You’ve seen the term “Vocaloid” thrown around the internet, you found the one you like, and you may be curious as to what they actually are and whether you can use them in your music.

Well, that’s okay. We’re answering both questions here and now.

What is a Vocaloid?

A Vocaloid is a piece of software that we can use to model the human singing voice. We can create vocal phrases with pre-recorded vocal sound banks (Vocaloid voicebanks are recorded voices of a person). In that respect, they’re the same as a sample pack. Unlike a sample pack, you can determine what the Vocaloid will sing. That’s right, we can use them to make music by programming what lyrics our Vocaloid will sing over our backing track.

Vocaloid phrases are all generated within the software, but you’ll sometimes find that they feature actual singers too. The term “Vocaloid”, however, always refers to the software. Once created, a Vocaloid is given a name and sometimes a brand/persona.

Here are some examples:

• Vocaloid Fukase (voiced by singer Fukase from Sekai no Owari band)
• Vocaloid Utatane Piko (voiced by singer Piko)
• VY2 and VY1 (masculine and feminine voices voiced by the same anonymous person)

Very few Vocaloids are created with no official character. The purpose of these Vocaloids is so users can imagine what they look like. However, these Vocaloids aren’t as popular as Vocaloids with characters, and the lack of character design surely plays a role in this.

You may have noticed that Vocaloid merchandise overlaps with typical anime merchandise. This includes figurines, plushies, bags, etc. Famous Vocaloids, such as Kagamine Rin/Len and Hatsune Miku, have brands shaped based on them that fans adore. This makes them so much easier to relate to.

It didn’t take long after the release of the first Vocaloids, Leon and Lola, for fans and users alike to create huge amounts of content like music and videos and upload them to the web. The publishing of this content created wave remixes and collaboration between creators on new projects.

Vocaloids were a profound breakthrough in music technology. Vocaloids offer a far cheaper alternative to professional singers, or even learning to sing, and the versatility of setting key, BPM, harmonics, etc. allows us to perfect create vocal phrases in a custom way. Just like we were singing ourselves. This means we no longer have to adapt our music to a vocalist’s voice and have full creative control.

Each Vocaloid character’s vocal expression is unique to them. Think of them as video game characters, as that’s a pretty easy analogy to go with. The vocals can be further edited according to your style as if you were creating mods for the video game.

A Vocaloid’s voicebank features all possible syllables of the language it’s built for. This allows us to shape the vocal into any word in the language!

Can I Use Vocaloids in My Music?

The short answer is yes. Whether you’re selling your music commercially or uploading it to free sites, you can use Vocaloids in your music. You can sell singles and whole albums that feature Vocaloids.

But there is one catch, and most Vocaloid companies use this same rule.

You cannot feature use the Vocaloid character/avatar or branding in your artwork or on any asset linked with your release. You need the permission of the Vocaloid company to do any of these things.

Each Vocaloid’s terms of use may differ in some ways. Before doing anything, it’s best to read the companies terms and conditions so you know what you can and can’t do. Generally speaking, though, if you have paid for the software then you can use their voices as you please. It’s just the character that is hidden behind the trademark firewall.

---

If the Vocaloid voicebanks you’ve found aren’t quite doing it for you then we know a place where you can grab some awesome vocal samples.

The sampling revolution has risen in popularity and shaped music since the early 1970s. Sample culture continues to transform how millions of artists and producers do their thing in DAWs.

You too can break conventional norms, challenge the status quo, and open Pandora’s box of sound design.

Mixxed works with a growing number of sample labels and contributors to provide you with an affordable sample subscription service that’s more accessible than any before.

You’ll have access to our growing catalogue of loops, one-shots and sound effects that you can browse, download and keep forever for less than $3 a month.

Sign up today to find your sound!