Hello World, It's Calexta
Today is the shared birthday of the first two Vocaloid vocal synthesizers, LEON and LOLA. Now one thing to understand is that, when LEON and LOLA debuted, there wasn't really anything else like it. There wasn't really any sort of singing program anyone could get and use on their own computer, and the vocals available in specialized computers didn't sound melodic enough to use in non-demonstrative composition.
Then YAMAHA and a number of third party developers including Zero-G put together a series of English and Japanese language singing programs. These voicebanks became what is now known as the first wave of Vocaloids. Vocaloid being a portmanteau of "Vocal Android". And of course the first two of these voice banks were Zero-G's LEON and LOLA.
It's interesting to look back on Leon and Lola with what Vocaloid is now. Vocaloids are available in five languages (Japanese, English, Spanish, Chinese, and Korean), with over 80 voicebanks in counting over 6 different versions. But it all started with two voices designed to sing soul music. And now it's Hatsune Miku and friends.
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