Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Vocoder Software

This is topic Vocoder Software in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Charles Greenlee (Member # 3856) on 06-02-2008, 07:07 PM:

Does anyone know a good vocoder software for the PC? I like the way the intro and outtro speech sound from the original Disneyland version of "Main Street Electrical Parade", which I'm told was done with a Bode 7702 analog vocoder. It has a nice grainy sound, but still quite understandable, and good musical qualities. So I'm thinking something similar, but in software. Any ideas?

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 06-02-2008, 09:27 PM:

I don't know of anything for the PC, but I've always used Vocalwriter for the Mac. It's great for MIDI composition, but it can sing fake vocals as well, like the dreaded "AMC Sucks" song of yore.

Posted by Wayne Keyser (Member # 2420) on 06-04-2008, 04:11 PM:

Well, it isn't cheap, but Adobe Audition does it pretty well. This, of course, would be an effect applied to a pair of files (instrument and voice) after recording.

I just tried it for the first time to see how well it worked, and it sounds good.

You didn't mention your intended end use ... Maybe you could find a way to qualify for an academic price, someplace like academicsuperstore.com ?? That's where I got my copy, which my high-schooler uses. Mostly.

Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 06-04-2008, 06:50 PM:

WAREZ!!

Posted by Charles Greenlee (Member # 3856) on 06-04-2008, 08:41 PM:

quote: Wayne Keyser
would be an effect applied to a pair of files (instrument and voice) after recording

Yes. I found one, but it only does live input, and results in totally unintelligible speech no matter what you have it set to, though that may be my mic as well. Mu end use would be just to fool around with. First project would be a new voicemail greeting. LoL Right now I have one done on SAM for the C64. Sounds nice and computery, good old 8-bit text to speech software. But I've been told its a tad difficult to understand. So I think a vocoder would acheive a nice computery sound, while still allowing for it to be understandable, and sound really cool.

Posted by Sean McKinnon (Member # 612) on 06-05-2008, 12:41 PM:

I don't think this is what your looking for but if anyone is looking for a program that is comparable to Adobe Audition but is FREE you should check out "Audacity" It is very very fast, very very stable, it gives you unlimited multi-track recording and editing, and a lot of effects and import/export options. I love this program I use it for all my production work at the radio station. Did I mention it is FREE? And has GREAT documentation to boot?

Download Audacity ver 1.2.6 (final) or 1.3.5 (beta) For Windows, Mac OS, and Linux Here!

Posted by Greg Anderson (Member # 235) on 06-05-2008, 02:29 PM:

Audacity is nice and all... but... I went with Audition because I wanted to do a bunch of fancy, multi-channel mixing too. I tried to use a "free" mixing software option from some Austrailian company but it turned out to be a 30-day trial instead of free. [thumbsdown]

That education version of Audition provides a really comfortable discount, by the way.

Posted by Sean McKinnon (Member # 612) on 06-05-2008, 04:21 PM:

You can mix as many tracks as you want in Audacity. I often create projects with 15 or more tracks.

Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 06-07-2008, 08:19 AM:

How many channels will it output?

Posted by Sean McKinnon (Member # 612) on 06-07-2008, 10:14 AM:

I beleive the only limitation is the limitation of your soundcard.

You can also export your "projects" to WAV, AIFF, MP2, MP3, OGG Vorbis, and FLAC files. There are a lot of different bit rate options as well. Obviously when you export into a compressed or uncompressed format file it will mix down your project into 2 stereo tracks. If you save it as an Audacity project it will save it in as many tracks as you have. I beleive you can also export into external programs or plug-ins if you are looking to do 5.1, or 8 channels or 156 channels.

Another good thing about this program is anytime you do anything it writes the changes so if you crash the computer you wont lose a thing. It also saves every command you do in a seperate file so that you have unlimited "UNDO" capability. You can also configure the program to copy over all the audio from other files or to simply reference the other files and only copy over portions you change to save hard disk space. I prefer to have everything copied over into the project because if you move or delete an outside file (an mp3 or whatever) then youre screwed.