Xingchen (Simplified Chinese: 星尘; Traditional Chinese: 星塵), also known in English as Stardust, is a Mandarin Chinese vocal developed and distributed by Beijing Photek S&T Development Co., Ltd., and released as an AI voice database (known as "Xingchen Infinity") for Synthesizer V Studio in February 2022. She was previously released as a VOCALOID4 voicebank in April 2016, and was the company's first and only VOCALOID product. She later became part of the MEDIUM⁵ cast.[2]
She is voiced by Chalili, a Chinese utaite.[3]
Concept[]
Xingchen was originally a mascot for the doujinshi group and series Quadimension.[4]
According to the Quadimension 3 album artbook and November's design concepts, Xingchen is capable of flying to Earth by using her hair. However, it was noted that she does not necessarily need to flap her hair while flying in space.[5] Her birthday was later confirmed to be August 12.[6] She is listed as a Leo.
One of the most prominent aspects for Xingchen's character and design is that she carries a yellow star tetrahedron (also known as a "double tetrahedron"). This shape is also present on the left corner of the dress of her VOCALOID4 design and as the third stroke of "星" in her logo. The star tetrahedron represents the human body, heaven and earth, or aether, and is a shape found in Metatron's Cube.[7] This was later confirmed to be an influence to her overall character concept, especially during her time as Quadimensionko.[8] In the artbook for Fairytale released in 2019, the attribute for the star tetrahedron was labelled as "sacred" or "holy" (神圣).[9]
In March 2019, Xingchen was revealed to be part of the MEDIUM⁵ cast and was one of the girls who derived from a single being known as ZERO who possessed Metatron's Cube.[10] It was noted that out of all five derivatives, Xingchen looked and sounded the most like ZERO, as ZERO was based on the original Quadimensionko concept due to the company's fondness for the initial design and was repurposed. Xingchen and ZERO were both one person and not one person, somewhere in between, representing the past and the present.
Regarding the lore of Infinity, it is the strongest form of Xingchen after the sisters remerge into one. However, instead of returning as ZERO, she emerges as Infinity due to the origin crystals of each character having their own life experiences. In the background story, Xingchen corresponds to Minus while ZERO corresponds to Infinity. Infinity is "all the possibilities after Xingchen is freed from the shackles".[11]
According to the Dreamtonics page for Synthesizer V Studio, Xingchen Infinity was described to be a young girl who was full of energy and infinite possibilities.[12]
Etymology[]
Her name, "Xingchen" (星尘; Xīngchén), means "Stardust" in Chinese. "Stardust" is her official English name as it appears on her boxart and numerous promotional material, and is utilized on her official social media accounts.
She was originally known as "Quadimensionko".
Appearance[]
Xingchen Infinity's design uses the concept from the MEDIUM⁵ 2050 game, which was introduced on August 12, 2020 and designed by xiao Ye You Xi. She is a sixteen-year-old girl with long pale purple or periwinkle hair pulled into two low pigtails in the front and two in the back (a quad-tail hairstyle concept that references "Quadimension"[13]). Her pigtails are held fast by black and yellow clasps, with the two in the rear being encircled by black and gold four-point star-shaped disks. In her hair are two large purple and gold barrettes shaped like stars. Her eyes are bright yellow. She wears a black and purple armor-like suit with long midnight purple gloves embellished with a yellow design and glittering stars. Around her waist is a sleek black and yellow belt. Her knee-high boots are black, midnight purple, and yellow, bearing the same pattern as her armor.
Relationships[]
- ZERO - Originator.
- Cangqiong - Older sister.
- Chiyu - Older Sister.
- Haiyi - Younger Sister.
- Shian - Younger Sister.
- Minus - Fellow MEDIUM⁵ vocal.
- Muxin - Fellow MEDIUM⁵ vocal.
Voice Libraries[]
- Xingchen (VOCALOID4), April 13, 2016
- Xingchen Infinity AI (Synthesizer V Studio), February 20, 2022
Additional Information[]
Marketing[]
As a VOCALOID character for five years, Xingchen had received numerous merchandise and events. The merchandise consisted of a variety of different products, including but not limited to albums, keychains, posters, folders, figures, plush dolls, and more. She also performed live in December 2017 at Quadimension Live Tour in Beijing, China. After the debut of her sisters, she consistently appeared alongside them in merchandise and official songs. Xingchen also has her own official Weibo account, bilibili account, Twitter account, YouTube account, and bilibili playlist. Her birthday was acknowledged as August 12 and Quadimension may release annual official content, including illustrations, merchandise, and songs. Fans were also encouraged to create content for her.
In August 2021, when Xingchen Infinity was officially announced to be in production, Beijing Photek revealed three potential designs for the voice database, but was open to suggestions from fans.[14]
On January 28, 2022, Ddickky showed an unfinished backlog draft of Xingchen in a new outfit, which was created from around the time Chiyu received a new outfit. He asked for comments about whether or not it should be finished and its use (such as an alternative costume) depended on fan reception.[15]
On occasion, Beijing Photek would host tuning competitions[16] and paid music production courses for users to participate and attend. These would feature all of Beijing Photek's vocalists, including both of Xingchen's voice libraries for VOCALOID4 and Synthesizer V.[17]
Reputation[]
As a VOCALOID, Xingchen was very well received. She gained many original songs throughout the years, including some that reached 1 million views. She earned loyal and dedicated fans, even attracting retired Chinese-language producers back into the fandom as they expressed interest in creating songs for her. During Beijing Photek's early plans for Xingchen's Synthesizer V voice databases in Mandarin Chinese and English, there was much support from fans. After hearing Qing Su's demonstrations, fans were impressed with the realism of her voice, which further excited them and led to the curiosity of how Xingchen would sound as an AI voice database.
