YANHE (言和) is a Mandarin Chinese VOCALOID developed formerly by Bplats, Inc. with MERCURY INC., under the YAMAHA Corporation, and was created in collaboration with Shanghai HENIAN. She was the grand winning entry of the second "VOCALOID™ CHINA" contest and was released in July 2013 for the VOCALOID3 engine.
Her voice is provided by Ryu Seira (劉セイラ / 劉婧犖; 刘婧荦; Liú Jìngluò), a professional Chinese voice actress.
YANHE is currently expected to receive a VOCALOID5 update[2] and an AI voicebank for ACE Virtual Singer.[3]
Concept[]
YANHE is described to be handsome, cool, or boyish on the outside, yet soft-hearted on the inside. Her boyish voice makes her unique.[4][5]
Her deep tone of voice was originally created for the supporting character, Zhiyu Moke, but this project had to be changed after YAMAHA was forced to remove his character rights after the actions of Shanghai HENIAN's former president, Ren Li.[6]
In 2017, according to Shanghai HENIAN's official website, YANHE's birthday is July 11 and she is listed as a Cancer. Her musical instrument is a scroll that unrolls into a keyboard.[5] Originally upon release, YANHE had no official age. She was later listed as 17 years old on one of the old official websites, however, this was later removed and never mentioned again in later accounts and sites.[1]
Etymology[]
Yán (言) can mean "say" or "speech", while hé (和) can mean "peace", "harmonious", or "gentle". Thus, her name can be interpreted to mean "speak peace". Compare the Chinese idiom "shake hands and speak peace" (握手言和), which is used to describe when enemies cease fighting.
Appearance[]
The design was drawn by MQ and is part of the 'YANHE Project'.
YANHE, like Luo Tianyi before her, had her avatar chosen through a competition.
According to one of Shanghai HENIAN's websites, her appearance is described to be handsome as she has a tomboyish look and an androgynous sounding voice. She has short white hair and light blue eyes. Her design consists of a white crop top with a black and pink trim at the top. Over the shirt, she wears a white track jacket with aqua and pink trimmings, and a pink flower-shaped charm on the zipper. She wears black shorts with two grey belts crisscrossing over each other. On her right thigh is a black band with a long pink ribbon tied to it. This band carries her scrolled keyboard. Her shoes are white with aqua and pink trimmings like the jacket. On her head is an aqua headset with a pink design running across the middle. The flower design from her zipper are also printed on the sides of her headphone speakers. According to her reference sheets, the pink trimmings on her clothes and design on her headsets are shaped as waveforms or flat lines.
While not much was changed between the original entry and the final design, there were some differences. Originally, her wristbands and belts were pink with white waveforms. The sleeves of her jacket also had deeper cuts with a zipper to open and close it, which were reduced to smaller cuts with no zipper. Her piano scroll was originally tucked behind her via her pink belts. Her shorts and the top of her shirt seemed to be more navy than black. There seemed to be a small logo on the left side of her jacket, but the details about it are unknown. The collar of her jacket was much smaller compared to the new design.
Relations[]
- Luo Tianyi - Fellow member of Vsinger
- Yuezheng Ling - Fellow member of Vsinger
- Yuezheng Longya - Fellow member of Vsinger
- Zhiyu Moke - Fellow member of Vsinger, voicebank was originally intended to be Moke's
- Mo Qingxian - Fellow member of Vsinger
History[]
ACE Virtual Singer Development[]
On December 31, 2021, when asked about considerations for migration to another engine, Vsinger's official Weibo account answered that they had been long studying and made several voicebank demos with tech providers. They noted that different engines were based on different technologies. VOCALOID was based on sampling, which better reproduced the original voice texture, but was less natural and may be harder to use. AI voicebanks were easier for beginners and sing more naturally, but did not sufficiently reproduce the original voice texture and the voice may also sound as though it was synthesized. Vsinger noted that the voice is the most important part of a virtual singer and was trying to find ways to preserve and reproduce the characters' original voices, wishing to deliver more satisfactory products.[7]
On November 18, 2022, Vsinger announced that AI YANHE beta tests for ACE Virtual Singer were opening soon. The registration would be open from then until December 2. The rules were detailed as followed:[8]
- AI YANHE's beta test would only be open for producers, tuners, and musicians interested in voice synthesizers. Applicants needed to fill in the relevant information, including personal information and portfolio works. For users who already participated in Luo Tianyi's ACE Virtual Singer beta application, they did not need to repeat the process for YANHE. Approved users would be sent an invitation through the official email account. For other users, they were asked to pay attention to the official follow-up release.
- The ACE Virtual Singer editor was required to use the library.
- Due to the limited number of trials, it was possible that not all applications would be accepted.
- Commercial use of the library was prohibited.
- The final decisions of the event were to be made only by Shanghai HENIAN.
- Feedback about any issues during the beta test period was encouraged.
