Roland V-Synth GT - What Is Vocal Designer

10
“
Vocal Desi
g
ner” is a further evolution of the “vocoder.” This function was featured on the VP-550,
an
d
is a
l
so provi
d
e
d
on t
h
e V-S
y
nt
h
GT.
Vocal Designer
Vocal
Designer
V
ocal Desi
g
ner uses cuttin
g
-ed
g
e model-
ing tec
h
no
l
ogy to attain a revo
l
utionary
l
eap in s
y
nt
h
esis precision, succee
d
ing in
p
ro
d
ucing “
h
uman voice” t
h
at is incom
-
p
arabl
y
more natural and realistic than
c
onventional vocoders. Vocal Designer uses
t
he audio
f
rom the mic to express elements
of
the sound other than pitch. The pitch is
c
ontrolled from the ke
y
board.
Simp
ly
p
l
a
y
ing t
h
e
k
e
yb
oar
d
or simp
ly
voca
l
izing into t
h
e mic wi
ll
not ma
k
e Voca
l
Designer pro
-
duce sound. The important thing about learning to take advantage o
f
Vocal Designer is the timing
at which you play the keyboard and vocalize into the mic. For phrases involving rapid passages,
it’s best to hold down the notes on the keyboard, and mark the rhythm using your voice
.
Un
l
i
k
e conventiona
l
synt
h
esizers, you’
ll
use t
h
e mic to contro
l
t
h
e vo
l
ume. In ot
h
er wor
d
s, you’re
u
sing
y
our voice to
d
escri
b
e t
h
e vo
l
ume curve. Tr
y
using
y
our voice to a
dd
expression to an extent
y
ou mig
h
t consi
d
er excessive
.
“
P
l
a
y
l
i
k
e
y
ou’re singing”—that’s the most important technique
f
or taking advantage o
f
Vocal Designer.
What is a
What
is
a
vocoder?
vocoder?
T
h
e voco
d
er was invente
d
by
t
h
e p
hy
sicist H. Du
dl
e
y
i
n 1939 as a method o
f
compressing vocal signals.
Taking advantage o
f
this technology, the “vocoder
”
was born as an instrument that let you per
f
orm melo-
d
ies or harmonies usin
g
a human voice. O
f
course,
y
ou’re not
l
imite
d
to using a
h
uman voice as t
h
e au
d
io
source—an
y
au
d
io source can
b
e use
d
. Sti
ll
, since t
h
e voco
d
er was
d
eve
l
ope
d
wit
h
t
h
e
h
uman
v
ocal apparatus as its starting point, we’ll explain how the human voice works.
The human voice starts
f
rom the “vocal cords.” Exce
p
t
f
or di

erences in
the
f
orce and the
p
itch o
f
the voice, and di

erences between individuals,
the vibrational wave
f
orm produced by the vocal cords does not change
signi cantl
y
even when di erent sounds (such as “aah” or “ooh”) are being
p
roduced. These sounds become intelligible as spoken words because of
v
arious resonances produced b
y
the vocal tract (i.e., changes in the shape
and structure o
f
the throat and movements o
f
the mouth) and time-varying
sounds known as “sibilants
,
” “
f
ricatives
,
” and “nasals.” The e

ect o
f
the wave-
f
orm produced by the vocal cords is relatively small
.
A voco
d
er ana
ly
zes t
h
ese time-variant c
h
anges in t
h
e soun
d
, e
l
ectrica
lly
s
y
n-
thesizes the changes in the shape of the throat and mouth (formant move
-
m
ents), and produces sound b
y
using these formants to modulate a signal from a musical instru
-
m
ent (the carrier) instead o
f
the signal
f
rom the vocal cords. “Voices” produced b
y
a vocoder in this
way are typically closer to a robot in a science

ction movie than to any actual human voice.
What is Vocal Designer?
01
Vocal cords (carrier)
Resonances (formants)
resulting from the vocal
tract (shape and structure
of the throat) and
movements of the mouth