KVR Audio

btfnk · Post by **btfnk** » Wed Jul 23, 2025 6:44 pm

I'm a big digitech fan.

I have a Talker that unfortunately slowly died. I'm still hanging on to it in hopes of one day finding a tech who can bring it back to life. However it's pretty unlikely that will ever actually happen.

A secret though is that a bunch of the digitech Talker algorithms were also included in their multifx boards. You want the ones that have a guitar and microphone input. Then check the manual and you'll find many of them have the same algorithms as the Talker pedal. You should be able to pick one up for about 1/8th the cost of a Talker. I got one of their bigger multis and do still pull it out of the storage closet now and again for those classic FX. They also had some rack gear that I believe included the same algorithms.

Someday it would be wonderful if that old code could be ported to a native plugin format. It's something I would certainly love to have.

Uncle E · Post by **Uncle E** » Wed Jul 23, 2025 8:11 pm

Looks like the Studio Vocalist EX and Vocalist Workstation EX have vocoders. The older Studio Vocalist has a vocoder but the one in the EX is an improved version.

marcedwards · Post by **marcedwards** » Mon Jul 28, 2025 11:56 pm

btfnk wrote: Wed Jul 23, 2025 6:44 pmI have a Talker that unfortunately slowly died. I'm still hanging on to it in hopes of one day finding a tech who can bring it back to life.

Hmm. Should be possible? As far as I’m aware, there’s nothing too rare inside. The magic happens in the code.

btfnk wrote: Wed Jul 23, 2025 6:44 pmSomeday it would be wonderful if that old code could be ported to a native plugin format. It's something I would certainly love to have.

We’re currently in private beta with our plugin. I think it sounds good and very, very close to the Talker! I have a production version of the Talker and a prototype Talker here to compare it to. The prototype has a “Guitar-Talker” badge on it! That was the original name for the device.

btfnk wrote: Wed Jul 23, 2025 6:44 pmA secret though is that a bunch of the digitech Talker algorithms were also included in their multifx boards. You want the ones that have a guitar and microphone input. Then check the manual and you'll find many of them have the same algorithms as the Talker pedal. You should be able to pick one up for about 1/8th the cost of a Talker. I got one of their bigger multis and do still pull it out of the storage closet now and again for those classic FX. They also had some rack gear that I believe included the same algorithms.

Yeah! I need to get one of those to test it. Part of the issue isn’t just the code/algorithm, but also the settings. The Warp Factory was also made by IVL and it runs similar code. You can get it to sound very close to the Talker, but it’s not identical. I guess it depends how close the multi pedals are and if they contain something similar to the “TalkBox” Talker program.

Uncle E wrote: Wed Jul 23, 2025 8:11 pmLooks like the Studio Vocalist EX and Vocalist Workstation EX have vocoders. The older Studio Vocalist has a vocoder but the one in the EX is an improved version.

The DigiTech Vocalist line are all harmonizers, despite certain presets being named “vocoder”. Later models and later firmware versions refer to an identical feature as “MIDI notes mode”. IVL did a great job making this confusing — they have a vocoder called “talker” with a “talkbox” setting, and harmonizers with “vocoder” settings. Just waiting for them to make a talk box that they call a harmonizer.

The EX models have more presets and improved pitch recognition (pitch tracking). Vocalist Workstations can have their firmware upgraded to the EX firmware (1.01 for the non-EX, 2.02 for the EX firmware). I believe the Studio Vocalists can also be upgraded (3.02 for their EX firmware). I did a bunch of testing and to me, an upgraded Vocalist Workstation sounds identical do a Vocalist Workstation EX.

The last DigiTech Vocalist models (VL3D and Vocalist Live Pro) do no use IVL’s algorithm and they sound far worse, imo.

