AH-Software Co. Ltd. (株式会社AH-Software, originally Artist House Solutions Co., Ltd. or ArtistHouse Software[1]) or AHS Co., Ltd. (株式会社AHS) officially, is an importer of digital audio workstation and encoders in Tokyo, Japan. It is also known as the developer of the VOICEROID series.
History[]
AH-Software was established in 2005 as an importer and seller of music software in Tokyo, Japan. In November 2009, they announced that they were going to distribute VOCALOID2 and VOICEROID products in December 2009. AH-Software became the fifth developer of music voice synthesis software with this release.
After a successful campaign in Germany, they began to expand and announced their plans in Vienna Austria.[2]
2020[]
On June 26, 2020, in collaboration with Dreamtonics Co., Ltd., AH-Software announced they would distribute Synthesizer V Studio products starting on July 30.[3]
On July 22, VOCALOMAKETS announced that a CeVIO AI Song Voice library for Yuzuki Yukari –whose VOICEROID+/EX and VOCALOID3/4 voicebanks were distributed by AH-Software– would be developed; VOCALOMAKETS noted that their goal was to "further expand the range of singing voice synthesis".[4][5] Taking note of this, on October 30, it was revealed that TOKYO6 ENTERTAINMENT's VOICEROID2 plans for Koharu Rikka –also to be distributed by AHS– had ceased in favor of having her talk software be on CeVIO AI instead –with AHS again the designated distributor, and this would be AHS' first marketing of a non-VOICEROID, non-AITalk-based text-to-speech product– due to a desire from TOKYO6 to be on all the latest technology (namely, artificial-intelligence-based synthesis as opposed to sample-based synthesis) at the time of Rikka's eventual release;[6] those who were disappointed with the decision were given the option to apply for a refund if they had contributed to her crowdfunding campaign.
On December 25, it was revealed by some producers that VOICEROID development had silently ceased due to conflicts between AH-Software Co. Ltd. and AI, Inc., developer of the AITalk software which VOICEROID was based on (and which also powers AI's new A.I.VOICE program, which AHS did not adopt).[7][8][9] This partly explains why:
- Development of an English version of VOICEROID2 (with Tohoku Zunko as its first voice, which would have been a crowdfunded project)[10] was put on hold, with no indication of whether it would be cancelled or moved to a different text-to-speech engine like CeVIO AI. Such version was initially announced by AHS on November 22nd, 2019 in a VOICEROID 10th Anniversary livestream.[11]
- An updated version of Tsurumaki Maki (originally a VOICEROID+) was instead developed as a CeVIO AI Talk Voice along with an English version.[12]
2022[]
On February 17, 2022, Dreamtonics unveiled VOICEPEAK, a text-to-speech synthesizer described to be "ultra-realistic"[13] which was developed in collaboration with AH-Software.[14] According to AHS's product page, VOICEPEAK was equipped with the high-quality AI speech synthesis engine "Syllaflow", which was developed by Dreamtonics.[15] A trial version of VOICEPEAK, along with one male and one female voice, was released on the same day, with the commercial version set to release for Windows, MacOS, and Linux on March 11 with four females and three males.[16]
On November 18, AH-Software announced a new character-themed lineup of voice libraries for VOICEPEAK, including Tohoku Zunko; they were originally expected to be released on December 15,[17] until a staff illness pushed back the release date to January 13, 2023.[18][19] These VOICEPEAK libraries are being marketed in the same fashion as VOICEROID libraries were during their heyday, and thus they can be seen as the spiritual successors to VOICEROID; having Zunko on VOICEPEAK may also revive the chance for her English voice to be made (in lieu of English VOICEROID development ceasing), although no official word about this has been published.
Voicebanks[]
Developed Voicebanks[]
Voicebanks that the company developed.
VOICEROID[]
VOICEROID+[]
VOICEROID+ EX[]
VOICEROID2[]
Cancelled Voicebanks[]
Voicebanks that the company intended to distribute until later cancelled.
VOICEROID2[]
![Koharu Rikka (collaboration with TOKYO6 ENTERTAINMENT)[20]](/wiki/File:Koharu_Rikka.jpg "Koharu Rikka.jpg (132 KB)")
Promotional involvement[]
Literature[]
Tohoku Zunko received a novel that was published in Japan in Summer 2013, published by PHP Institute Inc.. Her book contains stories from her Twitter, posted by, the voice provider of Zunko herself, Satomi Satō.
Apps[]
An android smartphone widget was made for Tohoku Zunko. The widget stars a chibi Zunko, where users teach her archery skills.
Christmas Illustration Contest[]
On December 12, 2011, AH-Software held an illustration contest of Iroha with the theme Nyanglebell (Nyan and Jingle Bell). Submissions remained opened from December 12 to January 10, 2012.
Social Media[]
A twitter account was made for Tohoku Zunko.
References[]
- ↑ https://www.ah-soft.com/regist/howto.html
- ↑ https://comemo.nikkei.com/n/nb2b5f62397f5
- ↑ https://twitter.com/ahsoft/status/1276349537079029760
- ↑ https://vocalomakets.com/blog/archives/1460
- ↑ https://twitter.com/VOCALOMAKETS/status/1285848376068632579
- ↑ https://www.ah-soft.com/images/press/cevio/rikka_cevio.jpg
- ↑ Bumpy tweet 1
- ↑ Bumpy tweet 2
- ↑ Amanokei's tweet
- ↑ https://twitter.com/t_zunko/status/1197836222497878016/
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsaGMnAzh9I
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmqBPc-ps4A
- ↑ https://twitter.com/dreamtonics_en/status/1438854449766682629
- ↑ https://twitter.com/ahsoft/status/1494145188352397314
- ↑ https://www.ah-soft.com/voice/6nare/
- ↑ https://twitter.com/dreamtonics_jp/status/1494154666917363712
- ↑ https://twitter.com/ahsoft/status/1593076410675257344
- ↑ https://twitter.com/dreamtonics_jp/status/1599646739111505920
- ↑ https://twitter.com/ahsoft/status/1599646153079132160
- ↑ https://note.com/tokyo6/n/n3c60d7d49057
External links[]
- AHS Co., Ltd.
- AH-Software (products)
- AH-Software Vocaloid4 teaser page
- ah-soft (@ahsoft) Twitter
- AHS Co.Ltd Facebook
- AHSoftware Youtube Channel
- AHS Ustream
- AHS Freshlive
- Wikipedia
- Product page VOICEROID
[]
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