SONiKA

SONiKA (/ˈsɑnɪkæ/tweet 3:16 AM - 6 Jun 11) is an English VOCALOID developed and distributed by Zero-G Limited, and was released in July 2009 for the VOCALOID2 engine. SONiKA is advertised as a "virtual vocalist modeled on the voice of a young girl pop singer"; her voice provider has never been revealed.
==Concept==
She is the first native English speaking VOCALOID to use a character design and profile as part of the product. SONiKA was released with profile/biographical information on the back cover of the software package, similar to the other VOCALOID2 products. Her personality also shows in her tweets.
It was stated in the live stream for DEX and DAINA that SONiKA was an experiment.link
===Etymology===
The name "Sonika" is Hindi, a girl's name based on the Hindi word for "golden beauty", and was likely chosen due to a resemblance to "sonic" (relating to sound).
===Appearance===
According to her twitter messages, SONiKA's hair color is able to change color (e.g. from green to red). She also has freckles that show in the summer heat. The tattoo on her left arm is her name in katakana as " ソニカ ".
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V2=
In her original design, SONiKA is portrayed as a 3D model with short green hair and green eyes. She wears a sleeveless yellow top and a bluish-green beaded necklace. Her fingernails are painted pink. In front of her is a silver microphone on a stand.
====Updated current appearance====
INFORMATION PENDING
====Promotional Chinese version====
INFORMATION PENDING
====Promotional Taiwanese version====
INFORMATION PENDING
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V4 (unreleased)=
INFORMATION PENDING
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===Relations===
SONiKA is the first VOCALOID to coin the concept of "The VOCALOID Family". This was previously a fan concept that accepts all VOCALOIDs as a form of undefined "family". SONiKA, however, became more definite on how she was related to certain VOCALOIDs.
*SONiKA regards LEON, LOLA and MIRIAM as her older siblings.
*Prima as her "auntie" and Tonio as her "uncle."
*She referred to BIG AL as her "best friend" when asked about which VOCALOID she talked to the most.tweet 3:31 AM - 6 Jul 11
*All other VOCALOIDs are referred to as her cousins.tweet 2:28 AM - 5 Aug 09tweet 2:30 AM - 5 Aug 09
In regards to the introduction of VOCALOID3, SONiKA was glad to be getting more siblings, and she stated she was looking forward to meeting her new friends and singing alongside them.
==History==
===Marketing===
Prior to SONiKA, Zero-G did not do much to market their VOCALOIDs, since they sold based on reputation of their products to a strictly professional market and most marketing was done via traditional means (such as software reviews).link Vocaloid company by halkun Unlike past VOCALOIDs, SONiKA was a more fandom driven VOCALOID. Rather than target professionals, Zero-G focused on selling SONiKA to the VOCALOID fans. This produced in both positive and negative results, with the most important advantage being that Zero-G was able to create links with the VOCALOID English fandom that never existed previously. The downside was that any disappointments around SONiKA were more felt than with previous VOCALOIDs they had made since they were talking to the fans of VOCALOID software directly.
Her official website has since been defunct, but an archive snapshot is avalible.Official website archive.org 2019 of April
On August 21, 2021, illustrator PerroneLia and producer ODDEEO released concept artwork for a potential VOCALOID4 update project for SONiKA that was in production in 2018.https://twitter.com/PerroneLia/status/1429190672620294147https://twitter.com/_ODDEEO_/status/1429221077767630853 Aki Glancy confirmed the production of the update, despite having only some involvement in the project and noted that the project did not go past beginning recording and concept design stages due to the release of VOCALOID5.https://twitter.com/AkiGlancy/status/1429222523330306050 She noted in a comment further down that contact with Zero-G Limited was lost after the project fell through.https://twitter.com/AkiGlancy/status/1429227355143380994 The concept design was then repurposed for usage in the VOCAMERICA English VOCALOID concert.https://twitter.com/AkiGlancy/status/1429223082091323397 A 3D model by modeler HeeyeonX2 based on the design was made for use in the concert.https://twitter.com/HeeyeonX2/status/1429123362274545667
===Voicebanks===
;SONiKA
:SONiKA was the first VOCALOID by Zero-G to have editing done to samples, as normally they allow their voicebanks to sound natural to keep realism. As such, SONiKA copied popular techniques that Japanese VOCALOIDs were using in VOCALOID2, with mixed results. SONiKA is a young, female vocal with a sweet, soft sounding, youthful voice.
*SONiKA (VOCALOID2), July 14, 2009
*SONiKA (VOCALOID4), circa 2018 (cancelled voicebank)https://twitter.com/AkiGlancy/status/1429222523330306050
==Music featuring SONiKA==
==Reputation==
==References==
==External links==
Language	Description	Site
==Navigation==
Category:SONiKA
Category:Zero-G Limited
Category:E-capsule Co. Ltd
Category:Big Fish Audio, Inc.
Category:VOCALOID
Category:VOCALOID2
Category:Feminine vocals
Category:English vocals