XIA YU YAO (Traditional Chinese: 夏語遙; Simplified Chinese: 夏语遥), also referred to as YAO for Synthesizer V, is a Mandarin Chinese vocal developed and distributed by VOICEMITH, a planning team under E-CAPSULE Co. Ltd., and released as an AI voice database for Synthesizer V Studio in January 2023. She was originally released for the UTAU engine in November 2014.
She is voiced by Mi Yang, a voice actress.
Concept[]
According to her character page, XIA YU YAO is a gentle, caring, and empathetic person who has confidence in her own voice. She enjoys taking care of others and making them feel warm. She was noted to have a "WIND" attribute, meaning that once the magic was integrated into her voice, it would cleanse people's hearts and make bad emotions drift away into the wind, comforting sad people and bringing them hope. According to later lore when UTAUs OSCAR and JOAN were released in August 2016, it was noted that YU YAO's singing can attract people with special abilities similar to her own. After passing her ability test, her instructor asked her to leave and explore the world to train herself, broaden her horizons, and find other people with special abilities, hence the start of her own series of adventures.[1]
When YU YAO was first introduced, she was noted to be 17 years old. Her age was changed to 18 on June 22, 2016.[2]
Etymology[]
Her surname, "Xia" (夏; Xià), means "summer". Her given name is formed by two characters: "Yu" (語; Yǔ), which means "to speak", "words", or "language", and "Yao" (遙; Yáo), which means "distant" and "far away". Combined, it refers to her carrying her voice from a very far distance closer to people's ears.
According to an article written on November 8, 2014, XIA YU YAO's name was specially chosen so that it could be written the same for Chinese and Japanese. "Xia" was chosen with hopes that the sound can be as energetic as summer while "Yu Yao" was chosen with hopes that the sound would be widespread. Thus, her name could be read as "to spread the passionate, summer-like voice further".[3]
Her full name was usually stylized as "XIA YU YAO" or "Xia Yu Yao", however, "Xia Yuyao" is another official way to write her name. Her logo and references to her Synthesizer V voice database used "YAO" or "YAO AI".[4]
In Japanese, her kana spelling is "シャ・ユーヤオ".[5]
Appearance[]
During the development of XIA YU YAO's UTAU voicebanks, it was noted that the design was meant to be based on the voice. At the time, the final work had not been completed, but the song sung by Mi Yang, the voice actress, was given to izumi to listen to for inspiration, though it still was required to adhere to certain conditions: the clothing and accessories must be memorable, traditional ethnic totems must be avoided, and "non-human" designs must be avoided.[6]
For Synthesizer V, XIA YU YAO is portrayed as a young woman with long dark hair tied into two low pigtails. A strand of her hair is braided and wrapped around each pigtail to hold them in place. Teal streaks are weaved through her braids. She has bright aqua-colored eyes. On her left ear is a teal earphone. Her design as a whole bears a butterfly motif. She wears a sleeveless teal coat over a white three-layered pleated skirt. The lapels of her coat are shaped like butterfly wings, while the hem bears an aqua-green leaf-like pattern. Crisp white ruffles adorn the hem. An unbuckled belt hangs loosely around her waist. Underneath her coat, she wears a black tank top which is attached to her lacy white choker. A single green butterfly decorates the choker. Her arms are adorned with off-the-shoulder white puffed sleeves over tight black sleeves with scalloped edges. Her boots are thigh-high and conform perfectly to her black tight-covered legs. The heels and soles of her boots are aqua green.
Relations[]
- A Fu (阿福) - VOICEMITH released a voice sample of "A Fu", but this character was regarded as a Fool's Day UTAU project.
- OSCAR - Fellow male VOICEMITH vocalist, themed after "fire". He was regarded as one of YU YAO's partners.
- JOAN - Fellow female VOICEMITH vocalist, themed after "ice". She was regarded as one of YU YAO's partners.
- According to later lore that was posted to the official website when OSCAR and JOAN were released, YU YAO had met them in a small town where she was resting. The pair were attracted to her singing and they joined her on her adventures. VOICEMITH invited fans to let the trio sing countless wonderful and moving songs and to walk into their world together.[1]
- ZETA - Fellow female VOICEMITH vocalist, themed after "darkness".
- LanCee - Fellow female VOICEMITH V-Tuber, themed after "light". She is also part of the V-Club series.
- Senior Doo - Fellow male VOICEMITH vocalist from the future, themed after "water".[7]
- Junior Doo - Fellow male VOICEMITH vocalist themed after "water" and the ancestor of Senior Doo.
