@@organfairy There's a mod that runs the modulator into the top bands of frequencies that usually only get noise and this unit was later updated. I used it again in the video about the MC-8 if you want to hear it.
Okay. You've just demonstrated stuff using a vocoder that I've literally never heard anyone do. This is just amazing. Makes me want to get a vocoder damnit! So many fun sounds to explore, putting different stuff through it!
Truly. Back in the day, groups like Kraftwerk did magnificent things with vocoders that had nothing to do with processing voice. Sadly, the VC-10 is out of reach for me, but I've had a blast farting around with my Behringer VC340.
Pink Floyd vocoded the sound of dogs barking on Animals, 1977. That was always my favourite part of the record! You can of course use anything as the modulator, but people still love the cheesy robot voice thing.
A quick “apt-cache search” shows a bunch of vocoder software in the standard repos for Debian and derivatives: one or two LV2 plugins, and something called “aubio”, which is also available as an addon for PureData.
VC-10 is very famous because used on thousand knives, simoon and so on around 1980! I don't expected it is featured in 2022 on TH-cam. The sound is pretty nice and nostalgic. I'm so happy to see it "lives" still now. Thanks for your posting!
Thousand Knives is such a fantastic album. The reading of "Jinggiang Mountain" at the very beginning is so cool and haunting. Inspired me to learn about vocoders.
ELO's Mr Blue Sky is up in my all time favourite songs so I have a natural affinity to that 70s vocoder sound, it has such a warmth to it... outstanding use of this old Korg Alex, wow! So much versatility :)
Oh gosh, I’d done something similar with my guitar and my microKORG’s vocoder, so I feel all clever for having thought of that already, but all the other “shenanigans” are really inspiring! Vocoders are really beautiful.
I used to play around with the vocoder in Reason, ran some breakbeats through it to make a very interesting sound. Thanks for showing me the real hardware!
Excellent video. The VC-10 was also used by Der Plan and, apparently, also for the "high voice" on "The Man-Machine" by Kraftwerk. Swedish band "Blue for two" used one on stage in the mid-90s.
Glad I see Tomita in the description. 'Bermuda Triangle' was the first vinyl I ever got as a kid ( in 78, so I was 5-6) . I wish you would try to do his stuff, talk about his genius. Guy is hugely underrated
@@David-wf1hr yeah!! I posted a great Logic System song on my other account, the track 'Armistice' from Orient Express. It was a life changing album for me
Great video Alex! The thing I've found is that every vocoder is totally different and some better at some things than others. The one in the Novation Ultranova is brilliant, Roland VP770 also great, the one in the Roland JDXA is pretty good but not a patch on the Novation in a live band setting. Korgs old iH harmony/vocoder module is a bit basic, and even Zoom had one in their old 1201 effects rack effects unit (and that's a really good one too - you can process anything with anything else). Software wise, I love the TAL Vocoder - you can really get close to that Battlestar Galactica Cylon sound! The Korg VC-10 still looks the best out of all of them.
Wonderful. Can we have a Shenanigans EP on Bandcamp please, that was great music. Shenanigans 2 was very reminiscent of something. It's on the tip of my ear.
In the 90s been to somebodys homestudio. He had the full MS range, a Matrix 12 & Xpander, Moog Source & Liberation and some other gear I can't remember. Amazing gear that MS line from Korg.
The VC-10 also adorns the cover of the book "How to wreck a nice beach", the history of the vocoder. Could never afford an example for myself so I went with the DVP-1 from Korg. I also enjoy my Roland VP-70, Electrix Warp factory vocoder, and Moog Spectravox units. Bode frequency shifters are also wonderful voice altering devices. Thanks for reviewing this amazing piece of Korg history.
Whoahhh, this „drum chord“ demo got me dancing ecstatic, sooo lovely chords, and when the GREAT ARP AVATAR joins in, i'm melting; such an awesome use of this little VC-10 beast which i not really loved when i had it once*...!!!🤩😎❤👍 *but this was just because i always wanted a EMS 5000, lol
I'm the only loon rocking an Avatar from guitar these days. :) Yeah, the EMS is an out-of-touch dream for me. Would love to explore that incredible stuff.
