VOCALOID and its succeeding versions are voice synthesizing applications that have been sold commercially since 2004. VOCALOID began from the simple concept of synthesizing the human vocals for singing. From the start this was never an easy task for the programmers behind the software, but from that beginning VOCALOID has grown into a worldwide phenomenon, spawning new musicians, albums, figurines and even concerts. Below are the characters found available on the site that cosplayers have depicted.