GUMI (グミ) is a Japanese VOCALOID developed and distributed by Internet Co., Ltd. as Megpoid (メグッポイド) which was initially released in June 2009 for the VOCALOID2 engine. There have since been three installments developed for the VOCALOID3 engine, one that includes an update of the VOCALOID2 voicebank. She was updated to the VOCALOID4 engine in November 2015 for Japanese only and to the VOCALOID6 engine as a bilingual Japanese and English AI vocal in October 2022[1] (with an additional SOLID voicebank releasing in July 2024). She has since also released for Voidol. She also had a standalone Talk software based on the FineSpeech Ver3 text-to-speech engine, which released on January 2014; then she received an A.I.VOICE voicebank in September 2022[2][3] and was updated for A.I.VOICE2 in June 2024.[4] She received a Synthesizer V AI singing voice database in December 2023.[5]
Her voice is provided by Filipino-Japanese singer and voice actress Nakajima Megumi (中島愛).
Concept[]
GUMI was the second VOCALOID released by Internet Co., Ltd. and had a more retro-futuristic approach than Camui Gackpo.
Etymology[]
"Gumi" is a childhood nickname of Nakajima Megumi.[6] The software name, "Megpoid", was taken from the provider's name "Megumi." The second half, "poid", is a combination of "ppoi" (っぽい: resembling) and "loid": "like Vocaloid". The full implied name of this product is "Megumi-like Vocaloid."
Less-experienced overseas fans often mislabel GUMI as a "Megpoid" rather than a "VOCALOID" and sometimes dismiss that she is a VOCALOID entirely. Another notable mistake is labeling her name as "Megpoid Gumi" or "Gumi Megpoid". This is due to the confusion between the software package's name and the name of the VOCALOID mascot. The same issue occurs with Camui Gackpo and his software Gackpoid.
Appearance[]
The original avatar character of the software was drawn by Yuuki Masami (ゆうきまさみ). Her design is often said to be influenced by Ranka Lee's character (one of the first roles done by Megumi Nakajima as seiyuu (voice actress)). Ranka Lee's main outfit (which she wears for the notable song "Seikan Hikou") contains the colors green, yellow, and orange. This has never been officially confirmed, but is still a popular assumption with both Japanese and overseas VOCALOID fans.
Her belt buckle incorporates the Tenori-on device's design.
GUMI's Megpoid English design has a different direction to previous illustrations.[7]
Concerning GUMI's age, during the Extend development, Noboru once tweeted that there was a rough age preferred for GUMI set around the teenage years. However, no official age was given to GUMI in her designs. When writing about Extend, it was noted the voice could be considered 'extensions' of the age conceptualized for GUMI.[8]
GUMI is a young woman with shoulder-length emerald green hair with short choppy bangs, and energetic green eyes. Her fingernails and toenails are painted orange.
In her V2 boxart, she wears an orange sleeveless suit jacket over a partially see-through top. Her skirt is two-tiered with a ruffled yellow layer over a white layer. The waistband of her skirt is orange and tied with a green belt. She wears white knee high boots with green soles and flaps, and a pink garter belt on her left thigh. On her wrists, she wear white cuffs with bright pink cufflinks. Her collar is tied with a silver necklace with a pink stone. GUMI's headset is unique as it is attached to a pair of silver goggles with pink lenses.
GUMI's V3 Adult, Sweet/Power, and Whisper outfits consists of an orange jacket over a green crop top. Her skirt is light green with a pale yellow ruffle in the center. Attached to it are skinny black suspenders. In her Sweet/Power design, she wears green shorts stylized after her skirt. In her Adult and Sweet/Power design, wears orange over the knee boots with yellowy-green soles, while in her Whisper design, her boots are orange short boots with golden hoop zippers. Around her neck is a white cravat with a gold and pink pin. GUMI's V3 English design consists of an orange evening gown with frilly green and white ruffles on the hem. A large lime green bow decorates the back of her dress. Spaghetti straps on the neckline of her dress attach to a gold necklace with a bright pink gemstone. She wears yellowish-orange opera gloves and stockings. Her stockings are supported by two pink garter belts. In her hand, she holds a pair of wine red heels. Her hair is pulled up into a beehive, held fast by a gold and pink clip styled after her signature goggles. Silver and emerald earrings add sparkle to her ensemble.