@@AlexBallMusic Yeah, the magical mystery EMS...I would be SOOO happy to have a AVATAR and use it like you since i saw your marvelous video about it and hear this amazing fuzzy hard left right panned 3/3 string sound, but there's none around NOWHERE😭...specially WITH the pickup and stuff...P.S.: Is there a download or something for "Right Back Round"???, i can't stop dancing to THIS one to and always have to jump to 11:42 in your AVATAR video😶😅
I'm so glad I'm not the only person who's put drum machines thru a vocoder. I used to do it with Reason's vocoder but only with 8 bands for that great retro skanky sound.
Yes, this is the brand/moder used by the Buggles and Yes when the Buggles took over for them (led Yes) on 'Drama'. I wonder if any other band ever led another band like the Buggles did for Yes? Funny that the Buggles are/were the less established of the two. You'd think the more well-known band would lead. They replaced Jon Anderson and some other Yes members for the 'Drama' album.
When I pre ordered my original MS-20, from my piano organ store, in Dover NH, this vocoder eventually turned up in the store. Almost purchased one, instead bought a reel to reel, to lay down tracks. Great video 🎛 🔈 🔉 🔊
Frank Zappa bought a VC-10 on October 15th 1978 for Tommy Mars to use, he had to use it that night, having never seen a vocoder before. Probably not a Sennheiser mic' on the Korg 🙂, but Sennheiser the mic' company brought out their own vocoder in the late 70's too, the VSM201. The vocoder was developed in the 1930s for encoding/decoding secure radio transmissions. Nice vid Alex.
Hi Alex, the Korg sounds awesome! I'm new to how vocoders work and the one famous vocoder track used was in the 80s Doctor Who theme. Peter Howell used the SVC 350 and did a great job.
Luckily you did put the words so we understood what you were singing. There are only 2 vocoders who can deal with voice so that you understand what you sing. Those are EMS Vocoder 2000/3000 and the Sennheiser VSM. The Korg could never meet the same quality which was logical if you compared prices, allready back in the time. Nowadays there is very good software that outperforms most hardware vocoders. But one thing is for sure. The Korg is a beautiful piece of decoration. And that is what I use it for.
Luvverly jubberly Alex! My dream was always to own - or at least see - the MS10, 20, 50 and Vocoder lined up in a neat row. Perhaps even use them! But mainly look at them
Yeah, I weighed up chasing them all down but it would be too silly. I've acquired an MS-50 that will turn up at some point and also an MS-02 and also have a bunch of the pedals too. With my MS-20, that should be enough. 😀
@@AlexBallMusic looking forward to seeing the MS-50 in action! Appreciate the reply - I was once a proud OG MS-20 owner (cos AFX way back) - really enjoy your channel, thanks mate!
Thanks for that Alex, great examples of use and, as you say, such a warm distinctive 70's sound. The opening of Vocello reminded me of Arthur Russell's This Is How We Walk On The Moon, no bad thing, love that song.
1:08 I worked in a supermarket when I was 15/16. I dreaded the "Wet pickup in aisle 3" announcement. You never knew if someone smashed a glass jar of pickles, or clam juice, or if someone pooped themselves or just hurled down the aisle.
@@AlexBallMusic There was once a fully loaded diaper/nappy burrito in the diaper aisle. You could smell it, but took a bit to find it. Someone had done a live quick change and then put it on the shelf behind other packages. At 16, I was not prepared for this part of life.
I had one of these briefly years ago. It was among the gear I had to sell when my car broke down. But it was fun while it lasted. I think it only showed up in one recording of mine. Anyway, great demo. You did stuff I certainly wouldn't have thought of.
Their only vocoder at the time. They did the DVP1 in 1986 and put an homage to the VC-10 in the MS-2000 and then the MicroKORG series. They may have done more too.
I know they have used different vocoders, and I know they are of course not the only ones who have used them, but with the first vocoder tone, I had to think of Kraftwerk and Underworld... Those two are just my first and main associations with vocoded vocals. But vocoding synth and drum sounds opens up a whole new world of sonic loveliness!
i feel like i heard the sound of it on quite some music before, i should really look into it - awesome vid as always also i loved how you made basically 5 songs out of it
Never thought of Vocoders beyond Mr.Blue Sky, then a couple of weeks ago bothered to open the one in the Arturia collection - oh my God so much fun!!!!! Some wild experimentation is completely wasting away my remaining hours in this corporeal being. Should come in most useful in my afterlife however. Cheers for the vid!