In the Chinese fandom, there were mixed opinions on how Xingchen Infinity sounded. Fans felt that she sounded different compared to her VOCALOID4 version and were torn about whether this was a positive or a negative thing. This led to the release of a statement from Ddickky, explaining how Xingchen would have sounded different in the two engines and breaking down the processes.[18] Ddickky added that fans were entitled to their own opinion of whether or not they liked Xingchen Infinity, and would rather remain neutral himself.[19]As a VOCALOID and lead character of Quadimension, Xingchen was a very well-loved character in the Chinese fanbase. Her voicebank was used consistently throughout the years and she earned songs with over 1 million views. She had the support of many long-standing fans through her transition from VOCALOID to Synthesizer V. Her initial plans were revealed in March 2019, with confirmations that she would have voice databases in both Mandarin Chinese and English for the new engine. However, contractual issues with her voice provider prevented this from occurring, delaying these potential productions. Fans continued to show their support for her throughout this time.
Like Muxin and Minus before her, Xingchen Infinity was only made available on Beijing Photek's Taobao shop, making it difficult for overseas users to purchase her if they had no knowledge of how to navigate and use the site. All of the previous vocals before these three were made available on Animen's ANiCUTE shop, which was friendlier to use for overseas fans.
During the production and after the release of Xingchen Infinity, fans had mixed feelings over the sound of her voice, particularly about how different it sounded from the original VOCALOID4 version, ranging from positive to negative opinions. This feedback was cited as one of the reasons why there was hesitation in producing AI voice databases of the other cast members, with concern that they would not sound like the R1 and R2 "Standard" versions. Ddickky explained that an update for Xingchen V4 was needed as it performed poorly, so it must be launched even under the pressure of changing the singing voice style. For the other characters, however, the voice style change was always uncertain and it may create a reaction of resistance similar to Xingchen Infinity.[20][21][22]- Xingchen Infinity's release date, February 20, was the same day that her original VOCALOID4 voicebank was set for pre-order in 2016. This date was known as "Xingchen's Arrival Day" and is sometimes regarded as her anniversary date, though Beiing Photek and fans mainly celebrated her character birthday, which is August 12.
- The first song featuring Xingchen Infinity to reach one million views was a Genshin Impact parody cover of "Senbonzakura" by Ruo Yuan Jiaozhu, Lufer, Bu Gu Miao, and Sheng Guang Kirlia on May 21, 2022.[23] The first original to reach one million views was "Wǒ Zài Chídài Kàn Piàoliàng Jiějiě" by inosoo which was achieved on November 25, 2022.
- First VOCALOID to release for Synthesizer V.
- First female VOCALOID to release for Synthesizer V.
- First Mandarin Chinese VOCALOID to release for Synthesizer V.
- First Beijing Photek Synthesizer V AI voice database to release.
- First female Beijing Photek Synthesizer V AI voice database to release.
References[]
- ↑ https://t.bilibili.com/619866988878952464 - Despite confirmations that Xingchen Infinity was also trained with English and Japanese songs, she is not considered to be a multilingual library by Beijing Photek S&T Development Co., Ltd.
- ↑ Stardust's Debut
- ↑ Voice provider
- ↑ Quadimensionko
- ↑ http://www.weibo.com/3180838712/Cs1nqw0Xb
- ↑ Character bio
- ↑ http://www.crystalwind.ca/eureka-amazing/meta-science/sacred-geometry/metaphysical-star-tetrahedron
- ↑ https://weibo.com/5056093502/HAFKwvdDT
- ↑ https://imgur.com/a/LFzUPk2
- ↑ https://www.bilibili.com/video/av42960488
- ↑ https://www.bilibili.com/read/cv15002320
- ↑ https://dreamtonics.com/en/synthesizerv/
- ↑ http://tieba.baidu.com/p/3793677226
- ↑ https://www.weibo.com/6802075123/Kv4ram7mv
- ↑ https://t.bilibili.com/620821601201436546
- ↑ https://t.bilibili.com/513030553568983648
- ↑ https://t.bilibili.com/595083945257636743
- ↑ https://www.bilibili.com/read/cv15002320
- ↑ https://t.bilibili.com/619665159780934161
- ↑ https://t.bilibili.com/771690836003913744
- ↑ https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/695380056155095054/1084001776069525515/Screenshot_2023-03-11-14-25-20-306_com.png - "ai声库是和星尘ai一起推进的，去年就同时邀约了生源，这点资金我也完全没问题。只是有些声源会担心ai抢饭碗，有些声源单纯有点拖…而对我而言，商业策略角度现在出声库并不是很好的时机，所以我也只能做到过俩月去催一下，不至于急道周周催天天问。于是结果如你所见，但不出意外不是过于拖的话，今年minus和赤羽应该可以吧。" "不过另一点是，不光声源觉得ai和自己太像，我也觉得如果这么像声源而非角色之前的声库。不是很合适。星尘一定要做是因为v4性能过于差，所以硬顶着声音变化的反对也做了。而其他几个角色是sv2带拼接式，性能过得去，那做了ai产生与星尘类似的声音变化风波，在外加商业角度（卖声库）不是那么挣钱，你能理解我逻辑了吧。"
- ↑ https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/695380056155095054/1084001780926525450/Screenshot_2023-03-11-14-25-45-806_com.png - "回复 @覆雪繁花 :这个还是等快出了看情况才能定，不过基本应该是类似星尘ai的直接卖新的，因为和之前拼接式完全是不同技术工作量和投入成本上也完全不相干，所以会是大几百重新卖，这也是我觉得不好卖商业上不太合适出的一个原因"
- ↑ https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1t3411H7bH
External links[]
Official Website- Official Weibo
- Official Twitter
- Official YouTube
- Official bilibili
- Official bilibili playlist