"Megurine Luka & Hatsune Miku x LincEnglish" Collaboration Confusion

LincEnglish, a Japanese-based online English teaching centre had previously announced a planned collaboration of "Megurine Luka & Hatsune Miku x LincEnglish" with Vocaloid-related teaching materials, which was scheduled to start on April 1st.
However, a slight misinformation had occurred when the classes started.

Those whom enrolled had expected Vocaloid-related teaching materials, complete with textbooks and exercises revolving around the Vocaloid universe, complete with its characters and illustrations.

According to the website later on, it was revealed that the normal teaching materials could not use the illustrations as shown on the website, but promises an original novelty present upon registration for their classes.

Hopes of having Luka-nee or Miku-nee teaching eager fans have been dashed, as it was purely a marketing strategy, none of it related to the educational means for those who've enrolled.

However, a notable and favourite illustrator of mine handled the main banner, Murakami Yuichi (村上ゆいち), the man whom is also responsible for the visual key of Racing Miku 2011, which has ended up with Nendoroid, figma and currently a 1/8 scaled renditions. 

If you'd like to follow him and his artworks, please refer to his links below;

• Murakami Yuichi's Blog
• Murakami Yuichi's Pixiv 

Album Review - Last Color

From the crossfade video above, I'm sure you could tell that this album review would be on SCL Project's latest album - Last Color! Basically this is the first and the last major album for VanaN'Ice, so fans of VocaRock and male Vocaloid2 characters should not miss this!

Before that, let's wiki attack to get an introduction on VanaN'Ice and also the team behind this superb album!

Kagamine Len, Kamui Gakupo and Shion Kaito were united as a single vocal group to form a virtual band known as VanaN'Ice where Gakupo plays the bass while Kaito and Len plays the guitar. Often these virtual idols are featured in virtual Kei style. Thus these Vocaloid2 characters are often dressed in extravagant costumes as illustrated in most of their PVs.

The most notable song of VanaN'Ice would have been [Imitation Black] which have hit 1.2 million views on NicoNicoDouga recently. [Setsugetsuka] is another song which is rising in fame too.





SCL Project is the production team that produced all the songs for the virtual band, VanaN'Ice. natsu-P is in charged of the music, vocal tuning as well as the lyrics where else Haku is responsible for the mixing and the playing of musical instruments such as guitar, bass, drums, etc. Finally, let us not forget HaruAki who contributed pretty illustrations and PVs that inspired the cosplay community all around the world!

Besides songs featuring VanaN'Ice members, I would like to recommend another song by SCL Project - [Spiral Game]




Now, let us move on to the actual album! Here's the song list as shown below. Alternately, you can check that out on VocaDB (link)

1. 眼
2. LOVELESS×××
3. Le rouge est amour
4. 背徳の記憶〜The Lost Memory〜
5. Dark Side of the Moon
6. Tears Rain
7. 13943号室
8. Arrest Rose
9. 桜舞イ散リヌ-麗-
10. Last Letter
11. Escape
12. Eternal Song
13. IMITATION BLACK (BONUS TRACK)
14. Fate:Rebirth (BONUS TRACK)
15. 刹月華 (BONUS TRACK)
16. LOVELESS -piano ver- (BONUS TRACK)

First and foremost, I would have to mention that the songs in this album were listed in a very beautiful order! The first 8 songs, with [背徳の記憶〜The Lost Memory〜 ] in particular, gave a rather dark/emotional feel to the album. That would definitely touch the hearts of fans with a liking for sentimental and emotional melodies.

After these songs, the album turns back to the usual rock feel, with several solo songs featuring each of the band member. Kagamine Len, Kamui Gakupo and Shion Kaito have their spotlight moment in  [Dark Side of the Moon], [Le rouge est amour] and [Tears Rain] respectively!

To end this post, I would like to share one particular song with a sweet xylophone melody - [桜舞イ散リヌ-麗-]

Vocaloid Lily gets Nendoroid Treatment

A rather quiet announcement from the anim.o.v.e website has started that Nendoroid Lily has been decided!

The announcement states the Nendoroid version will come with her signature mic, as seen in her 1/8 scale counterpart, along with tentative names for the decided faceplates:

• Calm Face
• Singing Face
• Honey Lily = Hari Face

More info to be released later on, and hopefully an official announcement by Mikatan herself sometime soon. 

DJ Hellcove Corner: TGIF and SELAMAT MALAM!

Hey Hey people whats up! Its time for another DJ Hellcove corner with selection of wondrous Vocaloid music, just for you >w<. Pretty sure everyone had an hectic weekdays with works, study, friends and what other shits...but thank God its Friday! So sit back and enjoy the songs.

But first here an eye candy~

Sena: I am Hatsune Niku~
Miku: And I am...Miku? XD

Alright, lets start with the first song shall we?

Let start with something slow, again, We have our diva, Miku Append singing the song 'Light in the Blooming Garden' (光の咲く庭で) composed by natsumeg. Enjoy~

Ah, nothing like a good slow music to cool of my days. Miku Append contain lot of good voicebanks so I sure hope more composer will be using her in their songs.


