Did someone say ice cream? Well you better be generous enough to give one to this vocaloid bishie! This charming boy was the first male vocaloid to be released and he has never failed to bring a smile on his fan's faces. KAITO's voice range is not too high or too low, rather he's in-between the two; which makes his voicebank very appealing to his numerous listeners. This vocaloid male is well known for his aloof and bubbly oniisan (big brother) personality, which brings out his vocaloid identity. So let's get to know him more in this entry!

Quick! Follow that ice cream truck! 


KAITO is a Japanese male Vocaloid created by Crypton Future Media. He utilizes the older Vocaloid engine developed by YAMAHA. He claims the spot of the last vocal to be released for the Vocaloid engine and is the first Japanese male Vocaloid to have appeared from Crypton Future Media. The voice was supplied by a Japanese male singer Fūga Naoto (風雅 なおと). The illustration was done by Takashi Kawasaki.



We know very well that KAITO was also one of Crypton's early vocaloids and he was the first male vocaloid to be released in the whole series. The duo was released on the same date and was presented to the public in late 2003. He and MEIKO had a prerelease album called "History Logic System" wherein they had duet together in the song "Ano Subarashii Ai wo Mou Ichido (That Wonderful Love Once More)" other Japanese vocaloids were included in the album as well. Prior to Kaito's release, his demo song was released 3 years before his final appearance with Meiko in the market. His demo song was named "Kimi no Uwasa (Rumor of Yours)". Kaito was released 2 years after Meiko made her debut.


Here are his basic facts!

Voicebank Name: KAITO
Seiyuu風雅 なおと Fūga Naoto
Illustrator: Takashi Kawasaki (Original used in 2006)
Company: Crypton Future Media
Age as a Synthesizer: 8 years old
Age as a Character: Around 20 years old
Character Item: Ice Cream (either in a cone or in a cup)
Character Color: Blue





At the time of his original sale, Vocaloid was not yet a well known product, and synthesizing software was only considered successful if it sold more than 1,000 units. However, Kaito managed to sell only 500 units—deeming him "a commercial failure." In contrast, his counterpart, Meiko, had sold 3,000 units in her first year.

Kaito's initial failure was one of the main reasons why other male vocaloids have not been developed for a long time after his release. The male voicebanks had so little demand at that time. However, later interest in Kaito arose and Kaito sold well enough to later claim the second best seller of the year in Nico Nico Market in 2008. From 2009 up until late 2011, he was in the top 10 best selling software of Crypton Future Media often competing not only with Vocaloid 2 era voicebanks, but on occasion outselling them.



Kaito's Update and Append in 2011
The first commercial usage of the Kaito Append was from the album "VOCALOID民族調曲集", which features Kaito Append singing the song "千年の独奏歌 (kaoling mix) / yanagi". The VOCALO APPEND album later used beta voicebanks of Kaito's "Normal", "Soft", and "Whisper" voicebanks singing "Lost Destination" with Kagamine Len Append.

In January, CFM noted that the silhouette has a transparent muffler. On February 17th, 2011, Crypton released a temporary silhouette of Kaito's Append. They said that it has not been decided whether he will have a transparent muffler or not since there was previous outcry from fans.

In March, Wat mentioned work on Kaito's vocal had encountered a problem which halted the work. He also did not know the release date yet.

In April, work on Kaito's voice resumed. Work on the vocal along with other protects had come to a hault.Wat mentioned wanting to do a vocal with a soft tone to it as well as a down toned voice.The voice of Kaito was going through checks on α stage. On the 13th April, 2011, it was confirmed 6 vocal expressions had been recorded, two of which were dropped and the remaining were being brought forward with one having reached a completed alpha stage already. The Character Vocal (Hatsune Miku, Kagamine Rin/Len and Megurine Luka) series Appends had been created from vocal performance of their voice providers. The new Kaito Appends were created by adding echo, force and tension to the samples.

Crypton Future media also noted that several voicebanks had been recorded with new high tech microphones through a series of trial and error instead of the standard U87ai, these were;

•Vivid
•Solid
•Power

These vocals were done as a series of experiments with new equipment using Naoto Fūga's voice. Kaito's voicebank for "Whisper" and "Soft" were released soon after the first 3 append voicebanks he received. 



Kaito's Update in 2012
In Feb Wat discussed the differences between the CV series (Hatsune Miku, Kagamine Rin/Len and Megurine Luka) and Kaito/Meiko and stated their updates were being adjusts using editing techniques to achieve the results, whereas the CV series Appends had been done by acting performance. English Kaito voicebank was reported to have received adjustments to a few of it diaphonetic data in Feb 2012.

