Hatsune Miku NT

Illustration by iXima.

**This article is about the Piapro Studio NT software known as a voicebank. If you are looking for the Piapro Character then click here.**

**Hatsune Miku NT** is the first version of Hatsune Miku to be released for Piapro Studio NT. She was released on November 27, 2020.

## History

### Pre-release

On December 24, 2019, wat stated on twitter that new information would be released regarding Hatsune Miku NT (short for NewType).  Later that day, the official sonicwire twitter account announced the product page for Hatsune Miku NT was open. The full product was to be released by August 2020, and users could register for the product early.  Those who registered for Hatsune Miku NT early will be able to access a standalone "prototype" version of Piapro Studio NT in March 2020. This "prototype" version of the editor could be used with Miku's NT Original voicebank.  wat also tweeted that the company was working on a more organic sounding singing style, set to be completed in January 2020.

wat also stated that some parameters were being worked on to improve the sound of consonants, and that he was working with Asami Shimoda.

On March 16, 2020, wat stated that the beta release date for Hatsune Miku NT had moved to early April.  wat stated the delay was due to various reasons.  The beta version of the product was then delayed a second time. This time, the release date for the beta version was pushed back to the middle of May. On May 22, 2020, the official SONICWIRE twitter account stated the beta version of Hatsune Miku NT was in the final stages of development, and it was planned to be released within the next week.  On June 2, 2020, wat tweeted that he looked at Hatsune Miku's data from 2007 when structuring her NT voicebank, and states there were some specific qualities Miku had which he stated could not be replicated in Yamaha's synth engine.

### Prototype Release

On June 4, 2020, the SONICWIRE twitter account announced Hatsune Miku NT protorype and Piapro Studio NT prototype were available to download.  The next day, the official SONICWIRE twitter account stated they had read though the suggestions various users had made. They stated vibrato functions, sound quality improvements, more natural singing options, and some bug fixes would be added to the prototype version of NT by late June.  On June 11, 2020, Wat stated Miku's NT Original voicebank would receive an update, as well as some bug fixes for the engine.  on June 17, 2020, wat stated the sound quality of the engine would be focused on first, and then Miku's vocal database would be updated.  In a later tweet, it was stated new recordings from January would be used for the database update.   Later, it was revealed the initial prototype original Miku voicebank had some incorrect parameter levels entered into the database. A temporary update to fix the input issue was scheduled to be released the next day.

On June 30, 2020, Piapro Studio received an update, 3.0.0.5 and Miku NT's original database received an update, β2 1.0.0.1. The update improved the voice library's sound, and added a new ability to create natural waveforms based on the type of note and phonemes. Minor bug fixes were also made. The next update in late July would consist of adding vibrato, updating the attack function, releasing another voice database, improving the pitch curve, and other minor bug fixes.  Sometime later, in July, wat stated there would be some issues updating Hatsune Miku NT's database and the Piapro Nt engine.   The new release date, mentioned in a blog post by wat on 13 August 2020, stated the release date would be moved to the 27 of November. EVEC would also be added to NT.

On November 4, 2020, the new design for Hatsune Miku NT was released, the NT design for Miku is designed by Rella, and illusted by iXima.

The full release of Hatsune Miku NT Original voicebank was released on November 27th, 2020. That same day, the SONICWIRE website announced that the Whisper and Dark voicebanks would be released later due to pronunciation and quality issues.

Hatsune Miku NT was updated to version 1.0.0.7 alsongside the corresponding Piapro Studio NT v3.0.3.4 update on June 24th, 2020 and a demo was uploaded to YouTube showcasing all three libaries. Within the update new features were introduced including the addition of "Hatsune Miku NT Dark +" and "Hatsune Miku NT Whisper +" libraries. A function that corrects the length of consonants according to the melody or phrase that is typed as well as the optimization of intelligibility for some phoneme transitions were also introduced. Wat noted the same day on Twitter that he was interested in developing other appends in the future.

