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Voices From The Past
Prosoniq Orange Vocoder 1.5 VST Plug-In for Macintosh

by Randy Alberts

January 5, 2000

In an ironic and happy twist of fate, audio plug-ins give you more than just the latest, greatest digital reverb and other cutting-edge signal processing effects. They also allow your digital audio workstation (DAW) or audio editing software to emulate classic - and often pricey - analog audio gear, such as vintage compressors, microphones and synthesizers.

Now, thanks to Prosoniq's Orange Vocoder (US$199, distributed by Steinberg - www.steinberg.net), even the venerable vocoder has found its way to the plug-in menu. An homage to EMS/Rehberg and other classic German vocoders, this Steinberg VST-format realtime plug-in does a great job of creating classic voice effects and crafting new instrumental rhythmic possibilities.

It's Two...Two...Two Plug-Ins in One

Presumably, the man who invented the vocoder in 1939 (for encoding military voice transmissions) never could have imagined it being used by musicians, let alone imagining something like Orange Vocoder. Still, it's a safe bet he'd be amazed by the technology's evolution.

Background Notes:

What Are Vocoders?

Vocoders were developed at the dawn of World War II as a means of encoding messages. (The word vocoder is actually short for "voice coder.") They create a distinctive-sounding effect, capable of making the human voice sound like an instrument, or making musical instruments sound as if they're "talking."

A vocoder works by dividing a source signal, or "modulator" - typically a vocal track or other melodic track - into various frequency bands. In turn, the level, harmonics, and other attributes of these bands can be used to process a "carrier" signal - which is generally an instrument with a broad midrange, such as a keyboard or guitar. This way, when the "modulator" is played - that is, when you talk or sing (live or from a track) - the instrument will take on the character of the vocals.

Most people end up using vocoders to create novelty-like "robotic" vocals. (Listen to "California Love" by Tupac Shakur and Dr. Dre; the bridged chorus of Stevie Wonder's "I Just Called to Say I Love You"; and lest we forget, as much as we might want to, "Mr. Roboto" by Styx.) However, used sparingly - for instance, by adding a very slight amount of vocoding to background vocals, or to a doubled lead vocal - the results can enrich your tracks in surprisingly nice ways.

Or better yet, forget about the conventions and try experimenting, just as Randy Alberts did when reviewing the Prosoniq Orange Vocoder. Try flipping modulator and carrier signals (something made easy with Orange Vocoder's "input flip" feature). And for even more creative results, try using signals that you wouldn't normally associate with vocoding. For instance, try vocoding a sax carrier with drums as the modulator, or vocals with a guitar riff, or a synth lead with - you get the idea. --Brent Hurtig

Orange Vocoder, currently for PowerMacs only, is actually two plug-ins, appearing as "VocCarrier" and "Vocoder" in the plug-in menu. The first is used to tap any VST audio track as the "carrier" source signal; the second determines which track is modulating that carrier signal. (In most classic vocoder applications, a vocal track is the modulator and an instrument is the carrier; see "Background Notes: What Are Vocoders?") The amplitude of the modulator's 24-band filter controls the amplitude of the carrier, thus superimposing the spectral shape of the modulator over the shape of the carrier track to create the vocoder effect.

It may sound a bit technical, but in practice, it's very easy to use this plug-in for a wide range of vocal, instrument, and special effects processing. Sporting an intuitive user interface, Orange Vocoder offers straightforward controls for mixing carrier and source signals, adjusting basic onboard reverb levels, and bending EQ curves.

Making Synths of It All

As a bonus, Orange Vocoder also includes a built-in 8-voice, dual-oscillator synthesizer, which you can use as the carrier signal. It offers 17 basic waveforms and sampled sounds for the oscillators, and control over pitch, modulation depth/speed/routing, filter distortion/cutoff/resonance, oscillator sync, and master tuning. An onscreen keyboard display makes it easy to choose the synth's note values, though the lack of MIDI input control over these pitches makes this an offline function instead of the live, realtime version of doing so with a keyboard-based vocoder. Prosoniq claims that realtime MIDI keyboard control over Orange Vocoder will be available when their pending VST 2.0 version is released.

