SOLARIA

* Physical
* Digital

**SOLARIA** is an English vocal developed and distributed by Eclipsed Sounds, LLC, and released as an AI voice database for *Synthesizer V Studio* in January 2022.

Her voice provider is Emma Rowley, an American singer-songwriter, pop recording artist, and Broadway performer.

## Concept

SOLARIA is themed to be like a sun goddess. Her age and height are open for interpretation, though she is considered an adult and the company itself considers her to be above average height for women. Her overall character information is left for users to decide.

Her concept derived from the "Eclipse" theme based on the company's name. Taking the voice provider's vocals into account, she became based on the sun.

According to the crowdfunding page, SOLARIA's design was noted to be mature and powerful.

SOLARIA is regarded as female but Eclipsed Sounds encourages people to make their own decisions in regards to her gender, noting her to be more like a canvas for users to depict her in any way they would like. This also includes her race.

### Etymology

According to SOLARIA's production diary, Niamh Easter (a.k.a. "niamhsboba"), Eclipsed Sounds' lead designer, suggested the name "SOLARIS", which was SOLARIA's former name. "**SOLARIS**", stemmed from the Latin word meaning "solar" or "of the sun". It is a rarely used modern unisex American name. Pronunciations include "so-LAHR-is" and "so-LER-is". The name was changed due to a variety of reasons. The primary reason was because of an "abundance of other characters, IPs, and products named "SOLARIS".

"**SOLARIA**" is a portmanteau of "solar" and "aria". The name was chosen to quickly evoke the idea of a singer on name alone. Eclipsed Sounds is not strict on pronunciation. SOLARIA is also a modern feminine Italian and Spanish name, but is rarely used.

### Appearance

SOLARIA's design is based on the concept of a sun goddess. She wears a crimson dress, with a sweetheart neckline detailed with gold. The hem of the dress is adorned with a gold thread pattern. Underneath her dress, she wears black tights. Around her waist is a gold belt buckled in the front with a ruby. She wears a gold shoulder plate and cuffs. A cape of bright yellow hangs on her back, the color fading into burnt orange. Upon her golden head sits a pointy gold tiara. Her hair is a dirty blonde at the roots, and a pale yellow at the tips. Her eyes are the color of ambers. She has a constellation-like pattern on her cheeks. Her shoes are golden pumps. She accessorizes with a gold necklace and ankle bracelet. A dust of bright colors surrounds her hands.

In the full artwork, SOLARIA was confirmed to be standing on a sundial. In the November 2022 digital icon, she wears gold headphones with the tiara's shape retained at the crown. According to SOLARIA's production diary, the character was based on Emma Rowley with some twists. SOLARIA had star-shaped freckles forming constellations on her cheeks in reference to Emma's summertime freckles. SOLARIA was white, like Emma, but has a heavy tan due to her being near the sun most of the time.

In July 2023, with the launch of ASTERIAN's "Eclipsed" design contest, it was noted that his and SOLARIA's clothing were a blend of modern pieces filtered through a mythological lens.

## Voice Libraries

* SOLARIA Standard (*Synthesizer V Studio*), Unreleased; Introduced May 10, 2021
* SOLARIA AI (*Synthesizer V Studio*), January 19, 2022
* SOLARIA AI Lite (*Synthesizer V Studio*), March 26, 2022

## Additional Information

### Marketing

During the crowdfund period, an illustration contest was launched and slated to end on June 26, 2021, giving participants a chance to win a digital copy of the Synthesizer V Pro editor. The winner was announced to be Nyś (@Nixie\_Blue).

Following the events of the crowdfund, a second contest for designing an alternate design for SOLARIA was announced, where the winning design would become part of official content and illustrated by the key artist, Superstellar, herself. The theme of the contest was "SOLARIA: Eclipsed Design." The winner was announced to be static (@staticcoceans).

1st illustration contest winning entry by NyśWinning Eclipsed concept by staticFinalized Eclipsed illustration by Superstellar
When asked as to why SOLARIA has a character image to represent her, Eclipsed Sounds answered that having a character to represent vocals was considered a tradition within the vocal synthesis community. They also noted that having an associated image of a person made it clearer that the software is a virtual singer, giving an idea of what the voice may sound like before listening.

