Favorite Vocoders

[Meriphew]

I've been thinking about picking one up. List your favs - both expensive and inexpensive.

[joshelevator]

i have a japanese vocoder called the Voice Spectra. its made by Seekers (out of business). It was affordable ($400) when it was released in the mid 90s. i can't find much info on them but they are on ebay once in a while and go for little $$. Its sounds great.

[sleepwalker]

I like this 2u Korg unit I have. Can't remember the name, VP-7, or DP-7. I think it's a vocal processor. It's actually a cool synth too. You can just play the formants without an input.

The Warp Factory is awesome for $150 used

Originally Posted by joshelevator

i have a japanese vocoder called the Voice Spectra. its made by Seekers (out of business). It was affordable ($400) when it was released in the mid 90s. i can't find much info on them but they are on ebay once in a while and go for little $$. Its sounds great.

[SFTPH]

The vocoder for the Korg Oasys pci dsp card sounds great. Of course you need the card and an old mac/pc.

[octatonic]

My favourite is in the Quasimidi Sirius.

Vokator is interesting as is Logic's.

[Notron Fan]

I picked up a a copy of the ELS Vocoder from Eiosis in their just completed group buy. I'm liking it quite a bit.

[alexstringer]

thumbsup Ems Vocoder 2000 thumbsup

[jonnypowell]

I've used many, and would have to say the nord modular NM1 and G2 take the cake for both sound and flexibility.
If you want that real old school zapp/roger troutman/calafornia love vibe you'll need a talkbox and a yamaha dx1000

[andrewsc]

I used to own the Warpfactory, for some reason it seemed to be more like a quirky, very digital sounding, formant based effect than a "real vocoder" (correct me if I'm wrong). I'm not sure that it will really combine the L/R signals the way you might expect, maybe it had something to do with the carrier wave being internal only? Its not setup like a typical vocoder, maybe it's the architecture of it being rather fixed, along with the formant thing.

I prefer the oasys pci vocoder, flexible control, nice sound. Combining tones with a vocoder is so cool, nothing else does that.

[Reptil]

Originally Posted by alexstringer

thumbsup Ems Vocoder 2000 thumbsup

a producer here that I know had one. it sure sounded funky. but the price aaagggrrllll
a doepfer (with all the options) has served me well. I don't feed it oscillators only
my new wave xt has inputs - I still have to check those out

[alexstringer]

Originally Posted by Reptil

a producer here that I know had one. it sure sounded funky. but the price aaagggrrllll

Did he own the grey or black version?

[Reptil]

black. does that matter?

[alexstringer]

I was told the Grey sounds better since it's the 1st revision but i only have experience with the black one.

[Reptil]

you have one? awesome machine thumbsup

(picture??)

[dsstudio]

The Vocoder part in my Roland V-Synth XT is quite good, sound quality is excellent!
Sonny

[amino]

A big vote for the EMS vocoders here also. I haven't heard anything coming close...

[dlmorley]

Well, if money is no object, find a Sennheiser VMS201. EMS hide when they see those coming..
Apart from that, yes EMS are excellent but overpriced these days. I prefer what I have ended up with (been through about 5 vocoders) which is a fairly simple Synton. Really sounds excellent.
If you want new and flexible, try the Doepfer system. Very flexible and good sounding.

[Fruition2k]

Back in 1984 I bought a Electro Harmonix vocoder, they ran an ad and used
ELO's "Sweet talkin woman" as the vocoding sound example (which was really an EMS 2000!)...and if you called their NY phone number they had a quick audio demo you could hear, being 18 and intrigued had to get one....!

Few months later at I saw one for sale locally, bought it and hooked it right up to my
brand new Poly 6. I loved it and as time went on did quite a few sessions
in Miami with that setup. I always had to use a sawtooth heavy patch to get clarity out of it. Soundwise it was fairly close to the Roland rack vocoder...but I know Sennheiser and EMS were the high end of vocoders of the 80's.

Loved the old Korg VC10 with the built in gooseneck mic...and the Roland vocoder
plus keyboards were always on my wish list too....

[Dr.Wu]

another thumbs up for the vsynth xt vocoder.
actually its much more than just a classic vocoder! it even has a decent talkbox emulation.
if you can find a used varios with the vc2 card that combi will give you the same sound!

[sasha222]

The Next VoxII sounds really good. Its the same as the MAM VF11.

[Edward]

1st post, hello everyone.

Yes EMS2000 is the best one I have ever used, used it a lot, very good and intelligible. Mine was in a brown case with a silver front.
Now I have a Roland SVC350 which is almost as good, very Kraftwerky.

My experiences with the Electro Harmonix were pretty negative, never got intelligible words out of it. The Korg VC10 is fun but also not very clear, no better really than the vocoder on a Boss SE70 (which is ok for cheap).

Fat Procoder / MAM VF11 is very good bang for the buck.

Never got my hands on a Sennheiser though.....

[rids]

Yeah, the Roland SVC 350 is a sweet analog vocoder! If you want presence instead of digital air, the SVC350 is it.

[jbuehler]

I know you guys like hardware but does anyone have an affordable vocoder that is available in RTAS format that they would recommend? I am a PT user. Thanks!

[darkman2]

im planning on picking up orange vocoder its rtas. but i havnt

heard anyone mentioning it ..

.. anyone have any comments on orange vocoder >???

[Whitecat]

the eiosis ELS vocoder is amazing, but it's a CPU hog so if your computer is slow then forget it.

[Bigbang]

I have had the Roland SVC-330, the MAM VF-11, the EMS 2000, the Sennheiser VSM-201 and the Synton SPX-216. I kept the Synton because it is the best one of them all. BTW Wendy Carlos was always a big fan of the SPX-216.

[dlmorley]

Originally Posted by Bigbang

I have had the Roland SVC-330, the MAM VF-11, the EMS 2000, the Sennheiser VSM-201 and the Synton SPX-216. I kept the Synton because it is the best one of them all. BTW Wendy Carlos was always a big fan of the SPX-216.

Yes, the synton's do sound excellent, BUT that VSM201 is just about as sexy as hardware can get!

[dlmorley]

This one looks pretty "neat" too

[alexstringer]

Originally Posted by Bigbang

I have had the Roland SVC-330, the MAM VF-11, the EMS 2000, the Sennheiser VSM-201 and the Synton SPX-216. I kept the Synton because it is the best one of them all. BTW Wendy Carlos was always a big fan of the SPX-216.

I thought the Sennheiser & Ems 5000 were all time kings.... You surprise me.

[Bigbang]

The VSM has this gnarly sound, but that was not always in place. It looks sexy though....