Hello people of the internet,
My name is Layetri, and over the past three years I’ve been in the extremely lucky position to create and lead the development of Mikoto Studio, a new singing synthesizer. In this post, I would like to share some of my motivations and ideals with you, hoping they may inspire you in whatever way they can.
Who is this “Layetri” person?
First, I’d like to give you a little background on the person behind the synth. I was born to two musical parents – my father is a piano teacher, my mother plays violin – so from a young age, music was a natural part of my life. I took piano lessons, played in bands, received vocal coaching, and at some point I discovered this neat little thing called “VOCALOID”. As some of you may have experienced yourself, finding out that the cool music you hear was created by people like you opens up an entire new realm of possibilities — and I was in love with the idea. I started creating my own original songs using a combination of Ableton Live and VOCALOID 4, two pieces of software that shaped a lot of my music making journey.
But the more I grew as a user, the more I began learning about the shortcomings of the tools available. I started growing annoyed by how my creative process was interrupted by switching between tools, I felt the need to integrate my workflow more tightly and be able to preview mixing and vocal tuning at the same time. At first, this was largely directed at the DAW scene. I started playing with the idea of a web-based, social creative platform to help people create and collaborate, instead of sitting in their bedroom alone hoping someone would stumble upon their music and find it cool (which is what I was doing).
From one thing came another, and eventually I ended up at the University of the Arts in Utrecht (Netherlands), where I studied Music & Technology, pathway Audio Design. This program is unique in the Netherlands, offering equal parts music and technology – which was exactly what I was looking for. I learned music production, technical communication skills, studio operations, classical composition, and of course programming. I made many virtual instruments during those years, interned at a small analog hardware synth startup (where I still happily work part-time), and befriended a whole bunch of people from a whole bunch of different backgrounds. It was at the end of my third year there that I first started brainstorming about creating my own singing synthesizer.
One rainy afternoon, I talked to my friend unluca about my ideas for creating what would later become Mikoto Studio. At first, it would simply be an additional sound source for my third year project, a soft-synth named Donut. But as you might have guessed, things snowballed and… here we are, three-and-a-half years later. I created a new JUCE project then, that week in 2022, and started working on the very first prototypes during my summer break. From there, Mikoto developed into a project which is very dear to my heart and a creative way for me to finally give back to the community — one that I have enjoyed being a part of for over a decade now.
Plans
To facilitate Mikoto Studio and further creative technology developments, I started the company ExpressiveLabs. This company exists so I and the friends who joined me to bring Mikoto to life can sustain ourselves through this project. We are not a traditional company, in the sense that we prioritize creative freedom and self-fulfillment over money and investments. To protect this culture, we hope to remain fully self-funded for as long as possible. This is why I ultimately decided to turn Mikoto into a commercial product rather than opening up development to the community. I believe a small, dedicated team with a vision can operate more efficiently than a fragmented group of contributors — delivering on our promises to the community in a coordinated manner. You could say ExpressiveLabs has two sides – a professional business that operates efficiently to turn creative ideas into products, and a passionate group of musicians and makers that is excited to help the community they love to grow into the future.
To fund further development and sustain ourselves as we work on Mikoto full-time, we have decided to launch a crowdfunding campaign in 2026. The money raised from this will be used to pay the developers who pour their effort into this project, as well as cover other costs until our projected release date of mid-2026. We understand crowdfunding campaigns are a sensitive topic in the community at the moment, which is why we have worked hard to put together a feature-limited demo version of Mikoto Studio. Anyone will be able to try what we made so far, free of charge.
Mission & Beliefs
I believe that creative software companies should make an effort to be inclusive and open to their communities. Instead of parroting buzzwords about accessibility and intuitive design, we take matters into our own hands and actively work to create a musical instrument that can be used by anyone – and we don’t take that lightly. We are committed to implementing accessibility standards, both those put forward by lawmakers and organizations, as well as results from our own hands-on research among community members and experts. We are happy to do whatever it takes to make sure everyone feels considered when using what we make.
I hope you will be able to see the love and effort we put into creating this singing synthesizer. From voice providers to linguistic researchers — everyone who is working on Mikoto is doing so from a genuine conviction that we can create something the community deserves, something all of us would be excited to use ourselves. And I hope you will give us your trust to continue developing what we believe in.
I am so grateful for this opportunity. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.
Layetri
Founder and lead developer, ExpressiveLabs
Header image: © 2025 Jay Dawson for ExpressiveLabs.
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