Freeware "Vocal Keyboard" VST with Formant Shifting

[TristezaOrange]

Well, I must say: this thing works quite nicely! Really reminds of me of good ol' Voice Machine (R.I.P.) - great for synthesizing voices! I brought this into and old project and found it really easy to get up and running with this too. Check it:

ShadowsRemix - No Vocal Keyboard

ShadowsRemix - VocalKeyboard On

Just messin' around, but I like what it did for the first phrase, especially. Cool plugin, Short Factor!!!

And cool track snippets too, dbuffy!

[bduffy]

Thanks, Tristeza!

[shadoe42]

can we get that link again? I could not locate it by the one in the firs post. Probably just blind and not seeing it

[xoxos]

klanglabs, rurik? I can't think of what that'd be, but I'd like to know

i was looking for it myself it's what became vokko - which has amenities like soundfonts for the carrier. you hear the same effects in my 'q' music ('when everyone should receive an instrument') and in cubebreath's vocal processor.

The Listener - you could try using mda talkbox alone - this plugin is a 'package' with a built-in synth for it. maybe running your own synth will make your host happier.

[Short Factor]

I just downloaded it and tryed it. It is exactly what I would like to use for my techno-funk anime style crazy stupid vocals, but it seems a little buggy or maybe it is just my user stupidity.

First - I don't know how to record its midi data when I apply it as a plug-in on an alredy existant vocal track. I tried to record mouse clicking on a keyboard via Nuedno plug-in automation, but it doesn't seem to work with this plug.

Second - the effect stopped processing after a while without me doing anything.

Is it only to apply live and record the results? I would like to automate it and process vocals after they are recorded.

Enlighten me please and also an unfair question (to the ears of this nice supplyer of this freebie) : is there any pro application that is the same or better, but that you can play on a keyboard an record its automation?

Sorry for the newbie question (especially since otherwise I am not a newbie) - I don't have a clue about those formant, vocoding, whatever plug-ins. I just want to do vocal lines similar to this:



Any other idea how to do such syntetic vocals?

In FL Studio, make a midi out, set the midi ports on the midi out and the vst to the same number, and start putting notes on the piano roll. That's what I do. I don't know if it works the same in other software because I don't use much else besides FL, but you could mess around and try it.

You should also learn a little more about these plugins, they can be very useful for the effect you're trying to achieve. And with my VST, you can make vocals like in that video with the right parameters (and maybe another plugin or two on top of it). But don't totally rely on mine, you will probably get better results with a more professional vocoder. I intend to have some more features on my VST that should smooth out the sound better or sound a bit more realistic. Maybe a switch for a custom carrier... don't know yet. Still looking for suggestions if anyone has them.
As for that "stopping after not using it" thing... I don't know about that glitch, that sounds wierd.

[Short Factor]

This thing is pretty dam cool sounding! Not sure exactly where I would use it yet but I put a whole recording through it (by accident) and in Pitch Track Mode it did some pretty amazing things to the bass .

It would be nice if the Pitch Track Mode could have an x speed to hold feature!! Also perhaps a way to preview the Noise Compensator by itself?

I'm wondering if this could be used to apply a formant source to a formant target somehow.. hmmm

Very impressive so far S factor!

I don't think I understand what you're asking... "x speed to hold" feature? Er wha? And as for previewing the Noise Compensator by itself... do you mean to use it as the only carrier or to listen to the raw noise sound (the latter I would consider virtually useless)?
And applying a "formant source to a formant target"... what?
Well at least you like it, so far the VST is successful!

[blortblort]

Holy Siberian Sidewinders!
This is coooool as GRITS, Short Factor!
It usually takes me at least three plug ins and some "reach around my ass to get to my other elbow" routing in Live to get close to this sound... and YOU have made it such that I can get it with ONE plug at a tidy 8% cpu usage on an aging AMD machine.
what's your paypal addy? you need to setup so you can take donations at least.
this is mad cool.
Kudos, Short Factor!

[Lotuzia]

Well, I must say: this thing works quite nicely! Really reminds of me of good ol' Voice Machine (R.I.P.) - great for synthesizing voices! I brought this into and old project and found it really easy to get up and running with this too. Check it:

ShadowsRemix - No Vocal Keyboard

ShadowsRemix - VocalKeyboard On

Just messin' around, but I like what it did for the first phrase, especially. Cool plugin, Short Factor!!!

And cool track snippets too, dbuffy!

Indeed

[The Listener]

Short FactorIn FL Studio, make a midi out, set the midi ports on the midi out and the vst to the same number, and start putting notes on the piano roll. That's what I do. I don't know if it works the same in other software because I don't use much else besides FL, but you could mess around and try it.