Alright second up we have, IA singing a cover of the song "Turn Me On" by David Guetta. It was mixed by one of my favorite non-Japanese composer, Circus-P/matt9five.

Hahaha, proper English is still way long for Vocaloid it seems, but the music is decent. Hopefully matt9five produced new song rather than just making covers. Been a while since Amai Kotoba.



Let have our songstress GUMI sing the third one shall we? I give you, Setsugetsuka (雪月花), songs made by devilish5150.

Yup, nothing wrong with good VocaRock once a while. Wait scratch that let keep on rocking!!

Alright folks, this is the last song, VY3 Lily is singing 'Leviathan', work of the team monaca:factory. As some of you might know, VY3 has been succesfully released yesterday on 19th of April. We from Vocaloidsync hope that composers will continue on working with her~

Well, thats all peeps. See you next week and Selamat Malam!!( >w<)~

Weekly Vocaloid Ranking #237

Its time for another Weekly Ranking People~ were there any of your favorite song in there? Click read more to find out. BUT FIRST~ an eye candy!

Naho's Opening Statement:


Good evening everyone, it's time for this week's Voca-Ran.
It was a busy weekend, and hectic days are coming back. In these days leading up to Golden Week, maybe you are feeling a bit excited? If so, please watch the VocaRan and relax. The ranking is already heading towards the Golden Week war front at full speed and full of amazing songs.


Well, now lets watch the ranking from #30. Lets go!!

30 (7↓)          【初音ミク】不安定彼女【オリジナル曲PV】
29 (New!!) 【初音ミク】フラッシュバックアンビエンス【オリジナル】
28 (16↓)       【ＩＡ】想像フォレスト【オリジナルPV】
27 (21↓)       【初音ミク・巡音ルカ】リンちゃんなう！【鏡音生誕祭2011】
26 (48↑)     【初音ミク】　ムテキノヒーロー【オリジナルPV】
25 (6↓)       【V3Lily】Lying and Lying【デモソング】
24 (New!!) 【IA】22世紀からのハロー【らいだーP】
23 (24↑)     【GUMI】 イカサマライフゲイム 【オリジナル・PV付】
22 (New!!) 【GUMIpower】　幸福列車に乗ろう　【オリジナル】
21 (9↓)       【初音ミク】 Black Board 【オリジナル曲】
20 (3↓)       【鏡音レン】スーパーヒーロー【オリジナル曲PV】
19 (15↓)     『初音ミク』千本桜『オリジナル曲PV』
18 (40↑)            【蒼姫ラピス】 煙に巻けッ！ 【オリジナル】
17 (New!!) 【ミクAPPENDsolid】インスタント・ヒーローズ【オリジナルPV】
16 (New!!)   これら6個の項目をごみ箱に移動しますか？／歌、鏡音リン
15 (--↑)       【iMaschine】iPhoneとVOCALOIDで遊んでみました
14 (26↑)     【GUMI・鏡音リン】 インビジブル 【オリジナル曲・PV付】
13 (4↓)       【初音ミク＋IA】コノハの世界事情【オリジナルPV】
12 (2↓)       【鏡音リン・レン】イカサマ⇔カジノ【オリジナルPV】
11 (New!!) 【初音ミク】Hello_World 【オリジナル曲】


Pick Up (New!!)【幻想】華添え詩【初音ミクオリジナル】【PV】


10 (New!!) 【初音ミク】　絆創膏　【オリジナル】
9 (1↓)         【IA】日本橋高架下R計画【アニメーションMV】
8 (New!!)  【初音ミク】Leucocoryne【オリジナル】
7 (New!!)  【Mew】ステラ【オリジナル曲】
6 (New!!)    サイコロジック／164 feat.GUMI
5 (10↑)      【GUMI 】彩愛クレパス【オリジナルPV】
4 (New!!)  【初音ミクappend】　虹　【オリジナル曲】


This week in History
5 -  初音ミクオリジナル曲PV付き「butterfly paradox」
4 - 【初音ミクオリジナル】　P　名　言　っ　て　み　ろ　！　【550人】
3 - 【初音ミク】ラストエフェクト【オリジナル】
2 - 【鏡音リン・初音ミク】ラストバトル【オリジナル曲PV】
1 - 【ミク・リン・ルカ・レン・レンAppend】「SPIRAL GAME」オリジナル曲

3 (New!!) 『風待ちハローワールド』 : 初音ミク/add9(ヘリP)
2 (New!!) 君はいなせなガール／歌、IAとmiki
1 (New!!)【IA】六兆年と一夜物語【オリジナル曲・PV付】






Naho's Closing Statement:


That was this week #1! 


'VOCALOID 3 Library Lily' consist of two voicebank : the original VOCALOID02 re-released for V3 engine and another new voicebank specially recorded for V3. Scheduled to be released on 19 April via Internet.


