Sonika is the fifth Vocaloid created by Zero-G. Released on July 14th, 2009, she is the third English speaking Vocaloid to use the updated Vocaloid2 software. She later became the first Vocaloid to be released in Greater China.
Nothing is known about her voice provider except she was an amateur singer.
She is the first English speaking Vocaloid to use a character design and profile as part of the product. She was released with profile/biographical information on the back cover of the software package, similar to the other Vocaloid2 products.
The tattoo on her left side is her name in katakana as " ソニカ ". The name "Sonika" is Hindi, it is a girl's name and is based on the Hindi word for "Golden beauty".
Prior to Sonika, Zero-G did do much to market their Vocaloids, since they sold based on reputation of their products to a strictly professional market and most marketing was done via traditional means (such as software reveiws).[2] Unlike past Vocaloids, Sonika was a more fandom driven Vocaloid and rather target professionals, Zero-G focused on selling Sonika to the Vocaloid fans. This resulted in both positive and negative results with the most important being that Zero-G was able to create links with the Vocaloid English fandom that never existed previously. The downside was that any disappointments around Sonika were more felt then with previous Vocaloids they had made since they were talking to the fans directly of the Vocaloid software.
She also had a comic uploaded onto her website.
Sonika's site
Vocaloid: Sonika Comic 1: Welcome Sonika
Vocaloid: Sonika Comic 2: Sonika's Obsession
Vocaloid: Sonika Comic 3: Sonika's Family
While many of the Vocaloid fandom has expressed a desire to see an improved version of Sonika, it has been confirmed by Zero-G that they have no intentions to improve her voicebank.[3][4]
Following her release Zero-G took a unique stance with her post-release development. They have created and maintained a Twitter page for Sonika, something unheard of for any past Vocaloid. Tweets have included pictures of herself with a different hair color, announcing her favorite food is sashimi tuna, and announcing upcoming interviews in media articles. She has even made direct reference to fans discussing what her character item should be.
She also reports things like Tonio's late arrival and may even make a reaction to the release of other Vocaloids like Big Al. In Jan 2011, her Twitter account reached 1,000 followers.[5] The Twitter account is maintained by "Sonika" and not by a bot.[6]
From Nov. 2, 2009 to Nov. 30, 2009. Zero-G announced a competition to give Sonika a new look. The winner would receive a copy of the "Sonika Vocaloid2 Software". [7][8]
Nearing the end of November an image was uploaded on Crypton Catalog that represented Sonika's new appearance. It was drawn by artist Mario Wibisono (aka raynkazuya) at the request of Zero-G.[9] And with the image being found during the New Look Competition and uploaded to Zero-G's site a few days later, this greatly confused fans and submitters who thought that it was the winning image.[10]
This was quickly corrected by Zero-G stating that the competition rules never included the winning image being used for boxart. [11]
She also had a song competition in 2010, the winner would recieved whatever Zero-G Vocaloid 2 voicebank they desired. The winner was Daniel Castro with the song “U Know It (My Name Is Sonika)”.
Prior to her release, Zero-G and other English Vocaloid products were starting to fall behind their Japanese counterparts. Sonika marked the first attempt to raise the profile of English Vocaloids since Miriam and Sweet Ann. She was reported as having sold much better then past Vocaloids designed only for the English language. According to a flyer in 2011, Sonika was the 13th most popular Zero-G product in 2011.[12]
A independent 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 with Sonika falling into that category as well.[13]
Although she was not the first English vocaloid to use an avatar on her boxart, she was the first to mimic the Japanese style of avatars.
According to her twitter messages, Sonika's hair color is able to change color (e.g. from green to red), she also has freckles that show in the summer heat.
Sonika is the first Vocaloid to coin the concept of "the Vocaloid family". This was previously a fan concept that accepts all Vocaloids as a form of undefined "family". Sonika however became more definate on some Vocaloids.
Sonika regards Leon, Lola and Miriam as her older siblings
Prima as her "auntie"
Tonio as her "uncle"
All other Vocaloids are referred to as her cousins.[15][16]
In regards to Vocaloid3 she was glad to be getting more brothers and sisters and was looking forward to meeting her new friends and singing along side them.
She referred to Big Al as "her best friend" when asked about which Vocaloid she talked to the most.[17]
An old trick within the Western vocaloid fandom is to have Luka and Sonika sing together when using English. If correctly done both voices will blend together, the advantage of this is both Vocaloids effectively hide each others flaws.
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