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About Vocal Designer
“
Vocal Designer” human vocal modeling technolog
y
is a further evolution of the “vocoder.” Here’s a simple
ex
p
lanation of the vocoder
.
What’s a Vocoder
?
T
he “vocoder” was invented by the physicist H. Dudley in 1939 as a technology
f
or compressing a voice
communication signal. Subsequently, musical instruments based on this technology were developed,
a
llowing
y
ou to pla
y
melodies and harmonies using a human voice. Of course, the audio source can be
a
n
y
t
h
ing (not just a
h
uman voice)
b
ut
b
ecause t
h
e voco
d
er
h
as its
b
asis in t
h
e soun
d
-pro
d
ucing structure
of the human voice, we’ll be talking about it in terms of how a human voice is produced.
I
f
we i
g
nore di
erences o
f
loudness, pitch, and variation between individuals, the wave
f
orm produced
by our vocal cords is essentially identical regardless o
f
what you’re saying (e.g., “ahh” or “eeh”). We can
distinguish spoken or sung words because o
f
the various resonances (
f
ormants) created b
y
our vocal
tract (the shape of our throat and the movement of the lar
y
nx and mouth) and additional sounds called
“
fricatives,” “plosives,” and “sibilants” that are added in var
y
ing wa
y
s over time. The e ect of the waveform
created by the vocal cords actually has a rather minimal e ect on what the listener hears.
A vocoder analyzes these time-varying changes, electrically synthesizes the
shape o
f
the throat and movements o
f
the mouth (the
f
ormant movements),
a
nd uses these
f
ormants to modulate a musical si
g
nal (the carrier) rather than
the waveform produced b
y
the vocal cords. The vocoder “voice” produced in
this wa
y
was closer to that of a robot in a science  ction movie rather than the
vo
i
ce
o
f
a
n
actua
l h
u
m
a
n
.
V
ocal Designer uses cutting-edge modeling technology to bring about a
revolutionary leap in the accuracy o
f
this synthesis, succeeding in generating
a
“human voice” that is incomparabl
y
more realistic and natural than the
sounds produced b
y
vocoders of the past
.
P
l
ay Li
k
e You’re Singin
g
V
oca
l
Designer is constructe
d
so t
h
at e
l
ements ot
h
er t
h
an pitc
h
are expresse
d
b
y your voice via t
h
e
microphone. You play the keyboard to control the pitch.
V
ocal Designer won’t produce sound i
f
you are only vocalizing into the microphone or only playing the
k
e
y
board. This means that in order to take advantage of Vocal Designer, the timing at which
y
ou pla
y
the ke
y
board and vocalize into the microphone is extremel
y
important. When
y
ou’re performing a rapid
passage,
y
ou will probabl
y
 nd it best to hold down the ke
y
s (or press the hold pedal
➞
p. 62) an
d
use
y
our
v
oice to p
l
ay t
h
e r
h
yt
h
m.
Unlike on typical synthesizers, the volume is controlled by the microphone. Use your voice to draw the
curve. Using
y
our voice,
y
ou can produce a range o
f
expression that
y
ou might even
nd extreme.
T
he most important technique for taking advantage of Vocal Designer is t
o
“
P
l
a
y
l
i
k
e
y
ou’re singing”
Resonances (formants)
produced by the vocal
tract (shape of the
throat and larynx) and
movements of the mout
h
Vocal cords (carrier)