Apryl Foolsen (エイプリル・フールセン) is a vocal synthesizer character developed by VocaTone Studio for the UTAU engine, originally conceived as an April Fools' Day prank, and was released on April 1, 2013.
Her voice provider was initially unrevealed, but was confirmed to be a voice actor who was hired to provide basic samples and was credited as "some girl I guess".[2] Following the release of her GOLD voicebank update in April 2024, her voice was confirmed to be provided by Raven James, also known as raenoleah, a long-time VOCALOID enthusiast.
Concept[]
Apryl Foolsen is a young teen vocalist, originally introduced as a young and refreshing voice to use at your fingertips.[3] She was introduced as a "VOCALOOD3", a notable play on VOCALOID3, conceived as an April Fools Day prank, similar to the conception of VIPPERloids. She is noted to be a "high pitched retro voice with a unique ring."[3] She is also addressed as the fake cousin of the VOCALOID3 and Maghni AI vocalist, Oliver, another product created by VocaTone Studio.[4]
She was created by members of VocaTone Studio who "slapped together" various scraps of projects and hired a voice actor to provide basic samples for her UTAU voicebank. She is released annually each year on April 1, for only a day. Upon her initial creation, a glitch occurred on the official VocaTone website, rendering Apryl's voicebank to be unavailable to the public for more than a week.
Apryl Foolsen was notably conceived as a "library made by a very young newbie to the software." Upon the release of her updated GOLD voicebank in April 2024, Apryl Foolsen "grew up", noted that "...at some point all children grow up, and all newbies learn how to use their medium. all newbies learn how to use their medium."[5]
Etymology[]
Her name, "Apryl Foolsen" is a play on the words April Fools, in reference to the day celebrated on April 1 annually, consisting of practical jokes and hoaxes.
Appearance[]
Apryl Foolsen's debut illustration features a crudely drawn image of a young woman with green eyes and voluminous blonde hair held under a pink head band, wearing a matching, two-piece purple top and bottom. She wears two small pink ribbons on her left forearm and ankle.
Apryl Foolsen's GOLD appearance was drastically changed featuring a new illustration with a more refined and thorough design, referencing parts of Apryl's debut design, keeping her green eyes, blonde hair and pose, while providing her with a new outfit. She takes on a more robotic or android-like appearance with visible jointed segments on her abdomen, upper legs and ankles, with a purple garter belt on her upper left thigh. Her outfit still consists of a two-piece top and bottom albeit featuring a pastel-pink top and mauve-purple skirt with pale-yellow trim, overlaid with a cropped purple jacket. A golden chain extends from her purple belt to her left wrist. Her hair has been cut with a more straight-edged appearance as opposed to her former design's more voluminous perm and is fastened with a pink headband.
Personality[]
According to her official social media accounts, such as her official Twitter and Facebook accounts, Apryl has a seemingly deranged, self-centered and unhinged personality, noted to have a "twisted mind."[6] She has a mission to "take over the Vocaloid world."[7]
History[]
On April 1, 2013, a member from VocaTone Studio introduced a new character, "Apryl Foolsen" on VocaloidOtaku Forums, "addressing the need for a young teen" vocalist. Apryl Foolsen was announced as a new "VOCALOOD3", a "revolutionary revolution in VOCALOOD3 technology", made with the decision to "develop a young and refreshing voice to use at your fingertips." Apryl was released as an annual contribution for April Fools as a CV UTAU voicebank, available originally on the official VocaTone 2shared.com account.[3][8] She was released again on the official VocaTone Studios' Google Drive on April 1, 2022 in celebration of her 9th anniversary.[9][10] She was made available to download for only a day until 12:00 AM CST, and at the time was unsure if the distribution would continue the following year.[11]
Following the creation of VocaTone Studios' new website, a new online store was created in 2021 featuring new merchandise for VocaTone Studios characters and digital goods.[12] Included in this store is an annual download for Apryl Foolsen, to be made available on April 1 of each year, only available for that day.[13]
Apryl's voicebank contains 171 Japanese voice samples in WAV format for use in UTAU.
On April 1, 2024, Apryl received an update dubbed as "Apryl Foolsen GOLD", containing the original voicebank and additional 257 triphonic ("VCV") recordings.[14]
Voicebanks[]
Trivia[]
- VocaTone was planning to release a second VOCALOOD prank character, however, due to Apryl's failure to cause an impact, and due in part to the unavailability of her voice bank, the second VOCALOOD character was not released.[2]
References[]
- ↑ https://vocadb.net/Ar/140112
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 https://www.tumblr.com/vocatoneofficial/86072795387/vocatone-character-profile-3-vocalood3-apryl
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 https://web.archive.org/web/20130614011420/http://www.vocaloidotaku.net/index.php?/topic/40973-new-vocatone-vocalood3/
- ↑ https://twitter.com/vocatone_oliver/status/427922718248296448
- ↑ https://vocatone-store.myshopify.com/products/apryl-foolsen-gold
- ↑ https://twitter.com/AFoolsen83073
- ↑ https://www.facebook.com/742000279183321/photos/a.742002979183051/742002719183077/
- ↑ https://twitter.com/vocatone_oliver/status/318884025978744832
- ↑ https://twitter.com/VocaTone/status/1509902507304275970
- ↑ https://twitter.com/VocaTone/status/1509998165570822153
- ↑ https://twitter.com/VocaTone/status/1510249155062554631
- ↑ https://twitter.com/VocaTone/status/1473715947148042245
- ↑ https://vocatone-store.myshopify.com/products/apryl-foolsen-cv-utau-voicebank
- ↑ https://twitter.com/VocaTone/status/1774663210857017466
External links[]
Official[]
- Twitter (@AFoolsen83073)
- VocaTone Studios Apryl Foolsen Product Page
Articles[]
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