It’s pretty easy to fit the vocoder into a mix than it was in the original, and would excel at all kinds of genres from hip-hop to funk to indie rock to electronic.Ĭompuvox is a modelled from handheld talking and teaching toys of the 80’s, and will remind many of Stephen Hawking’s iconic text-to-speech speech-generating device.
The clarity and textures you get from the Vocoder in MIDI mode are rich and deep, so much so that they remind me of Imogen Heap. Bon Iver,” you can hear Bon Iver playing different notes on the keyboard while singing into a vocoder in the introduction of the piece. Bon Iver”.Ĭhance the Rapper’s “Summer Friends feat. This type of effect can be heard on Chance the Rapper’s “Summer Friends feat. However, it really shines in MIDI mode, where users can play the notes they want the vocoder to “sing” on the keyboard.
If you do have to use Vocoder in Auto mode, I recommend keeping the pitch correction speed high, to maximize intelligibility. It’s unfortunately a bit difficult to get the Vocoder to sound intelligible on its own in pitch tracking mode, though it’s great for layering. Users can save additional presets to their liking, which are then accessible in each individual vocal module. Many synth presets sound similar to how they sound in Biovox. You can hollow out the mids by diminishing the middle bands or make it sound like a retro vocoder by sloping each band down in volume as they increase in pitch. In the new VocalSynth 2, users can adjust volume and panning for each harmonic band produced by the Vocoder.īeing able to adjust band volume on the vocoder is key, it can help you really clean up the sound from the source instead of having to equalizer it later. In the advanced panel, users can adjust the vowel in real time to increase intelligibility. The Breath parameter brings out the whispers and high end of the original vocal, generally attenuating the mids and lows in compensation. The Nasal parameter makes the mids less present and makes the voice very nasally, think the opposite of pinching one’s nose. The Shift parameter simulates formant shifting (or lengthening of the ‘vocal tract’), making the perceived voice deeper or higher. It sounds pretty synthy (in a good way) until users turn up the Clarity knob, which really lets through the annunciations of the singer and lets the listener pick up on actual words and pronunciation of the original vocal. The new Biovox vocal module emulates the sonic qualities of the human vocal tract. However, the original VocalSynth was sometimes criticized for not sounding good enough to really be usable, so let’s see if the second iteration can produce more convincing content. In our VocalSynth 1 review, my colleague Andy found the plugin “a lot of fun to play with”. They’ve included five different vocal processors: Vocoder, Compuvox, Talkbox, and new in version two, Biovox. VocalSynth 2 is iZotope’s second release of their vocal effect toolbox, offering both retro and modern vocal processor and effects.
Overall, VocalSynth 2 is a strong second iteration, a necessary upgrade.