XILS-lab X-201, Vocoder… and vintage MultiEffect

An exceptional clarity: The X201 Vocoder was modelled after an ultra-rare, ultra-pricey (even at the time of its release), Vocoder unit, whose intelligibility has never been surpassed.

It's the missing link between artists like Kraftwerk, Herbie Hancock, Frank Farian (Boney M, Milli Vanilli etc.), Cylon Robots or Droids in Battlestar Galactica droids in Star Wars and… Daft Punk (RAM)

Two Filter Banks: Each of its two Filter Banks offer 20 frequency bands. Each Filter Bank can process the incoming signal (Usually voice, but any other signal, including drums, can be processed), or the CARRIER signal. As a comparison, the Roland VP-330 only had 10 frequency bands, with a very musical sound, at the price of much less clarity.

The Carrier: You can use the internal analogue Synthesizer as a carrier, which immediately gives the X201 its characteristic and recognisable sound. Any other incoming signal can also be used, like an external Synthesizer, another voice etc.

The Silence Bridging: This exotic title hosts a Multiband frequency-dependent Envelope Follower engine, which will shape the signal gain according to its harmonic content. It's very useful for processing percussive or rhythmic sonic material or contour to the sound.

So how does it work?: You record your voice, even without actually singing, then choose the internal synth as the Carrier. Then you send Midi notes to the Carrier to make your voice sing those notes (or chords, because the engine is polyphonic). Et voilà.

More is more: On the X201, XILS Labs exposed internal circuitry parameters that were not available on the original unit, making it more versatile, and powerful.

Vintage analogue modelled effects: Chorus, Phaser, Delay and an early ‘digital' reverb unit. You can also configure custom effect routing and order.

As a Multi-FX: You can also use the X201 as a simple Filter Bank/Chorus/Phaser/Delay/Reverb Multi-Effect. Try it on a Rhodes, Clavinet or String Machine patch, and rediscover these vintage organic sounds that required a long chain of vintage effects.

Ultimate Voice Electrifier

Vocoder V takes the iconic 16-Band Vocoder and retrofits it with advanced synth, sampler, and modulation capabilities. Venture beyond the classic robot voice with a sound that truly speaks for itself.

To Vocode, or not to Vocode?

Vocoder V is not your standard vocoder. It’s not your standard synthesizer either. This is your new voice-transforming playground. Unlike the traditional vocoder, it combines carrier and modulator - synth and voice analyzer - into one powerful unit.

If you’d prefer not to sing, there’s even a dedicated sampler built-in so you can process whatever sounds you want to. Part voice analyzer, part vintage analogue synth, part cutting-edge sampler - this might just be the missing piece of your sonic puzzle.

Turn your vocal stems into analogue FM basslines; Turn your drum loops into a synth chord sequences; Turn ambient samples into harmonic drones; Anything is possible.

A Bit of History

The vocoder was originally invented as a way of analyzing and synthesizing the human voice, used to conserve bandwidth and encrypt radio transmissions - it was even used in the military. It wasn’t until the ‘70s that some bright spark saw its musical potential.

In the hands of synth & electric pioneers like Dr Bob Moog and Harold Bode, the vocoder became an irresistible tool used in every style from disco to death metal. Early iterations of their vocoder were simply referred to as the ‘Bode’ after Bode’s own 7702 Vocoder design. This eventually evolved into the famous 16-Channel Vocoder that we’ve grown to love - and it remains a fascinating machine to this day.

From Giorgio Moroder to Daft Punk to Wendy Carlos, its vocal-morphing, synth-warping, gritty texture-weaving abilities can be heard on countless albums and soundtracks. It’s even raised a few hairs with appearances on some of John Carpenter’s iconic soundtracks. ...and with Vocoder V, it’s your turn.

Make that Robot Rock

Vocals that sound like a synth, a synth that sounds like vocals - Dr Bob Moog’s original 1979 16-band magic voice box is responsible for some of the most far-out sounds in music history, from robotic speech to rich harmonized textures.

Vocoder V is out to give this classic a whole new voice.

Built-in Synthesis

The original 16-Band Vocoder required an external synthesizer to process your vocal signal. With Vocoder V, it comes included as standard.

Its built-in dedicated synthesizer carrier section behaves like a fully-fledged synth by itself, giving you everything you need to make the fun, futuristic robot noises that you know and love. Enjoy the warm polyphonic chord sequences, wild frequency-modulated basslines, or noisy blizzard ambiences that you’d expect from a classic analogue synth - but uniquely moulded into the shape of your vocals or samples. This synth can talk!

Controls

• Hold: Toggle whether all notes are sustained when played.
• Oscillator 1: Triangle, saw, square, and noise waveforms, with versatile shape control and Sync button.
• Oscillator 2: Triangle, saw, square, and noise waveforms, with shape control, fine-tune control, and Fixed button which removes pitch control from the keyboard.
• Envelope Controls: A basic attack/release envelope to shape the onset and timing of your synth notes.
• Expression Controls: Bend and Mod wheels let you tweak your vocoder performance dynamics, with options for pitch bend range and glide (portamento).
• Chord Mode: Transform every note into a full chord, with 12 voicings to choose from including a custom one.
• Ensemble: Dial-in your preferred amount of rich analogue-style chorus for amazing stereo depth.

With a familiar dual-oscillator analogue layout, complete with envelope and shaping controls, you suddenly have double the amount of control over your vocoder’s sound in a single interface - not to mention heaps of warm analogue character to play with.

Your New Voice

Vocoder V’s patchbay-centred interface will transport your voice wherever you want it to go.

The modulator section is a stunning authentic reimagining of the original, letting you sculpt the response of your voice input in detail before it moves along the chain.