9:05 - that is valid point. I think the vocoder has got a bit of label stuck to it for making robot-like voices and being a daddy to auto-tune, and thus garnering a cheese factor, but it is yet another fun way to explore the sound and not just through the mic input - me looking at my Korg R3 and its bilingual packaging: "synthetiseur/vocodeur" - sso much more vocody right there 😄
Ever since I saw an SVC-350 in Jered Flickinger's (Future Retro) studio, I've wanted to give it a go. I also lost multiple auctions on VP-330s back when they were sought after, but the prices weren't ridiculous. He talked about the use of companding in some vocoders, and it went a bit over my head.
I had a space hopper in the early 80's and I have to say it was my best form of transport, apart from my convertible orange beetle pedal car which my dad had partially modified.
Every time I watch Alex's videos regardless the subject matter, I think: "that roland system 100 sounds amazing" and I can hear the filter resonant tones that Flood put all over depeche mode Violator and some other albums, and I wish I had something that has that specific tone of filter resonance which sounds really unique and amazing to me. Maybe it has something to do with its sequencing and workflow too..
Yeah, it's so elastic sounding and is capable of unimaginable, but very musical timbres. I think Flood had the System 700, but they're closely related.
I don't want to underestimate your ability to make things musical and interesting either. But it looks like Daniel Miller had the system 100 which is why I probably thought that.. but im going to have to go look that up for Flood. Keep up the excellent work, i always get excitedbwhen i see when you've posted a new video as I always learn something learn and hear something cool.
Thanks for the demo Alex. I've used this in the past, bit I never found it very suitable (or good enough) for my vocal vocoding needs. It's not alone though as I find most hardware vocoders to be lacking when it comes to getting a "good vocoded vocal sound" out of them. It sure looks cool though. ;-)
Yeah, definitely has a flavour and that works both ways. Like you, I prefer more modern vocoders as I think the technology has got better and more usable. That said, I'd love to try an EMS vocoder from this era.
Man, I really love Shenanigans 2 & 3! Great sounds all around! I can remember losing multiple eBay auctions over a VC-10 and an SQ-10. There was a time when all I wanted were both of those and an MS-50. It wasn't to be.
Fantastic video as always Alex. The "Shenanigans" EP in itself was genius!! However, I feel you missed a trick at the end of the video.... You should have ended it "Please turn me ovvvvverrrrrr" !! To hell with the copyright hahaha!!! Keep em coming maestro 👍
The VC-10, it drips character. As used also by Joe Zawinul of Weather Report and Michael Cotton of The Tubes. Another very nice video! The only thing I was hoping you to go into is the spooky noise circuit (mind you I suppose its not Hallowe'en yet.)
Yeah, seen photos of Joe with one. Didn't know about the Tubes, but I knew Buggles were users and abusers. The noise is hilarious, yeah. Reminds me of the voices on Steve Vai's Firegarden album.
I always wondered whether the VC-10 bolstered a similar type of polyphony to the string synthesizers of the era and Polymoog. I myself have access to two vocoder devices. One is my microKorg XL; the other (which I haven’t fully learned how to use yet) is the one in my Yamaha S90XS.
Cool stuff! From experience: These gooseneck mics use an unusual connector, so if you want to rewire to XLR you absolutely can, just remember: pin 3 has to be shorted to ground! :)
Not the most intelligible, but indeed the best looking Vocoder. Thanks for all the Korg deep dives!
Very woolly, yeah. But has a sound to it for sure. It probably looks a lot cooler than it actually is as you say. :)
Funny, it's more intelligible than I thought it would be.
@@AlexBallMusic Will it be more intelligible if you mix some white noise into the carrier signal?
@@organfairy There's a mod that runs the modulator into the top bands of frequencies that usually only get noise and this unit was later updated. I used it again in the video about the MC-8 if you want to hear it.