GUMI's V4 design consists of a crop top, shortsleeved orange collared jacket with coattails and a number "4" printed on the left sleeve, and "Megpoid" printed on the right, jean shorts held fast with a thick belt, the belt buckle being stylized after the zipper in her V3 Adult, Sweet/Power, and Whisper boxart, and toeless sneaker-like wedges. She wears her iconic pink lensed goggles atop her head, along side a plain headset. Her ensemble is completed with a silver bracelet with a pink stone on her left wrist, and a dazzling silver and pink brooch on her collar. The only major differences in each design is color, and sock/gloves, or the lack of.
- Native: Yellow belt and detailing on her jacket, white shorts, black over the knee socks, teal hem on her sleeves, soles, and belt, white top, sleeves, shoes, goggles and headset, pink graphics on her sleeves, shoelaces and garter belt.
- Adult: Yellow belt and detailing on her jacket, pink nails, shoes, graphics on her sleeves, coattails, and garter belt, white shorts, soles, hem on her sleeves, and headset, black top, goggles, sleeves, and over the knee socks.
- Power: Yellow soles, graphics on her sleeves, garter belt, and detailing on her jacket, pink shoes, and coattails, white top, hem on her sleeves, and shoelaces, black goggles, sleeves, over the knee socks, and headset, orange shorts.
- Sweet: Yellow top and shoes, teal graphics on her sleeves, and detailing on her jacket, pink belt, hem on her sleeves, and nails, white shorts, gloves, sleeves, goggles, and soles, black headset, orange garter belt, yellowy-green coattails and over the knee socks.
- Whisper: Yellow shorts and gloves, soles, teal detailing on her jacket, pink shoelaces, nails, and graphics on her sleeves, lavender shoes, coattails, and hem on her sleeves, white top, goggles, sleeves, and headset.
GUMI's Voidol design is the exact same as her V4 Native boxart. It consists of a white crop top, shortsleeved orange collared jacket with white coattails and a pink number "4" printed on the left sleeve, and "VOCALOID" printed on the right, yellow opera-style gloves, orange jean shorts held fast with a thick teal belt, the belt buckle being stylized after the zipper in her V3 Adult, Sweet/Power, and Whisper boxart, and white toeless sneaker-like wedges. She wears her iconic pink lensed goggles atop her head, along side a plain headset. Her ensemble is completed with a silver bracelet with a pink stone on her left wrist, and a dazzling silver and pink brooch on her collar.
In her A.I.VOICE design, she wears a short orange button up dress with puffy white sleeves, large pockets, and a frilly sailor collar tied with a big white bow. Over her dress, she wears a plaid yellow sweater. Her shoes are orange heels with thick soles and green laces. She wears white socks underneath them. In her hair is an orange ribbon headband, and around her neck it a black choker with a scarlet stone.
GUMI's V6 boxart is largely based off her previous designs, namely her V2. She wears a see-through honey yellow sleeveless top with a green strip over her bosom, over which is an orange jacket with white cuffs and yellow lapels. The jacket is almost identical to the one she wears in her V3 Adult, Power, Sweet, and Whisper. Her skirt is green with see-through yellow fringe. It has the same orange scalloped waistband and green belt as seen in her V2 design. Her heeled boots are orange with lime green soles and white flaps, closely resembling those in her V3 Whisper. She wears a collar around her neck that's decorated with a pink brooch. Atop her head are her signature white goggles with red lenses, and a headset like that featured in her V2.
GUMI's Synthesizer V AI design is identical to her V6 design, except: her eyes are now a shade of teal blue (instead of green), her goggles are light blue with blue lenses, her headset is light blue (same shade as the goggles) with white markings, her collar brooch is blue (as in the lenses), and her belt is recolored to blue (with its buckle recolored to a dark teal shade).
