Eclipsed Sounds
SOLARIA Indiegogo Page Update Archive
An archive containing all of the updates posted to SOLARIA's Indiegogo crowdfund page.
Indiegogo Page | SOLARIA Main Page | Other SOLARIA Articles
All Indiegogo updates were written by Taylor Hennessy.
Note: SOLARIA's name was changed during the development process - this change happens in the 8th update, so updates prior refer to the project as "SOLARIS".
May 16, 2021 | First Guest Artist Reward Revealed! Edlinklover Button Badge
We've revealed the first of our guest artist rewards: the button badge by artist Edlinklover! Remember: the guest artist rewards are exclusive to this crowdfund, and there will be no way to get them after it ends!

Edlinklover is a Japanese-American hafu artist, honing their craft since 2011. Their works often feature warm colors in an anime-inspired textured art style. They discovered vocal synths in 2012 and have been passionate about them ever since, making them the prime focus of their work. They have been active in the vocal synth community not only as an artist, but as a writer and hobbyist game developer as well.
https://twitter.com/Edlinklover
https://edlinklover.tumblr.com/
https://www.instagram.com/edlinklover/?hl=en
We were very excited to work with Eddie for this project! Check out the rest of our reveals schedule below!

Thank you for supporting the Virtual Singer SOLARIS campaign! Please be sure to share our campaign to help SOLARIS get fully funded!
May 19, 2021 | Next Guest Artist Reward Revealed! MystSaphyr Acrylic Charm
We've revealed the second of our guest artist rewards: the acrylic charm by artist MystSaphyr! Remember: the guest artist rewards are exclusive to this crowdfund, and there will be no way to get them after it ends!

MystSaphyr is an artist and producer who has been active in the vocalsynth community since 2009. She publishes work under the project name Studio VOXYZ, the mascot of which is her self-made UTAU Kikyuune Aiko. As a core member of the doujin circle Myriad she has helped organize a handful of compilation albums, and has participated in ASDR and Artificial Ensemble projects in the past as well.
https://twitter.com/MystSaphyr
https://www.youtube.com/user/UTAUxyz
We were very lucky to work with Myst for this project! Check out the rest of our reveals schedule below, and we'll see you on Friday at 8 PM eastern time for our first Q&A stream!

Thank you for supporting the Virtual Singer SOLARIS campaign! Please be sure to share our campaign to help SOLARIS get fully funded!
May 27, 2021 | Next Guest Artist Reward Revealed! staySOCKY Acrylic Charm
During our Q&A livestream last Friday, we revealed the last of our guest artist rewards: the acrylic charm by artist staySOCKY! Remember: the guest artist rewards are exclusive to this crowdfund, and there will be no way to get them after it ends!

A freelance digital artist who loves vibrant colors and fun shapes! Socky has been a long-time fan of vocal synths and enjoys listening to them while they illustrate.
https://www.instagram.com/staysocky/
We were so excited to work with Socky for this project!
In addition, you can check out the full Q&A livestream below!
<Q&A Livestreams have been removed to prevent outdated information from being circulated.>
Thank you for supporting the Virtual Singer SOLARIS campaign! Please be sure to share our campaign to help SOLARIS get fully funded!
Jun 12, 2021 | Q&A Livestream 2! Fan-art spotlight, DVD Case reveal, & more
Our second Q&A Livestream begins in just under an hour, at 8 EST!
<Q&A Livestreams have been removed to prevent outdated information from being circulated.>
Be sure to attend to get your questions answered live and see our DVD box reveal & the fan-art highlight, as well as some new announcements about new tiers being added tomorrow!
Jun 20, 2021 | PayPal Contribution Link, Package Reveal, & Contest!
As of posting this update, we have reached $27,102 in contributions on Indiegogo!
Heading into our final week of the crowdfund, we have a few more announcements!
PayPal Contribution Link
By request, we've opened a PayPal donation link for anyone who cannot contribute through Indiegogo!
Donate on PayPal Here: <PayPal link removed to prevent post-crowdfund donations>
Take a look at the image below for instructions on how to donate! You can also claim tier rewards through PayPal by leaving a note with your contribution.

Due to the Indiegogo terms of service, we cannot contribute these funds into the crowdfund total on here, but so far we have raised $454.53 on PayPal, bringing our full total at the time of writing this to $27,556.53!
Limited Edition Package Reveal
At our last Q&A livestream, we showed the first look at the SOLARIS Limited Physical Edition package!

