Vocaloid Keyboard is a physical MIDI keyboard with a built-in Vocaloid synthesizer. The commercial product as a keytar was released in December 2017.[2]

Vocaloid Keyboard[1]
ManufacturerYamaha Corporation
Datesprototype 2012 - 2015, commercial product 2017 -
Price¥32,400~39,800 (Japanese Yen)
Technical specifications
PolyphonyVocaloid: monophonic, Instruments: 48
Input/output
Keyboard37 keys
Left-hand controlPitch Bend Wheel, Expression Wheel, Transpose Button, Phrase Button, Memory Button, Skill Button, Octave Button, Loop Button
External controlmobile app

About edit

The Vocaloid Keyboard was designed using the VY1 vocal. It is part of the eVocaloid range, a LSI sound generator called the "NSX-1" source chip which can generate 30 sounds of midi. For VY1, it uses the NSX-1 chip "eVY1".

The first prototype was showcased at INTERACTION by Information Processing Society of Japan, March 2012.[3]

The commercial prototypes as 37 key keytars with three colours; black, white and pink were officially showcased at several events in Japan, 2015.[4][5][6][7][8][9] The keytars were able to be played at three Joysound's Karaoke in Japan in 2015.[10]

In 2015, green Megpoid version was also showcased at Think MIDI[11] and purple Yuzuki Yukari version was featured in niconico live broadcasting by VOCALOMAKETS.[12]

The first commercial model VKB-100 was released in December 2017.[13] VKB-100 won Good Design Award 2018.[14] It was also selected as GOOD DESIGN BEST 100.[15]

References edit

  1. ^ Yamaha Corporation. "VKB-100 - 仕様". jp.yamaha.com (in Japanese). Retrieved 2 January 2018.
  2. ^ Yamaha Corporation. "VOCALOID Keyboard". www.vocaloid.com (in Japanese). Retrieved 2019-03-18.
  3. ^ Shota Kagami, Keizo Hamano, Kazuki Kashiwase and Kazuhiko Yamamoto (2012-03-17). "Development of Realtime Japanese Vocal Keyboard" (PDF). Information Processing Society of Japan. Retrieved 2019-03-18.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  4. ^ "ニコニコ超会議2015:ボカロが気軽に使える「VOCALOID KEYBOARD」を見てきた!". ねとらぼ (in Japanese). Retrieved 27 April 2016.
  5. ^ "ヤマハがニコニコ超会議2015に「VOCALOID KEYBOARD」を展示!". VOCALOID Link (in Japanese). Retrieved 27 April 2016.
  6. ^ "今度は簡単に弾けるショルキー型「VOCALOID KEYBOARD」2015年モデル、その仕組みを詳しく聞いてきた (1/2)". ITmedia ニュース (in Japanese). Retrieved 27 April 2016.
  7. ^ ヤマハ株式会社. "【終了】VOCALOID™ KEYBOARDを目撃しよう!~ヤマハ、ヤマハ発動機 合同デザインイベント開催" (in Japanese). Retrieved 2019-03-18.
  8. ^ "球体型のドラムやボーカロイドキーボードが登場、ヤマハのデザインイベント・レポ". BARKS (in Japanese). Retrieved 2019-03-18.
  9. ^ 株式会社インプレス (14 December 2015). "【藤本健のDigital Audio Laboratory】第660回:Bluetoothやボカロと連携する"未来のMIDI"。「Think MIDI」で見た最新動向 - AV Watch". AV Watch (in Japanese). Retrieved 2019-03-18.
  10. ^ ヤマハ株式会社. "【好評につき期間延長&対象店舗追加】JOYSOUNDでVOCALOID™ KEYBOARDと歌おう!" (in Japanese). Retrieved 2019-03-18.
  11. ^ "Think MIDI 2015|INTERNET" (in Japanese). Retrieved 2019-03-18.
  12. ^ "結月ゆかり誕生祭2015生放送 告知内容まとめ - VOCALOMAKETS blog". 21 December 2015. Retrieved 2019-03-18.
  13. ^ "ヤマハ ボーカロイドキーボード『VKB-100』− 「初音ミク」をはじめ最大 5 種類の歌声に対応。12 月発売予定 −" [Yamaha Vocaloid Keyboard "VKB-100" - Supports up to 5 types of singing voices, including "Hatsune Miku". Scheduled to be released in December −] (news release) (in Japanese). YAMAHA. Retrieved 2019-03-18.
  14. ^ "Good Design Award 2018" (in Japanese). Retrieved 2019-03-18.
  15. ^ "GOOD DESIGN BEST 100". Retrieved 2019-03-18.