You should also learn a little more about these plugins, they can be very useful for the effect you're trying to achieve. And with my VST, you can make vocals like in that video with the right parameters (and maybe another plugin or two on top of it). But don't totally rely on mine, you will probably get better results with a more professional vocoder. I intend to have some more features on my VST that should smooth out the sound better or sound a bit more realistic. Maybe a switch for a custom carrier... don't know yet. Still looking for suggestions if anyone has them.
As for that "stopping after not using it" thing... I don't know about that glitch, that sounds wierd.

Call me stupid but I can't find MIDI settings on your VST.
Obviously my host doesn't like it. I can use it as a plug-in on audio track, but it doesn't let itself be used on an "instrument track".

I will try xoxos advice about using those other plug-ins raw with some other synth. I am not too sure about the simplest way to route that whole thing.. But I really like how your plug-in sounds. If it would have MIDI settigns or if it would let itself be automated inside Cubase/Nuendo, it would be great.

Do you have any suggestions about those other plug-ins that I should learn some more about? Which would you guys use for such things?

Again link (listen to the synth vocal line):




I have an idea that it is sort of "formant pitch shifter/vocoder/talkbox" that can be played similar as a classic vocoder.

[blortblort]

Hi Listener-
what host are you using [edit- duh. you said cubase/nuendo. sorry]?
In any case- you need to set the vocal keyboard plug on the output of an audio track ("track 1"). Then set up a midi track that is able to send midi to "track 1". You can either then play midi notes in realtime as your audio is playing back or record midi notes to be sent to "track 1" and vocal keyboard plug will process.
vocal keyboard plug is not usable by itself on an instrument track. Like many vocode effects, it requires audio input.

as for the ceasing to work- I have no idea what that is about

.. but on a semi related note, I've found that (at least in Ableton Live 7.0.10) I can only have ONE instance of vocal keyboard plug open. When I pull in a second instance nothing is processed thru vocal keyboard plug (instance 2), but instance 1 does continue to work. My work around is to resample output from instance 1 of vocal keyboard plug and THEN move the plug to another track for processing
I know that particular observation doesn't help YOU with your problem, but I thought it may be useful for others to know about the apparent "one instance" thing.

[Short Factor]

Holy Siberian Sidewinders!
This is coooool as GRITS, Short Factor!
It usually takes me at least three plug ins and some "reach around my ass to get to my other elbow" routing in Live to get close to this sound... and YOU have made it such that I can get it with ONE plug at a tidy 8% cpu usage on an aging AMD machine.
what's your paypal addy? you need to setup so you can take donations at least.
this is mad cool.
Kudos, Short Factor!

Holy crap, a short song dedicated to my VST. How awesome is that! Thank you, glad to hear this helped you as well.
As for donations... I'm not 18 yet (I will be in less than a month though) so I don't think I can even set up paypal.

[blortblort]

18? wow. I could barely talk when I was 18. If yer doing this sort of thing now, I can't wait to see what get cooked up in the Short Factor laboratory by the time yer 28
I've been too busy futzing with this thing to read the first page of the posts, so I don't know if this has been addressed, but it would be nifty to have other LFO waveshapes (maybe even noise as waveshape?) for pitch mod..
thanks again for the very nice gift!

(the ditty? very welcome. sometimes inspiration strikes took all of 25mins from the time I installed the plug till the time I posted the tune. I did discover the "only one instance" limitation... but I did manage to include two vocal keyboard affected lines in that little piece. Extremely cool tool, Short Factor.)

[Optomadic]

Sorry if I was being confusing. What I meant was it would be cool if there were a way to slow down the pitch tracking so the 'envelope' could be slowed down until it was in a held position. It would be almost like a freezing an audio buffer making it sound like one long voice. Yes I was asking if there were a way to listen to the raw noise sound to pin point the frequency better.. Finally I was just saying it would be interesting if you could take a 'snap shot' of the image of one formant and 'apply' it to another peice of audio. Not that complex ...

[Short Factor]

Sorry if I was being confusing. What I meant was it would be cool if there were a way to slow down the pitch tracking so the 'envelope' could be slowed down until it was in a held position. It would be almost like a freezing an audio buffer making it sound like one long voice. Yes I was asking if there were a way to listen to the raw noise sound to pin point the frequency better.. Finally I was just saying it would be interesting if you could take a 'snap shot' of the image of one formant and 'apply' it to another peice of audio. Not that complex ...

Ah, NOW I understand.
I'm adding more features to the VST right now and the layout is getting pretty big. I'm worried it will get too big for some monitors that still use 800x600 resolution. So I'll leave out that noise feature for now. If the interface ends up too large I'm going to turn some of the sliders into small knobs so as to fit more stuff into it. Then maybe I can add that feature. And as for "holding the formant and applying it elsewhere", I don't think I'm good enough to do that yet (if you mean like, vowel/frequency capturing). Sounds like a cool idea though.

[Optomadic]

Its ok I was just wondering if it could actually be done. Take your time!