RoCoder

Name: RoCoder
Price: 46.1 USD
Author: Rob Papen

by Rob Papen · Vocal Tool · 32-band vocoder

Not rated yet

RoCoder is a 32-band vocoder with extra modes, including additive, vocoder plus additive, noise, tuned noise and tuned comb.

It has stereo panning per band, an XY pad, a modulation matrix and chorus, flanger, phaser, delay and reverb, for $49.

Best for: Vocals, Keys & Synths, Sound Design. Genres: Electronic & EDM, Pop.

Keywords: synths, classic, modulation matrix, vocals, wide, creative, dialogue, drums, MIDI-controllable, mixing, samples & loops, sidechain input, sound design, pads, tempo-synced.

What it does

RoCoder is Rob Papen's vocoder effect, described by the developer as "a new muscular vocoder type of FX". Alongside a classic 32-band vocoder with its own carrier synth, it adds additive, noise and comb modes that turn a voice or any audio into tuned, playable textures.

Seven modes: Vocoder (32 bands with the built-in carrier), Additive (32 sine harmonics), Vocoder+Additive, Noise (no MIDI needed), Tuned Noise and Tuned Comb (both played from MIDI), and Vocoder Input Carrier, which takes an external carrier via side-chain.
Band editing: up to 32 bands with Center, Bandwidth and Spread, or Shift and a Chord mode in the tuned modes; per-band volume, stereo pan and shift, a Lock Bands option, and four band groups for targeted modulation.
Carrier synth: 16 voices with Poly, Mono and Legato modes, saw or square oscillators with Spread detune, a sub-oscillator, pink or white noise, ADSR and pitch envelopes, portamento and tempo-synced vibrato and tremolo LFOs.
Filters: 12 dB/octave high-pass and low-pass filters with resonance, which can be moved from the XY pad or the volume follower.
XY pad: records and replays movement paths of 4 to 128 points, free-running, per MIDI note or triggered by audio, driving up to four parameters at once.
Modulation matrix: 10 slots with MIDI sources, LFOs, envelopes, XY position and a volume follower that can listen to the input, side input, modulator, carrier or output.
Effects: chorus, flanger, phaser, mono or stereo delay and reverb in a fixed chain, with a Bypass All switch.

It also supports alternative tuning scales and GUI sizes of 100 to 200 percent. A demo is available.

Source: Rob Papen product page

When to use it

RoCoder is the pick for robot voices, talking synths and tuned noise or comb textures, not for vocal mixing. Compared with Nectar 4 or Pro-DS, it does no corrective work at all; it is a creative effect that uses the voice as a modulator. Unlike Little AlterBoy, which shifts pitch and formant of a single voice, RoCoder replaces the voice's tone with a synth carrier or tuned bands played from MIDI. Its Tuned Noise and Tuned Comb modes and the recordable XY pad also go beyond a plain vintage-style vocoder. It is a low-cost way to add a full vocoder with its own synth to a setup.

Best for: classic robot vocals, chordal vocoder pads, whispery tuned-noise voices and turning drum loops or speech into pitched textures.
Genres: electronic, synth-pop, house, funk and experimental music.
Look elsewhere if: you need to clean, tune or mix vocals; Nectar 4, Pro-DS or Auto-Tune Pro 11 are the tools for that.

Where to buy

Tutorials and reviews

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