New contents "Den-on club" was also announced by blitz!　Report on "ASOBINOTES ONLINE FES," a distribution-only DJ event featuring kz(livetune), TAKU INOUE, Takafumi Sato, Arisa Komiya, and more!

ASOBINOTES ONLINE FES" was broadcast online from Shinkiba Studio Coast on June 28, 2020. Let us introduce you to the local scene of this remarkable event, where the new content "Denon Club" was announced at the end of the event.

The BANDAI NAMCO Group has been branding its various sites and activities with "Asobi" as represented by the "Asobi Store," and ASOBINOTES is a content label developed by the Sound Entertainment Business. As the name suggests, the concept is "Oto" and "Asobu.

ASOBINOTES ONLINE FES" is an online DJ festival by ASOBINOTES. It can be thought of as a DJ version of the "Bandai Namco Entertainment Festival" held last year. The event was originally planned as an audience-attended event, but in light of the current situation, it seems that it has switched to online distribution only.

The event was held at Shinkiba Studio Coast with four themed floors: "CHARACTER," "GAME," "VIRTUAL," and "AKIBA POP. The four floors were run simultaneously, and could be enjoyed while switching between the videos on the Asobi Store site or Twitch. It was a DJ festival that could be enjoyed from the comfort of one's own home. The performers on each stage were as follows. (titles omitted)

CHARACTER floor / kz (livetune), TAKU INOUE, Sho Ishihama (MONACA), Hidekazu Tanaka (MONACA), DJ Yusa Komiya (OMOTENASHI BEATS), DJ Wa, Takafumi Sato (BNSI), Hanabayashi Takahashi (as Nozomi Morikubo from "THE IDOLM@STER CINDERELLA GIRLS )

GAME floor: Hiroshi Okubo (BNKEN), Kazumasa Watanabe (BNSI), Junichi Funada (BNSI), Mihumei (BNSI), Sho Okada (BNSI) [OB Guest] AJURIKA, Yu Miyake aka eutron

VIRTUAL floor / Nor, YUC'e, DJ WILDPARTY, TAKUYA the bringer, KENYA Kana (NIJISANJI), Sister Claire (NIJISANJI), Sara Hoshikawa (NIJISANJI)

AKIBA POP floor / Miho Amane, Sena Horikoshi (Mi☆nA), Yuka Jitomi (Lil Nade), kevin from fhana, PandaBoY, Ryu☆(EDP), DJ Ness from RAB (Real Akiba Boys) *DJ Zutto from i☆Ris is absent due to illness

What is the venue configuration?

As mentioned earlier, four floors were set up for this event. The most spacious of these was the CHARACTER floor, which was set up in the main hall, a long, horizontal space with a capacity of about 2,000 people. On this floor, lighting and visual effects similar to those of the actual event were used.

In front of the stage, a challenge to create a mosaic art of Pac-Man with 1600 Rubik's Cubes was held to commemorate the 40th anniversary of "Pac-Man" and "Rubik's Cube".

In order to create a floor that is always in operation, no matter what the conditions, the CHARACTER floor was designed to be connected by MC Sano Electromagnetic, the general MC, while the stage was being prepared for the project.

The GAME floor was set up in a small hall with the visual appearance of a warehouse adjacent to the main venue.

Members of the BANDAI NAMCO Group, mainly sound creators, performed DJs focusing on the company's timeless classic games. The floor had the air of a secret base, and was under the watchful eye of such heavyweights of the game sound world as Bandai Namco Research Institute's Hiroshi Okubo and LindaAI-CUE (NBSI); the distribution experiment by DJ Mirai Komachi and "BanaDIVE AX" (see below) was conducted based here.

The Virtual Floor was set up in the same building as the Main Hall, with a special booth in the lounge adjacent to the foyer where the drink exchange counter is usually located.

Only a near-spin stage and audio/visual distribution equipment were on site, and only live DJs performed here. The visuals and NIJISANJI Vtubers were synthesized on the data and put on the video feed, making this floor a cutting-edge approach.

The AKIBA POP floor was set up in a DJ booth adjacent to a small outdoor pool at the far end of the venue.

To be honest, I had never heard of such an area before, but I heard that some of the performers left the DJ booth and danced in front of the pool.

Since sound, booths, and distribution equipment are located indoors on the main hall side, it was a bit lonely to have a space with only a camera in front of the outdoor DJ booth. However, according to the performers, the main hall, where many of the people involved were silent and staring at them, was more difficult than a completely audience-less space.

ASOBINOTES ONLINE FES" is an unprecedented delivery program of DJ festivals organized by content labels, held simultaneously on the four floors mentioned above for about five hours.

DJ performance by DJ Mirai Komachi and "BanaDIVE AX

Now, the special act by "Mirai Komachi" held on the GAME Stage was the focus of attention this time. Mirai Komachi is an original character created by Namco Bandai Research Institute. She made her DJ debut using the institute's "BanaDIVE AX" technology.

BanaDIVE AX" is a technology that allows a game AI with DJ performance embedded in it to synchronize with the motions of the 3D characters and the live performance space. The motions of Mirai Komachi, who DJs in the video, and the live performance are all controlled by the AI, which is astonishing.