I hope Linda has cleaned up the mess in aisle 3. The whole floor was disgustingly sticky.
Poor Linda.
Sounds like a synopsis of a film soundtracked by Mr Schlanger
Linda was the one who made the mess…she can’t hold her Pepsi.
A whole pallet of prune juice.
@@ChrisHopkinsBass So, THAT'S why the floor was shticky!
Really like the drum chord, could listen to whole Album of that
Cheers. Did enjoy finding that one.
Okay.
You've just demonstrated stuff using a vocoder that I've literally never heard anyone do. This is just amazing.
Makes me want to get a vocoder damnit! So many fun sounds to explore, putting different stuff through it!
It gets pigeonholed in people's minds as doing one or two specific things. In reality, it's infinite. 😃
go n grab a few free vocoder vst's and start running anything and everything through em, they're great 😁😁😁
Truly. Back in the day, groups like Kraftwerk did magnificent things with vocoders that had nothing to do with processing voice. Sadly, the VC-10 is out of reach for me, but I've had a blast farting around with my Behringer VC340.
Pink Floyd vocoded the sound of dogs barking on Animals, 1977. That was always my favourite part of the record! You can of course use anything as the modulator, but people still love the cheesy robot voice thing.
A quick “apt-cache search” shows a bunch of vocoder software in the standard repos for Debian and derivatives: one or two LV2 plugins, and something called “aubio”, which is also available as an addon for PureData.
Amazing, I just bought a VC10 today and you release this demo. Well done Alex.
Score!
VC-10 is very famous because used on thousand knives, simoon and so on around 1980! I don't expected it is featured in 2022 on TH-cam. The sound is pretty nice and nostalgic.
I'm so happy to see it "lives" still now.
Thanks for your posting!
Thousand Knives is such a fantastic album. The reading of "Jinggiang Mountain" at the very beginning is so cool and haunting. Inspired me to learn about vocoders.
ELO's Mr Blue Sky is up in my all time favourite songs so I have a natural affinity to that 70s vocoder sound, it has such a warmth to it... outstanding use of this old Korg Alex, wow! So much versatility :)
The song crafting and production details on MBS are really amazing. Jeff is quite the talent.
Mr Blue Sky is one of my all time favourites - one of the few highlights of my high school years.
And mr. Richard Tandy is such a talented singer!🎤
A few songs that jump out for me:
* Boney M - Nightflight to Venus
* Styx - Mr. Roboto
* Buggles - I love you Miss Robot
* Dollar - Star Control
EMS Vocoder 2000!
Oh gosh, I’d done something similar with my guitar and my microKORG’s vocoder, so I feel all clever for having thought of that already, but all the other “shenanigans” are really inspiring! Vocoders are really beautiful.
I used to play around with the vocoder in Reason, ran some breakbeats through it to make a very interesting sound. Thanks for showing me the real hardware!
Wow, that's some really cool creative uses for that awesome unit!
Cheers sir.
The reason i enjoy your gear exploration videos especially, is because you make the best songs/grooves.
Excellent video. The VC-10 was also used by Der Plan and, apparently, also for the "high voice" on "The Man-Machine" by Kraftwerk. Swedish band "Blue for two" used one on stage in the mid-90s.
"The Man-Machine" is the Sennheiser Vocoder VSM201!
Another great video Alex, thank you! Love the vocoder but the video just confirms how effin’ awesome that 100M sounds! 👌🏻
The Godular.
"Get your groove on" is gonna be sampled mercilessly I rekon. ANother great vid Alex, always look forward to a new one.
Go for it. 😀
Glad I see Tomita in the description.
'Bermuda Triangle' was the first vinyl I ever got as a kid ( in 78, so I was 5-6) . I wish you would try to do his stuff, talk about his genius. Guy is hugely underrated
I have a fair bit of the gear he used now, but I've never really talked a out him. Perhaps at some point.
@@AlexBallMusic and His studio engineer of course was the great Hideki Matsutake of Yellow Magic Orchestra.
@@ryn5671 Loved his work with logic system - awesome!
