Leon (software)
Leon (stylized as LE♂N) is a Soul themed male vocal, released for the Vocaloid software and developed by Zero-G. Leon was one of the first two vocals ever released for Vocaloid, with the other being Lola.[1]
Developer(s) | Zero-G Ltd |
---|---|
Initial release | January 2004 |
Operating system | Microsoft Windows |
Platform | PC |
Available in | English |
Type | Vocal Synthesizer Application |
License | Proprietary |
Characteristics
Leon is different from most other, later Vocaloids in that his box art consists of a stock photo instead of a character designed specifically to represent his voicebank. The stock photo is actually of a woman's lips, transposed and dyed blue, to counteract Lola's box art, which has the same lips but flipped to the right side of the box, tinted magenta, but allowed to have red lipstick.
Leon was the first English voice bank released for the Vocaloid series, the first male, and was based on the vocals of an unnamed Black singer from the United Kingdom. Despite this, Vocaloid fans continue to depict him in various fan works as a Caucasian man with green or blue eyes and blonde hair.
While considered to be one of the weaker Vocaloid voices overall, he was created to convey racial qualities within a vocal based around soul music. Fans did not start to embrace him fully as a Vocaloid until shortly before the software was discontinued.