While Mirai Komachi's main battleground was online, monitors were also set up at the venue for those involved, and some big names were seen watching the monitors to see how the AI DJs were doing. The first part of the show was a performance by Mirai Komachi, who appeared in the video along with a (complicated) game screen projected on a screen inside the video. Looking at the monitor through the camera of the smartphone that had read the code, one could experience the effects popping out of the monitor image. This technology seems to have a very wide range of applications, allowing DJs to experience AR at home and in stores, as long as they have a smartphone.

For example, online viewers could request which song they wanted to hear from "EUPHORIA (RR 20th Anniv. Mix)" and "DRIVE U 2 dancing (AJURIKA Remix)". Mirai Komachi will then start the performance based on the voting results. All of this can be completed on a browser without the need to install any applications.

Of course, the excellent system is only as good as the content that rides on it. Some fans were hoping for a DJ if LindaAI-CUE was at the event, The climax of "Saitama 2000" must have satisfied the fans who had hoped for a DJ if LindaAI-CUE was at the event.

In an environment where the future of the real live environment is still uncertain, how important and a great challenge it was for the team to conduct this experiment to publicly show the results of their research. This was evident in the spontaneous applause that erupted from the GAME floor area after the successful conclusion of Mirai Komachi's special act.

Of course, the live DJs were also hot, with Hiroshi Okubo performing a setlist that was all about "Ridge Racer. AJURIKA, who appeared as a BANNAM Sound alumnus, played songs from the so-called "N" series ("Needle Light," "Nothing but You," "Neo Beautiful Pain," etc.) while Takafumi Sato and Hanabayashi Takahashi were DJing "Idolmaster" songs on the other floor. It was a unique event in that Mr. Watanabe himself, who produced the GAME floor, lamented that he could not see Mr. TAKU INOUE DJing right behind him.

A grand unveiling of the new "Den-On Club" content

At the end of this event, the start of a new content project, "Den-Onbu," was announced.

The original concept of "Den-Onbu" is "music" and will focus on dance music.

Music provided by Aiobahn, kz (livetune), Kenmochi Hidefumi, KOTONOHOUSE, PSYQUI, Takafumi Sato (Namco Bandai Studio), Shogo & Hirotaka Hayakawa, Suo Patra, Snail's House, TAKU INOUE, TEMPLIME, tofubeats, Nor, PC Music Club, Midi & Miyako Seto (NIJISANJI), Moe Shop, YUC'e, Yunomi, and many others.

Many of the voice actors and idols who appeared as DJs on each stage will also be voice cast in this production, using the "BanaDive AX" technology that Mirai Komachi experimented with.

The voice actors in the Akiba area are Yuka Jitomi, Miho Amane, and Sena Horikoshi, who are idols belonging to DEARSTAGE, known as "Dear Stage. Many people remember DEARSTAGE as the singers of the "Aikatsu! series.

The voice actors in the Shibuya area are voiced by NIJISANJI Vtubers Kanana Kenya, Sister Claire, and Sarah Hoshikawa. I am also concerned about how Vtubers will be treated at real events and programs. It was also impressive to see Sister Claire, who said that iM@S had always been a special part of her life, delivering a message on the day that her dream had come true.

In the Harajuku area, fresh voice actors were lined up, including Yurie Kosakai, Himasa Omori, and Reina Hasegawa.

And the Azabu area was handled by Akina, Yusa Komiya, and Azuki Shibuya, all talented voice actors. For those who are familiar with idol contents and the anisong DJ community, this lineup could be called legendary. At this event, Yusa Komiya performed "Love Live! Sunshine! and her face as an ani-song DJ, which she has honed under the OMOTENASHI BEATS label.

The DJs' performances impressed the audience that the music was the star of the show, and the creators were the source of the music. He started with "Hotel Moonside," a song that has rewritten the history of anime songs and DJs, followed by a series of great songs such as "Secret Toilette," "Crazy Crazy," "Mirror Hole Love," and "Radio Happy. Among the songs, "Mani_Mani," which is thought to be a "Den-On-Bu" song, was easily slipped into the mix. TAKU INOUE's spirit synchronized with Tsukino Misagi's cry in "Anti-Gravity Girl" left a strong impression on me.

The last and final performer of the night was kz. After a bold remix of "SEVENTH HAVEN" as his first song, he freely crossed the stage with various arrangements of BANNAM contents songs, "Tokyo 7th Sisters," Vtuber songs centering on NIJISANJI, and Hatsune Miku songs, his origin. During his performance, the screen showed an illustration by Mika Pikazo, who was in charge of the visuals for this event. Mika Pikazo, who was in charge of the event's visuals, showed a video of her painting process during her performance. Then, as kz performed a new song for the last song of the show, the screen showed a video announcing the " Den-On-Bu " event.

With four stages being broadcast simultaneously and no archives, there is probably no one who has a complete picture of this event. However, we look forward to seeing how the heat and quality that was present at the event, and the freedom that broke through the various conventions of music events sponsored by content labels, will lead to the creation of new works in the future.

The "Den-Onbu Planning Meeting" is scheduled to be held on YouTube LIVE as early as July 3.

(Reporting and writing by Kiri Nakazato)