@@David-wf1hr yeah!! I posted a great Logic System song on my other account, the track 'Armistice' from Orient Express. It was a life changing album for me
Great video Alex! The thing I've found is that every vocoder is totally different and some better at some things than others. The one in the Novation Ultranova is brilliant, Roland VP770 also great, the one in the Roland JDXA is pretty good but not a patch on the Novation in a live band setting. Korgs old iH harmony/vocoder module is a bit basic, and even Zoom had one in their old 1201 effects rack effects unit (and that's a really good one too - you can process anything with anything else). Software wise, I love the TAL Vocoder - you can really get close to that Battlestar Galactica Cylon sound! The Korg VC-10 still looks the best out of all of them.
looovely. I really like the informative showcasing mixed with such beautiful usage of all the gear you show on this channel! Thanks for that!
J.J. Burnel (from The Stranglers) used this extensively on his first (only?) solo album, Euroman Cometh (1979).
Dave Greenfield also had it in his late 70’s early 80’s set up for live stuff 👍
Wonderful. Can we have a Shenanigans EP on Bandcamp please, that was great music. Shenanigans 2 was very reminiscent of something. It's on the tip of my ear.
I always wondered how they made that sound so thank you for sharing.
E.L.O. - tastic! Wonderful sound. Thanks. As always, your demos are gobsmacking.
EMS Vocoder 2000 and the Roland VP-330 Vocoder Plus Mk1 on "Prologue"!
In the 90s been to somebodys homestudio. He had the full MS range, a Matrix 12 & Xpander, Moog Source & Liberation and some other gear I can't remember.
Amazing gear that MS line from Korg.
Love the Gateway reference….took me right back to the late 80s
Ah, those classic times.
Running the mic into a Bass drum in a kit, or low overhead also is a lot of fun. Did the with the MS2000
Great idea.
At this point, Alex, you should figure in an honorable place among historians of electronic musical equipment. Good job!
The VC-10 also adorns the cover of the book "How to wreck a nice beach", the history of the vocoder. Could never afford an example for myself so I went with the DVP-1 from Korg. I also enjoy my Roland VP-70, Electrix Warp factory vocoder, and Moog Spectravox units. Bode frequency shifters are also wonderful voice altering devices. Thanks for reviewing this amazing piece of Korg history.
you could afford a Korg ms2000r
@@jessihawkins9116 Looked at the MS 2000B many times but held off on getting one as I LOVE my 18 voice Korg Z1 instead.
@@ISOTROPOSPHERE yes but the ms2000r is rack mount and has a vocoder. That’s why I bought it.
Very interesting, thanks! 👍
Whoahhh, this „drum chord“ demo got me dancing ecstatic, sooo lovely chords, and when the GREAT ARP AVATAR joins in, i'm melting; such an awesome use of this little VC-10 beast which i not really loved when i had it once*...!!!🤩😎❤👍 *but this was just because i always wanted a EMS 5000, lol
I'm the only loon rocking an Avatar from guitar these days. :)
Yeah, the EMS is an out-of-touch dream for me. Would love to explore that incredible stuff.
@@AlexBallMusic Yeah, the magical mystery EMS...I would be SOOO happy to have a AVATAR and use it like you since i saw your marvelous video about it and hear this amazing fuzzy hard left right panned 3/3 string sound, but there's none around NOWHERE😭...specially WITH the pickup and stuff...P.S.: Is there a download or something for "Right Back Round"???, i can't stop dancing to THIS one to and always have to jump to 11:42 in your AVATAR video😶😅
i love the vintage VC-10 Sound
Like an old blanket.
The Buggles and Yes featuring the Buggles on 'Drama' are the two BEST uses of the Korg VC-10 Vocoder/Synth!
Listen to their songs (Buggles and Yes/Buggles) "I Love You Miss Robot", "I Am a Camera" and "Into the Lens" amongst others!
Every time I click on these videos, they make my day
Loved that mate! Like you say, it’s a little less intelligible but I really like the softer/warmer sound of the Korg. Awesome jams as well man! ✌🏻
Fuzzy like an old dog on your lap.
Yes, all the attacks are smeared, all the “s”-es are lost
@@AlexBallMusic wonderfully put!
I'm so glad I'm not the only person who's put drum machines thru a vocoder. I used to do it with Reason's vocoder but only with 8 bands for that great retro skanky sound.
