Leon
Biographical information
Developer	Zero-G Ltd.
Distributor	• Zero-G Ltd.  • Crypton Future Media
Illustrator	Anonymous photographer stock image
Technical Information
Voice provider	Unrevealed [1]
Additional information
Gender	Male
Product Code	24910
Reduced Number	ZGV1
JAN Code	4511820065552 00021724010014 (zero-g)
Affiliation	YAMAHA

LE♂N and L♀la were the first Vocaloids released, being released for the Vocaloid engine. He is a "virtual male soul vocalist modeled on a real professional singer" and was created for English. As well as claiming the spot of first Vocaloid, Leon and Lola also are the first male and female Vocaloids for English and the Vocaloid engine itself.^[2][3]

History Edit

Leon was released along with fellow Vocaloid, Lola, by Zero-G Limited. They were one of the exhibits at the Zero-G Limited booth during Wired Nextfest and the Vocaloids won the 2005 Electronic Musician Editor’s Choice Award. At the time of their release, Lola and Leon had no rival software to contend with and were the first Vocal synthesizers to be released of their nature, however, Leon and Lola failed to impact the American market due to their accents. ^[4][5]

MarketingEdit

Leon and Lola recieved standard advertisements for their day. They were advertised on the internet and in electronic magazines. At the time this was normal for software synethizers and there was no Vocaloid fandom to aid with their developement. They were aimed at professionals therefore and had no fan input in mind. Their boxart was standard for their day and rival software backage Cantor would later adopt the same boxart style.

For a period he, along with Lola and Miriam, were not on sale due to the lack of interest in synthesized voices. This lack of interest was owed to the sudden change in indie music trends. After increased interest began to occur in vocaloids and renewed demand, Zero-G began reselling Lola, Leon and Miriam from their own website via their virtual shop. According to Zero-G, the three may also get a redesign in the future.^[6]

Leon and Lola's boxart is from a stock image. The photographer is unknown but the image is on various stock photo sites. An example of the original is here titled "Profile of woman with finger next to lips" x13037575.

Voicebank LibrariesEdit

VocaloidEdit

• Leon and Lola after heavy vocal cleaning

LeonEdit

Leon
Developer(s)	Zero-G Ltd.
Initial Release	• January 15, 2004  • March 3, 2004 (Japan)
Stable Release	Vocaloid
Development status	Unsupported as of Vocaloid 3 (Retirement Stage)
Operating system	Windows 32-bit operating systems (XP, Vista)
Type	English Vocaloid
License	Proprietary
Website	Product page

StrengthsEdit

Leon is sold as a soul singer and was the counterpartner to Lola and his vocals were designed to compliment her own. He, like Lola, also sings with a British accent. His voice is light and thin compared to Lola, allowing him to hit higher notes easily. His vocals have a smooth R&B feel to them in contrast to Lola's vocals.

WeaknessesEdit

Out of Lola and Leon, Lola was considered the better vocal of the two. Although Miriam shared the same engine version as Leon and Lola, there were bugs and glitches present in Leon and Lola that were later fixed in Miriam's release and they are not as smooth as she is.^[7] This means Leon is overall the weakest of the 3 English voicebanks for the Vocaloid era. However, his weakness is owed to the lightness of his vocals. He does not have much timbre which can limit the roles he is capable of singing, including the roles he offers within the Soul singer category that are expected from a male Soul singer. Leon does not have a character design and some users find it difficult to work without a singer to base their song around, though prior to Vocaloid 2 this was not an issue.

Examples of UsageEdit

Video Killed The Radio Star
	Author(s):	Daifuku-P
	Category:
	Featuring:	Leon, Lola and Miriam
	Nicovideo Broadcast / Youtube Broadcast
Description A cover song of the song "Video Killed the Radio Star".

Something about Us
	Author(s):	BeginsWithTheEnd
	Category:
	Featuring:	Leon
	Nicovideo Broadcast / Youtube Broadcast
Description A cover song of the song "Something about Us".

I Still Want U
	Author(s):	Muzehack
	Category:	Electro
	Featuring:	Leon
	Nicovideo Broadcast / Youtube Broadcast
Description An orginal song done in Electro style.

