The first VOCALOID demos are Lost Media?

[ANCRAXILLO]

When browsing the VOCALOID.COM page through the Wayback Machine service and trying to go to the oldest version of the page (November 27, 2003), I noticed that different demos were uploaded, but when trying to listen to them, a file is downloaded ASX type, which cannot be converted nor does it give information about anything apart from the fact that apparently the original files were in .mp3 format.
Link to the pages on the Wayback Machine:
En: https://web.archive.org/web/20031205042708/http://www.vocaloid.com/en/sample.html

JP: Vocaloid


When trying to search for the songs I only find 3 of these.
Songs found:
1. Kimi no uwasa (Japanese)
voice: KAITO
Link:

2. Mahou_no_Kurukuru / まほうのくるくる (Japanese)
Voice= KAITO and MEIKO
Link:

3. Totoumi_Koiuta / 遠江恋唄 (Japanese & English)
Voice= MEIKO, KAITO, LOLA, MIRIAM ???
Link:

Songs not found:
1. Sarasara yukigeshiki / さらさら雪景色 (Japonese)
This is a chorus sample created by using four different vocal libraries (4 singers).

2. Party Line (English)
This is a sample using VOCALOID for backing singers. Lead-vocal is sung by Casey Rankin.

3. The Point (English)
This is also a sample using VOCALOID for backing singers synchronizing Lead-vocal sang by Casey Rankin.

4. Vocaloid_for_you / あなたのVOCALOID (Japanese)
This is also a chorus sample using only VOCALOID.

5.An ensemble for 24 unsynchronized PDAs / 24台の非同期なPDAのための合奏曲
You will find yourself in a mysterious atmosphere with this magnificent sound!

 

[morrysillusion]

i have no specific breakthrough but though it would be worth adding some detail on .asx files. perhaps some important details could arise for those who want to look more into it.

so, an asx file basically points to a URL on the web, basically. there is no actual audio data which is why it wont play/convert. opening them into a program like notepad++ will allow you to find the original mp3 file URL and other information, but it seems they likely werent archived because going to the direct URL leads to nothing.

example of the urls in the files:

http://www.yamaha.co.jp/product/vocaloid/demos/yukigeshiki_128.mp3

http://www.yamaha.co.jp/product/vocaloid/demos/thepoint_128.mp3

http://www.yamaha.co.jp/product/vocaloid/demos/partyline_128.mp3

etc. so sadly they dont hold audio data at all. i havent checked every URL but so far no success so i dont expect they were archived... but i guess it can be noted the url directs to yamaha.co.jp and not vocaloid.com instead.

unsure if anyone has saved these somewhere too and id hope they did, so i may do some digging soon too!

 

[morrysillusion]

decided to see if The Point simply existed because it had a human lead. here? the vocaloid are on harms, so.

【Casey Rankin】The Point_哔哩哔哩_bilibili

https://y.qq.com/n/ryqq/songDetail/001hrQKq3g9V9Qhttp://www.vocaloid.com/demos/thepoint_128.asx（已失效）初代VOCALOID试听曲补完计划，和声使用了英文vocaloid, 视频播放量 38、弹幕量 0、点赞数 1、投硬币枚数 0、收藏人数 1、转发人数 0, 视频作者 考古拾遗bot, 作者简介 【搬运工，投稿均为转载，侵权即删，喜欢请去支持原作者。】（低浮上）稿件有问题请评论/私信，如有撞车请直接举报，谢谢。，相关视频：【Casey Rankin】Party...

www.bilibili.com

and the other one of the same artist

【Casey Rankin】Party Line_哔哩哔哩_bilibili

https://y.qq.com/n/ryqq/songDetail/002xLNzu48XJfshttp://www.vocaloid.com/demos/partyline_128.asx（已失效）初代VOCALOID试听曲补完计划，和声使用了英文vocaloid, 视频播放量 31、弹幕量 0、点赞数 1、投硬币枚数 0、收藏人数 1、转发人数 0, 视频作者 考古拾遗bot, 作者简介 【搬运工，投稿均为转载，侵权即删，喜欢请去支持原作者。】（低浮上）稿件有问题请评论/私信，如有撞车请直接举报，谢谢。，相关视频：【Casey Rankin】The...

www.bilibili.com

the bilibili ones reference the vocaloid demo links too- and i can de hear them in there (more so in The Point than Party Line but)

 

[REDD]

decided to see if The Point simply existed because it had a human lead. here? the vocaloid are on harms, so.