WORK IN PROGRESS (she now wears eyeglasses with an orange frame)
History[]
Marketing[]
GUMI originally did not have much marketing, but since gained enough popularity for further possibilities. She is Internet Co., Ltd.'s most successful VOCALOID and since the launch of VOCALOID3, has seen an increase in merchandise.
Originally, GUMI songs were not allowed to be sold on KARENT. This was later changed when Internet Co. gave permission for both her and Gackpo in 2009.
Her English version is aimed more at the English-speaking market. This is the first English capable vocal to be purchasable from the VOCALOID shop itself, as well as the developer's own website. Her vocal can be bought by anyone in the USA or the UK; however, other English-speaking countries still cannot purchase it directly.
On July 29, 2022 it was announced that GUMI would be receiving a voicebank for the A.I.VOICE software.[2][3]
Voicebanks[]
- Megpoid - Native
- This is the original Japanese GUMI vocal and has seen several voicebank updates. It is designed to have the vocal traits of Megumi Nakajima. It is a professional vocal and realistic. Its intention is to represent a voice of a cute young girl about of teenage age.
- Megpoid (VOCALOID2), June 26, 2009
- Megpoid V3 - Native (VOCALOID3), March 16, 2012
- Megpoid V3 - Native (VOCALOID NEO), February 26, 2014
- Megpoid V4 (VOCALOID4), November 5, 2015
- Megpoid (Mobile VOCALOID Editor)
- Megpoid (VOCALOID Keyboard), 2017
- Megpoid - Native Fat
- Similar to the "Native" vocal, it was designed to be a thicker in strength at lower frequencies. The result is a heavier sounding voicebank.
- Megpoid V4 (VOCALOID4), November 5, 2015
- Megpoid - Adult
- This is a tone change that is designed to be natural so changing mid-song is not so noticeable. It can be used for most of the roles and genres of music that the "Native" vocal can be used for. The main difference between this and the "Native" vocal is this is designed to be more "mature" sounding and represents GUMI as an adult.
- Megpoid V3 (VOCALOID3), October 21, 2011,
- Megpoid (VOCALOID NEO), February 26, 2014
- Megpoid V4 (VOCALOID4), November 5, 2015
- Megpoid - Mellow Adult
- Similar to "Adult". This is designed to sound more laid back compared to the normal vocal.
- Megpoid V4 (VOCALOID4), November 5, 2015
- Megpoid - Sweet
- This is a tone change that is designed to be natural so changing mid-song is not so noticeable. It can be used for most of the roles and genres of music that the "Native" vocal can be used for. The main difference between this and the "Native" vocal is this is designed to be cuter.
- Megpoid V3 (VOCALOID3), October 21, 2011
- Megpoid V3 (VOCALOID NEO), February 26, 2014
- Megpoid V4 (VOCALOID4), November 5, 2015
- Megpoid - Natural Sweet
- This is similar to the "Sweet" vocal. This vocal is a more natural sounding version of the "Sweet" vocal which does not sound so forced.
- Megpoid V4 (VOCALOID4), November 5, 2015
- Megpoid - Whisper
- This is a tone change that is designed to be natural so changing mid-song is not so noticeable. It can be used for most of the roles and genres of music that the "Native" vocal can be used for. The main difference between this and the "Native" vocal is this is designed to be much more shy sounding. The vocal is much teen-like then adult-like when compared to "Adult".
- Megpoid V3 (VOCALOID3), October 21, 2011
- Megpoid V3 (VOCALOID NEO), February 26, 2014
- Megpoid V4 (VOCALOID4), November 5, 2015
- Megpoid - Soft Whisper
- Similar to "Whisper" except a lot more gentler.
