Originally, GUMI songs were not allowed to be sold on KARENT. This was later changed when Internet Co. gave permission for both her and Gackpo in 2009.
Her English version is aimed more at the English-speaking market. This is the first English capable vocal to be purchasable from the VOCALOID shop itself, as well as the developer's own website. Her vocal can be bought by anyone in the USA or the UK; however, other English-speaking countries still cannot purchase it directly.
===Voicebanks===
;Megpoid - Native
:This is the original Japanese GUMI vocal and has seen several voicebank updates. It is designed to have the vocal traits of Megumi Nakajima. It is a professional and realistic vocal. Its intention is to represent the voice of a cute young girl around teenage age.
* Megpoid (VOCALOID2), June 26, 2009
* V3 Megpoid - Native (VOCALOID3), March 16, 2012
* V3 Megpoid - Native (VOCALOID NEO), February 26, 2014
* Megpoid V4 (VOCALOID4), November 5, 2015
* Megpoid (Mobile VOCALOID Editor)
* Megpoid (VOCALOID Keyboard), 2017
;Megpoid - Native Fat
:Similar to the "Native" vocal, it was designed to be thicker in strength at lower frequencies. The result is a heavier-sounding voicebank.
* Megpoid V4 (VOCALOID4), November 5, 2015
;Megpoid - Adult
:This is a tone change that is designed to be natural so that changing mid-song is not so noticeable. It can be used for most of the roles and genres of music that the "Native" vocal can be used for. The main difference between this and the "Native" vocal is that this is designed to be more "mature" sounding and represents GUMI as an adult.
* V3 Megpoid (VOCALOID3), October 21, 2011
* V3 Megpoid (VOCALOID NEO), February 26, 2014
* Megpoid V4 (VOCALOID4), November 5, 2015
;Megpoid - Mellow Adult
:Similar to "Adult". This is designed to sound more laid-back compared to the normal vocal.
* Megpoid V4 (VOCALOID4), November 5, 2015
;Megpoid - Sweet
:This is a tone change that is designed to be natural so that changing mid-song is not so noticeable. It can be used for most of the roles and genres of music that the "Native" vocal can be used for. The main difference between this and the "Native" vocal is that this is designed to be cuter.
* V3 Megpoid (VOCALOID3), October 21, 2011
* V3 Megpoid (VOCALOID NEO), February 26, 2014
* Megpoid V4 (VOCALOID4), November 5, 2015
;Megpoid - Natural Sweet
:This is similar to the "Sweet" vocal. This vocal is a more natural-sounding version of the "Sweet" vocal that does not sound so forced.
* Megpoid V4 (VOCALOID4), November 5, 2015
;Megpoid - Whisper
:This is a tone change that is designed to be natural so that changing mid-song is not so noticeable. It can be used for most of the roles and genres of music that the "Native" vocal can be used for. The main difference between this and the "Native" vocal is that this is designed to be much more shy-sounding. The vocal is much more teen-like than adult-like when compared to "Adult".
* V3 Megpoid (VOCALOID3), October 21, 2011
* V3 Megpoid (VOCALOID NEO), February 26, 2014
* Megpoid V4 (VOCALOID4), November 5, 2015
;Megpoid - Soft Whisper
:Similar to "Whisper" but much gentler.
* Megpoid V4 (VOCALOID4), November 5, 2015
;Megpoid - Power
:This is a tone change that is designed to be natural so that changing mid-song is not so noticeable. It can be used for most of the roles and genres of music that the "Native" vocal can be used for. The main difference between this and the "Native" vocal is that this is designed to be much bolder-sounding and is used for notes that require more precision.
* V3 Megpoid (VOCALOID3), October 21, 2011
* V3 Megpoid (VOCALOID NEO), February 26, 2014
* Megpoid V4 (VOCALOID4), November 5, 2015
;Megpoid - Power Fat
:Similar to the "Power" vocal, it was designed to be thicker in strength at lower frequencies. The result is a heavier-sounding voicebank.
* Megpoid V4 (VOCALOID4), November 5, 2015
;Megpoid - English
:This is the English version of the "Native" vocal. Designed to have similar traits to the "Native" vocal but in English instead of Japanese.
* Megpoid English (VOCALOID3), February 28, 2013
* Megpoid English (VOCALOID NEO), February 26, 2014
* Megpoid English (Mobile VOCALOID Editor)
;Megpoid - Talk
:Another voicebank released for GUMI, this was not released for VOCALOID and was designed to allow GUMI to "Talk". It is designed to match the "Native" voicebank.
* Megpoid Talk (FineSpeech Ver3), January 16, 2014
* (), September 16, 2022
* GUMI from Megpoid (), June 7, 2024
;AI Megpoid
:An AI singing voicebank released for GUMI, she can use VOCALOID6's Multilingual feature to sing in both Japanese and English (as well as Mandarin Chinese, after applying her update compatible with version 6.1.0 of the editor).
* AI Megpoid (VOCALOID6), October 13, 2022
* (), December 20, 2023
;AI Megpoid - SOLID
:An extended AI singing voicebank for GUMI, expected to be similar to previous versions' Power voicebank.
* AI Megpoid SOLID (VOCALOID6), July 4, 2024
==Music featuring GUMI==
==Reputation==
==References==
==External links==
Language	Description	Site
==Navigation==
Category:GUMI
Category:Internet Co., Ltd.
Category:VOCALOID
Category:VOCALOID2
Category:VOCALOID3
Category:VOCALOID4
Category:VOCALOID6
Category:VOCALOID NEO
Category:Mobile VOCALOID Editor
Category:Feminine vocals
Category:Multilingual vocals
Category:Japanese vocals
Category:English vocals
Category:VOCALOIDs with updated voicebanks