is a humanoid

persona A persona (plural personae or personas), depending on the context, is the public image of one's personality, the social role that one adopts, or simply a fictional character. The word derives from Latin, where it originally referred to a theatri ...

voiced by a singing

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis ...

application developed by 1st Place Co., Ltd., headquartered in

Meguro is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. The English translation of its Japanese self-designation is Meguro City. The ward was founded on March 15, 1947. Meguro is predominantly residential in character, but is also home to light industry, corporat ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

, Japan. They use

Yamaha Corporation is a Japanese multinational corporation and conglomerate with a very wide range of products and services. It is one of the constituents of Nikkei 225 and is the world's largest musical instrument manufacturing company. The former motorcycle d ...

Vocaloid 3 Vocaloid 3 is a singing voice synthesizer and successor to Vocaloid 2 in the Vocaloid series. This version of the software is a much more expansive version, containing many new features, three new languages and many more vocals than past software ...

singing synthesizer technology. Her voice is created using samples of Lia. She has performed at live concerts onstage as either an animated projection or a

Pepper's ghost Pepper's ghost is an illusion technique used in the theatre, cinema, amusement parks, museums, television, and concerts. It is named after the English scientist John Henry Pepper (1821–1900) who began popularising the effect with a theatr ...

. Many songs have been made with her. IA's name was taken from her voice provider's name, "Lia". She was illustrated by

Aka Akasaka is a Japanese manga artist. His series '' Kaguya-sama: Love Is War'' was serialized in Shueisha's ''Miracle Jump'' between May 2015 and January 2016, and was then transferred to ''Weekly Young Jump'' starting from March 2016. It was the 9th best ...

, the author of '' Kaguya-sama: Love Is War'' and '' Oshi no Ko''.

Development

After Lia got married and was expecting a baby she was forced to put her career as a singer on hold. Because of this, production began on IA as a way to "stand in" as a substitute during the singer's absence. IA was developed by 1st Place Co., Ltd. using Yamaha's Vocaloid 3. Her voice was created by taking voice samples from Japanese singer Lia at a controlled pitch and tone. She was the first release for the "Aria on the Planetes" project, of which the

CeVIO Creative Studio Cevio is the capital of the district of Vallemaggia in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland. In 2006 Cevio grew by incorporating the villages of Bignasco and Cavergno, previously municipalities in their own right. History Cevio was first menti ...

vocal also made by 1st Place, named "One", is also a part of. The design philosophy 1st Place worked toward was to make the voice simple and straightforward but easy to adjust and customize, letting creators create their own version of IA. In October 2013, IA's software was announced to have an update for the Mac during the promotional period for the IA × Super GT ''Circuit Beats'' album.

Additional software

In 2014 a prototype vocal called "IA -Aria On the Planetes- α Type C" was released as a free trial version via a one-month long feedback campaign. On June 27, 2014, a new add-on for IA, called IA Rocks, was released. Once imported into the

Vocaloid 4 Vocaloid 4 is a singing voice synthesizer and successor to Vocaloid 3 in the Vocaloid series. History In October 2014, the first Vocaloid confirmed for the Vocaloid 4 engine was the English vocal Ruby. Its release was delayed so it could be re ...

, it was possible to cross-synthesis the two vocals. In Jan 2016, it was announced she would be released for

, receiving a talking vocal.

Marketing

Information on IA was released much slower than the average Vocaloid. Her promotions have taken the approach to make her seem otherworldly and mysterious. The licensing for IA is slightly different than past Vocaloids. Unlike some past Vocaloids, users can use her image on CDs, flyers and posters without requesting permission, although some consent from the company is needed for greater use of her image. This is a departure from past Vocaloids such as Crypton Future Media, who requires you to ask permission for use of their Vocaloids' images on things such as CDs, flyers and posters.

Characteristics

Featured music

" Children Record" () by Jin, is considered one of her most popular songs with over 3,000,000 views on Niconico. "Six Trillion Years and Overnight Story" () by Kemu, is also considered to be one of her most popular songs with over 8,000,000 views on Niconico and 24,000,000 views on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second most ...

References

External links

Official Website
{{Vocaloid Vocaloids introduced in 2012 Fictional singers Japanese idols Virtual influencers Japanese popular culture