## Product Information

### System Requirements

* Windows:

OS : Windows 8.1（64bit）/ Windows 10（64bit）

CPU : Intel Multi-core processor(Inter Core i5 or better

RAM　: 4GB or more (8GB or better)

HDD : 8GB or more (NTFS FORMAT)

Install media : DOWNLOAD FILE

Other : Sound Device (with DirectX Support) / A monitor resolution no lower than 1280 x 768 pixels / Internet connection(always)

* Mac:

OS : 10.11 / 10.12 / 10.13 / 10.14 / 10.15

CPU : Intel Multi-core processor(Inter Core i5 or better

RAM : 4GB or more (8GB or better)

HDD : 8GB or more (HFS+ FORMAT)

Install media : DOWNLOAD FILE

Other : A monitor resolution no lower than 1280 x 768 pixels / Internet connection(always)

### Reception

According to ITMedia's report on the prototype release, Miku has the same sound quality to her voice (meaning she sounds like Miku). However, adjustments need to be made in a DAW as the sound quality (the voice as rendered by Piapro Studio) itself is rather poor. Despite the recommended range being F2 to G4 (2 octaves), she actually does A2 to E4 (1.5 octaves). One of the main issues with the voice is it doesn't perform the same as before due to the engine change. The resulting behaviour change means that Producers may have to adjust any old VOCALOID4 files (Piapro cannot read pre-VOCALOID4 files) to suit the new engine. The report gave the Miku NT and Piapro prototype a mixed review noting many of the flaws and positions of both.

## References

1. ↑ https://twitter.com/vocaloid\_cv\_cfm/status/1209728701107073024
2. ↑ https://twitter.com/cfm\_sonicwire/status/1209743566609600513
3. ↑ https://sonicwire.com/product/39841
4. ↑ https://twitter.com/vocaloid\_cv\_cfm/status/1210102323470454784
5. ↑ https://twitter.com/vocaloid\_cv\_cfm/status/1210484525693718528
6. ↑ https://twitter.com/vocaloid\_cv\_cfm/status/1210388912142614528
7. ↑ https://twitter.com/vocaloid\_cv\_cfm/status/1239448020325814275
8. ↑ https://blog.sonicwire.com/2020/03/nt.html
9. ↑ https://twitter.com/cfm\_sonicwire/status/1248166632108642304?s=19
10. ↑ https://twitter.com/cfm\_sonicwire/status/1263696645885026305
11. ↑ https://twitter.com/vocaloid\_cv\_cfm/status/1267780823723282437
12. ↑ https://twitter.com/cfm\_sonicwire/status/1268467740156674049
13. ↑ https://twitter.com/cfm\_sonicwire/status/1268802514905731073?s=19
14. ↑ https://twitter.com/vocaloid\_cv\_cfm/status/1270955402704728065
15. ↑ https://twitter.com/vocaloid\_cv\_cfm/status/1273537819873406976
16. ↑ https://twitter.com/vocaloid\_cv\_cfm/status/1273827863809060871
17. ↑ https://twitter.com/vocaloid\_cv\_cfm/status/1274274196932055040
18. ↑ https://twitter.com/vocaloid\_cv\_cfm/status/1274960754060349442
19. ↑ https://blog.sonicwire.com/2020/06/nt-4.html
20. ↑ https://mobile.twitter.com/vocaloid\_cv\_cfm/status/1288401735434690561
21. ↑ https://mobile.twitter.com/vocaloid\_cv\_cfm/status/1288401735434690561
22. ↑ https://sonicwire.com/news/blog/2020/08/nt-5.html
23. ↑ https://sonicwire.com/news/blog/2021/06/hatsune-miku-nt-v1007
24. ↑ https://twitter.com/vocaloid\_cv\_cfm/status/1407955722273398785?s=20
25. ↑ https://www.itmedia.co.jp/news/articles/2006/04/news141.html Itmedia published a review of the prototype version of Hatsune Miku NT.