I really love the music you ended up making here! If you made a whole album like Shenanigans 4, I'd buy that!
Still very cool!
this is very wonderful jams
reminds me cool and expensive experimental 80s electronic music on vinyl
As used on The Buggles’ ‘I Love You Miss Robot’ - very ethereal sound.
Yes, this is the brand/moder used by the Buggles and Yes when the Buggles took over for them (led Yes) on 'Drama'. I wonder if any other band ever led another band like the Buggles did for Yes? Funny that the Buggles are/were the less established of the two. You'd think the more well-known band would lead. They replaced Jon Anderson and some other Yes members for the 'Drama' album.
I love the videos where you talk history and specs, but I liked this a lot too! Just jamming and making cool noises.
When I pre ordered my original MS-20, from my piano organ store, in Dover NH, this vocoder eventually turned up in the store. Almost purchased one, instead bought a reel to reel, to lay down tracks. Great video 🎛 🔈 🔉 🔊
Ah, the pre-computer days. Something lovely about hardware and a reel to reel. Very pure.
@@AlexBallMusic So analog, I have very fond memories of these times!
Frank Zappa bought a VC-10 on October 15th 1978 for Tommy Mars to use, he had to use it that night, having never seen a vocoder before. Probably not a Sennheiser mic' on the Korg 🙂, but Sennheiser the mic' company brought out their own vocoder in the late 70's too, the VSM201. The vocoder was developed in the 1930s for encoding/decoding secure radio transmissions. Nice vid Alex.
the second jam gave me some lusine vibes... very nice work alex as always
Fantastic content and the jams were on point as usual! Cheers
Hi Alex, the Korg sounds awesome! I'm new to how vocoders work and the one famous vocoder track used was in the 80s Doctor Who theme. Peter Howell used the SVC 350 and did a great job.
Luckily you did put the words so we understood what you were singing. There are only 2 vocoders who can deal with voice so that you understand what you sing. Those are EMS Vocoder 2000/3000 and the Sennheiser VSM. The Korg could never meet the same quality which was logical if you compared prices, allready back in the time. Nowadays there is very good software that outperforms most hardware vocoders. But one thing is for sure. The Korg is a beautiful piece of decoration. And that is what I use it for.
Luvverly jubberly Alex! My dream was always to own - or at least see - the MS10, 20, 50 and Vocoder lined up in a neat row. Perhaps even use them! But mainly look at them
Yeah, I weighed up chasing them all down but it would be too silly.
I've acquired an MS-50 that will turn up at some point and also an MS-02 and also have a bunch of the pedals too. With my MS-20, that should be enough. 😀
@@AlexBallMusic looking forward to seeing the MS-50 in action! Appreciate the reply - I was once a proud OG MS-20 owner (cos AFX way back) - really enjoy your channel, thanks mate!
Thanks for that Alex, great examples of use and, as you say, such a warm distinctive 70's sound. The opening of Vocello reminded me of Arthur Russell's This Is How We Walk On The Moon, no bad thing, love that song.
I thank you very much! I'll test it! To sing or to speach!
Best greetings to you from austria! 👍🙋♂️😎🇦🇹
The MS range are like a timestamp of the late 70's. I thing they are things of beauty.
So fantastic and fun!!!!! That vocoder was soooo coool! Sidebar: had those super drums once upon a time!
1:08 I worked in a supermarket when I was 15/16. I dreaded the "Wet pickup in aisle 3" announcement. You never knew if someone smashed a glass jar of pickles, or clam juice, or if someone pooped themselves or just hurled down the aisle.
Worse is when you can't find where the wet pickup is, but you know it's there somewhere.
@@AlexBallMusic There was once a fully loaded diaper/nappy burrito in the diaper aisle. You could smell it, but took a bit to find it. Someone had done a live quick change and then put it on the shelf behind other packages.
At 16, I was not prepared for this part of life.
reminds me my diy homemade ""poor man's'' breath controller ^}: .I like old Korg stuff .Nice work good taste !
Thank you Alex. Stay well and safe.
Cheers Ian.
