In a new and adorable spin-off of the internet world of music, popular Twitch streamer CaseOh has been awarded Vocaloid-inspired avatar called CASE. It started when CaseOh facetiously made a comment on stream, where he teased his chat, “How do you become a Vocaloid, chat?”Motivated by this challenge, one of the fans and hobbyist developers known as Near came forward to create CASE, an UTAU voicebank for CaseOh. UTAU is a Japanese voice synthesizer singing voice software where individuals are able to create and distribute their own virtual singers. Near utilized RVC (Retrieval-based Voice Conversion) technology when creating a bass-boosted deep male voice for CASE based on CaseOh’s voice and personality.

CASE’s character is that of a robot on a mission to spread joy and enjoy life throughout the world, a character not so different from CaseOh’s carefree spirit character. In addition to his singing ability, CASE is also shown to be a gentle giant with a heart of gold who loves to rescue and care for stray cats. He is also depicted with excellent night vision, whereby he can find and soothe distressed kittens, showing compassion and empathy. UTAU community is highly active in promoting CASE, and fans already started producing content with the new voicebank. A good example would be a cover of the song “Aishite Aishite Aishite,” which CASE performs, and it is already getting a lot of views online.

CaseOh’s reaction to his new existence as a Vocaloid character has been one of amazement and gratitude. He has explained to his fans how much he is content, amazed at the imagination and dedication of his fans. This mutual relationship between an on-streamer and his fans is evidence of the power of group engagement and the potential of artistic convergence in the on-line music industry.

For those who would prefer to hear CASE’s singing voice, the UTAU voicebank can be downloaded and content featuring the character is still being produced by fans. Not only does it fulfill CaseOh’s tongue-in-cheek desire to be a Vocaloid, but it adds to the UTAU fandom a new and vibrant voice.

This song has now been released on YouTube and is called “Case by Case” where he sings with the one and only Hatsune Miku! If you’d like to hear the song, click this link!