Voice & Synth Levels: Strike your own balance between carrier and modulator volume.

Times: Adjust the attack and release time for all bands.

Frequency Levels: Individually control the level of each frequency band to adjust the finer sonic details.

Bands: Shift continuously up or down the entire range of frequencies to emphasize lower or upper frequencies. Then narrows or expands all bands frequency ranges, from narrow and precise to broad and rich.

Patch Bay: 16 bands of analysis & synthesis frequencies, from 50 to 5080Hz, awaiting your patchwork magic, complete with sample & hold and patch bay bypass.

High Freq & Noise Controls: Set the behaviour of the high-frequency signal; off, switched (with hiss signal), or direct (always active), and balance the level of vocoded signal (buzz) and noise content (hiss).

Go Beyond Expected

As Arturia do with all of their instrument emulations, they took this timeless transformer of vocals and tweaked it to meet the needs of the modern producer - open the Advanced Panel to unlock expanded sonic potential.

On the surface, Vocoder V is a 3-part sound design rollercoaster. Under the hood, however, next-level controls let you dig deeper, twist your sound, or add the final touch before you drop it into the mix - from simple EQ to advanced sample manipulation.

What Else?

TAE® Powered

TAE® "True Analog Emulation" is Arturia's exclusive technology that accurately reproduces the defining sonic qualities of analogue synthesizers. It recreates the characteristics of analogue oscillators in amazing detail, transparency and clarity, as well as the exact properties of the analogue filters that give each classic instrument its unique sound. Soft clipping adds even more punch and presence. TAE® is primarily what makes Arturia's virtual instruments indistinguishable from the originals.

Included in V Collection

This instrument is also part of the V Collection -your complete dream line-up of the legendary synths, organs, pianos and more that made keyboard history. They’re modelled with the most advanced technologies for authentic realism and enhanced with new creative options. Whether you use it as DAW plugins in the studio or standalone at gigs, V Collection puts the greatest keys of all time at your fingertips for instant inspiration.

In-App Tutorials

Integrated in-app tutorials guide you through every aspect of the instrument, from individual parameters to tips from Arturia's sound designers, so you can focus on the creative stuff. It shouldn't be this easy, but it is!

DAW Ready

Arturia's virtual instruments and plugins are designed to fit right into your setup without hassle. Whatever your style, you can explore sound while enjoying full compatibility with major DAWS, on both Windows and MacOS.

ASC

Arturia Software Center lets you download, organize, and update all of your Arturia software titles in one place, as well as manage all of your licenses across multiple devices. Keep it simple.

Preset Browser

Instantly find the sound that’s in your head with intelligent & streamlined preset browsing. Search with keywords, explore by instrument type, musical style, and more - you can even save your favourites to quickly recall later.

Resizable GUI

Whether you want the full visual immersion of Arturia's classic instrument emulations, or to save precious screen real estate, the interfaces for all of your Arturia virtual instruments can be resized to a scale that suits you.

Perfect Integration

V Collection instruments come seamlessly mapped for the Arturia KeyLab range - but they’ll place nice with other MIDI controllers too. Instant sound tweaking macros, easy DAW integration, and standalone operation - adding V Collection to your setup is effortless.

Multi-Algorithm Vocoder Plug-In

Important note: this plugin is Mac only and is not PC compatible.

Heard on countless songs in multiple genres worldwide, ORANGE VOCODER AU is indeed THE classic software vocoder plug-in. Originally developed by Prosoniq in 1998, ORANGE VOCODER has since evolved through numerous iterations, always staying at the cutting edge right to this day. It has a reputation for being the single most transparent sounding and flexible vocoder plug-in available...and we at Zynaptiq agree.

ORANGE VOCODER features a built-in 32-voice synthesizer, 8 different vocoder algorithms ranging from analog modelled circuits to far-out digital cross-synthesis modes, filter-bank freezing and reverb, a 10-band graphic EQ, and more...a dream-machine for creating new sounds!

Key Features:

• Realtime vocoder effects plug-in for the Apple AudioUnits (AU) format.
• Flexible Carrier/Modulator Routing, including side-chain input.
• Integrated 32-voice virtual analog synthesizer.
• 8 unique vocoder algorithms.
• HF Passthrough & Voiced/Unvoiced Detector with noise generator.
• Filterbank Freeze & Filterbank Reverb.
• 10-band Graphic EQ with Analyzer.
• Integrated Hall Reverb.
• ORANGE VOCODER Algorithm Selector

One Vocoder? How About 8...

ORANGE VOCODER doesn't just give you one great vocoder sound, it gives you eight. Two different 24-band analog emulations give you classic vocoder sounds in linear and minimum phase. The ORANGE VOC 3 and Classic ORANGE algorithms give you the state-of-the-art ORANGE VOCODER algorithm, as well as its digital classic counterpart from the original plug-in from 1998. The unique MR 1st order, MR 2nd order and MR 3rd order Multi-Resolution modes use wavelet transform mathematics to provide frequency dependent time resolution, and sounds ranging from extremely natural to completely synthetic, while Colorize applies the Modulator's phase response in addition to its frequency amplitude data, for a wild cross-synthesis effect.

Play It Again, Vocoder

The integrated virtual analog synth features two oscillators with ring-mod and hard-sync. Choose between analog emulation and sampled waveforms, and use the included 4-pole low-pass filter for shaping them. Add a distortion circuit that is so warm sounding that you'll break a sweat, and throw in dual LFOs and an envelope follower and start tweaking. You can play the synth via MIDI, or tell it which notes to play using the on-screen keyboard.