Also, "NEXT HATSUNE MIKU-Project Diva-" has finally been announced and will be available on PS Vita and PS3. Demos will be playable during NicoNico Choukaigi, hold at the Makuhari Messe convention centre, at the SCE booth. It will be its world premiere!


Additionally there will be many activities during the Choukaigi, including Chou-Vom@s and live concerts, as well as itashas, cosplay and dance battles at other booth....In a sense, it can be called the 'Vocaloid Content Expo'.


Well then, the rest of the ranking from #31.


(Editor note [hellcove]: We will be not showing the ranking from #31 for now. Please go to our friend Vocaloidism for more info. Thanks and sorry.
Oh and lolz at Naho's pun on ACE')

Credit to Vocaloidism for some of the translation.

sasakure.UK feat. Hatsune Miku Translation Contest

Fans! Are you good in Nihongo/Japanese languange?! Sure you are, after all those years of watching animes, J-doramas and stalking in the Net, particularly 2-chan. Fufufufu~

In that case, you might be interested to join a contest to test you capability. sasakure.UK with the help of HearJapan is giving the chance for worldwide fans to try translate one of his notable song which is featured in his latest album The Fantastic Reality of Aesop. Click read more for more details and to hear his song~

Alright there it is~ I hope the song make you geared up to ransack that brains, translating all the kanjis and hiraganas used. Well, in any rate lets discuss on further about the contest shall we?

But before that, I believe two introduction are in order~

For Vocaloid fans, I believe most are familiar with sasakure.UK, but I will tell you anyhow! The composer was born in Fukushima and he grew up influenced by literary works and music from 8-bit and 16-bit style, which pretty much explain his style of composing. sasakure.UK work basically use Miku as main vocal and most of his song spun abstract stories with wide array of funky sounds. Those who interested to learn more about him, click here. 

As for Hear Japan, its a Japanese digital music platform which enable its users to pay to download from various Japanese artists. Its price currently is quite decent where the album with 17 songs can only cost 500 yen/ 6.19USD. In other word, its a cheap legal substitute to the normal expensive hard copy disc. I encourage fans to buy from this site from time to time as support toVocaloid and J-artist, as you can actually just pay at 50yen price to buy for one song  only.

Alright, lets get back to main focus which is the contest. 

First of all, you are required to translate the above said song into English and send them to HearJapan email before the deadline which is 11 May. Oh you also have to register yourself as a HearJapan user to enter, dont worry its free. Hear Japan is also being generous by giving all entrants a 200 credit point which you can use to buy songs. Oh, and your work MUST BE ORIGINAL as well.

First prize will get an illustrated book of the translated song and The Fantastic Reality of Aesop CD which are signed by sasakure.UK himself. Want to hear more details on the contest? Please click here.

Well, I wish you all the best folks. May the Vocaloid Force be with you~

Album review - Gliese

[hellcove] An album review by alex. 

Gliese by Nem. 

Len X Gumi. That's definitely a rare and interesting pairing. This pairing was featured in the album Gliese by the producer Nem. To me, Nem's songs are often light and simple, and yet these songs have a immerse sentimental and romantic character to them. Some of Nem's hit songs include アリスにさよなら . The album Gliese contains everything, if not, more than what you would expect from a producer as popular as Nem.

Nem's songs are not your regular pop/rock songs.
While most of his songs have a upbeat tempo similar to those of the common rock band songs,
these songs often have a rather heavy and dark feel to them.
Furthermore, Nem is also an awesome utaite (singer)
You can check out some of his covers on NND here (link).

Now, back to the album review.
This is Nem's second album, Gliesse which launched at the end of 2011.
Practically this album featured the many facets of Nem's music style.

1. 宵闇のアウグスティン　/　鏡音レン
2. LOVE DEATH　/　鏡音レン
3. 嗚呼、素晴らしきニャン生　/　GUMI×鏡音レン
4. Oasis No.404　/　GUMI
5. virgin suicides　/　鏡音レン
6. 夢喰い白黒バク　/　鏡音レン
7. a song flying to you　/　GUMI
8. Somatic Delusion　/　GUMI×鏡音レン
9. Stoic Party　/　鏡音レン
10. 星を渡る鳥　/　鏡音レン

First impressions:

• 星を渡る鳥 - As the cover song, it left a deep impression on me (I have to admit, I am a sucker when it comes to Len solo pieces)
• virgin suicides - Guess Rin ain't the only Kagamine twin who could do good rock song. Nevertheless, Nem is definitely impressive with his use of Len's voicebank.
• 夢喰い白黒バク - this song was once on the top spot of the Weekly VocaRan. Quickly listen to this song to find out why.

Second thoughts:

• Stoic Party - The electric guitar intro drawn me to this song while Len's vocals kept me clicking the replay button.
• Somatic Delusion - Kinda reminds me of his previous work,  アリスにさよなら
• A song flying to you - Well, I do have a soft spot for sentimental songs. And this song filled in that gap, along with other Vocaloids songs such as Just Be Friends.