Tonebytes has released Wowcoder, a VST effect plug-in for Windows that recreates a classical 16-band digital vocoder.

Wowcoder does not have an internal synthesizer: the modulator and carrier come from an external signal. This approach of using external synthesizers can provide varied and rich sounding timbres.

Additional tuning of timbre can be made by regulating the level of one of 16 frequency bands, as well as with the following knobs: attack, decay, bandwidth and whisper. In addition, the received signal can be processed by the effects section. There are three slots with five effects: chorus, crusher, distortion, reverb and compression.

The built-in preset manager makes it easy to save the settings and quickly access them or share them with other Wowcoder users. In addition, VST automation and full MIDI Learning are supported.

Price: $12.95.

In related news, ToneBytes has reduced the price of Vocotron, a virtual effect that combines the function of sampler and vocoder, to $14.95.