Flip That Switch

ORANGE VOCODER is all about flexibility. The vocoder engine's Carrier and Modulator inputs can be sourced from the plug-in input, a side-chain input, and the internal synth, and changing the routing is as simple as clicking one or two switches. Want to swap Carrier and Modulator signals? Hit Flip. Use the synth instead of the side-chain? Click on Synth, done.

We Hear Ya' - And Don't You Move!

Intelligibility is key when transforming speech using a vocoder. Which is something that ORANGE VOCODER excels at. Apart from its unique, highly transparent algorithms, it also features a high frequency pass-through circuit as well as voiced/unvoiced detection. On the other hand, ORANGE VOCODER has several options to make the results more diffuse, or even static – the integrated Filterbank Reverb allows smoothing and blurring the Filterbank modulation, while the Freeze function will capture the current state of the Filterbank and hold it infinitely.

Features Galore

All that said, there's more. ORANGE VOCODER comes with an easy to use Hall Reverb, a three-channel mixer for blending Carrier and Modulator with the Vocoder's output, a stereo widening function aptly called PHAT, a 10-band graphic EQ with analyzer, a random preset generator, and more than 60 factory presets. Test drive the free trial of this vocoding powerhouse today!

The Organic Vocoder, First and Last step for Vocoding

A Legend is Reborn!

Inspired by the EMS Flagship Vocoder ( EMS 5000 -1976- Probably the most complex and powerful analog Vocoder ever built), XILS-lab used his knowledge acquired during the emulation of both the VCS3 synthesizer and the VP300 VocoderPlus to develop the XILS Vocoder 5000 Mode.

Say it with music

A Vocoder is a synthesizer which accepts an external sound source, a musical instrument or prerecorded signal, so that you can process it, with or without the keyboard, into a huge variety of sounds.

Human voice, the most variable sound of all, can be fed into the Vocoder, so that you can alter its pitch, Tone, Vibrato, and all its characteristics, allowing you to synthetize a Choir from a single voice, or to create melodies from ordinary speech.

You can also process Drums, percussive elements, or Guitars and … every kind of synthesizer itself, to breathe some analog life into them, or completely reshape them.  You can even derive some pure synth patterns from drumloops. Everything is possible.

XILS Vocoder 5000

Clarity, Purity : The XILS Vocoder 5000 emulates the sophisticated filtering techniques and incredibly complex circuitry of its analog counterpart to achieve the same organic sound, precision and … clarity.

The Vocoder 5000 can speak a perfectly clear and understandable English, or German as well as Japanese.

Easy to use for beginners, yet incredibly powerful for Veterans : The user interface offers a standard single panel view. Everything is there, right under your hands, with a lot of presets to get you started. Should you want, or need, to go further, the Logo Center Panel will switch to a vast choice of advanced panels displaying the advanced parameters of the module of the Vocoder 5000 you wish to explore and experiment with. And there are dozens of advanced parameters, for your joy.

Back in 21st Century : Because it’s a Xils, it offers many advanced features that its ancestor could not have offered in its time : We added Bands number, Filter types, Filter’s Emphasis and Emphasis ponderation, more Slew Rate mods, more Freeze mods, 2 LFOs ( Original had none ), Detailed FM and PWM, more Oscillators Waveforms, an improved Input detector ( Sibilants), Gate input.You can also populate the Matrix by freely drawing lines, and it has its own presets. (Very useful once you’ve found the perfect template for a certain voice).

For a very long time, this wonderful and versatile machine was used by a lot of well know artists and musicians, for a long time now, it is waiting by a lot of computer users to be part of their sound arsenal.

The XILS V+ combines a Vintage 10 band Vocoder, Supreme Top Octave Divider based Strings and Human Voices, or any sophisticated layering of these three elements.

After more than one year of intense modelling deep in the basement of the Xils Laboratories, we offer you this complete recreation of a legend. Its unique vintage vibe and beauty that can only be brought back to life by precisely emulating different ancient and forgotten techniques.

T.O.D: The Top Octave Divider Oscillator provides a unique sound that no samples, or other simple synthesis techniques can reproduce. Emulating the T.O.D, without any aliasing on the whole frequency range, with its pitch and waveform modulation, was a real challenge, worthy of XILS-lab. We are very proud of this effort and offer it to you for your inspiration and enjoyment.

XILS-lab touch: The XILS V+ would not however be a real XILS-lab instrument if we did not add a lot of functions and possibilities that were not present in the original machine, some giving access to its internal circuitry and parameters. And some being totally new.

"T.O.D and Beyond", following the Analog and Beyond tradition XILS-lab initiated a long time ago.

Important Note: This product is only compatible with Windows operating systems.

Vocodex is simply one of the best sounding vocoders on the market today. Try the demo and hear why Vocodex is the last word in vocoding.

'By your command'

What is Vocoding? You have heard vocoding many times, even if you don’t know what it is. Vocoders are the classic robot voice from many sci-fi movies. Vocoders analyze the real-time frequency band activity of one sound, the Modulator, to control frequency band activity in another, the Carrier. A vocoder consists of a series of narrow-band frequency gates that allow through only those frequencies from the Carrier that are detected in the Modulator source. So if a human voice is used to vocode a synthesizer chord, it will sound like the synthesizer is talking. Check the demo tracks above.

Have You Ever Dreamed To Transform Your Favourite Synthesisers Into Vocoders?

Multiplex Vocoder is a standalone software developed for music production, live sets and audio post-production. The software features four VST/AU vocoders and one audio sample vocoder where you can load any Virtual Instrument or audio file to be used as a vocoder carrier signal. 

Robotic voices, singing synthesizers, morphing between multiple audio materials. That's MVocoder, a vocoder with ultimate audio quality and extreme range of features as usual.