Notable Leon SongsEdit

Main article: Songs featuring Leon

Main article: Youtube List/Leon Songs

PopularityEdit

As there was not much of a Vocaloid fandom to begin with, most fan responses are relatively late responses to the Vocaloid. Until Big Al in 2009, no other English capable male Vocaloid existed, so those wanting a male vocal in the English engine were forced to buy Leon. Leon did not become popular with the public until a relatively unknown Nico Nico Douga user posted a video of him singing "song True to my Heart". This featured Leon in an unusual looking fan design which soon struck the funny bone of Nico Nico users and the video eventually received over 50,000 views.^[8][9]

In the Nico Nico Douga International Vocaloid ranking 2010, Leon had the 3rd most notable number of appearances, with 4 appearances in the top 30 songs of 2010.

A independant Vocaloid search on Nico Nico Douga revealed that most Vocaloids had less then 1,000 videos uploaded on Nico Nico Douga in between July 1 and December 15 2011 with Leon falling into that category as well.^[10]

TriviaEdit

• It was Lola and Leon's appearance at the NAMM trade show that would later introduce rival vocaloid studio PowerFX to the vocaloid program.^[11]

• Because of the promotional video, "The Farthest End" (Saihate), Leon is often depicted with tulips which eventually became his character item. ^[12]

• Leon and Lola are often regarded as siblings by fans due to their similar names, boxart logo style and their release date and they are often regarded as the English Vocaloid equivalent of the Kagamine Vocaloids. At the time of their release, media coverage of them also often called them (and later Miriam) "siblings". Even those producing the studio software also often regard the pair as "siblings".^[13] Sonika also refers to Leon, Lola and Miriam as her older siblings.^[14]

• The most famous fan depiction of Leon is of a young blond haired man with a deep blue shirt. This image has become so popular that Leon is now almost always depicted as a blond or fair haired young man, despite soul music having its origins in African-American music, as very few Caucasian singers are actually labeled as soul singers.

• A comical depiction of Leon is as Italian entertainer Girolamo Panzetta, wearing an outfit similar to Parco Folgore from Konjiki no Gash!! (See) Youtube: 「チチをもげ」 feat LEON

• Prima, Leon and Lola's release dates were celebrated in the "Zero-G Garnet Festival" (also referred to as "ZGF") on Nico Nico Douga. This event celebrates the release of these Vocaloids and songs were uploaded during this 3 day event. ^[15]

• Until Big-Al's release 6 years later, Leon was the only male English speaking Vocaloid. This meant for English users the choice of male Vocals were much more limited for a very long time compared to their Japanese counterparts.
  • This also led to a minor joke about how lucky Leon was compared to Kaito, having a "harem" of Vocaloid females to himself; including Lola and Luka, there were 6 female English capable Vocaloids released between his and Al's release.

• It is unknown how many units were sold, but as Kaito was the only commercial Vocaloid failure reported, it is safe to say he sold at least 1,000 units.^[16]

Notable for...Edit

• First Male vocal ever released
• One of the two first English vocals ever released
• One of the first two Vocaloid voicebanks ever released
• Used in the first Vocaloid related album ever released commercially
• One of the two first specialized vocals ever released
• One of the two first Vocaloids ever released
• One of the two first Zero-G Vocaloids released
• One of the first two avatarless Vocaloids produced
• Sole English capable male vocal for 6 years

GalleryEdit

Notice: Due to the number of artwork both official and non-official, only significant artwork and MMD models will be listed. And please, respect the producers of the models and do not distribute illegally or edit without permission. In some cases, a producer known or unknown may have already ceased distribution of said model, possibly due to violations of the terms of use.

Leon's interface (blue) with Zero-G logos

External linksEdit

• Leon fanart DeviantArt / Pixiv / Piapro
• New Engloid Blog- Leon (tag search)
• MMD model

links and passwords are provided publicly by model producer(s)

YouTube (Nukude) - MMD Vocaloid Boys - Bakunyu Ondo +Download Links!+

References Edit

NavigationEdit