On March 5, 2022, an original song contest was announced to be launching, which would coincide with the release of SOLARIA Lite later in the month. While full details were yet to be provided, it was noted that entries must prominently use SOLARIA with no other virtual singer voices present. Human duet partners were allowed. Participants would be required to submit a link to their uploaded song and the .SVP file to the Eclipsed Sounds website before the end of the entry period. The song contest started on March 26 and submissions were set to close on June 24 (total of 90 days). Along with it, SOLARIA Lite was released for those who wanted to enter the contest but did not own the full SOLARIA database. The first prize winner would win $300 USD via PayPal, the crowdfund exclusive merchandise (including a physical copy signed by Emma Rowley), and an optional offer to collaborate with Eclipsed Sounds to make a new video for the winning entry. The second prize was $100 USD and a physical copy of SOLARIA, the third prize was $50 USD and a physical copy of SOLARIA, the fourth prize was a digital copy of SOLARIA, and the fifth prize was a pack of crowdfund merchandise (acrylic stand, keychains, and buttons). After filtering songs that did not meet the requirements, there was a total of 238 songs to be judged. Five winners, five runner-ups, and six honorable mentions were announced on July 31, with the grand winner being "SANDCASTLES" by Nishin.

On June 24, Dreamtonics Co., Ltd. announced its first creation contest in collaboration with AH-Software Co. Ltd., Animen, AUDIOLOGIE Co., Ltd., and Eclipsed Sounds with three competition areas: originals, covers, and cross-lingual synthesis. Creators were encouraged to submit their work regardless of language restrictions. Prizes included cash distribution from bilibili, digital copies of certain Synthesizer V voice databases, and the physical boxed copy of ANRI. SOLARIA was listed as one of the eligible vocals for this contest.

On July 21, SOLARIA was featured in the Synthesizer V Studio 1.7.0 tutorial video, which introduced High Dynamics Voice Models and AI Retakes. This marked her first appearance in an official engine demonstration hosted by Dreamtonics.

On July 31, SOLARIA was made available on the Dreamtonics International store and was the first non-Dreamtonics vocal to be added. Initially, she was only distributed through Eclipsed Sounds as a standalone digital product, with physical copies only being made available to crowdfund backers and events such as contests. Through Dreamtonics, she was available as both a standalone product and as a bundle pack with the Synthesizer V Studio Pro editor. She was later made available on the Dreamtonics Taobao shop with the same options as the International store on October 28.

On December 6, Eclipsed Sounds announced that SOLARIA received her own Spotify artist profile.

On January 20, 2023, Eclipsed Sounds announced "SUNDIAL", an official compilation album made for SOLARIA's first anniversary. The album's cover would be decided through an illustration contest and pre-orders would begin in late March after the illustration was decided.
The deadline for the illustration contest was extended to April 30 after a review of extension requests and the company's upcoming schedule. On May 27, the winning design was announced to be illustrated by khazure.

From April 13 to April 15, Eclipsed Sounds had a booth at the NAMM Show where people could try out their vocalists, including SOLARIA.

### Reputation

SOLARIA's character status
**Reaction**

Upon revelation of SOLARIA's (then known as SOLARIS) project and a sample of her test library in May 2021, she was met with excitement. At the time, the only English voice database released was Eleanor Forte (released in 2018), who was to be followed by Tsurumaki Maki, the first English Synthesizer V vocalist available for both Standard and AI, in June 2021. As the third introduced and the first to be showcased by a western company, SOLARIA's debut left a positive impression among fans. After a successful crowdfund, SOLARIA was set for production. During this process, SOLARIA became one of four upcoming English vocals (which included Eleanor Forte AI, ANRI, and Kevin). This further excited Western fans as there were more English vocals to choose from after three years of only having one available since *Synthesizer V'*s release in 2018 (that being Eleanor), filling in a demand for more in this language. SOLARIA's AI voice database was shown in December and fans noted that she had a strong voice, welcoming this trait within the English and overall AI roster.
**Impact**

SOLARIA's production was made possible through a successful crowdfunding campaign that was launched from May to June 2021, with the final total confirmed to be 120% and the number of backers being 396. On March 5, 2022, Eclipsed Sounds commented that there was much support for SOLARIA since her release and that they were busy fulfilling digital orders and answering customer inquiries. They also thanked everyone who believed in the SOLARIA project and helped make her into a reality, as well as those who supported her in post release. They noted that the support and enthusiasm was more than they could have expected. The large support for SOLARIA also allowed Eclipsed Sounds to reinvest and create their second vocal: ASTERIAN.

