In this video, I showcase my recently completed replica of the Voder, the world's first electronic speech synthesizer, created by Bell Labs for the 1939 New York World's Fair.
For the last decade I thought I was the only one interested in the Voder. This is amazing work to preserve some interesting history! Next step: a vacuum tube model.
This is the first video I could find with anything about the Voder in the 21st century! Very nice to know that some forms of it exist today, even if replicas.
thanks for sharing, vaughn! really cool, the voder has always fascinated me, so it's cool to see a little breakdown of how you built your own. have you been practicing with it more since at all?
So impressive to build something with so little record!! Hope you learn to play some new phrases too. I'm fascinated by the Voder's unique sound and would love to hear more examples than the classic "she saw me"
I have considered it, but there would be a lot of work to do to get them ready for other people to read. Besides that, I'm not a very good electronics designer. I wouldn't build the voder the same way again, and I don't think anyone else should either.
Oh dude PLEASE make more videos with this thing! It sounds awesome and you play it pretty damn good too, you clearly put too much work into making and learning this to only produce one video out of it!
This is fantastic Vaughn! We think we are living in modern times now but can you imagine hearing those robotic-like sounds back then. It's like something out of Buck Rogers. Great Job!
This is really interesting! The reconstruction is extremely impressive. I can hardly articulate just how much this fascinates me. Thank you for sharing!!!!
I bet there's a niche but thriving market for something like this. I also wonder if the original had a filter to distinguish between the "s" and the "sh" phonemes.
Holy crap?? MAD props to you for actually reconstructing the HARDWARE. I tried making a version myself with Max/MSP but had no clue what to do with it lol
I´m not an electrical specialist or fan. I didn´t know about Voder untill the last week(I heared some broadcasting), so I am very surprised about this technology! It´s very surpraising for me that this technology is from 30ties! It´s amazing! and I think, your work is amazing too! Thank you!
This is AMAZING! Nice work Vaughn, that's truly an impressive achievement. Have you continued to improve your skills with your voder replica over the years?
This is such amazing work, Vaughn! I'm fascinated with the process, hope someday you can talk more about the components used or schematics. Would you happen to have any documentation? Thanks for sharing!
Hey! A year or so ago I was looking into doing the same! Really glad to see someone take this on! really impressive project. I was wondering if you had any more details about the stop circuits. when I was reading the patent and "the carrier nature of speech" and couldn't find any details. Did you reconstruct them from another source or design your own circuits to perform that function?
The stop consonants are by far the worst documented part of the Voder, at least in my experience. I never did really get them right. In the article "A Synthetic Speaker" from the June 1939 issue of the Journal of the Franklin Institute, they explain the stop keys, but they don't give any real figures regarding frequencies and timings. The gist of it is that each key goes through a series of stages as it is depressed, including a pop from a capacitor and resonant circuit, a silent interval, and a hiss put through one or more of they key filters. The exact frequencies of the filters and timing of the steps determine the sound that is perceived. Stop consonant perception is also quite complex, since the exact sound of the consonant varies depending on the word that comes after it. Because of this, it's not technically possible to make a single circuit that functions as the same consonant in all cases. The Voder made up for this, in part, by pressing the keys with different speeds depending on the exact syllable they wanted.
Superb reconstruction. But more detail, please. As an Englishman, I'd have to say the Voder works best as an American voice synthesizer since it elongates the vowels. A British version would struggle to clip those vowels adequately.
Bravo on putting so much work into this, though it'd be a shame to have spent so much time and effort on it just to have it say the same three words over and over again. How about another video with more examples? We want to hear what it can really do!
what do the other switches on your voder do? Is there one for gender? The schematic I found in a 1940 Popular Science article on the voder shows a gender knob to pre-set between male and female voices.
Dear Vaughn, congratulations on your successs on replicating the VODER. I'd like to ask, are your main keys on/off switches or perhaps more like potentiometers ? Thanks
Someone has actually already done something very similar to that, although I don't think it's a very accurate representation of the original operating technique: github.com/gmoe/voder
It appears to be. The ICs are likely timers (for oscillation) and op-amps. I want one of these! It'd be fun to add a digital-analog converter and control with MIDI signals!
