Comments on: Vocoder Mega-Round-up: From its History to FL Studio Tutorial, Depeche Mode

By: Lsd25

Lsd25 — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 19:48:12 +0000

I bought a Next/MAM (Music and More) vocorder. I have been very happy with it. It is fun to have to manipulate things with a lot of effects after or before. The MAM is nice all hardware and I have heard rumor that the Beasty Boys and one of the later Kraftwork tours used em. They go for around $60. The MAM Warp (copy of Wasp filter) with midi control is also nice. I keep a look out for more of thier rack stuff. Including analog drum module, and sequencer.

By: entasmiquity

entasmiquity — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 18:19:50 +0000

Dies anyone know of an inexpensive and effective vocoder for Apple’s GarageBand? I got rid of my warp factory some years ago when I moved into a smaller place, but I miss that vocoder sound!

By: mitchell

mitchell — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 16:30:32 +0000

I’m surprised no one’s mentioned the long-discontinued Digitech Guitar Talker. Though marketed as a pseudo-talkbox, it’s most the convincing digital (i.e., fake) vocoder I’ve heard- and I’ve owned vintage Roland analog vocoders.

By: nick

nick — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 13:07:17 +0000

Dudley’s VODER does have the same kind of technology on the back end, can’t argue there, but the front end is a totally different interface for a different use than what he called a VOCODER. I guess that’s not unlike having a digital to analog converter being used with a soft synth or with a AD converter.

You have a good point about someone’s mouth/throat acting as a filter. A case of an an electro acoustic approach vs. an electronic approach.

I still think “Theremin” and “Vocoder” are words that sound cool and represent something exotic = buzzworthy. Umm and there were some years when companies were eager to expound their FM synthesis capabilities and Yamaha’s legal team threatened action on anything FM based on their very specific implementation.

By: JollyRogered

JollyRogered — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 10:04:45 +0000

Was listening to Johnny ‘Guitar’ Watson last night, a track called something like ‘Wrong Woman’ on the Bow Wow album – gets my vote for the funniest use of Vocoding. The little scats between verses are just hilarious.
I agree that this is the sort of thing that vocoding does best – kitsch, cheese, humour, stuff that music needs more of – but also that in the right hands (like Eno’s) it can be used to create some staggeringly beautiful sounds too.
It’s a shame that Prosoniq seem to have decided not to update their VST version of Orange Vocoder to UB, but are just sticking to AU – a rather odd decision, imho…

By: usedtobe

usedtobe — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 02:26:18 +0000

Downloaded TAL, love it. I have the electrix warp factory too, love it, even though it’s really noisy. Vocoders are badass, even if you’re just using it like you’d use a mod wheel and filter. huuuman.

By: Peter Kirn

Peter Kirn — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 16:30:42 +0000

Well, wait a minute, Nick, I don’t see what about the Voder is *not* a vocoder — it’s just a different control mechanism, with the same basic signal flow. And the Voder I believe got quite a lot of demonstration and attention in the 30s, as it’s often cited in books (pre-YouTube!).

I agree that a talkbox really isn’t a vocoder. Although, you could argue the point conceptually — you’re actually using the human being as the filters. (Well, and this demonstrates the way in which the vocoder is conceptually close to the human voice on a really conceptual level)

I don’t think it’s just ‘cool factor,’ though. I’ll defend the Theremin, in that I think all of these “Thereminesque” devices really *are* influenced by the original concept. You could argue even the Nintendo Wii controller, on a conceptual basis, is indebted to the basic idea of some sort of resistive gestural interface. And you can make arguments like that without getting nearly as abstract as, say, patent applications. ;)

I guess another interesting societal question would be to examine how it is that now terms like Theremin and Vocoder *are* in wide usage … but then, “FM,” “subtractive synthesis” are not.

By: nick kent

nick kent — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 16:23:02 +0000

Peter, Take a look at the wikipedia entry on Homer Dudley. I think it verifies he built actual vocoders in the 30s and the related but purposefully different VODER, which I guess shows the power of a good clip and cool name getting lots more attention than more buried info gets.

Your Theremin analogy is interesting in that I’ve also noticed a cool name like that collects a bunch of not quite the same at all technologies because dropping the name gets people more excited. And I guess many do meet a goal of providing a degree of Theremin-like sound or experience. What’s interesting about the Sonovox – a vibrating speaker touched to the the throught sort of electric larynx in reverse device is the technological basis isn’t even very close to a vocoder – i.e. no filters, electromechanical not electronic & only works with talking because it uses the vocalist’s mouth to articulate the speech. The big difference is I guess in their original day no one called them vocoders because the term wasn’t in wide usage. Now people hear recordings using and simply assume these 40s-70s and recordings are vocoders. You know, “what model vocoder did they use, it’s so inteligible, it must be that super rare expensive one” – and it’s really a guy with a speaker, funnel and a plastic hose.

By: Eme

Eme — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 14:51:57 +0000

The song that made me get interested by that vocoder thing: “Closer” by Anathema, from their album “A Natural Disaster”. It’s a great progressive rock track, and absolutely out of the typical vocoder context, IMHO.

By: Video Music

Video Music — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 08:06:33 +0000

I have been lusting for Eiosis ELS vocoder for a long time now. Only have the demo, but it seems capable of doing some pretty gritty sounding material as well. I’ve been holding back on buying it because of the 220 euro pricetag, which seems a little steep for “just an effect”. That’s where your talking about using the vocoder as an instrument because really interesting Peter. Might give it another thought when the pockets gets less deep.