VOCALOID
VOCALOID is Yamaha's singing voice synthesis software. Enter a melody and lyrics, choose a voice bank, and the VOCALOID:AI engine sings the part. Sold as a desktop editor, a DAW plugin and an iOS app.
What is VOCALOID?
VOCALOID is Yamaha's singing voice synthesis technology, first released in 2003 and still under active development. The site vocaloid.com is both the product's official home and VOCALOID SHOP, the store Yamaha Corporation runs for it. The current generation, VOCALOID6, is built on an engine the company calls VOCALOID:AI. The working principle has not changed since the beginning: you enter a melody and lyrics, and the software produces the sung performance.
The desktop product, VOCALOID6 Editor, sells for USD 225.00 before tax and ships with 25 voices — 21 new VOCALOID6 voice banks plus four carried over from VOCALOID5. It runs on Windows and macOS, standalone or as a VST3 or AU plugin, and links to a DAW through ARA2 for playback, song position and tempo. Direction tools shape accents, vibrato and rhythmic feel, while a Doubling function builds harmony parts instantly. The editor holds up to 32 tracks and 999 bars, offers eleven audio effects, volume and panning automation, more than 2,000 media library items and over 100 style presets, and reads and writes VPR, MIDI and WAV. Steinberg Cubase AI is bundled except with upgrade versions, and a prototype plugin called VX-β is given free to every VOCALOID user.
Voice banks are the other half of the ecosystem. VOCALOID6 ships with SARAH, ALLEN, HARUKA, AKITO, SAKURA, ASAHI, TAKU, SHION, LUCAS, MICHELLE, NAOKI, YUINA, BRIAN, JESSICA, MATTHEW, SANDRA, KANA, HAYATO, AYA and KAZUYA, and accepts every bank released since VOCALOID3. Character banks — Hatsune Miku V6, Megurine Luka, Kagamine Rin/Len, MEIKO, KAITO, Megpoid, Mirai Komachi, IA — are bought separately, between USD 67.00 and USD 140.00. One bank can sing Japanese, English and Chinese lyrics in the same song.
Two companion products complete the range. VOCALO CHANGER PLUGIN (USD 180.00 before tax, 16 voices) analyses a real sung take and re-sings it with a VOCALOID:AI voice bank in real time, as a VST3, AU or AAX plugin. Mobile VOCALOID Editor brings the same idea to iPhone and iPad on a USD 3.99 monthly subscription. Everything is sold through VOCALOID SHOP, whose checkout is operated by Bright Market, LLC on FastSpring, and delivered as a download.
What it does
- Turn a melody and lyrics into a finished sung vocal track
- Direct the performance: accents, vibrato, rhythmic feel
- Build harmony parts in one step with Doubling
- Re-sing your own recorded take through a VOCALOID:AI voice bank
- Write lyrics mixing Japanese, English and Chinese in a single voice bank
- Export to WAV or MIDI and drive the editor from a DAW over ARA2
- Compose on an iPhone or iPad with the mobile editor
When to use VOCALOID / When not to
A quick filter to help you decide if VOCALOID is the right fit.
When to use VOCALOID
- Music producers who need a lead or guide vocal without booking a singer
- Composers and arrangers working inside a DAW, through VST3, AU or ARA2
- Vocaloid-culture creators after a specific character voice such as Hatsune Miku
- Singers who want their own take re-sung by an AI voice bank with VOCALO CHANGER
- Songwriters mixing Japanese, English and Chinese lyrics inside a single line
When not to use VOCALOID
- Linux users and anyone expecting a browser tool: only Windows 11 and macOS 14, 15 and 26 are supported
- Developers looking for an API or an SDK, since the product exposes neither
- Anyone needing speech, narration or dubbing, as VOCALOID is built for singing alone
- Android owners, because the mobile editor exists on iOS only
- Teams wanting a floating or multi-seat licence: one serial code covers one computer and purchases are not refundable for convenience
How to use VOCALOID
A typical end-to-end flow, from setup to results.
