Yamaha’s Hideki Kenmochi Discusses VOCALOID’s Development and Future Expression on K-MIX

Hideki Kenmochi, principal engineer in Yamaha Corporation’s R&D division, appeared on K-MIX radio program “GOOD-TIE!” on September 1, 2026 to discuss VOCALOID’s development background and future direction. Kenmochi said “SYNVOCAL” had been considered as a possible name for the technology and described the continuing effort to create synthesized voices that listeners could mistake for human voices. He also explained that MEIKO, released in 2004, was created from the voice of singer-songwriter Meiko Haigo. Looking ahead, Kenmochi said the work will pursue new forms of expression that are unique to singing synthesis, rather than only imitating human singing. The appearance was a developer interview about Yamaha’s VOCALOID technology; it does not announce any change to the rights associated with MEIKO or other voice libraries and singing characters.