【Casey Rankin】The Point_哔哩哔哩_bilibili

https://y.qq.com/n/ryqq/songDetail/001hrQKq3g9V9Qhttp://www.vocaloid.com/demos/thepoint_128.asx（已失效）初代VOCALOID试听曲补完计划，和声使用了英文vocaloid, 视频播放量 38、弹幕量 0、点赞数 1、投硬币枚数 0、收藏人数 1、转发人数 0, 视频作者 考古拾遗bot, 作者简介 【搬运工，投稿均为转载，侵权即删，喜欢请去支持原作者。】（低浮上）稿件有问题请评论/私信，如有撞车请直接举报，谢谢。，相关视频：【Casey Rankin】Party...

www.bilibili.com

and the other one of the same artist

【Casey Rankin】Party Line_哔哩哔哩_bilibili

https://y.qq.com/n/ryqq/songDetail/002xLNzu48XJfshttp://www.vocaloid.com/demos/partyline_128.asx（已失效）初代VOCALOID试听曲补完计划，和声使用了英文vocaloid, 视频播放量 31、弹幕量 0、点赞数 1、投硬币枚数 0、收藏人数 1、转发人数 0, 视频作者 考古拾遗bot, 作者简介 【搬运工，投稿均为转载，侵权即删，喜欢请去支持原作者。】（低浮上）稿件有问题请评论/私信，如有撞车请直接举报，谢谢。，相关视频：【Casey Rankin】The...

www.bilibili.com

the bilibili ones reference the vocaloid demo links too- and i can de hear them in there (more so in The Point than Party Line but)

What vocaloid is THAT? IF vocaloid was used on these tracks, (and he just didnt dub over the harmonies with his actual voice in these specific versions, which is what it sounds like to me) then its obviously a male vocal, but that does NOT sound like Leon or Kaito whatsoever. Could it be that there was some other beta voicebank used on this track that never got released?

 

[ANCRAXILLO]

What vocaloid is THAT? IF vocaloid was used on these tracks, (and he just didnt dub over the harmonies with his actual voice in these specific versions, which is what it sounds like to me) then its obviously a male vocal, but that does NOT sound like Leon or Kaito whatsoever. Could it be that there was some other beta voicebank used on this track that never got released?

The demos uploaded on the page are surely covers of those songs.

 

[morrysillusion]

the Casey Rankin songs are as far as im aware, original songs of his and that yes the vocaloids are in there just not very obviously. and as the vocaloid site states for the demos-- "This is a sample using VOCALOID for backing singers. Lead-vocal is sung by Casey Rankin". "This is also a sample using VOCALOID for backing singers synchronizing Lead-vocal sang by Casey Rankin." the original website implies fully that the vocaloids do not cover the songs as leads. and i dont think that means at all that the vocaloids are the only backing vocals too, a human voice is definitely in there and its likely Casey.

In Party line i can definitely hear the synthesized voices in the "Oohs" that occur, similar to The Point- theyre not constant through the songs and seem to pick up towards the end. the parts with them are not consistent and not every backing part is vocaloid thats for sure. (and definitely not the lead, in case there was confusion there lol). kinda just sounds like leon and/or lola cuz i dont think that page was specific to kaito or meiko right? regardless, it is hard to tell because theyre so old, and arent super present in the back. these demos seem to simply show a minor use of the vocaloids as support/backing voices and not as the main subject, with a human singer. (i realize i stated "harmonies" in my post so if that caused confusion, they dont seem to be on the harmonies. theyre backing vocals, which arent exactly the same)

 

[morrysillusion]

ah! progress. went googling around, founds some japanese posts. this page here, stated "you can listen to these if you fix the URL" so i threw it in wayback again and... well, not all the links worked. but here is the few i got. (on PC, right click on the player that appears at the bottom of you page, and click "save audio as" to save it.)

