Vocoders vs Talkboxes
December 1st, 2008 | Published in Articles
I have long been a fan of the Vocoder, and the Talkbox, but it was not until seeing this rather wonderful clip via Boing Boing of Pete Drake using perhaps the first scratch built Talk box with pedal guitar that I had ever considered the difference between the two.
Significantly, while the vocoder takes human input and synthesises it, the talkbox inverts this, using the mouth itself to manipulate electronic sound piped into the mouths chamber. Isn’t that amazing? And in a similar way, at a time where Wii Guitar hero faux-rockstar nonsense rules, allowing people to tap pre-dictated musical patterns into computer games, a different crowd entirely have (for some time now, if you check the video dates) been using youtube to bounce ideas on making their own “ghetto talkboxes”. Here’s “Moot Booxle” telling you how to make one with an old computer speaker, some duct tape and a length of “vaaannnnnelll toooobinnnnggg”
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EIQxwotn3k&hl=en&fs=1]
Fact. At Roger Troutman’s funeral, following his murder by his brother (and fellow Zapp band member Larry, “Amazing Grace” was sung through a Talkbox by way of tribute. Rest in peace Roger.
