Zero-G launched the world's first Yamaha Vocaloid virtual vocalist products, Leon and Lola, at NAMM, they are set to start shipping tomorrow (21st January 2004). Their third virtual vocalist, Miriam, is set to be launched at Frankfurt Musikmesse in March (Miriam is a vocal font modeled on the incredible voice of Miriam Stockley). Yamaha also showed a female Japanese Vocal font at the end of the NAMM presentation, which is set for release in April 2004, hopefully we'll have some more info about that one soon.

Leon & Lola each have a RRP of $329.95 USD/289 EUR/£199.95 UK Pounds Sterling (inc. VAT), subject to change. Vocaloid is initially available for Windows 2000/XP but a Mac OS X version is in development with a release hoped for by the end of the year.

• More info about Leon, virtual male soul vocalist.
• More info about Lola, virtual female soul vocalist.
• Read more about Miriam Stockley.

Each Package Includes:

• Vocaloid Editor.
• Vocaloid VST Instrument.
• Vocaloid Vocal Font (Leon or Lola).

Vocaloid Editor Features:

• Vocal Edit & Synthesis environment.
• Piano-roll note editor.
• Easy-to use lyric editing.
• Drag & Drop musical expression assigning.
• Reads Vocaloid vocal libraries.
• Synthesizing vocal tracks.
• Saving vocal data as wave files.
• Up to 16 vocal tracks.
• Standard MIDI File Input/Output.
• 104-page full-colour printed Owner's Manual provided.
• Video Tutorial provided (.AVI movie).

You have control over all of the following parameters, which you can bring to bear on any part of your creation:

• Changing syllables/phonemes (e.g. enter "liddle" instead of "little" etc).
• Timing of each note (precise position/length).
• Vibrato (you can change its type/position/amount/frequency).
• Volume.
• Attack.
• Crescendo or diminuendo.
• Pitch bend (amount, and positionable in time).
• Glide (portamento).
• Resonance (Frequency/bandwidth/amplitude).
• Harmonics.
• Noise.
• Brightness.
• Clearness.
• Gender factor.

Vocaloid VST/ReWire Instrument:

• Reads Vocaloid vocal libraries.
• Plays vocal MIDI tracks generated by Vocaloid Editor via VST- or ReWire-compatible host sequencer.
• Easy to manipulate voice characteristics.

Vocaloid Vocal Library (Leon or Lola):

• Lola - Complete female voice in English, in professional quality.
• Leon - Complete male voice in English, in professional quality.
• Suits all soul and dance music styles, but also many other styles.
• Full coverage of phonemes. You can use any English lyrics you want.
• Vibrato templates and expression templates as typically used in natural singing.

Minimum System Requirements:

• Windows XP or Windows 2000.
• Pentium III, 1 GHz or faster.
• 512MB of RAM or more.
• Approx. 700 Mb Hard disk space or more.
• CD-ROM or DVD-ROM Drive.
• SVGA Display (1024x768).
• Sound Card with Microsoft DirectSound Compatible driver.
• LAN/network card must be installed, or a USB network card must be connected to the USB port (see more info about lan/network card requirement, below).

IMPORTANT: Yamaha use the network hardware's ID as the identifier for Vocaloid's challenge/response CP method, rather than the ID of the motherboard. Therefore the PC on which you install and use Vocaloid with Leon and Lola must be equipped with a LAN/network Card (or have the same network functionality built in to the motherboard, or have a USB network adapter plugged into a USB port).