11.3

BV512 VOCODER578
Tips and tricks
Choosing a carrier sound
As always, which carrier sound to choose is a matter of taste and musical context. However, here are a few guidelines
to help you get a good result:
• The carrier sound should preferably have a lot of harmonic content (brightness) - dark or muffled sounds will
not “give the vocoder much to work with”.
• Often, you want the carrier sound to sustain at an even level (i.e. it shouldn’t “die out” when you hold a chord).
Similarly, you most often want a reasonably fast attack (although not with a distinct, sharp click or edge).
• You may want a sound that is rather static over time, without drastic envelope control of filter cutoff for exam-
ple.
• If you want to play vocoded chords, the carrier sound must of course be polyphonic.
Here are some hands-on suggestions for carrier sounds:
D A simple Subtractor pad based on a sawtooth waveform.
You could simply start with the initial patch (as set up when you create a new Subtractor device). Open the filter,
turn off envelope modulation of the cutoff frequency and raise the Amp Envelope Sustain.
If you want a classic, rich chorus-like sound, use two detuned oscillators - or better still, add a UN-16 Unison de-
vice as an insert effect between the Subtractor and the vocoder!
A simple but effective carrier sound setup.
D A similar fat carrier sound can be obtained using a Malström device with a patch based on the “Sawtooth*16”
graintable.
With the Malström you can get a stereo carrier signal with no extra devices: simply select the “Sawtooth*16”
graintable for both oscillators, detune the oscillators slightly with the Cent controls and raise the Spread parameter
to the desired stereo width. No filter routings are necessary.
D For a more distinct and precise sound, try using a narrow pulse waveform.
You get this by selecting e.g. a sawtooth wave on the Subtractor, setting the Phase Mode selector to “–” and turn-
ing the Phase knob to the left until you get the desired sound. This type of carrier sound lends itself well to mono-
phonic vocoder lines in the lower registers.
D Use noise as a carrier.
Try using pure noise (possibly filtered down a bit) for robotic voices, whispering and special effects. It’s also very
useful to add a bit of noise to a sawtooth or pulse sound - this makes vocoded speech clearer and more intelligible.
D Use sampled strings or choir sounds.
A rich drawbar organ sample can also be a cool carrier sound.