Getting Down to Business

Orange Vocoder excels at creating everything from subtle to extreme voice effects, and comes with 32 presets to show off what it can do. "Ethereal Voices" is a classic string vocoder patch. "Upset" is appropriately disturbing. And "Rotating Robot" turns any vocal track into "Mr. Roboto."

But moving beyond these more pedestrian presets, Orange Vocoder really shines when used to craft new rhythms from drum tracks. Using a drum loop track in Steinberg's Cubase VST as a modulator, I was able to come up with innumerable rhythmic possibilities that took my project in completely new directions. Wild, dynamic realtime EQ effects are possible using the intuitive graphic equalizer interface, with each of up to 12 bands being adjustable from +30 to -30 dB FS. Though it's disappointing these EQ moves are not automatable via Cubase, the waveform, pitch, modulation, filter settings, reverb and mixer levels are automatable - with smoother results than most VST plug-ins. Orange Vocoder also boasts an "input flip" feature - which lets you swap sources, so that what was the carrier is now the modulator, and vice-versa. I found this a great way to come up with new, unexpected sounds, without having to resort to ungainly patch cords.

True, all of this is a little more than what you'd need to run that old EMS/Rehberg. But trust us, it's worth it: Prosoniq's Orange Vocoder goes way beyond what you could do back in your funk band days. Don't believe it? Head on over to Prosoniq's web site at www.prosoniq.com and download the demo.

Screen Shots & Audio Examples
Upset In this sample, we're using Orange Vocoder's built-in synth to modulate the same vocal take in VST. This time, however, we're using just one of the two oscillators to create this unsettling special effect.	GIF Image	MPEG 3 (94K)
Robotic Voice A classic "robot" voicing that uses a vocal track in Cubase VST to modulate Orange Vocoder's built-in 8-voice, dual-oscillator synth. Note in Orange Vocoder's mixer section that the "Speech" level (the dry vocal track from Cubase) is set to "0" in order to hear only the vocoded robot sound.	GIF Image	MPEG 3 (94K)
1,000 Flutes Orange Vocoder is great for using chorded synth parts to modulate drum tracks in Cubase VST. In this example, the handy "Input Flip" switch instantly allowed the drum track to modulate the onboard synth, without having to reroute the VocCarrier and Vocoder plug-ins in Cubase. Note the toggled Input Flip switch and subtle reverb added to the carrier signal in Orange Vocoder's Reverb mixer section.	GIF Image	MPEG 3 (141K)
Ring ModVocoder This example modulates a drum pattern from Steinberg's ReBirth with the built-in synth to create some interesting rhythmic variations. The file begins with Rebirth dry and then mixes in Orange Vocoder's Ring Mod Vocoder preset sound. (VST plug-ins can be applied individually to every module and instrument sound in Rebirth thanks to ReWire, Steinberg's technology that locks Cubase and Rebirth in sync and creates separate audio channels within Cubase for each Rebirth instrument.)	GIF Image	MPEG 3 (141K)
Ethereal Voices Another vintage vocoder sound, this "talking strings" effect is perfect for creating lush background vocal parts. Note the chord selection in the onscreen keyboard and the carrier level in the mixer section: The latter controls how much of the synth's "padded" signal is mixed in with the filtered vocoder sound and the original "Speech" track in Cubase.	GIF Image	MPEG 3 (94K)
Fmaj7Vocoder Using this preset, I created a "voiced drum" effect by modulating a Rebirth drum loop with Orange Vocoder's built-in synth. The audio sample began life as a dry Rebirth track that I mixed in with the Fmaj7 chord pad. Next, I manually "played" the onscreen keyboard in realtime to add a couple of notes at the end of the WAV sample. (Orange Vocoder will support live MIDI keyboard control over its built-in synth keyboard when the VST 2.0 plug-in is released.)	GIF Image	MPEG 3 (235K)

Randy Alberts is a freelance musician, engineer and writer who has been on staff with Keyboard, Electronic Musician, Mix, EQ, and Radio & Records.

Voices From The Past Prosoniq Orange Vocoder 1.5 VST Plug-In for Macintosh

Background Notes:

What Are Vocoders?

Screen Shots & Audio Examples

Voices From The Past
Prosoniq Orange Vocoder 1.5 VST Plug-In for Macintosh