... and maybe Peter Frampton smitty?

Roger Troutman would like a WoowwwWowwwwWord with you

OlafTheBent: ... and maybe Peter Frampton smitty?

BizarreRecords: Roger Troutman would like a WoowwwWowwwwWord with you

Neither of those used a vocoder.

They used one of these:



In Roger's case, live he used two. (One on each side of the stage.)

Ah, now I RTFA and find that some idiot editor used the Talk Box picture in a vocoder article.

Oh well.

Kyosuke: Neither of those used a vocoder.

Looked it up... right you are. It was a talkbox.

/sry smitty.

Add Neil Young just for the heck of it.

AHH has a bunch of tards writing for them.

I don't see why the snoop dogg song cited as an example of "using it's powers for good" is any better than Cher's "Do you believe," which was cited as an example of the bad that the vocoder can do.

Sounds like a good way for a bunch of smartasses to make a bunch of vocoder stuff to piss 'em off.

The first "vocoder" action I ever heard was on an ELO album, long before these dumbasses made any records...

Possible exception of Stevie Wonder...if I could think of a track where he uses it...

All I know is that i want a program of some sort to make my voice sound like Roger's..
"Iiiii hhhaaahearrrd it through the grAAAAPE viiiiine"

anyone know of a free one?
or one that will make audio from me sound like Soundwave?

i have a lot of free time it seems

... and Bob Mayo on keyboards, Bob Mayo...

This after I just heard Imogen Heaps "Hide and Seek." Best use of a vocoder ever.

FTFA: Snoop Dogg's "Sexual Eruption" is perhaps the most fun integration of man and machine since The Huxtables met Stevie Wonder*.

I don't get it. Sadly, I'm old enough to remember that episode. Theo got in a car accident with Stevie Wonder. Stevie, being Stevie, decided it was no big deal and he invited the Huxtables to the recording studio to sing I just called to say I love you. Is Stevie Wonder a robot?

Doctor Funkenstein: FTFA: Snoop Dogg's "Sexual Eruption" is perhaps the most fun integration of man and machine since The Huxtables met Stevie Wonder*.

I don't get it. Sadly, I'm old enough to remember that episode. Theo got in a car accident with Stevie Wonder. Stevie, being Stevie, decided it was no big deal and he invited the Huxtables to the recording studio to sing I just called to say I love you. Is Stevie Wonder a robot?

A-ha! And the Googles shall set you free. In that episode, Stevie used a mix of all the Huxtables voices to record a song, hence the integration of man and machine. Once again, The Cosby Show demonstrates that it was ahead of it's time, and Bill Cosby wants you to pull your damn pants up. Here endeth the uncessary explanation of an innocuous reference in an article that shouldn't have confused Doctor Funkenstein but did.

OlafTheBent: ... and maybe Peter Frampton smitty?
OlafTheBent: Kyosuke: Neither of those used a vocoder.
Looked it up... right you are. It was a talkbox.


~~

You know I just found out how that works. The sound from the amp goes into his mouth & he shapes it like he would with his normal voice.

Always though he sang into the tube a la vocoder, but that's the audio output, which is picked up by the normal stage mic from his mouth.

Neil Young Vocoder action (new window)

FYI ~ TRANS was one of two Neil Young albums that caused David Geffen to sue him for making "non-characteristic" Neil Young albums

rocinante721: Neil Young Vocoder action (new window)

FYI ~ TRANS was one of two Neil Young albums that caused David Geffen to sue him for making "non-characteristic" Neil Young albums

Yes times one quadrillion. One of the most overlooked albums of all time.

So ... the Hip Hop community frowns on Vocoder shenanigans?

downstairs: Yes times one quadrillion. One of the most overlooked albums of all time.

The tour was cool, too. Everyone was shocked, however, by the appearance of the Shocking Pinks for the encore...

I saw what's left of Zapp last year. It was indeed a Heil Talk Box on a wheeled platform.

Most of today's sound in question is made by turning Autotune to its highest levels.

Cali fornia loooooooovin..

Perhaps the hip hop community should concentrate on important things first, like not killing each other.

Oh wait, I just remembered that killing hip hop "artists" is a good thing.

Alex Thornton ,
fact #1 the talk box is not a Vocorder.
fact #2 You are an idiot.
fact #3 i've got more major label album credits than all you you combined

That Snoop Dogg video is awesome.

Let me just make some generalizations to differentiate between the three common vocoder-ish effects.

Talk Box - Commonly used by the cool.

Vocoder - Commonly used by the nerds.

Extreme Autotune - Commonly used by the idiots.

prollynot: Extreme Autotune - Commonly used by the idiots.

Hey, Antares Autotune is great when applied to a fretless bass with a lot of sliding. You don't have to use it for what it's supposed to do.

Also e-bowed slide-guitars. Layer up ten of them improvising in the same key and you get a seriously weird noise.

Also trumpet. Didn't use it, but it was farking funny.

pope183: Alex Thornton ,
fact #1 the talk box is not a Vocorder.
fact #2 You are an idiot.
fact #3 i've got more major label album credits than all you you combined

So you're probably getting a kick out of these replies?

cameroncrazy1984: This after I just heard Imogen Heaps "Hide and Seek." Best use of a vocoder ever.

Good one.

T-Pain really can't sing without the Vocoder and he shouldn't be allowed to do hooks. That should be reserved for Nate Dogg and R. Kelly, but R. Kelly shouldn't be allowed to do solo stuff.