Hi! I don't really have any plans that are prepared to be sent to someone. Besides, my electrical design could really use some work. If you really want to make one, have a look at "A Synthetic Speaker" from Vol. 227 of the Journal of the the Franklin Institute from June 1939. It's by far the most detailed resource I have.
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Everybody's gangster until Voder talks by itself at 12AM
For the last decade I thought I was the only one interested in the Voder. This is amazing work to preserve some interesting history! Next step: a vacuum tube model.
This is the first video I could find with anything about the Voder in the 21st century!
Very nice to know that some forms of it exist today, even if replicas.
i have a feeling they only built one
Really excited that you've tackled this and built a working replica. I find the voder to be so compelling.
thanks for sharing, vaughn! really cool, the voder has always fascinated me, so it's cool to see a little breakdown of how you built your own. have you been practicing with it more since at all?
So impressive to build something with so little record!! Hope you learn to play some new phrases too. I'm fascinated by the Voder's unique sound and would love to hear more examples than the classic "she saw me"
by your command. the 1970s mini series battle star galactica cylon robots voice was produced by vocoder.
Why do I always stumble across cool stuff like this at 3am?
incredible! so awesome to know Voders can be replicated. would you ever consider making your plans open-source?
I have considered it, but there would be a lot of work to do to get them ready for other people to read. Besides that, I'm not a very good electronics designer. I wouldn't build the voder the same way again, and I don't think anyone else should either.
Brilliant project! Great demo too.
This is so cool! You recreated an amazing piece of history!
Oh dude PLEASE make more videos with this thing! It sounds awesome and you play it pretty damn good too, you clearly put too much work into making and learning this to only produce one video out of it!
Nice work on this project!
Incredible engineering and craftsmanship. Nice to see this unique invention reconstructed.
This is excellent work and an excellent presentation.
This is fantastic Vaughn! We think we are living in modern times now but can you imagine hearing those robotic-like sounds back then. It's like something out of Buck Rogers. Great Job!
This is more professional and better planned than 99% of most TH-cam content. Excellent work and awesome console!
Fantastic Job and demonstration. I have always been fascinated by the voder. Really well done and congrats! hope to see more videos in the future 🙂
This is really interesting! The reconstruction is extremely impressive. I can hardly articulate just how much this fascinates me. Thank you for sharing!!!!
great video my friend, thank you
That was freakin' awesome! Excellent job!
Excellent job with the construction, explanation, and historic account. Thanks for sharing this!
Just found out about it today but it looks so cool
Wow. Bravo! Full respect!
Well done on this project! Fantastic work and really interesting!
we can finally hear the voder sing never gonna give you up
WOW! Very well done!
Excellent Video, you’ve given me hope that building a replica myself is possible
this is awesome.
Great work, great demonstration.
Excellent work sir!
I found out about the voder about a year ago when I was twelve and it still really fascinates me! I'd love to use one some day, how did you build it?
Well Dun Homie. Great Job. The Voder film from 1939 is behind amazing.
this is such a great showcase of your creation
I bet there's a niche but thriving market for something like this.
I also wonder if the original had a filter to distinguish between the "s" and the "sh" phonemes.
Fabulous! Excellent work!!!
Dude, brilliant demonstration!
Hey man, great job, very interesting
Wow, awesome project. Well done!
That's awesome!!
Holy crap?? MAD props to you for actually reconstructing the HARDWARE. I tried making a version myself with Max/MSP but had no clue what to do with it lol
That was pretty awesome! I've always been fascinated by the Voder. Have you since tried to learn any new phrases?
This is great
Thank you very, very much for making this video!
Extremely cool
I´m not an electrical specialist or fan. I didn´t know about Voder untill the last week(I heared some broadcasting), so I am very surprised about this technology! It´s very surpraising for me that this technology is from 30ties! It´s amazing! and I think, your work is amazing too! Thank you!
wow! amazing work! thank you so much. most impressive.
have you published any schematics for this?
How cool! You’re so smart!
Thank you, I learned something today. Great job.
Very neto, this deserves more attention!
Found out about this device today. Your replica was really cool.
Great! Greetings from Brazil!
Interesting device :) Voder back to life.
Nice work. I would like to know more about the filter architecture.
This is AMAZING! Nice work Vaughn, that's truly an impressive achievement. Have you continued to improve your skills with your voder replica over the years?
