User Manual

CHAPTER 21. LIVE AUDIO EFFECT REFERENCE 339
1. Insert Vocoder in the track that contains your vocal material. You can either use
a clip that contains a prerecorded voice clip or, to process a live vocal signal,
connect a microphone to a channel on your audio hardware and choose this as
the input source for the track.
2. Insert a synthesizer such as Analog in another track. Again, you can either create
a MIDI clip to drive this synthesizer or play it live.
3. Set the vocoder's Carrier chooser to External.
4. Select the synthesizer track in the vocoder's Audio From choosers. (For best
results, choose Post FX in the bottom chooser.)
5. If you're creating your synthesizer and vocal material in real time, make sure the
Arm button is enabled on both tracks.
6. Play the synthesizer as you speak into the microphone. You'll hear the rhythm of
your speech, but with the timbral character and frequencies of the synthesizer.
To hear the vocoded signal alone, solo the voice track so that the normal
synthesizer track is muted.
Note: you'll generally get the best results if your synthesizer sound is bright and rich in
harmonics. Try sawtooth-based patches to improve the intelligibility of the voice. For even
more brightness and clarity, try adjusting the Unvoiced control and/or enabling Enhance.
Formant Shifter
If the Vocoder is set to use the modulator as its own carrier, it can be used as a powerful
formant shifter. To do this:
1. Set the Carrier chooser to Modulator.
2. Set the Depth to 100%.
3. Enable Enhance.
Now experiment with different settings of the Formant knob to alter the character of the
source. For even more sound-sculpting possibilities, try adjusting the various lterbank
parameters as well.