I had one of these briefly years ago. It was among the gear I had to sell when my car broke down. But it was fun while it lasted. I think it only showed up in one recording of mine. Anyway, great demo. You did stuff I certainly wouldn't have thought of.
Shenanigans 1: Vocello is the hottest thing I've heard all damn day. Love it.
Fun vocoder and video, and VP-330+ is almost that was used in the 90s.
I have a feeling this was Korg's only vocoder actually. Shame really a VC-20 with more controls would have been awesome. Fantastic tunes as always!!
Their only vocoder at the time. They did the DVP1 in 1986 and put an homage to the VC-10 in the MS-2000 and then the MicroKORG series. They may have done more too.
I think it was their only analogue vocoder, and the vocoder features did not come back to Korg synths until the 90's.
I know they have used different vocoders, and I know they are of course not the only ones who have used them, but with the first vocoder tone, I had to think of Kraftwerk and Underworld... Those two are just my first and main associations with vocoded vocals. But vocoding synth and drum sounds opens up a whole new world of sonic loveliness!
Great video Alex, I was waiting for you to say Mr Blue Sky but it’s important to get the mess cleaned up on isle three first.
That's the EMS Vocoder 2000 on "Mr. Blue Sky"!
the drum beat into the vocoder just blew my mind
The shenanigans were way better than talking / singing through it. The first 3 we're awesome. I love that you use that korg supper drum.
Than you for that beautiful supermarket moment.
You're welcome.
Oh-wheeeesome! Incredible flow in your orchestrations. Cool-a-liker
Fantastic demonstration !!!
i feel like i heard the sound of it on quite some music before, i should really look into it - awesome vid as always also i loved how you made basically 5 songs out of it
Had a fair bit of use out in the world, we've probably all unwittingly heard it many times.
Never thought of Vocoders beyond Mr.Blue Sky, then a couple of weeks ago bothered to open the one in the Arturia collection - oh my God so much fun!!!!!
Some wild experimentation is completely wasting away my remaining hours in this corporeal being. Should come in most useful in my afterlife however. Cheers for the vid!
Cool! I like to use the vocoder in my King Korg and also my Korg Kronos. Great fun!
I stuck some Toms from my TR8 through a vocoder and got some gtr strumming, was the best thing ever.
Vocoders are ace!!!
Nice combo!
Mindblowing to think all this aural goodness is ‘just’ voltages going up and down.
Through a box originally designed to scramble speach. 🙃
Your videos are a joy to watch. It is obvious this is a labor of love for you as the music you create for these is high quality and inspiring. Thanks.
Gave me ELO vibes...what a fantastic sound! 😎
As the MS10 was the first synth I ever tried I have always loved that shape. Great video Alex. 👍🏻😎
As used on ELO's bit hit 'Mister Brown Pants'.
@@chrisd5964
Is that the 2022 remixed version by Joe Biden? 😂👍🏻
@@douglasb.5601 If you want to get political... Bore off loser.
@@chrisd5964 No, that's the EMS Vocoder 2000!
@@chrisd5964 Intromix?
9:05 - that is valid point. I think the vocoder has got a bit of label stuck to it for making robot-like voices and being a daddy to auto-tune, and thus garnering a cheese factor, but it is yet another fun way to explore the sound and not just through the mic input - me looking at my Korg R3 and its bilingual packaging: "synthetiseur/vocodeur" - sso much more vocody right there 😄
MARAVILLAAAA !!!! 👍👍👍👍👍
Ever since I saw an SVC-350 in Jered Flickinger's (Future Retro) studio, I've wanted to give it a go. I also lost multiple auctions on VP-330s back when they were sought after, but the prices weren't ridiculous. He talked about the use of companding in some vocoders, and it went a bit over my head.
Yeah the 350 is the better of the two as there's way more control.
Shame they're all so expensive now.
@@AlexBallMusic I KNOW! Before Moog started making more 16-Channel vocoder they were selling for OVER $12,000. Now they're down to around $5000!
I had a space hopper in the early 80's and I have to say it was my best form of transport, apart from my convertible orange beetle pedal car which my dad had partially modified.
this vocoder sound amazing
Every time I watch Alex's videos regardless the subject matter, I think: "that roland system 100 sounds amazing" and I can hear the filter resonant tones that Flood put all over depeche mode Violator and some other albums, and I wish I had something that has that specific tone of filter resonance which sounds really unique and amazing to me. Maybe it has something to do with its sequencing and workflow too..