- Download the free 31-day trial for Windows or macOS — roughly 0.7 GB, with 5 GB of free disk space required
- Or buy VOCALOID6 from VOCALOID SHOP: the FastSpring cart handles payment and a serial code arrives by email
- Install the editor standalone, or load it as a VST3 or AU plugin inside your DAW
- Enter notes and lyrics, then pick one of the 25 bundled voice banks
- Shape the performance with the direction tools — accents, vibrato, rhythmic feel — and add harmonies with Doubling
- Add voice banks bought separately; anything from VOCALOID3 onwards will load
- Export the result as WAV or MIDI, or keep the editor synced to your DAW through ARA2
- On mobile, install Mobile VOCALOID Editor on an iPhone or iPad and use the 14-day trial: play the bundled songs, change the lyrics, then draw a melody with your finger
- Work through the site's learning material: the six-part beginner series built on Frog Song, the LEARN section and the trial walkthrough video
- Keep the purchase email, because serial codes are never reissued and the site holds no purchase history
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Twenty years of continuous development behind an industrial publisher, with the editor still being patched in 2026 (updater 6.13.2)
- 25 voices included with the editor, before buying anything else
- Unusually deep voice bank catalogue, including the character voices the culture is built on
- Backwards compatible with every voice bank released since VOCALOID3
- A genuinely full 31-day trial, with no announced feature limits
- Serious DAW integration: VST3, AU, ARA2 and a bundled Cubase AI
- One-off purchase on desktop, with no mandatory subscription
Cons
- Steep entry price: USD 225.00 for the editor, USD 180.00 for the plugin, and USD 67.00 to USD 140.00 for each extra voice bank
- No permanent free plan, only time-limited trials
- One serial code per computer, with no multi-seat or floating licence
- No refund for convenience, no cancellation once the order is confirmed, and serial codes are never reissued
- Thin privacy documentation: no retention period, no hosting country, no DPA and no GDPR mention
- Mobile editor is iOS-only and subscription-based, separate from the desktop purchase
- No API, no web version and no Linux build; third-party voice bank support falls to its publisher rather than to Yamaha
Pricing & Plans
There is no permanent free plan. Access begins with a trial — 31 days on desktop, 14 days on the iOS app — after which a purchase is required. The lowest one-off price point is USD 180.00 before tax for VOCALO CHANGER PLUGIN, while VOCALOID6 Editor is USD 225.00 before tax. The cheapest recurring option is the Mobile VOCALOID Editor subscription at USD 3.99 per month before tax on iOS. Voice banks are sold separately, between USD 67.00 and USD 140.00. All prices are listed before tax, with the buyer's currency applied during checkout.
- VOCALOID6 Editor — USD 225.00 before tax
- one-off purchase
- Windows and macOS
- 25 voice banks
- standalone or VST3/AU with ARA2
- Cubase AI bundled
- VOCALO CHANGER PLUGIN — USD 180.00 before tax
- one-off purchase
- Windows and macOS
- 16 voice banks
- VST3/AU/AAX (AAX on macOS only)
- Mobile VOCALOID Editor — USD 3.99 per month before tax
- iOS subscription
- VY1 Lite and asa voice banks included
- 14-day trial
- VOCALOID6 free trial — 31 days
- all features
- Windows and macOS
- VX-β — free prototype plugin bundled for every VOCALOID user
- Upgrade and crossgrade editions — dedicated pages for owners of eligible products
- prices are not shown on the collected pages
Data, GDPR & hosting
A consolidated view of how VOCALOID handles your data.
GDPR overview
There is no mention of the GDPR anywhere on vocaloid.com — not in the privacy policy, not in the terms, not on the legal notice page. A search across every collected page returned nothing for the GDPR, the European Union or Article 27. The privacy policy refers only to Japanese personal data law, and the terms are governed by Japanese law with exclusive jurisdiction at the Tokyo District Court. No data protection officer is named, no EU representative is designated, no privacy contact address is published and no data processing agreement is offered. Requests to correct, add to, update or delete personal data are open to anyone through the site's contact form, subject to identity verification — a route that resembles GDPR rights in practice, but is presented as a courtesy rather than as compliance with European law.
Who owns the data?
Yamaha Corporation runs the site and its shop. Its privacy policy states that personal data is collected only once you hand it over, and is not shared with third parties except with analysis providers, delivery and banking partners, and Yamaha group companies handling your enquiry. Site content — text, images, graphics — belongs to Yamaha or to the partners who supplied it. Rights in the products you buy stay with each product's copyright holder, under that product's own licence agreement, and the sale itself is concluded with Bright Market, LLC through FastSpring rather than with Yamaha. Nothing published on the site claims any right over the music you create.
Reuse rights
The published documents describe Yamaha's use of your data, not your reuse of it. Personal data serves to answer support requests, deliver the services and promote other Yamaha products, with opt-out available on request. Usage data is collected through cookies and passed to Google Analytics, Microsoft Clarity and Meta Pixel, and to advertising partners including Google LLC, Meta Platforms, X Corp., TikTok Pte. Ltd and LY Corporation, plus YouTube, SoundCloud and Nico Nico Douga for media playback; a consent banner lets you refuse by category or wholesale. Site content may not be downloaded, copied, altered, translated or retransmitted without Yamaha's prior written consent, and software may be downloaded only unmodified and for personal use. Whether the music you produce can be reused freely is settled by each voice bank's own licence agreement, not by anything on this site.
