Vo-Codin' With The Stars...
From the original Analog Industries archive. Some links and images from that era no longer resolve.
Okay, here’s the deal. Some of the vocals (well, 100% so far, but a boy can dream) for RT60 have some vocoder action. In a studio scenario, I can bust out the H8000, and I don’t think anyone will argue that the vocoder selection in that box is, well, let’s just say it’ll get the job done. But on stage, I won’t have the H8000, because I’m not retarded.
So, what’s a robust yet creamy vocoder that will stand up to the rigors of the live environment? I don’t expect this to be the sort of band that has stage diving and beers getting thrown (ambient mosh pit = cuddle puddle!) but you never know. I’ve never used a vocoder on stage, so I’d love to hear from those of you that have, so that I may learn from your mistakes.
One of the issues is the dry vocal. Obviously, I’d like the non-vocoded vocal to be mixed with the vocoded one. I was watching this demo of the Roland VP-550, and I notice that he’s got the headset going to the vocoder (or pitch shifter, in that example) and then another mic for the dry. While this may look a bit retarded, it seems to get the job done. I could pull it off, I suppose.
Anyhow, I don’t mind supplying the carrier from an external synth, so the vocoder can actually be a dedicated box. An early recommendation was the Boss SE-70, which has a very good 21 band algo, I’m given to understand. It doesn’t have a built in mic pre, which makes me a little nervous, but I suppose it can be dealt with. That VP-550 is quite nice, but out of my price range for the now. I’m not too excited about vintage units, because they’re generally not creamy enough. They don’t have the band count of modern vocoders. I definitely don’t want to run one on the computer, because (a) the CPU load is too high for live stuff, and (b) it’s just kind of lame.
So, what are the obvious options I haven’t already thought of? And the first person that says “microKorg” will get soundly thrashed with an XLR cable. No offense to Korg, who make some very nice products, but I’d sooner chew off my own arm than succumb to that piece of shit.
10 comments
digitech talker has been known to get the job done by some. i have one i used to use all the time. i have used it live functionally. i remember seeing a number of live acts particularly trans am using one to great results. certainly digital. may not be 'creamy' enough. can work depending on application. you could test mine out if you were so inclined.
so i guess prosoniq's orange vocoder is out then...
er.. some of the waldorf stuff has a vocoder. micro-Q does i think. the rack versions of those go for pretty reasonable prices these days. don't get a yellow one though.. they have some kind bug when in drum mode.
what about digitech talkbox and that kind of thing? also, those really old zoom rack mount FX module, the 1201, has a vocoder they go for cheap. i think superdigital in NW portland has one. there's the other korg V3 synth has a vocoder which probably is the same one in the much posed with microkorg.
here's what wikipedia had to say about available hardware DSP vocoders.. which i predict will annoy you
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vocoder#Hardware_DSP_vocoder_models
That's it. I'm slapping an Audio Damage sticker on my microkorg. (Right over the edit table decal that takes up like 45% of the face.)
Yeah, I was pre-annoyed by that Wikipedia article before you even brought it up. I was instantly sorry I looked at it. In the hardware DSP section, I can think of about 15 off the top of my head that are better and more common than everything on that list.
The Talker is fine and all for what it does, but it makes a really shitty vocoder, in my opinion. Although if RT60 was gonna bust out a cover of "Stronger" I'd come knockin'.
-CR
lol.
if i do recall the zoom 1201 was actually kind of decent though fairly noisy but what do you expect for $100.
haven't tried it, but the Alesis Micron does vocoder. There's one (my son's ) in the basement, but I can't find the wall wart for it at the moment to try it out. Plus, no mic pre.
At least a Digitech talker has a in-built preamp. But I bought one years ago and tried it for a couple of days and hated it. Ended up buying a Peavey power amp that was the star of many a rave ...
The question is how much is Adam is going to charge you to build Juergen Haible's "Living Vocoder" when it becomes available.
http://www.jhaible.de/vocoder/living_vocoder_frontpanel_unconfirmed_teaser.pdf
Quality analog vocoders cost serious bank. The Bode vocoder was $5k new 30+ years ago. I'm kind of suprised no one has built a hybrid unit with a digital analyzer section driving analog filters. I would think you could cut the cost and complexity of a hardware vocoder by almost half by doing the analyzers in the digital domain. I'm not a fan of the digtal vocoders I've tried to date.
Probably not enough bands for you, but I do love my PAiA vocoder. The thing costs next to nothing, sounds different than any other vocoder I have come across and it wouldn't be too difficult to add a simple mic pre to the input while you were adding the clarifier mod. Mine has served me quite well in live situations over the last decade plus. For my vocoding needs it's PAiA or Vokator pretty much every time.
-wgp
Adam wouldn't do that for me because of all the shit I've given him over the years about vocoders in general. He'd say I wasn't worthy.
-CR
While I haven't used it for a couple of years, i think the vocoder in the SE-70 is fairly ace.
I had and Electrix Warp Factory for a couple of years and thought it was pretty swell too - they are cheap when you find them.
A friend just bought and Electro Harmonix Voice Box (i think that is what it is called) - i believe it has a mic pre (such as it is) and is cheap and available, he seems pretty keen on it.
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