As Versatile As It Could Be

MVocoder is a true analog filter based vocoder, which supports up to 100 bands, up to order-10 filters, band matrix, band distribution and resonance graphs, morphing and other special vocoding modes plus much more. Optimized to be easy to use, but incredibly versatile for those who want to be really creative.

Multichannel Vocoding

Instead of having an integrated synth, MVocoder uses an external side-chain, so you can feed in any source and let the plugin do its magic. And of course, you can have up to 8 surround channels.

Modulation Heaven

Looking for a little extra variation in your sound? Look no further than our extensive modulation options. Modulate any parameter from sources such as an LFO, audio level follower, envelope generator, randomize, or pitch detector. Your sound will never be static again.

Extreme Vocal Modulation in One Complete Package

The RoCoder name is very close to that of the original Vocoders given title. However, as always with - Rob Papen - products you will find that there are many new and creative features onboard, so don’t expect a regular Vocoder!

Alongside a 32-band Vocoder, RoCoder also features an Additive mode, a combined Vocoder + Additive mode, Noise mode, Tuned Noise mode, and a Tuned Comb mode!

These new modes allow you to create many new types of sound next to the top-notch Vocoder sound!

RoCoder doesn’t stop with these new refreshing modes, it also includes stereo panning per band, and it has the well-known XY pad, an extensive modulation matrix, and all this is finished off with built-in top-notch FX including - Chorus, Flanger, Phaser, Stereo Delay, Reverb section.

RoCoder is a new muscular vocoder type of FX that opens up a whole new range of sounds! As the Borg stated whilst testing “Resistance is futile with RoCoder!”

The Rocoder Concept

Alongside the Vocoder, it has innovative other modes.

• The Vocoder mode - This is the classic Vocoder mode. RoCoder in its Vocoder mode can use up to 32 bands with a built-in carrier synthesizer.
• The Additive mode - Instead of Vocoding, the engine generates 32 bands of harmonics using sine waveforms. The additive mode works in a similar way to the Vocoder as previously explained, however instead of a carrier signal, 32 sine waveforms are generated, their volume being that of the corresponding modulator band, so as to generate an atonal sound FX.
• There is still the option for keyboard control and even polyphonic notes are possible, although due to the atonal sound, it very often sounds far from tuned. Once keyboard control is activated it still offers Envelope control and other controls like portamento available in the carrier section.
• The Combined Additive and Vocoder mode - This feature of RoCoder offers the ability to combine two modes! Keep in mind that this mode is more CPU intensive, and the atonal FX of the Additive means that ‘tuned’ usage is more difficult. Still, an interesting mode to create new unheard sounds!
• The Noise mode - In this mode, the MIDI keyboard notes are used for creating the bands. If you only play one note, let’s say A4 then only one band at a frequency of 440Hz (A4) is used. So the number of bands used depends on the number of notes you play.
• In this mode, the MIDI keyboard notes are used for creating the bands. If you only play one note, let’s say A4 then only one band at a frequency of 440Hz (A4) is used. So the number of bands used depends on the number of notes you play.
• The Tuned Noise mode - In this mode, the MIDI keyboard note is used for creating the bands. So, if you play only one note, let’s say A4 then only one band at a frequency of 440Hz (A4) is used. So, the number of bands used depends on the number of notes you play.
• The Tuned Comb mode - In this mode, the MIDI keyboard notes are used for creating the Comb Filter bands. So, if you play only one note, let’s say A4 then only one Comb Filter band at a frequency of 440Hz (A4) is used. So, depending on the number of notes you play, that number of Comb Filter bands are playing.
• To increase the Comb Filters, we have added special play modes inside the carrier which increases the notes by adding octave notes and 5th notes. This generates more usable sounds, due to the increased Comb Filter bands playing.
• TIP: on vocal sounds, this mode doesn’t work so well, however, it is very good on other rhythmic types of sound such as sequenced sounds, drums, and percussive types of sounds.
• The Vocoder Input Carrier mode - Essentially this mode is very similar to the other Vocoder mode, but with this difference that the built-in carrier synthesizer is not used, and instead of this the ‘side audio input’ is the carrier.

The Top GUI Section of RoCoder

In the top section part of RoCoder there are multiple features including selecting Presets and Banks.

• Preset - Menu box to select Presets included the Quick Browser, Recently Browsed, and, Favourites features.
• Bank - Menu box to select different bank folders, included the feature to create a new bank folder.
• Edit / Orig - As soon as you start editing a Preset (i.e. change controls in RoCoder), the Edit button will light up. If you click on the Orig button it will return the Preset to its original settings.
• ECS (External MIDI Control) - RoCoder can modify its sound parameters dynamically in response to MIDI messages received from an external controller. The assignment of external MIDI Messages to RoCoder controls is stored in the ECS
• Help - Opens up RoCoder’s PDF Manual (this file).
• Bypass - Bypasses RoCoder, so you will only hear the dry signal.
• Bank Manager - Opens RoCoder’s Bank Manager page.
• Dry Volume / Mute - Controls the dry output volume of RoCoder, being the original modulator sound. Pressing the 'Mute' button mutes the dry output volume of RoCoder.
• Wet Volume / Mute - Controls the wet output volume of RoCoder, this is the Vocoder + FX sound. Pressing the 'Mute' button mutes the wet output volume of RoCoder.
• RoCoder Logo - Clicking on the RoCoder logo takes you to the Back Panel. The Back Panel shows global settings and infrequently accessed controls.
• Control Menu - Clicking on the Control Menu icon will bring up the Control Menu, where you can set the screen size, set how RoCoder reacts to MIDI, its current version, and other options like deactivating the animated dials.

