Let the spectral madness begin, all speedy and Intel-y on your MacBook: VOKATOR and SPEKTRAL DELAY are finally here, rounding out NI’s Intel-native lineup and gathering the last of the stragglers onto Apple’s faster new machines. Vokator 1.2 and Spektral Delay 1.6 each add Intel-native support for Macs. That’s it; there’s nothing else here for you. Windows users, move along. (Too bad, as it would have been nice to get some little present in the update. New presets, maybe? Anything?)

Nonetheless, these are two of my favorite processing plug-ins, and having them ready for Intel Macs is truly a great thing. Expect to see me vocoding my voice at the next gig.

Cost: US$29 / EUR 25 upgrade, or free for owners of the individual plug-in or Komplete who registered after 9/12/06.

Spektral Delay Universal Binary
Vokator Universal Binary

Anyone out there using VOKATOR for live vocoding effects? (In case you’ve been struggling, soon I’ll post my tutorial on setting this up in Ableton Live, which is not immediately intuitive because of the lack of dedicated side-chains in Live, though it is possible.)

Vocoding is capable of a broad range of sounds, from the traditional “robot talking” effects to unique, organic-sounding synth and drum effects. Like many commonly-used techniques for synthesis and processing (and qualifying as both), vocoder effects can be cliched — but they can also be used to great effect.

The only real challenge in using vocoders in software is routing, since you need two signals — a carrier and a modulator. People are regularly asking how to do this on the Ableton Live forums, because there’s not an obvious way in Live to sidechain signal. Here’s one tutorial, and it’s friendly to people who have never used a vocoder before:

How To Use A Vocoder In Ableton Live [SonicTransfer]
More Orange Vocoder Tips [SonicTransfer]

Since some of the links are broken, here are the vocoders mentioned in the article. Both are Mac/Windows compatible, but only mda TalkBox is free:

Orange Vocoder Mac, Windows [Prosoniq]

mda Free Effects (Download the whole archive in VST Windows or VST/AU Mac format; TalkBox is in each version — and yes, the free mda stuff now runs Universal on Intel Macs)