Vocaloid Keyboard

Vocaloid Keyboard[1]
Manufacturer	Yamaha Corporation
Dates	prototype 2012 - 2015, commercial product 2017 -
Price	¥32,400~39,800 (Japanese Yen)
Technical specifications
Polyphony	Vocaloid: monophonic, Instruments: 48
Input/output
Keyboard	37 keys
Left-hand control	Pitch Bend Wheel, Expression Wheel, Transpose Button, Phrase Button, Memory Button, Skill Button, Octave Button, Loop Button
External control	mobile app

Vocaloid Keyboard is a physical MIDI keyboard with a built-in Vocaloid synthesizer. The commercial product as a keytar was released in December 2017.[2]

About

The Vocaloid Keyboard was designed using the VY1 vocal. It is part of the eVocaloid range, a LSI sound generator called the "NSX-1" source chip which can generate 30 sounds of midi. For VY1, it uses the NSX-1 chip "eVY1".

The first prototype was showcased at INTERACTION by Information Processing Society of Japan, March 2012.[3]

The commercial prototypes as 37 key keytars with three colours; black, white and pink were officially showcased at several events in Japan, 2015.[4][5][6][7][8][9] The keytars were able to be played at three Joysound's Karaoke in Japan in 2015.[10]

In 2015, green Megpoid version was also showcased at Think MIDI[11] and purple Yuzuki Yukari version was featured in niconico live broadcasting by VOCALOMAKETS.[12]

The first commercial model VKB-100 was released in December 2017.[13] VKB-100 won Good Design Award 2018.[14] It was also selected as GOOD DESIGN BEST 100.[15]

References

1. Yamaha Corporation. "VKB-100 - 仕様". jp.yamaha.com (in Japanese). Retrieved 2 January 2018.
2. Yamaha Corporation. "VOCALOID Keyboard". www.vocaloid.com (in Japanese). Retrieved 2019-03-18.
3. Shota Kagami, Keizo Hamano, Kazuki Kashiwase and Kazuhiko Yamamoto (2012-03-17). "Development of Realtime Japanese Vocal Keyboard" (PDF). Information Processing Society of Japan. Retrieved 2019-03-18.
4. "ニコニコ超会議2015：ボカロが気軽に使える「VOCALOID KEYBOARD」を見てきた！". ねとらぼ (in Japanese). Retrieved 27 April 2016.
5. "ヤマハがニコニコ超会議2015に「VOCALOID KEYBOARD」を展示！". VOCALOID Link (in Japanese). Retrieved 27 April 2016.
6. "今度は簡単に弾けるショルキー型「VOCALOID KEYBOARD」2015年モデル、その仕組みを詳しく聞いてきた (1/2)". ITmedia ニュース (in Japanese). Retrieved 27 April 2016.
7. ヤマハ株式会社. "【終了】VOCALOID™ KEYBOARDを目撃しよう！～ヤマハ、ヤマハ発動機 合同デザインイベント開催" (in Japanese). Retrieved 2019-03-18.
8. "球体型のドラムやボーカロイドキーボードが登場、ヤマハのデザインイベント・レポ". BARKS (in Japanese). 8 July 2015. Retrieved 2019-03-18.
9. 株式会社インプレス (14 December 2015). "【藤本健のDigital Audio Laboratory】第660回:Bluetoothやボカロと連携する"未来のMIDI"。「Think MIDI」で見た最新動向 - AV Watch". AV Watch (in Japanese). Retrieved 2019-03-18.
10. ヤマハ株式会社. "【好評につき期間延長&対象店舗追加】JOYSOUNDでVOCALOID™ KEYBOARDと歌おう！" (in Japanese). Retrieved 2019-03-18.
11. "Think MIDI 2015｜INTERNET" (in Japanese). Retrieved 2019-03-18.
12. "結月ゆかり誕生祭2015生放送 告知内容まとめ - VOCALOMAKETS blog". 21 December 2015. Retrieved 2019-03-18.
13. "ヤマハ ボーカロイドキーボード『VKB-100』− 「初音ミク」をはじめ最大 5 種類の歌声に対応。12 月発売予定 −" [Yamaha Vocaloid Keyboard "VKB-100" - Supports up to 5 types of singing voices, including "Hatsune Miku". Scheduled to be released in December −] (news release) (in Japanese). YAMAHA. Retrieved 2019-03-18.
14. "Good Design Award 2018" (in Japanese). Retrieved 2019-03-18.
15. "GOOD DESIGN BEST 100". Retrieved 2019-03-18.