RoCoder Modes

The way RoCoder works is set by selecting the RoCoder modes, being Vocoder, Additive, Vocoder+Additive, Noise, Tuned Noise, Tuned Comb, and Vocoder Input Carrier. Once a mode has been selected various parts in the middle main section will change in function and in the case that some functions are not available, these will be appearing greyed out.

Vocoder Mode

Vocoder Modulator Envelope Controls are  Attack, Hold, and Decay. Vocoder Band Modulator controls are Center, Bandwidth, and Spread. Lock Bands feature available (lock with Carrier). Vocoder Carrier Controls are Center, Bandwidth, and Spread

Additive Mode

In Additive Mode, instead of Vocoding, the engine generates 32 bands of harmonics using sinus waves. Additive Envelope Follower controls are Attack, Hold, and Decay. Additional keyboard control available. Once the ‘keyboard tracking’ is selected the ‘Center’ function, changes into ‘Base’ note and the bands are formed above this ‘Base’ note.

Vocoder and Additive Mode

This feature of RoCoder offers to combine both modes. The Volume Envelope parameters, Attack, Hold, and Decay is shared. The Vocoder Band controls are Center, Bandwith, and Spread. The Additive Band controls are Center, Bandwith, and Spread. Lock Bands feature is available (lock Vocoder with Additive) Default keyboard controlled. Carrier synthesizer shares the Band setting with the Additive mode. Mix control available to mix between the Vocoder and Additive sound generated.

Noise Mode

In this Vocoder mode, the carrier is noise and no MIDI keyboard control is needed. Since it is noise as a carrier, there is of course no tonal aspect in the mode. The Modulator Envelope Follower controls are, Attack, Hold, and Decay. The Modulator Band controls are Center, Bandwidth, and Spread. Lock Bands feature is available (lock the modulator with the Noise carrier) The Noise carrier controls are Center, Bandwidth, Spread, and Noise Color.

Tuned Noise Mode

In this mode, the MIDI keyboard notes are used for creating the bands. So, if you play only one note, let’s say A4 then only one band at a frequency of 440Hz (A4) is used. So the number of bands used depending on the number of notes you play. The Modulator Envelope Follower controls are. Attack, Hold, and Decay,  The Note Band controls are Shift, Bandwidth, and Chord mode. The Noise Carrier controls are Shift, Bandwith, and Noise Color.

Tuned Comb Mode

In this mode, the MIDI keyboard notes are used for creating the Comb Filter bands. So, if you play only one note, let’s say A4 then only one Comb Filter band at a frequency of 440Hz (A4) is used. So, depending on the number of notes you play, that number of Comb Filter bands are playing. The Modulator controls are Shift, Bandwidth, and Chord mode. The Comb Filter controls are, Shift, Amount, and Comb - or Comb+. 

Vocoder Input Carrier

Essentially this mode is very similar to the other Vocoder mode, but with this difference that the built-in carrier synthesizer is not used, and instead of this the ‘side audio input’ is the carrier. So the first stereo input into RoCoder is used as the Modulator signal, the second (side) input into Rocoder is used as the Carrier signal, allowing you to Vocoder any two signals together. The Vocoder Envelope Follower controls are Atack, Hold, and Decay. The Vocoder Band controls are Center, Bandwidth, Spread, and Lock Bands. The Input Carrier controls are, Center, Bandwidth, Spread

Additional RoCoder Controls

Mono

When this is turned on any input into RoCoder is mono, so the left & right channels will be the same.

Band Edit Section

Here you can select of what type of parameters you like to edit of the bands, depending on the RoCoder mode. The graphic edit field appears in the mid-lower section. The controls are not available in the “Noise” or “Comb Filter” modes, instead, the notes played are displayed. The range of parameters are Volume, Pan, Mod Shift, Car Shifts.

Mid-Lower Section of RoCoder

Below the graphic band control display, you can select different pages using the buttons ‘WAVE- 3D’, ‘XY’, ‘Carrier’, ‘MOD’, ‘GROUP’, and ‘FX’. In this section, you can control the other essential parameters of RoCoder and if you are finished with creating your sound, you can select the ‘WAVE-3D’ page, to have a nice graphic animation of the RoCoder sound :D The XY pad is not visual once the ‘carrier’ page is selected, due to the many controls of this part. On the right-hand side is the Filter section and some controls of the FX section. These parts are always visual, advancing the workflow. If you like to do deep FX editing, for example of the Reverb or Delay, you can select the edit page on the left-hand side.

Wave-3D Section

Once you are finished with creating your sound, you can select the ‘WAVE-3D’ page, to have a nice graphic animation of the RoCoder sound.

This page is the default start-up page of RoCoder

XY Pad Section

The XY pad is a combination of a live, interactive control, and automated programmable modulation source.

You can use the mouse to control the 8 parameters simultaneously, by moving the XY dot around the XY Pad.

It is also possible to record these movements as paths and use the XY pad as a programmable two-dimensional LFO.

XY Controls

Live

In this mode, the mouse or external MIDI controller is used to move the dot around over the XY Field.

Record

Use this mode to record the movement in the XY field. Once you did your movement, select ‘replay’ to have the movement play automatically according to the other settings available in the XY section.

Replay

This mode plays back to have the movement recorded according to the other settings available in the XY section.

Edit

The Edit button located near the XY pad puts the XY path in edit mode. While in edit mode, you can move the path's points around and thus edit the XY Path manually.

Speed

The Play Speed control alters the playback speed of the recorded XY Path in percentage. On the neutral position (100%) , the speed is from the recorded XY movement or the (tempo) SYNC setting. 

Speed Control

The Speed parameter can be controlled by a modulation source or a MIDI controller. For example, you could use the ‘Pitch Bend’ to change the Speed parameter. There is an amount dial to control how much the controlling part changes the speed.

