Megurine Luka (巡音ルカ), codenamed CV03, is a Japanese VOCALOID developed and distributed by Crypton Future Media, Inc., and was initially released in January 2009 for the VOCALOID2 engine. She is the third release of Crypton's Character Vocal Series and is a Character Voice VOCALOID.
Her voice is provided by the Japanese voice actress and singer, Yū Asakawa (浅川悠 / Asakawa Yū), who was recorded in Japanese and English for the voicebank.[1][2]
As of 31st of August, she is due to be moved to the new Piapro Studio software.
Concept
Luka's original concept was that of a bilingual VOCALOID and according to Crypton Future Media, Luka was originally going to be called "Hatsune Miku", prior to the change of concept plans for the Character Vocal series.[3]
Etymology
Her surname combines "Meguri" (巡, circulate or around) and "Ne" (音, sound), while the name "Luka" invokes the Japanese homonyms "nagare" (流, flow) and "ka" (歌, song) or "ka" (香, scent), thus making: "songs to all around the world as scent spreads."
Her name is based on her concept, which is "travelling sound", meaning words which are translated from one language to another.[4]
Her codename of "CV03" means "Character Voice 03".
Appearance
According to KEI, who was asked by Crypton to illustrate her, her design was made to be asymmetrical due to her bilingual software so she would look different in various angles. Unlike previous mascots in the series, her costume is not based on a school uniform. She is based on the "Yamaha VL1 VL-1". Her dress was designed to look old-fashioned to make her represent the past. As a form of contrast, the "∞" on her neck area represents "sound around".[5] Her design incorporates woodwind and brass instruments. The gold curl design on her chest mimics brass instruments and a circulatory organ. The blue jewel near her throat represents moisture in the air and water drops.[6]
History
Marketing
Despite the inclusion of English, Megurine Luka was not aimed at a worldwide audience. Instead, she was focused primarily at Japanese producers. Her VOCALOID2 software and promotions therefore were restricted for a long time to within Japan and not even software support was offered in English.
Crypton future Media applied for trademark for Luka on January 29, 2015.[7]
Voicebanks
Megurine Luka had a number of VOCALOID releases, some of which were released also for Piapro Studio versions that used the VOCALOID API.
References
- ↑ Yū Asakawa's Official Profile
- ↑ Yū Asakawa's Blog
- ↑ http://www.itmedia.co.jp/news/articles/0902/10/news036.html
- ↑ http://blog.crypton.co.jp/mp/2009/01/post-95.html [dead link]
- ↑ http://sekiseblog.blog51.fc2.com/blog-entry-150.html
- ↑ IT Media News - 「巡音ルカ」は「ミク」「リン・レン」とどう違う？ (How is Luka different from Miku and Rin/Len?)
- ↑ http://www.trademarkia.com/megurine-luka-79159406.html