This is post #2 of my series reviewing VOCALOIDs. I would love to hear your thoughts, suggestions for future reviews and corrections if I got anything wrong :)

MIRIAM

MIRIAM is Zero-G’s third VOCALOID. She was released in July of 2004 for VOCALOID1. She has the voice of a popular South African-born British singer and composer named Miriam Stockley (hence the name MIRIAM). Miriam was marketed as a more general purpose as opposed to LEON and LOLA who were advertised as soul vocalists.

MIRIAM’S later history is mostly the same as LEON and LOLA so sorry they are quite similar. MIRIAM was put back up for sale in 2008 since VOCALOID was becoming more popular again. On the first of January 2014 she was taken off shelves. This was for financial reasons, and it was explained that the voices could not be updated for newer versions of VOCALOID. MIRIAM was still able to be purchased online, although Zero-G explained they would no longer provide customer service.

MIRIAM was completely discontinued in September of 2015, but by then she was already an unpopular choices due to her outdated VOCALOID1 bank. As far as I’m aware, piracy is the only way to acquire MIRIAM now, unless you somehow stumble upon a physical copy.

Being the third VOCALOID from Zero-G, she has many ‘firsts’, such as being the first VOCALOID to preform live in a concert in Novosibirsk, Russia, on December 26, 2004. She sung a cover of “Sad Mondays”.

MIRIAM’s Art - 1/5

Her box art is the only official “character art” ever made for MIRIAM. This is unfortunate because her voice would suit a cartoonish character.

Her box art features a photo of Miriam Stockley with a cold filter and a blurry effect. I think that it was an odd choice to make the photo look so cold. Her voice isn’t very warm, but it is sweet, and this photo doesn’t reflect that in my opinion. 

Aside from that, I don’t like how the cold tones of the main part of the box clash with the bright oranges and yellows of the VOCALOID and Zero-G logos.

Overall I don’t like this box much, but I'm glad there's at least a person on this one. 1/5.

MIRIAM’s Voice - 4/5

I like MIRIAM’s voice! She reminds me of Oliver. Her voice is high pitched, and clear. She doesn’t have a noticeable accent to my Canadian ears. I Listened to cheesum’s cover of “Fly Me To The Moon” which has been skillfully tuned. She sounds amazing, especially for a VOCALOID1 bank. 

MIRIAM was considered by many to be the best VOCALOID1 English bank to fans overseas, although LOLA was more popular in Japan. Interest was expressed by fans and Miriam herself to update the bank, but unfortunately she never was, and considering how old her bank is, and how little popularity she has now, it is extremely unlikely that she ever will.

I really wish there were more well tuned MIRIAM songs out there (if you have any please send them!!) because I really do love this voice. But since it doesn’t quite hold up to todays quality standards, I give her voice a 4/5.

Conclusion

Overall MIRIAM gets 5/10.

3 things I would have done differently are:

1. I would have made the box art not so cold, and would have made the orange logos at the bottom match better.

2. I would have made Miriam a proper character. Maybe not in an anime style. I think a Bee and Puppycat style would suit her.

3. I would have updated her bank while she still had popularity.

Thanks for reading! Next up is MEIKO unless anyone has a request :]