XY Play Modes

Once ‘Replay’ is active, the XY pad operates in Free, MIDI Mono, MIDI Poly, or Follower mode. The mode setting determines how the XY responds.

• Free - In Free mode the XY Path is looped automatically. If you are using a sequencer the XY Free is reset when you restart the sequencer
• MIDI Mono - All notes played by MIDI share the same XY path, but the XY path is reset with every new key you play.
• MIDI Poly - Each MDI note you play starts its own XY path and each path starts from its initial position.
• The XY path is free running, so it is not reset when you play a key, and all the notes share the same XY path. In Free mode the XY Path is looped automatically. 
• Follower - The XY movement is triggered by the Follower, once the Follower volume is above the Follower Trigger amount then the XY is triggered.

The following controls only apply if 'Replay' is activated in the XY Section.

• Loop - When Loop is On, the XY dot will jump from the end of the path, back to the start of the path, and keep moving. In the < > mode, the XY path loops but travels back and forth along the path. When Loop is Off it travels the XY path one-way only once.
• Sync to - By default, when the XY path is replayed, it plays back at the speed with which it was recorded. However, if you want to alter this, the Sync To menu enables you to set the time period the XY path takes to playback. This is set in quarter-beats and is synced to the host's tempo.
• Points - Paths are stored as 128 points and the in-between connections. You can change the number of points stored, using the Points menu. The minimum number of points is 4 points, suitable for very straightforward paths. If you return the resolution back to 128 points (Off), the original points will be restored.
• Space Quantization - Space Quantize restricts the points in the current path to a set of grid lines. The default setting is off, but when you select a grid of 32, 16, 8, or 4 grid lines, Go2 will snap all the points to their nearest grid point. The Quantize setting is non-destructive. Disabling Space
• Quantize will return the points back to their original position.
• Time Quantization  - Time Quantize sets the update frequency of the XY position. Use this in conjunction with the Sync function to find the optimized balance between update frequency and a number of points in the path. 

Commands

The menu button allows different additional features of the XY section included the option of saving and loading the XY line-up.

X  and Y Destination 1 – 4

In this menu, you can select which of the RoCoder's parameters will be altered by movement in the X (horizontal), and Y (vertical) direction in the XY Pad.

X and Y Amount 1 - 4

This controls how much the selected parameter will be altered by movement in the X (horizontal), and Y (vertical) direction in the XY Pad, the amount can be positive or negative. 

X and Y Bypass 1 - 4

To hear the difference between modulation and no modulation you can use the bypass button to turn on / off the X, or Y modulation.

Carrier Synthsizer Section

The Carrier Synthesizer of RoCoder is an essential part in creating the Vocoder sound. This fully-featured 16 voice synthesizer, creates the full harmonic sound, which is needed for the Vocoder signal, by using a mix of Saw and Square waveforms, which can be expended by using the “Oscillator Spread” to creates a 3-Oscillator sound with detuning spreading.  To further expand on the harmonic content, a Noise Oscillator and Sub-Oscillator modules, which generate noise or a square sub-wave respectively, are available as well. The Carrier Synthesizer is used during the Vocoder mode and Vocoder+Additive mode of RoCoder. In the ‘Additive’, ‘Tuned Noise’, and ‘Tuned Comb’ mode parts of the carrier section are also used for controlling and adjusting parameters.

Play section

This section controls how the carrier synth plays, either monophonic or polyphonic, with chord modes and portamento mode & speed. Also, the volume of the carrier and velocity influence on volume is controlled here as well. The play section and its features are used in several of RoCoder modes such as the ‘Additive’ mode if the keyboard is activated, and the ‘Tuned Noise’, &‘Tuned Comb’ modes.

Modes

Poly, Mono, and Legato.    

Chord 

The name of this feature might be a bit confusing since there are actually additional notes playing in the mode. For example, if you hit a note, that it plays an extra note one octave higher as well. 

The available combinations are always octaves and fifth notes, so no major, minor, etc chords are generated. 

The different modes can be used inside the different modes and especially with the ‘Tuned Noise’ and ‘Tuned Comb’ modes, they can be useful in creating more bands since in these modes, the notes you play are the bands created. So for example, if you play one note with the ‘Tuned Noise’, just one band is created but using the chord feature multiple notes/bands are created even with a single note.

Volume

This controls the volume of the carrier synthesizer or in the case of other modes, the volume of the ‘Additive’, ‘Tuned Noise’, or ‘Tuned Comb’ sound.

Velocity > Volume

This controls how much the velocity controls the volume of the carrier synthesizer or in the case of other modes, the volume of the ‘Additive’, ‘Tuned Noise’, or ‘Tuned Comb’ sound.

Portamento Modes

• Off - No portamento.
• Constant Rate    - The note pitch changes at a constant rate from one note to the next. Greater keyboard note ranges take a longer time.
• Constant Time - The note pitch changes between notes always take the same time, regardless of note range.
• Held Rate - Held Rate works as Constant Rate, but only affects overlapping notes (legato style).
• Held Time - Held Time works the same as Constant Time, but only affects overlapping notes (legato style).
• Portamento Amount - This control sets the rate or time for the Portamento effect.

Amp ENV (Volume Envelope)

The Volume Envelope determines the volume contour of the carrier sound or some of the other modes its volume contour shape. Controls are Attack, Decay, Sustain, and Release

Pitch Envelope

The Pitch Envelope section is responsible for pitch glides controlled by an Envelope. Controls are Attack, Decay, Sustain, Release and Amount control with a range of -24 semi up to 24 semi.