Voice Libraries[]
- XIA YU YAO CV+VC Mandarin Chinese (UTAU), November 10, 2014
- XIA YU YAO CVVC+VC Japanese (UTAU), November 10, 2014
- XIA YU YAO AI (Synthesizer V Studio), January 30, 2023
- XIA YU YAO AI Lite (Synthesizer V Studio), Unreleased
Additional Information[]
Marketing[]
Official Music Collection
Album"; XIA YU YAO AI's
first official album
As an UTAU character, XIA YU YAO was featured in numerous official merchandise, including but not limited to albums, cardholders, apparel, prints, banners, clocks, and more. She had LINE stickers made for her and she made an appearance in the mobile game "Wǒjiā Gōngzhǔ Zuì Kě'ài" ("我家公主最可愛") where Mi Yang, her voice provider, reprised the role.[8] She also made an appearance in the Chinese version of the RPG "Age of Ishtaria" as a daily login promotional event, a ★7 witch-themed card, and as the vocalist for the theme song "Ishtar" ("伊絲塔").
In November 2022, YU YAO and Mizuki, a Taiwanese Vtuber, were invited to sing "Chúnbái zhī Shì" (純白之誓), the theme song for the mobile game "White Chord". The song used the melody from "Summer Sounds", one of YU YAO's original songs.[9][10] The game also celebrated YU YAO's eighth anniversary.[11][12] It was also revealed that she was obtainable in the "White Chord" game for a limited time.[13] "Chúnbái zhī Shì" was later used as a demo song for YU YAO's Synthesizer V AI library.
VOICEMITH may annually celebrate YU YAO's anniversary on November 10 and may release official content, including illustrations, merchandise, and songs. Fans were also encouraged to create content for her. "#YUYAO_art" is the official tag for XIA YU YAO fanart on Twitter.[14]
On August 2, 2023, a crowdfunding campaign was launched to raise funds for OSCAR's Synthesizer V AI library and YU YAO's two E.P.s "Huǒ zhī Yáo" and "Huàn zhī Yáo". The crowdfunding campaign had an initial goal of 800,000 NTD and was expected to end on September 17 at 23:59.[15][16]
Reputation[]
- First Synthesizer V character from VOICEMITH and E-CAPSULE Co. Ltd.
- First Mandarin Chinese voice database from VOICEMITH and E-CAPSULE Co. Ltd.
- First Synthesizer V AI voice database from VOICEMITH and E-CAPSULE Co. Ltd.
- First female voice database from VOICEMITH and E-CAPSULE Co. Ltd.
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 https://web.archive.org/web/20160930085215/http://www.voicemith.com/
- ↑ https://twitter.com/voicemith/status/745490345090125824
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20141110121938/http://news.aniarc.com/news/142407/%E5%8F%B0%E7%81%A3%E9%96%8B%E7%99%BC%E8%99%9B%E6%93%AC%E6%AD%8C%E6%89%8B%E3%80%8C%E5%A4%8F%E8%AA%9E%E9%81%99%E3%80%8D-%E9%9D%9E%E5%95%86%E6%A5%AD%E5%85%8D%E8%B2%BB%E6%8E%88%E6%AC%8A%E4%BD%BF%E7%94%A8
- ↑ https://twitter.com/voicemith/status/1531497943554961408
- ↑ https://twitter.com/maiko3tattun/status/1535576781834850304
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20141110121938/http://news.aniarc.com/news/142407/台灣開發虛擬歌手「夏語遙」-非商業免費授權使用
- ↑ https://twitter.com/JuxerOfficial/status/1781653364402786341
- ↑ http://pf.goone.tw/index.php?show=3&type=1&id=1431
- ↑ https://twitter.com/White_Chord/status/1590267937998663680
- ↑ https://gnn.gamer.com.tw/detail.php?sn=240931
- ↑ https://twitter.com/White_Chord/status/1590691681506308098
- ↑ https://twitter.com/White_Chord/status/1591340017305018368
- ↑ https://twitter.com/White_Chord/status/1596119010751483904
- ↑ https://twitter.com/YuyaoOfficial/status/1641741673087799296
- ↑ https://twitter.com/YuyaoOfficial/status/1686600917918105601
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxqkFjwJhB4
- ↑ https://twitter.com/YuyaoOfficial/status/1545227782438809601
- ↑ https://www.bilibili.com/read/cv16878847