Approved producers began using and uploading examples of AI YANHE on November 25. On November 26, a design contest for YANHE AI was announced and launched. The contest was confirmed to end on February 26, 2023 at 23:59 GMT+8. Vsinger accompanied the announcement with a question: "We met in a 'dream', and at the end of the clouds and rain, we witnessed the most beautiful sky we've ever seen. And when we go through the hurried years together, what tone and image should I use to continue to interpret the stories in the hearts of creators?". Designs were encouraged to be tagged with "#言和#" and "#言和AI形象征集活动#" and were to be submitted in the link provided by the company. The final design would be selected via fans' voting. The first round of voting was scheduled from March 1 to March 3 and the final round was scheduled from March 6 to March 8. It was noted in the rules that the design must be original and must not have been used for other commercial purposes or authorized by third parties.[9]
On March 1, the voting period began and voters could choose only one design out of 134 submissions. The top ten works in the first round would enter the final round. The work with the highest number would become the ACE Virtual Singer design for YANHE.[10] On March 6, the ten final designers were announced to be Yan Bai Tai (言白钛), Qian Xiao (浅笑), Sainker, Li Sha Yakou (利刹牙口), -LIMICO-, pora, Puyi Pui (樸伊Pui), Yiding Yao Zao Shui Ya (一定要早睡鸦), Wan Dian Shui (万点水), and Hai Ya (骸鸦). Final voting was expected to close on March 9 at 16:00 GMT+8.[11] On March 10, Sainker was announced as the winning designer with a total of 4,583 votes.[12] On May 6, YANHE AI was made available for public beta. In addition, due to the 1.7.0 update, YANHE AI would be upgraded to the latest model as well, allowing her to make use of trilingual synthesis, which supported Mandarin, Japanese, and English.[13]
On October 16, Vsinger thanked everyone for their support and suggestions during the past closed and public betas of the available voicebanks at the time (Tianyi, YANHE, Ling, and Longya). The official version of ACE Studio was expected to launch globally soon, and it was announced that the all six Vsinger vocalists would be free for ACE Studio users. ACE Studio users would be able to apply for free Vsinger redemption codes through the official Vsinger website. [14]
Marketing[]
YANHE had a similar marketing technique as Luo Tianyi and YOHIOloid; she was a fan-designed VOCALOID.
A second contest was held to see whose design would be the new image for the second Mandarin VOCALOID. It began on March 25, 2013 and ended at the end of April. On May 13, the 15 finalists were announced. The winning design, along with the 4 runner-ups, were announced June 6. YANHE had the most votes out of all 666 entries.
YANHE had an album revealed in June 2013 called The Stage 1. It was released on July 11, the same day her software was made available for purchase. The Stage 2 was released later in the year.
Voicebanks[]
- YANHE
- Originally YANHE's vocal was intended for Zhiyu Moke and was meant to represent a male vocal. Due to issues at the time, the voicebank was repurposed and made into its own separate character since it was a completed voicebank. As a result, the voicebank was labelled as a deep female vocal instead.
Reputation[]
Reaction[]
YANHE was not as noticed as Luo Tianyi which may have been caused by her sudden release. There wasn't much warning as to when she would be open for purchase.
Another factor was the tension between the fans of YANHE and the fans of the VOCALOID CHINA supporting characters. When a design contest was announced for the second Mandarin Chinese VOCALOID, many of the Chinese fans were stunned. While some had not minded the new VOCALOID's arrival, majority of the fans, especially those who supported Yuezheng Ling, a popular pre-existing supporting character, would not happily accept YANHE. This was due to the fans believing that the existing concepts would become VOCALOIDs directly after Luo Tianyi. When the new vocal was announced, they assumed that YANHE replaced the concepts and that they would never become VOCALOIDs. The issue remained throughout 2013-2014, particularly in songs involving duets with Tianyi and YANHE where Ling's fans would express their strong negative feelings towards the new VOCALOID.[15]
However, she was still generally well received by the Chinese and Western fandoms as time moved on and the tension slowly began to shrink smaller as a portion of the fans were trying to help tame those who still blamed YANHE for the VOCALOID CHINA concepts' lack of voicebanks. As of 2014, since Ling was announced to gain her own voicebank, the fans regained hope for the supporting characters and dispelled their anger towards YANHE.[16]
In October 2015, due to controversial issues surrounding YANHE's voicebank and that it was originally intended to be Zhiyu Moke's voice, the Chinese fans were thrown into shock. While some of the fans turned their anger towards the man responsible for this to happen, there were others who returned to their original mindset in 2013: shun and blame YANHE for "replacing" Moke. SHN and other fans tried to tame the angry fans by responding that she was incapable of doing wrong and that she was not to blame for Moke's lack of voicebank. In comparison, the Western fandom reacted by sympathizing with YANHE.
In April 2015, Pǔtōng DISCO, a duet song between YANHE and Tianyi, reached 1 million views on bilibili. In April 2018, "Nì Làng Qiānqiū" became the first YANHE original solo song to reach 1 million views.
Trivia[]
- YANHE's vocal was the 36th release for VOCALOID3 in total. The release assisted the VOCALOID3 engine into beating the record of 35 vocals released for VOCALOID2.
- She is the first VOCALOID to break the pattern of a female voicebank releasing with a male counterpart as the first two VOCALOIDs of a set language, although ironic as the voicebank was meant to be produced for a male.
- Extensively, the voicebank would have been the first male counterpart of the first two VOCALOIDs of a set language to have been voiced by a female voice provider.
Achievements[]
- First Vsinger character to not receive an extensive backstory
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Age and Height (defunct) Archive for age and height
- ↑ https://www.weibo.com/1663365680/IvlUi6nKS
- ↑ https://weibo.com/5582156776/MfCpXrZfO
- ↑ YANHE personality
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 http://www.thstars.com/vsingers/#yanhe
- ↑
http://www.vocaloidotaku.net/index.php?/topic/63131-what-really-happened-to-the-vocaloid-china-project-2013-2014/[dead link] - ↑ https://weibo.com/5582156776/L8E0Cizht
- ↑ https://weibo.com/5582156776/MfCpXrZfO
- ↑ https://t.bilibili.com/732726841128779780
- ↑ https://t.bilibili.com/768006286664007704
- ↑ https://t.bilibili.com/769879575304863848
- ↑ https://t.bilibili.com/771409953757855796
- ↑ https://t.bilibili.com/792490018318843938
- ↑ https://t.bilibili.com/853007279846326294
- ↑ YANHE's popularity study, as observed by Chinese native, Eliyn Lau
- ↑ https://imgur.com/gallery/MtYLMHA
External links[]
Articles[]
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