24台の非同期なPDAのための合奏曲 (url calls it microochre, and i beleive this is the correct song for this? at least its what that article i found links to)

Wayback Machine

Vocaloid_For_You

Wayback Machine

 

[REDD]

the Casey Rankin songs are as far as im aware, original songs of his and that yes the vocaloids are in there just not very obviously. and as the vocaloid site states for the demos-- "This is a sample using VOCALOID for backing singers. Lead-vocal is sung by Casey Rankin". "This is also a sample using VOCALOID for backing singers synchronizing Lead-vocal sang by Casey Rankin." the original website implies fully that the vocaloids do not cover the songs as leads. and i dont think that means at all that the vocaloids are the only backing vocals too, a human voice is definitely in there and its likely Casey.

In Party line i can definitely hear the synthesized voices in the "Oohs" that occur, similar to The Point- theyre not constant through the songs and seem to pick up towards the end. the parts with them are not consistent and not every backing part is vocaloid thats for sure. (and definitely not the lead, in case there was confusion there lol). kinda just sounds like leon and/or lola cuz i dont think that page was specific to kaito or meiko right? regardless, it is hard to tell because theyre so old, and arent super present in the back. these demos seem to simply show a minor use of the vocaloids as support/backing voices and not as the main subject, with a human singer. (i realize i stated "harmonies" in my post so if that caused confusion, they dont seem to be on the harmonies. theyre backing vocals, which arent exactly the same)

I can kinda?? tell theyre on the backing vocals, but only slightly. I guess thats kinda the point tho lol. If that's the case then its a pretty good demo. Now that i know its the backing vocals, not the harmonies, yeah thats probably Leon or Lola, just very veeeerryyyy faint.

SEMI-RELATED SIDE NOTE

also this guy (Casey Rankin) wrote the JP inTRO SONG FOR SONIC CD??????? And he also did additional vocals for it?? MY favourite Sonic game??? Who knew?
Sonic - You Can Do Anything

 

[ushui]

Hi.
I know this thread is about 6 months old, but I'm writing because it helped me and gave me some answers.

I uploaded it to YouTube and Niconico about lost media.



I also wrote an article about these sources. (It's in Japanese)
最古のボカロ曲を初音ミク誕生前の2003年から遡ってみる | Otogeworks

I'm Japanese and like this thread starter, I was curious and did the same Google search.
In the middle of that I found this thread.

03:16 Mahou_no_Kurukuru (まほうのくるくる)
05:49 Totoumi_Koiuta (遠江恋唄)
08:15 Vocaloid_for_you (あなたのVOCALOID)
08:45 An ensemble for 24 unsynchronized PDAs (24台の非同期なPDAのための合奏曲)

Of these, "Vocaloid_For_You" and "An ensemble for 24 unsynchronized PDAs" were found in this thread.
Using these two as hints, I was able to find a solution to links "Mahou_no_Kurukuru" and "Totoumi_Koiuta".

The following three had to be salvaged from a Japanese article from February 26, 2003, when VOCALOID was announced (it is gone now, so you have to look at it from the archives).
00:16 Kimi no uwasa
02:10 Sarasara yukigeshiki (さらさら雪景色)
02:26 Amazing Grace

I am so impressed that there were pioneers who had already looked into what I wanted to look into and left great hints.
Thank you!

 

[___]

02:26 Amazing Grace

What's super interesting about that demo is that it allegedly uses Sweet Ann's V1 voicebank