Tohoku Zunko, a character mascot for the Tohoku region of Japan to aid in revival efforts, will now be able to sing thanks to an upcoming VOCALOID3 software package from AH-Software. It will be released on June 5 at a price point of 11238 JPY plus tax, and it will include several bundled software programs for free in order to let beginners hit the ground running. Four demo songs are currently available on the product website. AH-Software has previously released a VOICEROID+ software package for Zunko that lets her speak.



According to the press release, the software package will include both Mac and Windows versions of the vocal library, as well as three Windows-only software programs: Music Maker Silver (a simple DAW package), CharaminOMP (animates MMD models automatically given song input) and Crazy Talk 5 SE (helps the user create talking animations from still images). The boxed version of VOCALOID3 Tohoku Zunko will be 11238 JPY plus tax, while the boxed version bundled with VOCALOID3 Editor will come in at 16952 plus tax (although VOCALOID3 Editor will only work in Windows). The download version will be offered at a 8381 JPY plus tax price point.

Zunko has a soft voice and the recommended tempo and pitch range for her are 70 BPM–140 BPM and F2–G#4, respectively. Both VOICEROID+ and VOCALOID3 software packages are voiced by singer and voice actress Satou Satomi, who voiced Ritsu from K-ON! as well as Wendy Marvell from Fairy Tail.

Tohoku Zunko was a mascot character created to help revive the economy in the Tohoku region of Japan, after it was battered by the tsunami and earthquake. Her character design was modeled after the zunda mochi and can be freely used by businesses based in the Tohoku region’s six prefectures, as well as by creators for non-commercial purposes (e.g. uploading on niconico, etc.). AH-Software released a VOICEROID+ package in 2012 that allowed the user to make Zunko speak. In 2013, the parent organization behind Tohoku Zunko held a crowdfunding campaign to gauge interest and raise money for a VOCALOID version; it reached its goal of five million JPY after 24 days.

Currently, four demo songs are available, and all of them have been uploaded on niconico: