| Japan's newest singing sensation is a... Hologram. No, that's not a typo! It's amazing where technology is headed these days! Over in Japan Cryton Future Media is actually starting projector concerts using a actual live band to compliment their virtual vocaloid idols like Hatsune Miku. Regardless of being a Hatsune Miku fan or not, just seeing what technology can accomplish is just amazing. While this technically isn't a 'true' hologram (one where light actually takes up volumetric space rather than just a planar surface) like the one we've all seen of in Star Wars, it is still nevertheless quite impressive how real this appears! According to SingularityHub, Hatsune Miku is a based off of the singing synthesizer application developed by Crypton Future Media. Miku's voice comes from Yamaha's Vocaloid synthesizing technology and is sampled off of a real person's voice--Japanese actress (but not singer) Saki Fujita. Regular, technologically-inclined users (such as yourselves) can purchase the Vocaloid software with an avatar (such as Miku) for 15750 yen (about $190), and create their own songs to share with others. The software is reportedly rather in-depth and allows users to connect vocals note-by-note. The virtual characters have gotten so big that people are no longer satisfied with diving into this world on the internet--Hatsune Miku gave her first concert on March 9, 2010, at Zepp Tokyo in Odaiba. Zepp Tokyo is a moderately-sized concert hall that holds about 3000 ... |
