Vocaloid Descriptions: Kaito

      (Note: I almost forgot this, as there isn't really anything much I feel like I need to say.)
Kaito's V3 Boxart

  Kaito

Voice donor: Naoto Fuuga is his name. Or rather, his pseudonym, a play on the Japanese for “tasteful sound.” No one actually knows that much about him, including his real name and birth year.
Engine: V1
 Company: Made by Yamaha, sold by Crypton Future Media
Release date: February 2006
Updates and/or additional voicebanks: unreleased V2 appends, V3 update with three voicebanks (Straight, which has the same vocal tone as his V1, Soft, and Whisper), and a V3 English voicebank. There are hints that a V5 update is being planned.
Language: Japanese, English
Voice type: Light, soft male voice designed for baritone and tenor ranges, although he tends to lean more towards tenor.
 Weaknesses: Some people complain that his English sounds like Kermit, but although it’s a bit quirky, I just find that endearing somehow. His Soft and Whisper voicebanks have narrow tempo ranges. There are some genres he doesn’t fit very well, as he has a soft voice in general.
Strengths: Just has a very nice, high-quality voice. His V1 was even good enough to be used all the way till the mid V3 era. His Whisper and Soft voicebanks are very smooth in their use of triphones.
Examples: Kaito and Naoto Fuuga Duet #1, Kaito and Naoto Fuuga Duet #2, Shine (V1), Monochrome World (V1), Imitator (V1), A Thousand-Year Solo (Unreleased V2 Append), April (English/Soft), Dear (English), Patchwork Stacatto (Probably Soft, Whisper, or both, although I couldn’t find out), Leia (unspecified V3), Ordinary (unspecified V3), Black Cat (Whisper/Soft)
Reception: When he was first released, Kaito actually failed. He sold only 5,000 out of the 10,000 units he would have needed to be considered remotely successful. It’s not that Kaito V1 was bad- he was very high-quality for the time, in fact. It was just that most of the audience they advertised Kaito to was male, and that affected sales. However, when Miku was released, Vocaloid Producers needed a Vocaloid to sing duets (specifically romantic ones) with her, and all the other options for male companion Vocaloids were worse. Even Len’s Act 2 was extremely buggy, the other male Vocaloids were English, and Miku didn’t have an English voicebank, so they used Kaito, and along the way rediscovered his versatility and overall nice tone.
Also, some people fussed about his iconic muffler becoming transparent in his V3 design. Not really important, but I have included it.
My opinion: I like his voice. It’s quite expressive, especially his V1. I think of him as one of the Big 8 Vocaloids that deserves his fame. I get that he has flaws and can sound bad if not used correctly, but that just means I like it when he is used correctly.

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