Operation Manual

BV512 VOCODER
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D For a more distinct and precise sound, try using a narrow pulse wave-
form.
You get this by selecting e.g. a sawtooth wave on the Subtractor, setting the
Phase Mode selector to “–” and turning the Phase knob to the left until you get the
desired sound. This type of carrier sound lends itself well to monophonic 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.
D For unusual vocoder sounds, try using the Malström as carrier device,
e.g. with a glassy, digital pad sound selected.
Try turning up the Attack and Decay controls on the BV512, for smeared, rhythmic
or pseudo-random modulation of a pad.
Choosing a modulator sound
The modulator sound should typically have varying level and harmonic content. As
we’ve already mentioned, the most typical modulator sounds are vocals or speech
and drums or percussion.
D The quickest way to get a modulator sound is to use a rhythmic loop in
the Dr.Rex device (as in the tutorial on page 209).
This way you don’t have to program a rhythm pattern. On the other hand, using a
Redrum as modulator allows you to create exactly the rhythm you want and fine-
tune the sounds and the groove.
D To use your “own” vocals as modulator sounds, you need to record them
as WAV or AIFF files (using any audio recording utility on your computer)
and load the files as samples into an NN-19 or NN-XT device.
D Instead of using a sampler device as modulator for speech or vocals, you
could slice the vocal samples in Propellerheads’ ReCycle application,
and play them back with a Dr.Rex device.
This would make it easier to work with vocoded vocals, especially if you are exper-
imenting with different tempo settings or grooves. Tip: You can copy the MIDI
notes played by Dr.Rex to the carrier track so that the original rhythm of the
speech/vocal is preserved.
Using the modulator as carrier
You can get cool special effects by using the same device both as carrier and as
modulator. For example, try processing a Redrum device in the following way:
1. Create a Redrum device and set up the desired patch and pattern.
2. Create a Spider Audio Merger & Splitter device.
3. Create a BV512 Vocoder.
4. Flip the rack around and connect the devices in the following way:
The output of the Redrum goes into the splitter section of the Spider, and is split into two signals.
One signal goes into the carrier input of the vocoder, the other goes into the modulator input.
This is essentially the required connections, but for best results it’s a good idea to add
some distortion and/or compression to the carrier signal - this increases the amount
of high frequencies in the carrier signal:
5. Press [Shift] and create a Scream 4 distortion device.
6. Connect the distortion device as an insert effect between the Spider and the
carrier input of the vocoder.
Now, the carrier signal will be processed in the distortion device, but not the mod-
ulator signal.
7. Play back the pattern and experiment with the settings on the vocoder and
distortion device.
D This technique can also be used to process vocals and speech.
D Try adjusting the Shift parameter for new effects and sounds.
Remember that you can route CV to the Shift parameter on the back of the BV512
- use e.g. a Matrix or an LFO output on a synth device!