Freeware "Vocal Keyboard" VST with Formant Shifting

[Mac of BIOnighT]

man, this thing is way cool!! It's not just a great vocoder, it can also come up with some very scary ghost voices!!
And my ancient Pentum 2 handles it with no effort at all!!

THANKS!!!!!!

[rivrock]

No!.......What!....wait a second...


this thing's easy enough even for me to use ....sounds great too..
I've never had much joy with vocoders, but I just played this across a vocal track ..


Thanks for this one short factor

~

[camsr]

a couple of people have used talkbox with synthedit like this i liked adding high passed noise to the saw to boost reproduction of high frequencies.

I wonder what would happen if you added Float Crush (rekkerd.org/camsr-and-arkecode-release-float-crush/) to that saw instead of noise. Shameless plug!

[dreaddd]

a small bumpage

[SadBunny]

Hi! I was intrigued by BassHunter's vocals and went googling a bit. I have been toying with vocoders lately (because my Korg Kaoss Pad and Korg Microkorg have one, and this FruityLoops demo has a software vocoder too, and it's FUN!) and in my search I stumbled across this topic.

Ofcourse after reading the promising reviews I went along trying to get it to work in FruityLoops.

What I did was:

1) Install the dll in my VST plugins folder.
2) Add it to FX1 in a slot. (The vocal keyboard menu came up nicely and everything was editable.)
3) ... Stuck.

How in heaven do I get sound? As soon as I enable the effect, all sound routed to FX1 is silenced on the output side! I tried setting the sound input of FX1 to my mic, I tried setting my midi keyboard and the vk midi port number to channel 4, and I tried clicking on the visual keyboard in the vk plugin menu (which makes the keys read, making me expect something). Both the mic and the midi work, I can test that by disabling the vk effect.

I also tweaked all settings in the vk menu, but nothing gave me anything else than deafening silence.

During all that trial-and-error tweaking I constantly had a midi signal present (by using microkorg arpeggio looping) AND an audio input by using the actual analog output of that arpeggio as line input feed, in the hope of suddenly finding a working setting from which I could probably have deduced the rest of the workings). But I am obviously too unexperienced (or stupid?) to see how this should work, so I would appreciate a pointer.

Normally I would RTFM, but there doesn't seem to be an FM

Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance.

[blortblort]

First: Welcome to KVR, SadBunny!

Second- I have to tell you that my FLStudio kungfu SSSUUUUUXXXX!
that said- I've owned it for a long time and do have v8, so that is what I used to try to sus out how to do this with vocal kybd.
you're def on the right track:
1) Install the dll into VST plugins folder.
2) Add vocal keyboard to fx channel in mixer (on the track you would like to vocode. we'll say you have a drumloop on track 1)
3) Now you need to open a "MIDI out" instrument so that you can drive vocal keyboard.
4) make sure that port # for your MIDI out and your MIDI in port on vocal keyboard are the same. (bring up the GUI for vocal keyboard and you'll see at the top LH side, there is a drop down menu just to the left of the folder icon. make sure the "show midi input port" option is the one that is showing since you will need to set THAt one to the same number as your MIDI output port number.
make sure you have a midi note to trigger your drumloop on track 1 (or you have some other way to provide that the audio on your track is going so when you play midi notes, you should now here vocoded output from vocal keyboard!

hope this helps!

[SadBunny]

Thanks for the quick reply! Nice to see there are actually helpful forums arond where newbies don't get flamed away immediately

I am having trouble with step 3. I use my Korg Microkorg synthesizer as midi generator. I know for a fact that this works since I can easily drive a software synth generator in fruityloops by midi, by playing my Microkorg.

I set my midi output channel on the microkorg to port 4, and the port number in the top right corner also to 4 ofcourse. But it doesnt play! (It also doesn't make any sound when I use the mouse in the VK's virtual keyboard, though the keys turn red when clicked, so it does register my clicks.)

I am obviously missing something. Care to explain what you mean by 'you need to open a midi out instrument', as simpy setting my Microkorg as midi output with corresponding channels with the VK plugin doesn't seem to cut it?

I tried making a 'piano roll' in another fruityloops instrument, mixed to another FX channel, and making that a midi controller (I thought that might be what you mean by midi output instrument), but I cannot seem to succeed in outputting that piano roll as midi signals.