Crypton Future Media began looking for Japanese producers who can use English capable Vocaloids to work with for the English version. Kaito himself is currently being compared to overseas male English Vocaloids. On 23rd of Feb it was announced that they were able to talk about the progress of both Japanese and Kaito voicebanks in production. The company is exchanging VSQ files with producers to see how the current English Vocaloids compare with Kaito.Several overseas producers were now taking part with Kaito's production. Kaito's double vowel and vowel to vowel sounds had been adjusted after a report came back on him.

It is confirmed that Kaito's clothes would not change in March 2012, they will just get a facelift. The boxart will also use a 2.5D style drawing. In early March 2012, Kenmochi Hideki was given the voicebank to make further adjustments to. English vocal was sent to Kenmochi Hideki to check the vocals. Crypton noted that all that was left over was that Kaito's vowels had to be adjusted.

In April, Crypton commented on "Whisper" use of triphones as "wonderful". Kaito's "Normal" voicebank was also officially declared as part of the new version. Wat also confirmed the manual will contain a history of Vocaloid Kaito.

Checks were run on Kaito's voice in October. Further adjustments were made to Kaito and Miku in early October prior to their vocals demostration. Crypton were also considering what to call the default vocal for Kaito and had suggested names like "Neutral", "Natural" and "Default".

A English demo of Miku and Kaito was shown NYCCon 2012, both are still in Beta version. Kaito's V3 "whisper" and V3 vocal were shown. Kaito's release of his English vocal was expected "by the end of this year or the begining of the next".

In December it was reported that news on the update of Kaito is due within the next few days.

According to Crypton Future Media, there had been some delay on Kaito's V3 version due to their desiring to include "Piapro Studio" with his package.





Kaito's Update for 2013

In early Jan 2013, adjustments to Kaito's voicebanks were completed and Kaito was set to be released in mid-Feb 2013 as scheduled. DTM Magazine is due to run a series of tutorials on how to use Kaito V3 for beginners. The idea of the bundles being offered with Kaito V3 software is to give users a means to create everything they need in basic sound making.The reason why Kaito has 4 vocal libraries is to minimize the amount of troubles they would encounter with the pack. A special discount will be offered to Vocaloid Kaito users, price is being based on the difference between Vocaloid Kaito and the CV series price.

Kaito's V3 release is set for February 15, 2013


Just like his fellow vocaloids, Kaito also has his own very special song that has been dubbed as his "character song" and that song is no other than:

CANTARELLA
Composed by Kurousa-P

By far, out of all his songs, "Cantarella" has been the most popular among Kaito's supporters. I find this song very meaningful as well because of the depth in the story and how Kaito's voice was used in the composition. Cantarella has been cosplayed, dubbed and has been used for numerous live actions and cosplay skits by Kaito's fans all over the world. Making this song as the all time fan favorite. 



Judgement of Corruption
Composed by Mothy

Meiko wasn't the only one who received a composition from the amazing Mothy, Kaito also took part in this Seven Sins series. "Judgement of Corruption" was the song composed for Kaito wherein he represented the sin Greed in the series. In this composition, Kaito is brought to a much higher octave compared to his usual songs which gave the song more depth and feel. 


CANTARELLA 
(Append Kaito -Soft- Demo)
Composed by Kurousa-P

With everyone excited with his new voicebank that's including his ENGLISH bank, there are numerous demos posted in both Nico Nico Douga and in YouTube. One of which is "Cantarella" that now has a new remix and composition for Kaito's V3 voicebank. This demo features his "Soft" voice, one of the many voices that will be included in his release in February. 



You're probably wondering why I placed A VERY LONG history for KAITO. Well for the most part, all of you should be aware that Kaito received the most reworks and changes out of the vocaloids. Since he didn't sell as many copies as Meiko did, the Crypton team did numerous changes to his voicebanks; this includes his seiyuu, Fuga Naoto, to produce several voicebanks for him in his package. I wanted you guys to see the drastic changes that happened to Kaito's voicebank and tell the difference from his Vocaloid voicebank to his Vocaloid3 one. I think it's worth appreciating on how far Kaito has grown and improved overtime during his career as a vocaloid. I can see how much effort Crypton has put upon this guy and I'm so glad they didn't give up on him when he didn't do so well on his first release.

So my dear readers, always keep in mind that this ice cream-loving vocaloid you know and love tolerated a lot of improvement and changes before he became who is today. Kaito, in my own opinion, has one of  the best voicebanks done by Crypton in the whole series. After listening to his appends and numerous of his songs, it definitely showed me that Kaito is a vocaloid worth loving and buying. I'm pretty sure his seiyuu conquered a lot of challenges to bring the utmost perfection in Kaito's voicebank, and honestly, all the effort paid off and they were all worth it.


*Source of Kaito's History: Vocaloid Wiki

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