Data retention & training
Hosting summary
Neither the privacy policy nor the terms name a hosting country or region. The documents say only that usage data collected through cookies is stored and analysed on the servers of the third-party providers concerned — Google, Microsoft, Meta and the advertising partners listed — without saying where those servers sit. The one hard geographic fact is technical rather than contractual: the domain resolves to 3.113.108.55, an address geolocated in Tokyo, Japan, on Amazon's AS16509. That is an observation made during this review, not a commitment given by the publisher, and it can change at any time. The publisher itself is Japanese — Yamaha Corporation, based in Yokohama — and the terms are governed by Japanese law with exclusive jurisdiction at the Tokyo District Court, so Japanese data protection law is the operative regime by default. Anyone with a jurisdictional requirement should ask Yamaha directly, since nothing published on the site answers the question.
Things to keep in mind
Risks and trade-offs to weigh before adopting VOCALOID.
- Prices are shown before tax: the final amount depends on your currency and local tax, applied at the FastSpring checkout
- One serial code unlocks one computer, the code is never reissued and the site holds no purchase history, so losing the confirmation email means losing the licence
- The purchase FAQ mentions a refund within 14 days while the Individual Terms exclude returns for convenience — clarify before ordering
- The sale is concluded with Bright Market, LLC through FastSpring rather than with Yamaha, and payment disputes are yours to settle with them
- Third-party voice banks are warranted and supported by their own publisher, and the banks bundled with VOCALO CHANGER PLUGIN do not work inside VOCALOID6 Editor
- No GDPR reference and no stated retention period; Japanese law governs, with exclusive jurisdiction at the Tokyo District Court, which leaves a foreign user without a familiar written baseline
- Leaning on a synthetic vocalist can quietly narrow a writer's ear: melodies start being written for what the engine renders cleanly rather than for what a human would actually sing
Setup & Integrations
Technical difficulty
Low. Installation is ordinary desktop software: a 0.7 GB download, 5 GB of free disk space and a serial code. The editor runs standalone, so no DAW is needed to start. The site supplies a six-part beginner series built around Frog Song, a LEARN section and a walkthrough video for the trial, and the iOS app is presented as beginner-friendly. The real learning curve is not the setup but the vocal direction — getting accents, vibrato and phrasing to sound convincing — which producers quoted on the site describe as noticeably easier than in VOCALOID5.
Deployment
Apps stores
Integrations
Supported languages
Behind VOCALOID
Fundraising
Social
Resources
All the official URLs gathered for verification and reference.
Frequently asked questions
What exactly is VOCALOID?
How much does VOCALOID6 cost?
Is there a free trial?
Is there a permanent free version?
Which operating systems does VOCALOID6 run on?
Is there a mobile app?
Will my older voice banks still work?
Which languages can VOCALOID sing in?
Can I install one purchase on several computers?
How do I contact support?
Should you pick VOCALOID?
VOCALOID is the product that gave synthetic singing a name, and twenty years on it is still the reference. What Yamaha sells today is a mature instrument rather than a novelty: VOCALOID6 Editor arrives with 25 voices, eleven audio effects, thirty-two tracks and a real DAW workflow through VST3, AU and ARA2, and it still loads every voice bank released since VOCALOID3. The VOCALO CHANGER plugin adds a genuinely different idea — sing the line yourself, then have an AI voice bank sing it back — and the iOS editor makes the whole thing approachable from a phone.
The economics are old-fashioned in both senses. A perpetual licence at USD 225.00 before tax means you own what you buy, with no subscription hanging over the desktop product; it also means USD 225.00 up front, USD 180.00 more for the plugin, and USD 67.00 to USD 140.00 for each character voice. One serial code covers one machine, refunds for convenience are excluded, and the serial is never reissued — details worth knowing before checkout. There is no permanent free tier, though the 31-day trial is unrestricted.
The weak point is transparency. The privacy policy is short and dated January 2026. It names its analytics and advertising partners honestly enough, but says nothing about how long data is kept, where it is hosted, or how European law applies, and there is no DPA and no contact address at all — only forms. For a music tool that stores little, this matters less than it would elsewhere, but it is a real gap.
For anyone producing music who wants a vocal without a vocalist, VOCALOID remains the deepest and best-supported option on the market.
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