- Megpoid V4 (VOCALOID4), November 5, 2015
- Megpoid - Power
- This is a tone change that is designed to be natural so changing mid-song is not so noticeable. It can be used for most of the roles and genres of music that the "Native" vocal can be used for. The main difference between this and the "Native" vocal is this is designed to be much more bolder sounding and is used for notes that require more precision.
- V3 Megpoid (VOCALOID3), October 21, 2011
- V3 Megpoid (VOCALOID NEO), February 26, 2014
- Megpoid V4 (VOCALOID4), November 5, 2015
- Megpoid - Power Fat
- Similar to the "Power" vocal, it was designed to be a thicker in strength at lower frequencies. The result is a heavier sounding voicebank.
- Megpoid V4 (VOCALOID4), November 5, 2015
- Megpoid - English
- This is the English version of the "Native" vocal. Designed to have similar traits to the "Native" vocal but in English instead of Japanese.
- Megpoid English (VOCALOID3), February 28, 2013
- Megpoid English (VOCALOID NEO), February 26, 2014
- Megpoid English (Mobile VOCALOID Editor)
- Megpoid - Talk
- Another voicebank released for GUMI, this was not released for VOCALOID and was designed to allow GUMI to "Talk". It is designed to match the "Native" voicebank.
- Megpoid Talk (FineSpeech Ver3), January 16, 2014
- A.I.VOICE
- A talk voicebank released for GUMI for the A.I.VOICE engine.
- GUMI from Megpoid (A.I.VOICE), September 16, 2022
- GUMI from Megpoid (A.I.VOICE2), June 7, 2024
- AI Megpoid
- An AI singing voicebank released for GUMI, she can use VOCALOID6's Multilingual feature to sing in Japanese, English, and Mandarin Chinese. On Synthesizer V Studio Pro, she will be able to use the Cross-lingual Singing Synthesis feature to sing in not only Japanese, English, and Mandarin but also Cantonese Chinese and Spanish.
- AI Megpoid (VOCALOID6), October 13, 2022
- AI Megpoid (Synthesizer V AI), December 20, 2023
- AI Megpoid - SOLID
- An extended AI singing voicebank for GUMI, expected to be similar to previous versions' Power voicebank.
- AI Megpoid SOLID (VOCALOID6), in development, expected for July 4, 2024
Reputation[]
Sales[]
GUMI struggled to build popularity against the Character Vocal Series and was considered to be "nothing special" when first released. She was, however, quicker to gain popularity in comparison to Camui Gackpo.[9]
By 2010, GUMI's popularity was on par with Crypton Future Media's voicebanks and outsold her predecessor Gackpo, becoming the most popular and well known non-Crypton VOCALOID. In 2011, her usage grew and, in a number of weeks, she would have even more songs in the top 100 rankings than some of the Crypton Future Media vocalists.
Reaction[]
GUMI gained a stable popularity by August 2011 according to Google trends and the stability is most likely linked to her entry into the VOCALOID3 era vocals. Her popularity peeked in March 2013 when she received a sudden increase in interest, but returned to its normal popularity a month later. This was most likely due to the release of her English version in the previous month (February 2013). This was the only time during the VOCALOID3 era GUMI had a notable increase of popularity.
It was reported that her VOCALOID3 English trial had issues in early release. This was due to the unexpected large amount of requests for download from the server.[10]
Impact[]
In terms of contributions to VOCALOID history, Camui Gackpo's voice provider, GACKT, noted that the creation of Gackpo and GUMI allowed for the possibility of other providers being used for VOCALOID. VOCALOID was no longer just Hatsune Miku and the Kagamines. This influenced voice providers such as Yonezawa Madoka, who during the early era of the software wanted to one day make a VOCALOID. This was later achieved with Kizuna Akari who was both a VOCALOID and a VOICEROID product. Yonezawa noted that at the time, the field of voice acting was narrow with limited job choices and VOCALOID added another possibility to the career path.[11]
Misc[]
In 2011, an independent report was made into the popularity of VOCALOID, and revealed that most VOCALOIDs had less than 1,000 videos uploaded to NicoNico between July 1 and December 15. GUMI managed to succeed in grabbing more attention than most VOCALOIDs, and at 2,107 uploads, had the third highest video upload count relating to a VOCALOID. At 9,538,464 views and 929,810 mylists, GUMI was the VOCALOID to receive the second highest number of views overall. Based on average views, she managed to come out on top with 4,527.04 views (and 441.3 mylists) on average per video. When the mean count was performed on the VOCALOID results, GUMI remained on top with 485 views and 34 mylists per video, and was the only one besides the Kagamines to successfully be on all lists performed in the report.[12]
In 2012, a cosplay competition was held for a TV program in France with the aim to find "the French version of GUMI". 1,200+ entries were submitted, despite the fact that the entries being submitted were to win a Japanese version of Megpoid.[13]
A survey released in 2015 showed that GUMI was the second most popular VOCALOID in 2015 on NicoNico. However, her popularity was only between 3rd/4th of the most popular VOCALOID Hatsune Miku.[14]
Trivia[]
- With 18 voicebanks in total, GUMI is currently the VOCALOID with the most voicebanks. With 10 vocals in the package, her V4 complete package also sports the most vocals released within a single package.
- GUMI has proven to be quite a popular VOCALOID for MMD model makers and has several models, which is notably more compared to most other VOCALOIDs. One of them is ISAO's model, available by purchase from the Windows 100% magazine and MMD Starter Pack magazine.
- The Megpoid English vocal was the 22nd product released for VOCALOID3, putting the total amount of VOCALOID3 releases on par with the number of VOCALOID2s.
Achievements[]
- First female VOCALOID from Internet Co., Ltd.
- One of 3 voicebanks used by the robot HRP-4C.
- First VOCALOID from Internet Co., Ltd to be upgraded to VOCALOID3.
- First Internet Co., Ltd. VOCALOID to get an Extend.
- First Internet Co., Ltd. VOCALOID to get an English voicebank.
- First Internet Co., Ltd. VOCALOID to have a video game starring the VOCALOID itself.
- One of the first VOCALOIDs to be upgraded to VOCALOID3 (along with VY1).
- One of the first 4 VOCALOID3 vocals released for the engine.
- One of the first VOCALOIDs released for VOCALOID6.
- First VOCALOID updated to VOCALOID6.
- One of the first AI voicebanks to be released for VOCALOID6.
- First bilingual Japanese and English VOCALOID6 AI voicebank to be released.
- One of the first female VOCALOID6 AI voicebanks to be released.
- First Synthesizer V AI voice database from Internet Co., Ltd.
- First female Synthesizer V AI voice database from Internet Co., Ltd.
- First vocalist to be developed for both VOCALOID6 and Synthesizer V Studio
References[]
- ↑ https://x.com/GUMIfromMegpoid/status/1580448971872665600
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 https://x.com/GUMIfromMegpoid/status/1552995862200336385
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 GUMI A.I.VOICE announcement press release
- ↑ https://x.com/GUMIfromMegpoid/status/1788816626978349522
- ↑ https://x.com/GUMIfromMegpoid/status/1726862937703542920
- ↑ Nico Nico Pedia - メグッポイド (Megpoid)
- ↑ https://x.com/noboru1963/status/304536862360469505
- ↑ https://x.com/noboru1963/status/88949029383307264
- ↑ http://sekiseblog.blog51.fc2.com/blog-entry-134.html
- ↑
http://www.vocaloidotaku.net/index.php?/topic/33420-english-megpoid-gumi/page__view__findpost__p__935157[dead link] - ↑ https://www.dtmstation.com/archives/22442.html
- ↑ http://www.vocaloidism.com/2012/01/04/the-harsh-realities-of-vocaloid-on-nico/
- ↑ https://x.com/noboru1963/status/266765940425904128
- ↑ http://ch.nicovideo.jp/kadotanimitsuru/blomaga/ar699704
External links[]
Official[]
Articles[]
- VOCALOID Wiki
- Synthesizer V Wiki
- VocaDB:
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