Oscillator (carrier)

The oscillator section is the heart of the carrier once the ‘Vocoder’ or ‘Vocoder+Additive’ mode is active, it is used to generate the harmonic content of the carrier sound. Due to the working of the carrier, we only offer the Saw and Square waveforms, since the carrier needs lots of harmonics to do its job, but you can mix between these two types of waveforms. The Controls are:

• On/Off - This allows using for example only the ‘Noise’  or/and only the ‘Sub-Oscillator’ of the Carrier synthesizer. For example, if you like the ‘Noise’ mode, but miss the keyboard control of it, you can use only the ‘Noise’ part of the ‘Carrier’ synthesizer.
• Waveform - Here you can mix between the ‘Saw’ waveform or the ‘Square’ waveform. These two waveforms or a mix between them generate the harmonic content needed for creating a solid carrier sound.
• Semi - This controls allows you to transpose the Oscillator section in semi notes, with a range from -36 semi-tones up to +36 semi-tones.
• Spread - If the spread setting is set to 0% the ‘Carrier’ synthesizer uses one oscillator. Once spread is above 0%, the ‘Carrier’ synthesizer generates a three oscillator sound, generating swirly fuller sound. The  'Spread' amount controls the detuning of two of these oscillators, one being tuned down and the other being tuned up. 

NOISE (Noise Oscillator)

The Noise Oscillator is a great addition to the carrier. Especially if the noise color is set to ‘White Noise’ it can generate a useful sound and is a cool addition to the Vocoder. The additional ‘High Pass Filter’ allows to cut out lower frequencies and removes ‘hiss’ from the Vocoder sound.

• On/Off - This allows you to turn on or off, the ‘Noise Synthesizer’ and can be handy to hear the difference between using it and not using it, instead of turning the ‘Volume’ up and down.
• Color - This mixes between ‘Pink Noise’ and ‘White Noise’ as noise source. In general the ‘White Noise’ is more effective with the Vocoder.
• High Pass - This ‘High Pass Filter’ allows you to cut off low frequencies from the ‘Noise Oscillator’ which comes in handy especially if you use the ‘White Noise’ color and like to create a high ‘hiss’ sound for the vocoder.
• Volume - The volume of Noise from -40dB (off) to +10db

SUB-OSC (Sub-Oscillator)

This generates a ‘Square wave’ one octave below the main ‘Oscillator’ pitch.  There is no detuning feature since it is connected to the main ‘Oscillator’.

• On/Off - This allows you to activate the ‘Sub-Oscillator and can be handy to hear the difference between using it and not using it, instead of turning the ‘Volume’ up and down. Note that it is possible to have the ‘Sub-Oscillator’ active, without having the ‘Oscillator’ and ‘Noise’ active, or to have it active with the ‘Noise’ active as well.
• Volume - This controls the volume of the ‘Sub-Oscillator’ from -40dB (off) to +10dB.

AMP LFO

This section creates volume modulation for creating tremolo FX. In the ‘Additive’, ‘Tuned Noise’, and ‘Tuned Comb’ mode the ‘AMP LFO’ is also available for creating this tremolo FX on the other types of sounds.

Speed & SYNC

This sets the Speed of the LFO, controlling the speed of the tremolo FX. When Sync is turned on the speed is synced to the host's tempo. In non-sync mode, the tempo goes from 0.03hz up to 27.5kHz In tempo sync mode, the speed setting goes from 1/32 triple note speed up to 1/16 triple note speed.

Amount

This controls the amount of tremolo FX generated.

Amount Control

It is possible to control the amount of tremolo by using another RoCoder modulator, or one of the many MIDI controllers. 

Pitch LFO

This section creates pitch vibrato modulation. In the ‘Additive’, ‘Tuned Noise’, and ‘Tuned Comb’ mode the ‘Pitch LFO’ is also available for creating this vibrato FX on the other types of sounds.

Speed & Sync

This sets the speed of the LFO, controlling the speed of the pitch vibrato. When Sync is turned on the speed is synced to the host's tempo. In non-sync mode, the tempo goes from 0.03hz up to 27.5kHz. In tempo sync mode, the speed setting goes from 1/32 triple note speed up to 1/16 triple note speed.

Amount

This controls the amount of pitch vibrato generated.

Amount Control

It is possible to control the amount of pitch vibrato by using other RoCoder modulators, or one of the many MIDI controllers. 

Command (Menu Button)

This allows you for example to save a setting you created with the carrier synthesizer to disk and to be used in another RoCoder preset.

MOD (MOD Matrix / Volume Follower)

The modulation matrix allows to controls almost all of RoCoder parameters via either MIDI Sources (such as Mod Wheel) or Modulation Sources (such as the XY position).  In case you used all the XY destinations in the XY page, you can use this as well! Also an ‘Audio Follower’ which allows you to control RoCoder's parameters with, for instance, the extra audio side input.

Modulation Slots 1-10

In total there are 10 slots available and clicking on the ‘Slot’ number allows you to ‘bypass’ the modulation connection, which is a handy feature to hear the difference between modulation or without the modulation without the needing to change the amount.

Modulation Source

Here you select one of the many MIDI or RoCoder's internal modulation sources.

Modulation Destination

Here you select one of RoCoder’s destinations.

Modulation Amount Control

This controls the amount of modulation, the amount can be either negative or positive.

Volume Follower Modulation Source

This ‘Volume Follower’ allows you to use audio as a modulation source. The Audio can be the regular ‘input’, ‘Side Input’, ‘Modulator’, ‘Carrier’, ‘Vocoder’, or the ‘Output’. The Volume follower can be adjusted by using the ‘Smooth’, ‘Hold’, and the ‘Trigger’ controls.

Input Menu

Here you select the audio source to be used as modulating source.