Add Polysics because they deserve it. And this one too because it's just that damn fun.

is there a pop song that doesn't use autotune? Christ, it makes already fake sounding music sound that much more fake.

FeedTheCollapse: is there a pop song that doesn't use autotune? Christ, it makes already fake sounding music sound that much more fake.

Another great use for Autotune: For when talented chaps like myself have to lay down a guide vocal, but suck at singing.

/Did use it for a lead vocal once.
//But it was a comedy record, and the desired effect was to give the impression of a talentless arse.

dillenger69: So ... the Hip Hop community frowns on Vocoder shenanigans?

who are they to talk about musical shenanigans.

how about when they stop stealing sampling other people's hooks...

FeedTheCollapse: is there a pop song that doesn't use autotune? Christ, it makes already fake sounding music sound that much more fake.

The problem is that everything sounds like that, so everybody wants to sound like that.

People bring stuff in and say "Make my voice just like this track on the radio."

I know folks with naturally awesome voices who drown themselves in that shiat just to get played.

(and yeah Autotune is great for quick 'n dirty smear-fixing of a note here and there,
but those are the sorts of things that no one should ever notice if done correctly)

A talk box is nowhere close to a vocoder.

A talk box is a mechanical device using a horn driver plugged into the speaker output of an guitar amplifier, with the guitar defining what note is generated, which is then manipulated by the vocalist via a tube from the horn driver. Different mouth contortions define the 'wah wah' sound.

A vocoder is electronic synthisis, using a carrier signal which usually is a vocal but anything can be pumped through a vocoder, with a keyboard then defining what note is generated.

And if a vodoer is used for anything else but a Cylon Warrior sound - it's rubbish.

ie: Cher.

also in the vocoder camp, Kraftwerk

I can't believe Bill Cosby and vocoders are being discussed in the same thread and no one has posted this bit of extreme relevance.


http://cosbyvocoder2.ytmnd.com/

difficulty: earworm



/no skilz

i just finished my hip-hop album and i used a vocoder on a couple tracks. do i need to get approval from the board or am i grandfathered in? and before people go thinking i made some akon/t-pain(to a smaller degree) bullshiat, i had people who know a lot more about music and producing than i do make the call on when to use it and what buttons to push(or however the hell you work that shiat). i'm just a rapper. all i do is write the rhymes and say them at the right tempo, i dont know shiat about vocoders. i do know that if you use one in a song, it can make the song more enjoyable, but if used improperly, (i'm talking to you, Akon) it can sound extremely cheesy and boring.

Was doing it before any of 'em.

/No, that's not Nigel Tufnel.

shrimper: And if a vodoer is used for anything else but a Cylon Warrior sound - it's rubbish.

Not always

It's never been done better than Skinny Puppy's "Warlock".

Argh, you bastard, linking to Mike Oldfield without warning. That's a big New Age elevator music rickroll right there.

pope183: Alex Thornton ,
fact #1 the talk box is not a Vocorder.
fact #2 You are an idiot.
fact #3 i've got more major label album credits than all you you combined

According to Allmusic and other industry databases, "you you" don't exist. Details, please, or STFU.

Can't believe the tards who can't tell the difference between a vocoder, a talkbox and Auto Tune. Time to go to school, kids:

VOCODER: Electronic device that uses the human voice as a modulator to shape a carrier (synthesizer) tone. Examples: Herbie Hancock's "Rockit," Midnight Star's "Freak-A-Zoid," Styx's "Mr. Roboto," Guy's "Teddy's Jam"

TALBOX: Electroacoustic device that uses the human mouth to shape a sound pumped into a tube. Examples: Anything by Roger and Zapp, Peter Frampton, that tune "California Love."

AUTO TUNE: Effects rack unit or software plugin effect that offers digital automatic pitch-correction, usually to make bad vocalists sound more on pitch. Britney Spears would never be a pop star without this thing. When set to extreme settings, it has a "robotic" effect. Examples: Cher's "Believe," anything by Akon.

shrimper: A talk box is nowhere close to a vocoder.

Their sounds aren't totally dissimilar though.

And if a vodoer is used for anything else but a Cylon Warrior sound - it's rubbish.

Laurie Anderson would politely like to disagree.

Grr - they are two totally different things, even though tonality wise there are overlaps in potential sounds.

There are many more options to play around with when you have a vocoder - square wave, sine wave, and the many variations that modern sythesis allows. Higher octaves usually yield a more soothing sound (Krafwerk), while lower octaves mixed with a square wave gets you the Herbie Hancock/Cylon Warrior/Robot sound. (Beastie Boys Intergalactic)

A talk box will just about always sound like Frampton, although there could be variations with guitar amp/pedal sounds. With a talk box (a real one, not some ProTools plugin) the performance has to be nailed then and there.

A vocoder can always be added after the track is cut, and it doesnt have to be used for vocals - it can be used for any type of input or recorded track, and from there the note(s) is selected. Time can be spent programming/editing well after the track has been cut.

An autotune is nothing more than a 'smart' vocoder - a preset key signature is selected, and it matches the vocal note to the closest in the preset key. If the singer is way off, it will select a note well off from what the singer was trying to nail. Typically autotune isnt meant to be noticeable, although the last few years it seems to be the fad of having a really grainy, clumsy autotune sound that we've been hearing from pop artists.

And no, autotune isnt neccesarily rackmount - it is software based. If you dont feel like bringing out a laptop to the show, then the rackmount provides a portable option - but it is still software based.