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Saturday, September 16, 2017

Song of the Week! 16 September 2017


I'm in the mood for another console-exclusive peak! Be sure to stay with us after the jump...

 Happy Synthesizer (ハッピーシンセサイザ) EasyPop
Version
Allx2 (95)x3 (168)x5 (274)x7 (331)
 Taiko 3DS 3
 127
 none
 hapsyn


Despite its slumps in the last few years, the Vocaloid genre still manages to score some console-exclusive entries to back up the arcade scene's more placid song release trend for it. One of the latest additions turns out to be more than 5 years old, no less!

Happy Synthesizer was originally uploaded on NicoVideo on November 22nd, 2010, featuring the Megurine Luka/Megpoid GUMI singing duo and sporting a custom video animation illustrated by the nick-named kiki. With over 4 million views for its original version and 9+ millions of its video re-release, it's easily the most popular Vocaloid song made by Niigata prefecture producer Yosuke Abe, mostly known by his art names of BETTI and EasyPop. The song itself is about the will to play a melody that is able to catch the heart of our own beloved one; due to the track's overwhelming popularity, this idea was later picked on for a novel adaptation of Happy Synthesizer, which was published on September 2015. Many are also the compilation albums featuring the track, including POP THE HATSUNE MIKU, VOCALOID Duet Collection and VOCA NICO☆PARTY.

Happy Synthesizer also happens to be one of the few choice songs that happens to travel quite a lot around the rhythm gaming sphere! On bemani fields alone, the song can be spotted in both arcade and mobile versions of jubeat and REFLEC BEAT, as well as being featured on DanceDanceRevolution, DanceEvolution and SOUND VOLTEX in a shorter cut. Other series that have featured the track are maimai, Groove Coaster (where it later became one of the chart renewal subjects on the arcade front) and, finally, both Project Diva titles (with Miku's singing replacing GUMI's role) and the two 3DS entries of the Project Mirai series.

For one of the Vocaloid genre's drumroll-less Oni affairs, Happy Synthesizer plays more around the concept of 1/16 backbeat rhythms with lots of even-note small clusters and some eye-catching flair to spice up the whole package, such as hit-balloons and one 1/12 final note cluster. The song's short length and slow pace should be enough for players to succeed on multiple plays without breaking a sweat!

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Today's afterword is about a little something that I hid inside last week's SotW article... There was, in fact, a second song feature for last Saturday, only hidden behind an invisible link that was placed on a certain word of the article itself! Being for a September 9th hidden feature, there sure was a reason behind it...

If the hints I gave out in the past few Sonority Scouts features have been enough for you to find out my little secret, this hidden SotW is now listed in our Full List of Previous Song of the Week page, alongside all the other former releases; the hidden link on the previous, regular feature, however, will still be there for posterity's sake. Try to find out where is it!