The package edition will only be available through the crowdfunding, so if you are a collector interested in physical editions of software, be sure to get ahold of it by pledging to a tier that includes it as a reward!
Illustration Contest
Our final announcement in this update is for the SOLARIS Illustration Contest!
Contest Ends: June 26th

To celebrate all of the amazing fan illustrations of the SOLARIS character mascot that have been created by our community, we have begun a short contest through which artists can win a copy of Synthesizer V Studio Pro - the full-featured paid version of the Synthesizer V Studio program that SOLARIS is being made for.
Thank you for supporting the Virtual Singer SOLARIS campaign! Please be sure to share our campaign to help SOLARIS get fully funded!
Follow us on your social media of choice for even more updates on the campaign and the production of Synthesizer V SOLARIS:
Jun 22, 2021 | Funding Update: Private Investment & PayPal Update
We have some new exciting announcements regarding our funding goal!
Private Investment
A private investor has contributed $6,000 USD to Eclipsed Sounds, which will be used directly toward Synthesizer V SOLARIS development! This was donated directly to Eclipsed Sounds and has helped boost our funding total! Thank you so much!
PayPal Update Currently our PayPal donations stand at $645.84, thank you for your support! If you cannot donate through Indiegogo, but are interested in exclusive rewards or supporting the campaign, please donate there!
Contribute on PayPal here: https://paypal.me/eclipsedsounds
See our last update for more information on PayPal donation!
Funding Overview
Combined with all of our crowdfunding efforts, thanks to this investment and PayPal contributions we have just over $35,000 fundraised! This puts us at 87% of our fundraising goal, with about $5,000 USD left to go. Thank you for your support!
Jun 26, 2021 | SOLARIS is Funded! + Final Stream
As we approach the final 24 hours of the crowdfunding campaign, we have some exciting announcements!
Synthesizer V SOLARIS is now 100% Funded!
While our Indiegogo page is currently standing at 94%, thanks to PayPal donations & a private investment, SOLARIS is fully funded! SOLARIS is at a total of $45,041.77 funding, or 112% of the goal!
A funding breakdown of the external contributions can be seen below.

Thank you all for your support!
Final Crowdfunding Livestream
8PM - 12 AM Eastern Time

Join us on June 27th for an end-of-crowdfund celebration, & celebration of SOLARIS being fully funded! This stream will feature the results to the Illustration Contest, discussion of the next steps of the project, a special guest chat with vocal synthesis focused music producer Circus who will be creating a demo song for the SOLARIS project, and some more special announcements!
As a bonus, if the Indiegogo campaign reaches 100% funding by the end of the livestream, we have a special surprise planned, so be sure to join us, you won't want to miss everything we have in store!
Since the campaign ends so soon, be sure to pledge for exclusive rewards while they are available!
Over the course of development and rewards fulfillment we will post major updates to the crowdfund page and minor updates on our social media accounts, so be sure to follow us for the latest news on SOLARIS!
Jun 28, 2021 | Development Schedule, Name Change: "SOLARIA", Design Contest
Thank you all for your overwhelming support of the SOLARIA (SOLARIS) Synthesizer V Project! In this update we'll go over the final funding breakdown, current timeline for development, another contest we will be running in the meantime as we focus on creating the voice library, and details on the shift from the name "SOLARIS" to "SOLARIA" for the project. Final Funding Breakdown Our final funds are as follows: $42,941 (107%) on Indiegogo, $1,476.93 (3.7%) through PayPal, and $6,000 (15%) from a private investor. Overall, this is a total fund of $50,417.93, or 126% of our goal! Thank you so much for your overwhelming amount of support! Extra funds will go towards completing as much of our stretch goal as possible: we will have more data gathered from our singer, and additional key art illustrations of SOLARIA for software users to use at their leisure. (Please see the "Design Contest" section of this update for more information) Development Timeline

Based on our more than complete funding for the project, we will be able to follow the original project timeline closely!
Over the next 2 weeks, Indiegogo will be processing the funds for distribution to our team, and so for the time being we will be compiling final numbers and working with our manufacturer for the small merchandise to complete the first phase of physical rewards distribution. (Scheduled to be completed in December) We will also be completing the Concept Art PDF and Production Diary PDF digital rewards with behind-the-scenes snapshots from throughout the campaign in order to begin digital rewards distribution. (Scheduled to complete in August).
Once the funds are received from Indiegogo, we can move forward with data creation and processing from our voice provider Emma Rowley, which will lead into creation of the AI library. The procedure of collecting all of the necessary singing samples and processing them for the voice creation should take 2-3 months, meaning that we will be on course for the software voice being tested and ready for distribution scheduled in January 2022. The physical package version likewise will be ready for distribution as scheduled. (February of 2022)
We will post updates at least bi-weekly on the crowdfund page as a check-in, and more frequently on social media. When there is visible progress to be announced, we will post special updates here and on all platforms as done so thus far.
Project Name Change: "SOLARIS" to "SOLARIA"
We're sure you've noticed, but we are undergoing a slight change of name for the project.