In an interview with Taylor Hennessy, the CEO of Eclipsed Sounds, conducted by DTM Station in April 2023, regarding SOLARIA's and ASTERIAN's sales, Taylor replied that unlike in Japan, most people from the United States and Europe were not as familiar with singing voice synthesis software, and most have not heard of Synthesizer V or even VOCALOID. She admitted that the company was struggling, but they were proud that the software's quality was on the same level as professional recordings. They believed if the quality and fun of Synthesizer V can be conveyed, it would be appreciated by many people. Tomohide Ogata from AH-Software added on that despite Taylor's comment regarding slow sales, there was rapid sales growth in the United States and Europe since the previous year, giving the impression that there was a gain in momentum.
**Miscellaneous**

The first song featuring SOLARIA to reach 1 million views was one of her demo songs, "Aura", an original by GHOST, which occurred on February 23, 2022.
**Achievements**

* First Synthesizer V character from Eclipsed Sounds.
* First English voice database from Eclipsed Sounds.
* First Synthesizer V AI voice database from Eclipsed Sounds.
* First female voice database from Eclipsed Sounds.

## References

1. ↑ https://eclipsedsounds.tumblr.com/post/651540424378531841/how-tall-is-SOLARIA
2. ↑ https://eclipsedsounds.tumblr.com/post/650904059852783616/how-old-is-SOLARIA
3. ↑ https://eclipsedsounds.tumblr.com/post/650932901613076480/can-you-tell-us-more-about-SOLARIAs-theme-and
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ET6Kdw15L\_8
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 https://archive.org/details/solariaproductiondiary/
6. ↑ https://www.behindthename.com/name/solaris/submitted
7. ↑ https://twitter.com/eclipsedsounds/status/1409362157494538249
8. ↑ https://www.behindthename.com/name/solaria/submitted
9. ↑ https://www.eclipsedsounds.com/post/asterian-eclipsed-design-contest
10. ↑ https://twitter.com/eclipsedsounds/status/1403918175675293702
11. ↑ https://twitter.com/eclipsedsounds/status/1409373592773664768
12. ↑ https://twitter.com/eclipsedsounds/status/1409369350470094848
13. ↑ https://twitter.com/eclipsedsounds/status/1431793210163073026
14. ↑ https://www.eclipsedsounds.com/faq
15. ↑ https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/695380056943493280/949559600519184414/unknown.png - Screenshot as of March 5, 2022
16. ↑ https://www.eclipsedsounds.com/solaria-original-contest SOLARIA Song Contest Page
17. ↑ https://twitter.com/eclipsedsounds/status/1542507986366504962
18. ↑ https://link.indiegogo.com/view/60d8f35b65e8716e91410f2262e73b6c1900b87414072b53/75452545
19. ↑ https://www.bilibili.com/read/cv17237015
20. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyvXI3jEyRo
21. ↑ https://twitter.com/eclipsedsounds/status/1553933132780503047
22. ↑ https://twitter.com/eclipsedsounds/status/1553933134823137281
23. ↑ https://link.indiegogo.com/view/60d8f35b65e8716e91410f2262e73b6c1900b87414072b53/75452545
24. ↑ https://weibo.com/7752303641/McpN4AN5u
25. ↑ https://twitter.com/eclipsedsounds/status/1600154484327399424
26. ↑ https://twitter.com/eclipsedsounds/status/1616327236780527616
27. ↑ https://twitter.com/eclipsedsounds/status/1616327238881787904
28. ↑ https://www.eclipsedsounds.com/sundial-illustration-contest
29. ↑ https://twitter.com/eclipsedsounds/status/1616332518462038017
30. ↑ https://twitter.com/eclipsedsounds/status/1636567146401525761
31. ↑ https://www.eclipsedsounds.com/post/solaria-sundial-illustration-contest-results
32. ↑ https://twitter.com/eclipsedsounds/status/1646570434148835329
33. ↑ https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/695380056943493280/918406655488696360/unknown.png
34. ↑ https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/695380056943493280/949559465466814494/unknown.png - Screenshot as of March 5, 2022
35. ↑ https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/695380056943493280/949559656295059486/unknown.png - Screenshot as of March 5, 2022
36. ↑ https://twitter.com/eclipsedsounds/status/1592277700663996419
37. ↑ https://www.dtmstation.com/archives/60933.html

## External links

* Character Page
* SOLARIA Indiegogo Crowdfunding Page
* SOLARIA Spotify artist profile