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Orange Vocoder Full Version 12



First released in 1998 as a VST plug-in, the OrangeVocoder quickly gained a reputation as being a flexible and transparent sounding vocoder. Its unique sound can be heard in countless movie productions and in many popular songs and is easily recognized. OrangeVocoder was originally designed after a famous hardware device and has been approved by one of the most popular German vocoder manufacturers at the time. Even 10 years later it is still one of Prosoniq's top selling products.


The 10th Anniversary Edition takes the vocoder one step further by making it AudioUnit compatible and adding a wealth of features that the original product didn't have. The new version is AudioUnit compatible on both the PPC and Intel Macs, doubles its internal voices, incorporates full MIDI control, supports all project sample rates and processes in true stereo. But it doesn't end there: in addition to the features of the previous versions OrangeVocoder 10AE also offers various sound modes each with a distinct basic vocoder sound, voiced/unvoiced detection linked with a noise synthesizer, a filterbank freeze option and a HF passthru mode.




orange vocoder full version 12




The screen below shows the rear panel of the BV512 vocoder, with the various input and output connectors arranged around a schematic diagram. Ignore the Shift and Hold inputs for now, as they are CV inputs. We're mainly interested in the stereo 'carrier' inputs and mono 'modulator' input, which are where our audio sources will be routed. Both sources contribute to the sound of the output in different ways. The carrier is the 'raw material', or basic tonal texture of the sound. This is filtered based on the spectral content of the modulator signal. Imagine the vocoder as a spectrum analyser linked to a graphic equaliser (or, strictly speaking, a series of envelope following multi-band filters). The level of the modulator signal is analysed at various frequency bands and the resulting EQ curve is applied to the carrier wave. So if your modulator is a static, unfiltered white noise signal (which contains all frequencies at equal levels) the result will be a nearly flat frequency plot and the carrier wave will pass through the effect almost unchanged.


The rear of the BV512 vocoder, with its helpful signal-chain diagram.The screen above shows two snapshots of the front panel of the BV512. The top graph, labelled 'Modulation Levels' displays the levels of the modulator signal measured at each of the frequency bands. The more bands you choose with the knob to the left of the graph, the higher the resolution of this frequency curve. In the top panel, the modulation input is a white noise source and the graph is almost flat (it's not completely flat because the noise source is not perfect). In the second panel, the modulation source is a sawtooth wave, giving a characteristic series of harmonic spikes with the fundamental frequency determined by the pitch. The top example doesn't do much, but the bottom already has the interesting effect of applying an unusual filter curve to the carrier signal that you are processing. In this way, you can use the vocoder to produce an unlimited number of new filter shapes. Things get even more interesting if you actually play the saw wave in the second example. Any pitch change in the saw wave will shift the whole frequency plot (and therefore the filter effect) up and down. Anything you do to change the modulator has a result on the main carrier signal, so you can add filter and amplitude envelopes, pitch bend, LFOs and even a step sequence to the modulator and create more and more movement in the carrier. This is why vocoders are so effective when you use a voice as the modulator. The ever-changing sound of the voice makes the carrier sound shift in interesting ways that are instantly recognisable as speech or singing.


A typical vocoder patch, with a sampled vocal as the modulator, and a sawtooth wave synth patch as the carrier.Now that we've established the basic effect, let's have a look at some of the front-panel controls on BV512. First try pushing up the HF Emph knob. This boosts the high frequencies, improving the clarity and crispness of the effect. Most sound sources roll-off in level towards the higher frequencies, biasing the vocoder's filter effect towards lower frequencies, so the HF Emphasis evens out the frequency response. You can also fine tune (or dramatically alter) the cut or boost of every band by moving the yellow bars in the 'Frequency Band Level Adjust' display. The Attack and Decay controls adjust how quickly the filter bands open and close as they follow the modulation signal. Setting a very low Decay causes the filters to follow changes in the modulator very closely, making the vocal effect very clear and voice-like. Increasing the Decay will smear the sound into more of a resonator effect crossed with a spring reverb. Grouped with the Attack and Decay controls is the Hold button. Pressing this button freezes the vocoder's filters, allowing you to 'capture' a spectrum at a moment in time from a shifting modulator sound. The Shift control adjusts all the frequency bands acting on the carrier up and down. In effect, this makes it sound as though the modulator has been formant shifted and is very dramatic on vocal sources.


Finally, you can trigger the vocoder's filter bands to open via MIDI (again instead of, or as well as, using a modulator signal), allowing you to 'play' the vocoder and record sequences of triggers in the main sequencer. MIDI notes trigger the bands to open, starting from C1, and they stay open while a key is pressed. The filter levels are mapped to velocity, and their response times follow the envelope set by the Attack and Decay controls. The Hold button can also be controlled via MIDI note C4. The button only stays active while you hold the key. In order to route MIDI data to the vocoder you will need to create a MIDI track for it (effects devices don't get MIDI tracks by default). Just right-click on the vocoder and choose Create / Sequencer Track. 2ff7e9595c


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