Some thoughts regarding Vorb and the new NI Vokator

Ganool · Post by **Ganool** » Tue Apr 15, 2003 12:50 pm

I just want to share my thoughts about the new vocoder från Native Instruments and how it compares to the Vorb.

I've been sitting with Vokator for two hours now and I still haven't been hooked by it. It got some nice features and it can twist drumloops into... well, beyond imagination. The interface is similar to Kontakt (which is a BRILLIANT sampler) but somewhat messy.

But to put it clearly. I'm not fond of the sound of Vokator. I'm sure some weird undergroun techno-hero will find the Vokator useful, but me... no.

This leads me to a discussion I had with another friend of mine who also work as a test editor. He were just doing a review of the MiniKorg and when I asked him how the vocoder sounded like, he said it were fantastic. It was easy to use and it had a great sound. But... it only got XX bands I said (can't remember the number at the moment). He said... so what? It sounds fantastic.

As a user of many Vocoders and my absolute favourite is my NordModular right now, the Vorb vocoder is nothing but brilliant. I don't know what Orbitone has done with it, and to tell the truth I don't care. It sounds absolutely fantastic and is going to be my secret weapon when making music.

Over and out.

Carl.

aMo · Post by **aMo** » Tue Apr 15, 2003 1:57 pm

People are more worried about specs on a device than if it actually sounds good..

Just like people are more eager to get a computer with a fast cpu than one that actually works..

Go figure..

I'm getting the Vorb, as soon as I can find some money on my bank account..

Ganool · Post by **Ganool** » Tue Apr 15, 2003 2:08 pm

Exactly. Have you tried Vorb on drums? It's just amazing...

Carl.

astroman · Post by **astroman** » Tue Apr 15, 2003 3:52 pm

I fed it my Boss DR 110 and was convinced within a couple of minutes

Post by **hubird** » Tue Apr 15, 2003 9:12 pm

Orbitone beats nr.1-Native Instruments?
You guys seem to be convinced.
Have to check this out...

Post by **hubird** » Tue Apr 15, 2003 9:43 pm

I just have read this

Ganool · Post by **Ganool** » Wed Apr 16, 2003 12:13 am

On 2003-04-15 22:12, hubird wrote:
Orbitone beats nr.1-Native Instruments?
You guys seem to be convinced.
Have to check this out...

In fact, this is the first time I'm disappointed by NI. It's good but nowhere as good as Kontakt, Reaktor or Battery.

Well... that's of course just my opinion.

Starco · Post by **Starco** » Wed Apr 16, 2003 8:50 am

I haven't heard Vokator but from reading the info on the NI website I suspect they used the Spectral Delay FFT engine. While having an impressive number of bands, the sound of Spectral Delay isn't very good but can be used for certain things like weird rhythms and stuff. I would never use it on a lead vokal.

If Spectral Delay is anything to go by I'd say the Creamware Vocoder sounds better.

I used to have an EMS 3000 Vocoder and that sounded great, no software I've heard sounds better that the real thing, which is funny because in principle multi-band compression and filtering is one area where digital should sound better since phase compensation for the overlapping bands is easier in software.

kensuguro · Post by **kensuguro** » Wed Apr 16, 2003 9:11 am

of course, I'd also point out that the best vocoders are 12-14 bands or so. So the sheer number of bands is more of sales talk. The bands need to be strategically placed for a vocoder to be good. I've built one in mod2 if you remember, and that's what I had the biggest problem with. And mod2 filters only allow for MIDI 0-127 units so I couldn't place the filters in units of hertz... wich really got me pissed.

Anyhow, my grunts aside, I've heard niether of the vocoders (except nord mod vocoder) in question so I guess I'll just leave it at that. FFT and conventional vocoding are quite different tho. In theory, a well written FFT phase vocoder should outperform an old vocoder anyday. But I guess people cut corners cuz it's hard to do FFT in realtime. Also, the drawback of any FFT algo would be that it's weak with fast transients. So drums would most definitely sound a bit "bubbly", or mp3-ish.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: kensuguro on 2003-04-16 10:13 ]</font>

Ganool · Post by **Ganool** » Wed Apr 16, 2003 11:24 am

Yes. The sound is a bit MP3-ish. Especially with drums. In fact I were wondering about that, but now I know.

MegaMorph · Post by **MegaMorph** » Thu Apr 17, 2003 9:22 am

Have you tryed delaydots' stuff?
(www.delaydots.com)

Ganool · Post by **Ganool** » Thu Apr 17, 2003 1:42 pm

Nope. Are they any good?

MegaMorph · Post by **MegaMorph** » Fri Apr 18, 2003 3:24 am

I'd said very unusual. and there is a possiblity to powerfull vocoding based on external carrier file. I have nice results with tb303 sounds used as carrier.

MegaMorph · Post by **MegaMorph** » Fri Apr 18, 2003 3:27 am

Nearly forgot. You guys can read review here:

http://www.sospubs.co.uk/sos/jun02/arti ... in0602.asp