• Input - The regular audio input
• Side Input - The additional audio input, also very often called side input
• Modulator - This is the audio output from the Modulator section.
• Carrier - This is the audio output from the Carrier section.
• Vocoder- This is the audio of the vocoder (if active)
• Output - This is the final audio output after the FXs.

Boost

This increased the audio input signal in case the signal is not loud enough.

Smooth

This smooths the audio so it is a more fluid modulation source

Trigger

This sets the Trigger volume level, at which the audio starts creating the modulation source signal, below this amount the modulation source signal is zero.

Hold

This sets how long the audio can be active, even if it goes below the trigger level.

Group

This section allows the creation of up to 4 groups of selected bands. If you ‘Vocoder’, ‘Additive’, ‘Vocoder+Additive’, or ‘Noise’ mode, this section can then be used to select a selection of bands that can be modulated as a group by the ‘XY Pad’ or ‘Modulation Matrix’.   In total 4 groups of selected bands are available, these are shown in the 4 group sections (1 to 4). To select a band for that group, click on the band's number, i.e. in Group 1 clicking on 4 will select band 4 as part of Group 1. 

Filter 

After the different modes of RoCoder (such as Vocoder, Additive or any of the other modes), the audio can then go into the Filter section. This uses both a 12dB High-Pass Filter and a 12dB Low-Pass Filter with Resonance (Q) control. This section increases the options for creating exciting sounds. For example, if you use a drum loop as a modulator inside the Vocoder mode, you can use the High-Pass Filter dynamical by using the XY or the ‘Volume Follower’!

High-Pass Filter

High frequencies pass through this Filter; those below the Cutoff frequency are reduced by 12dB per octave.

High-Pass Filter On/Off

This allows you to turn on / off the High-Pass Filter and comes in handy if you like to hear the difference with or without the High-Pass Filter.

High-Pass Filter Cutoff

This controls the frequency of the High-Pass Filter, frequencies below the Cutoff frequency are reduced by 12dB per octave.

High-Pass Q (Resonance)

Q is the resonance level of the High-Pass Filter. Resonance emphasizes frequencies around the Cutoff frequency and creates a peak in the frequency spectrum. As you increase the Resonance, the effect becomes more pronounced until the Filter almost self-oscillates 

Low frequencies pass through this Filter; those above the Cutoff frequency are reduced by 12dB per octave.

Low-Pass Filter On/Off

This allows to turn on / off the Low-Pass Filter and comes in handy if you like to hear the difference with Filter or without Filter.

Low-Pass Filter Cutoff

This controls the frequency of the Low-Pass Filter; frequencies above the Cutoff frequency are reduced by 12dB per octave.

Low-Pass Q (Resonance)

Q is the resonance level of the Low-Pass Filter. Resonance emphasizes frequencies around the Cutoff frequency and creates a peak in the frequency spectrum. As you increase the Resonance, the effect becomes more pronounced until the Filter almost self-oscillates.

FX (Right Hand Side)

RoCoder has several high-quality FX built-in, to further alter the sound, they are Chorus, Flanger, Phaser, Delay & Reverb, the signal passing through them in that order.

The FX section of RoCoder, with a limited amount of controls, always appears on the right-hand side of the middle section, below the Filter section.  Here you can turn on / off & alter the mix of the various FXs.

To edit this FX in detail, you can select the ‘FX’ edit page on the left-hand side.

FX (Edit Page)

• Bypass All (button) - This button bypasses all FXs (Chorus, Flanger, Phaser, Delay, and Reverb) by setting them into their bypass mode. This can helps you to hear the difference between the dry sound and the sound with all the active FX.
• Chorus - With Length, Width, Speed, LP Filter, HP Filter, and Mix control.
• Flanger - With Length, Width, Speed, Feedback, Pan Mod, and Mix control.
• Phaser - With Pitch, Feedback, Width, Speed, Pan Mod, and Mix control.
• Delay - (Mono/Stereo) - With Left Delay, Right Delay, Sync, Feedback, LP Filter, HP Filter, and Mix control. 
• Reverb - With Pre-Delay, Size, Length, Damp, HP Filter, and Mix control. 

Virtual Keyboard

At the bottom of RoCoder is a virtual keyboard that can be used to trigger the Oscillator (you can also trigger the oscillator via MIDI note input).

On the left-hand side is a virtual MIDI Modulation Wheel & Pitch Bend Wheel or the Pitch Bend Wheel, the amount of pitch bend is determined by the “Bend Up” and “Bend Down” menu.

• Octave - Octave showed in the Virtual keyboard, from -4 octave to +4 octave around MIDI Note 48 (C2).
• Velocity / Mouse To Velocity - The velocity of the note played, if “Mouse to Velocity” is turned on the mouse position on the keyboard changes the velocity. 
• Latch - When it's on it latches the notes played, so when it's on, when you release the mouse click then the note is not released. If Latch is on and then you turned it off, it releases all the notes.

Bank Manager

In the Manager Section, you find and organize your Presets and Banks. 

Back Panel

A click on the logo switches the plug-in to its back panel. The back panel contains program information and several global settings. 

• MIDI Channel - Omni or channel 1-16.
• Computer Keyboard On/Off - Change preset by using the up and down arrows of the computer keyboard.
• MIDI Preset Change On/Off - Program change by MIDI can be ignored by RoCoder.
• MIDI Bank Change On/Off - Bank change by MIDI can be ignored by RoCoder
• Bar Response Time - Graphic bars on the front page can respond in different time settings.
• Screen Options - There are multiple GUI screen size options. 100%, 150% and 200% size.
• A4 Tune - Sets the base pitch for RoCoder, normally it is set at 440Hz. 
• Tuning Scales - It is possible to work with alternative tuning scales.