Yeah, it's so elastic sounding and is capable of unimaginable, but very musical timbres.
I think Flood had the System 700, but they're closely related.
I don't want to underestimate your ability to make things musical and interesting either. But it looks like Daniel Miller had the system 100 which is why I probably thought that.. but im going to have to go look that up for Flood. Keep up the excellent work, i always get excitedbwhen i see when you've posted a new video as I always learn something learn and hear something cool.
Really awesome shenanigans.
So...that's were the inspiration came from for the MS2000/MIcrokorg vocoders. Thanks you! You ancient ancestor.
Exactly. The MS2000 in particular is a very obvious nod.
🖤 MS2000B 🖤
No matter how strange, how different or how 'Out There' a piece of kit is, there is always a use for it somewhere by someone.
Cheers Alex
Indeed. 🙂
Thanks for the demo Alex. I've used this in the past, bit I never found it very suitable (or good enough) for my vocal vocoding needs. It's not alone though as I find most hardware vocoders to be lacking when it comes to getting a "good vocoded vocal sound" out of them. It sure looks cool though. ;-)
Yeah, definitely has a flavour and that works both ways.
Like you, I prefer more modern vocoders as I think the technology has got better and more usable.
That said, I'd love to try an EMS vocoder from this era.
Every example track was excellent.
Man, I really love Shenanigans 2 & 3! Great sounds all around! I can remember losing multiple eBay auctions over a VC-10 and an SQ-10. There was a time when all I wanted were both of those and an MS-50. It wasn't to be.
Funnily enough, I have an MS-50 coming soon. I too lost all the bids on the rare occasion when they came up. Finally got one.
“Thank you for shopping at Gateway” I’ve not heard that in decades either.😊
I would cry to have any one of these machines in this vid
Shenanigans 3 could have come straight off of Martin Gores last album.....
What a great video!!!
Awesome video! Groovy af
thanks for another cool video alex
6:56 this one is sooo cool 😎👍
Fantastic video as always Alex. The "Shenanigans" EP in itself was genius!!
However, I feel you missed a trick at the end of the video....
You should have ended it "Please turn me ovvvvverrrrrr" !!
To hell with the copyright hahaha!!!
Keep em coming maestro 👍
The VC-10, it drips character. As used also by Joe Zawinul of Weather Report and Michael Cotton of The Tubes. Another very nice video! The only thing I was hoping you to go into is the spooky noise circuit (mind you I suppose its not Hallowe'en yet.)
Yeah, seen photos of Joe with one. Didn't know about the Tubes, but I knew Buggles were users and abusers.
The noise is hilarious, yeah. Reminds me of the voices on Steve Vai's Firegarden album.
Love that Korg vintage sound.
Yeah, it's lovely.
This video tickles my Cylon helmet...
EMS Vocoder 1000!
I always wondered whether the VC-10 bolstered a similar type of polyphony to the string synthesizers of the era and Polymoog. I myself have access to two vocoder devices. One is my microKorg XL; the other (which I haven’t fully learned how to use yet) is the one in my Yamaha S90XS.
Great review. You are so inventive 😀
Thanks
Cool stuff! From experience: These gooseneck mics use an unusual connector, so if you want to rewire to XLR you absolutely can, just remember: pin 3 has to be shorted to ground! :)
I have one . But missing the mic :( . it’s been unused for 30 y ears or so.
Cool, I remember the ad in Keyboard Mag way back when.
The joys of going to the newsagent and bringing back a music mag to trawl through. I remember those days.
Moar shenanigans!
nice sounds. Analogue Forever !!! 😀
Love it.
Love it. reminds me of all of the vocoded parts in a lot of ELO songs 🙂And then there seemed to be a tribute to some Beasties...
EMS Vocoder 2000 on all EXCEPT for "Prologue" which is the Roland VP-330 Vocoder Plus Mk1!
Their very-first vocal effect was a ring-modulator, not a vocoder on 'A New World Record' album.