This is really cool!
This is great! Very interesting.
This is such amazing work, Vaughn! I'm fascinated with the process, hope someday you can talk more about the components used or schematics. Would you happen to have any documentation? Thanks for sharing!
Man... You're a Legend!
Very Informative & a Joy To Listen & Learn.
Great Presentation. Aces’
marvelous work. すばらしいです
Hey man this is awesome, was so hopeful someone would go thru the effort of making replicas!! Amazing work!!!
nice work!
Good speech Synthesis example...matthias
Hey! A year or so ago I was looking into doing the same! Really glad to see someone take this on! really impressive project. I was wondering if you had any more details about the stop circuits. when I was reading the patent and "the carrier nature of speech" and couldn't find any details. Did you reconstruct them from another source or design your own circuits to perform that function?
The stop consonants are by far the worst documented part of the Voder, at least in my experience. I never did really get them right. In the article "A Synthetic Speaker" from the June 1939 issue of the Journal of the Franklin Institute, they explain the stop keys, but they don't give any real figures regarding frequencies and timings.
The gist of it is that each key goes through a series of stages as it is depressed, including a pop from a capacitor and resonant circuit, a silent interval, and a hiss put through one or more of they key filters. The exact frequencies of the filters and timing of the steps determine the sound that is perceived.
Stop consonant perception is also quite complex, since the exact sound of the consonant varies depending on the word that comes after it. Because of this, it's not technically possible to make a single circuit that functions as the same consonant in all cases. The Voder made up for this, in part, by pressing the keys with different speeds depending on the exact syllable they wanted.
This is amazing
i really wish i could find a TTS voice that sounded like the Voder
So cool
This is awesome!!!
Good evening, radio audience.
Great video! I always wanted a more in depth description of what all the keys and switches do- not sure if you could fit that into your itinerary!
Superb reconstruction. But more detail, please.
As an Englishman, I'd have to say the Voder works best as an American voice synthesizer since it elongates the vowels.
A British version would struggle to clip those vowels adequately.
Genius
Amazing! Subbed! 🔥🔥
Bravo on putting so much work into this, though it'd be a shame to have spent so much time and effort on it just to have it say the same three words over and over again. How about another video with more examples? We want to hear what it can really do!
Do you have schematics?
It'd be interesting to bring this back.
what do the other switches on your voder do? Is there one for gender? The schematic I found in a 1940 Popular Science article on the voder shows a gender knob to pre-set between male and female voices.
absolute chad
Awesome!
Ok call me a nerd but this was cool as fuck, my dude
yeahhh. i love this machine!!!!!
Bro if you could manufacture this on scale I'd gladly buy one lol
Pretty cool
Very Nice
very cool
She saw me
how do you play this fine instrument?
Dear Vaughn, congratulations on your successs on replicating the VODER. I'd like to ask, are your main keys on/off switches or perhaps more like potentiometers ? Thanks
See 2:30
nice job dude 👍
say sheeeeesh with the voder
Do you think you can do a Smiling Friends fan dub or Mr. Jester using your voder?
Great job. Do you have a schematic posted anywhere?
Who saw you?
Cool replica I'd love to figure out how to make it a desktop app lol using number keys from 1 to 10 and space bar and enter as pitch and tone
Someone has actually already done something very similar to that, although I don't think it's a very accurate representation of the original operating technique: github.com/gmoe/voder
very cool, the video's kind of quiet though
All 3 are replicas? What happened to the originals?
C'était for intéressant.
*Revised comment* could probably do a new modern take on it by using more newer synthesis of voice
Hello There, is analog right, completely analog?
Yes
It appears to be. The ICs are likely timers (for oscillation) and op-amps. I want one of these! It'd be fun to add a digital-analog converter and control with MIDI signals!
Yes, it is entirely analog. The ICs are all opamps. The buzz oscillator is a relaxation oscillator based on a capacitor.
5:22
I would love to make one myself. Do you have plans ? I have a 3d printer
Hi! I don't really have any plans that are prepared to be sent to someone. Besides, my electrical design could really use some work. If you really want to make one, have a look at "A Synthetic Speaker" from Vol. 227 of the Journal of the the Franklin Institute from June 1939. It's by far the most detailed resource I have.