Over the course of the crowdfunding campaign, we made the difficult decision to announce a slight change of product name: from "Synthesizer V SOLARIS" to "Synthesizer V SOLARIA." We could not announce this before the end of the crowdfunding campaign, as many things on the crowdfunding page, but this minor change was a necessary one that we feel suits the project much better as a whole.
This change was decided on for a variety of reasons, but the primary reasons were to avoid the abundance of other characters, IPs, and products named SOLARIS, and to more quickly evoke the idea of a singer on name alone ("SOLARIA" being a portmanteau of "solar" and "aria"). This change will not affect much regarding the project as a whole, just a letter here and there. We are in the process of updating everything that can be changed to the new name, so please bear with us as we make this shift over the course of the next week as we move into the production phase!
SOLARIA Alternative "Eclipsed Design" Contest
As the software and audio side of our project progresses behind the scenes over the next few months, we will be holding a second, bigger contest for supporters interested in the character mascot side of the project: a contest for the creation of an alternative design!

Prompt: Create an alternative design for Synthesizer V SOLARIA based on the theme of an Eclipse, and the meaning of the company name “Eclipsed Sounds” as described thusly: "The name “Eclipsed Sounds” refers to the idea that when a songwriter uses a virtual singer, their own “voice” as the songwriter eclipses, or becomes more important than, the software vocal they are using, and in that way we hope that using singing synthesizers can help to center & achieve the exact artistic vision of the songwriter." Prizes: One winner will be chosen as the official alternate “Eclipsed” design for SOLARIA. This winner’s design will be illustrated by Superstellar for a special edition of her physical software, given only to the winner, along with one set of SOLARIA Superfan level rewards from the crowdfunding campaign.
Guidelines & How To Enter:
Illustrate both a front and back view of your design
Maintain official characteristics of “SOLARIA” (skin tone, hair color/length)
Submit your final entry to eclipsedsounds@gmail.com before midnight eastern time on August 1st.
Include contact information such as social media accounts & artist alias for attribution in your email
You may enter up to 2 designs.
Design Usage:
The winner’s design will be illustrated as a new key art piece for SOLARIA and will be distributed, with attribution, for free usage by SOLARIA Synthesizer V library users. The winning design will, after being chosen, belong to Eclipsed Sounds for any and all purposes of reproduction, with appropriate attribution.
For those primarily interested in the music software & production side of the SOLARIA project, please stay tuned for later in our development schedule!
Thank you for your support thus far, we hope that you will continue to support SOLARIS into the future, now as SOLARIA!
Follow us on social media for smaller, day-to-day updates:
Jul 29, 2021 | July Update: Contest ending, Current status, Reference Sheet
Thank you for your patience waiting for this update - we have quite a few small milestones to report! Before that, just a reminder that our alternative "Eclipsed Design" contest for SOLARIA is still accepting entries for the next 2 days! So, if you are interested in the character mascot side of this production, be sure to check it out in our previous update! Current Status: Indiegogo Funds & Final Backer Totals Indiegogo has released the funds to us, so we have been able to make our final payments to guest artists, our first payments to producers, and move forward with the recording stage with Emma Rowley and make steps forward in the small merchandise production process. This means that a lot of our current work is "behind the scenes" as it stands now, but there will be progress to be shown soon! Here are the final backer counts for each tier, including PayPal contributions! There was one instance of a supporter "upgrading" their digital SOLARIA tier to a physical reward tier through PayPal, so there will be just one difference compared to the Indiegogo page.

Non-software digital rewards will be distributed in mid to late August to all supporters. In addition, we will be verifying shipping addresses, and collecting preferred display names for our "thank you video" which will be posted upon SOLARIA's software release! SOLARIA Character Mascot Reference Sheet As part of this project, we created a unique character mascot to represent the vocal to bring some more personality and an optional visual aspect to the virtual singer software. We have received many requests for a full reference sheet for the SOLARIA character, and thanks to our artist Superstellar, we now have a full reference image to show you!

Thank you for your support. We have been busy behind the scenes here at Eclipsed Sounds working to make SOLARIA as good as she can be! While it will be some time before the SOLARIA AI voice can be demonstrated publicly, our next update in mid-late August will announce the winner of the design contest, notify our backers that non-software digital rewards have been distributed, and update the production status of our wave 1 physical rewards!
Follow us on social media for smaller, day-to-day updates: Twitter | Facebook | Tumblr | Instagram | YouTube | TikTok
Aug 29, 2021 | Design Contest Winner & Digital Supporter Rewards!
While the SOLARIA Eclipsed Design Contest has been going on, this month has been a busy one behind the scenes at Eclipsed Sounds working on SOLARIA as well! In addition, as August nears its close, the digital supporter rewards (digital wallpapers, concept art PDF) are now being distributed.
SOLARIA Update
As always, we have been hard at work behind the scenes working on SOLARIA! We have completed the data collection phase and are currently processing the recordings for SOLARIA sourced from our project vocalist Emma Rowley. It may take some time to complete the processing phase, but we will continue to update you on progress as it is made.