Jbravo · Post by **Jbravo** » Sat Aug 02, 2025 1:57 pm

marcedwards wrote: Mon Jul 28, 2025 11:56 pm
We’re currently in private beta with our plugin. I think it sounds good and very, very close to the Talker! I have a production version of the Talker and a prototype Talker here to compare it to. The prototype has a “Guitar-Talker” badge on it! That was the original name for the device.

is this going to be a commercial release? any idea how soon? i'd love to hear it

marcedwards · Post by **marcedwards** » Sat Aug 02, 2025 10:31 pm

Jbravo wrote: Sat Aug 02, 2025 1:57 pmis this going to be a commercial release? any idea how soon? i'd love to hear it

Yep, commercial release, but very reasonably priced. We’re probably a few weeks from release, depending on how testing goes. I’ll send a private message!

marcedwards · Post by **marcedwards** » Sun Aug 03, 2025 11:07 pm

If anyone’s curious, here’s the circuit board of a prototype DigiTech Talker. It seems like a late prototype, but there are still wires on the board and one of hole on the back panels has been cut by hand.

Notron User · Post by **Notron User** » Sat Sep 06, 2025 5:22 pm

Now you have me pulling out my TC-helicon Voicetone Synth to mess around with. It's user interface is not super intuitive so I really need the manual to understand what's going on.

(vocoders laying about: Behringer VC340, AnalogueFX VXC-2220 (euro synton 222 clone), EH Vocoder (EH 0300), Electrix Warp Factory, TC-Helicon Voicetone Synth, and a Fumana spectral filter.)

Uncle E · Post by **Uncle E** » Sat Sep 06, 2025 5:35 pm

Notron User wrote: Sat Sep 06, 2025 5:22 pm Now you have me pulling out my TC-helicon Voicetone Synth to mess around with.

How does it compare to the others, particularly the Warp Factory? I'm surprised that this and the Digitech Synth Wah are still available for relatively cheap.

Notron User · Post by **Notron User** » Sun Sep 07, 2025 6:34 am

I’ll have to play with it some more, I got the Voicetone Synth sounding quite close to the Digitech Talker sample in marc’s video with the inst “3” vocoder setting (full dynamics, low booster + male gender).

I copied the vocal and synth lines from marc’s video then ran them through the voicetone once I found the right adapters.

Notron User · Post by **Notron User** » Sun Sep 07, 2025 3:31 pm

Hmmm. Now that I compare the Voicetone Synth to the file of the digitech talker I captured from YouTube, the differences are clearer. The Voicetone seems slightly smoother and lacks the punchy grit of the original.

I played with several settings but the two aren't as close as I was thinking.

Notron User · Post by **Notron User** » Tue Sep 09, 2025 2:27 pm

The Digitech Talker sample was lifted from Marc's YouTube video,

The Warp Factory and Voicetone Synth clips were recorded in Logic with a clips from Marc's samples.

I had the Voicetone Synth set with vocoder preset 3 as well as telePh at 4...

Note the difference in wave shapes. The Talker Is pretty compressed from the git go.

Uncle E · Post by **Uncle E** » Tue Sep 09, 2025 4:22 pm

Maybe try compressing before sending it to the Voicetone Synth? It seems like that might help provide the more consistent results of the Warp Factory.

Notron User · Post by **Notron User** » Tue Sep 09, 2025 5:41 pm

Yeah, I was about to buy a digitech talker, but with some compression and eq matching… I might save a few bux.

marcedwards · Post by **marcedwards** » Wed Sep 24, 2025 5:08 am

Notron User wrote: Tue Sep 09, 2025 2:27 pmThe Digitech Talker sample was lifted from Marc's YouTube video

Ace! Here’s the original files, if you’d like them:

The Game Of Love Synth.wav

The Game Of Love Vocal.wav

Notron User wrote: Tue Sep 09, 2025 2:27 pmI had the Voicetone Synth set with vocoder preset 3 as well as telePh at 4...

Note the difference in wave shapes. The Talker Is pretty compressed from the git go.

Voicetone Synth sounds cool. And yeah, the Talker is doing a fair bit of compression, as well as low pass and high pass filtering.

marcedwards · Post by **marcedwards** » Wed Sep 24, 2025 5:13 am

Notron User wrote: Tue Sep 09, 2025 5:41 pm Yeah, I was about to buy a digitech talker, but with some compression and eq matching… I might save a few bux.

Our plugin is almost done! Just putting the finishing touches on it now, and we’ll be releasing it soon. If it’s okay, I’ll post here when it’s out.

Here’s a photo of a production Talker next to the prototype Talker (Guitar-Talker). Note that there’s different graphics and the program names are different. Some of those programs sound the same as the production model, but others don’t.

talker-proto.jpg