Learning a lot here though, thanks again.

/edit: typo

[Kriminal]

slip the preset mod in the container so you can save a bank of presets

[SadBunny]

Thanks, I guess, but I must confess I haven't the slightest idea what you mean...

What is a preset mod and which container to slip it into? And how would saving a bunch of presets aid me in the quest to get this specific Vocal Keyboard plugin up and running?

I appreciate any help.

[Kriminal]

Thanks, I guess, but I must confess I haven't the slightest idea what you mean...

What is a preset mod and which container to slip it into? And how would saving a bunch of presets aid me in the quest to get this specific Vocal Keyboard plugin up and running?

I appreciate any help.

ah, ok, its this - PATCH SELECT - ..goes inside the main container

[Sotiris]

...

I am having trouble with step 3. I use my Korg Microkorg synthesizer as midi generator. I know for a fact that this works since I can easily drive a software synth generator in fruityloops by midi, by playing my Microkorg.

I set my midi output channel on the microkorg to port 4, and the port number in the top right corner also to 4 ofcourse. But it doesnt play! (It also doesn't make any sound when I use the mouse in the VK's virtual keyboard, though the keys turn red when clicked, so it does register my clicks.)

I am obviously missing something. ...

You must create a MIDI OUT instrument and set its MIDI out port to 4,
and then "play" THAT (MIDI OUT) with your keyboard.
That will send your midi data to Vocal Keyboard.
Also, Vocal keyboard must receive sound into its input to produce sound.
The easiest way is to create a FPC instrument, start a drum pattern playing, and process its sound with vocal keyboard, while "driving" it with midi data ...
But the real fun is using vocal recordings as input.

[blortblort]

I think Krim may have thought you were having a SynthEdit issue instead of a question about how to get this SynthEdit created plug to run in FL Studio
THIS is the puny setupI created in FL8 just to get sound out of Vocal Keyboard in FL. I'm a Live fanboi, so my working knowledge of FL is limited (even though I've actually owned FL longer than Live, but that is another story for another time )

What i mean about the opening of a MIDI out instrument is that in FL, you have to create a MIDI instrument to "drive" vocal keyboard even though it's an effect. when you right click on the instrument pads in FL you have the option to insert an instrument. From the pop up menus, you would want to choose "MIDI out" as your instrument and then set that MIDI out's port to match the port number of the MIDI input port on your vocal keyboard
bottomline is that when you dbl clk on the fl project file I set up, you should be able to simply hit play on the FL transport and start playing your MK and you should get drum loop sent thru vocal keyboard... hope this works for ya, SB! If it does, you can study the way it's set up and go from there, of course.

If it doesn't work... I *know* there are *real* FL users on KVR who should be able to provide you with whatever I may have failed to point out

[Sotiris]

This is so great!
Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!!!!
I'm (obviously) very excited about it...
I was really thinking to buy either the Roland V-synth GT
(about 2500 euros) or the VP550 (about 950 euros)
just for the vocal designer (vocoding) features,
and you (almost) saved me!
I downloaded and used Vocal Keyboard
and ... wow! ... you're halfway there, man!
A few adjustments here and there and
we can have a seriously creative tool!
I can't thank you enough.
If you like, i'd be glad to design the graphic elements
(skin) of the UI to give it a little "shine".
(i've done a lot of UI design and i'm not bad at it ...)
Thank you again.

[SadBunny]

A thousand thanks to you, my master! Your flp explained everything in one blink of the eye.

I had everything set up right, except that I just didn't know you could make a midi out to midi in from within fruityloops! Which was all I needed to know!

Here is a little test I just created just to say thank you guys
http://www.sadbunny.nl/1st_vk_attempt.mp3 (its ugly and unfinished but it shows it working )

Kriminal, thanks for your help too! I knew what you meant to tell me after your second post, but that was indeed not my issue as Sotiris pointed out. I was trying to find better words, but since Sotiris was so freaking fast with coming up with the perfect wording AND the perfect solution, that's not necessary any more It turned out it was all a lack of knowledge about the FL config.

[SadBunny]

LOLLLLLLLLLLL I wrote my thanks song to Sotiris! But I meant ofcourse BLORTBLORT... argh, better re-record it

Here, my 2nd attempt... http://www.sadbunny.nl/2nd_vk_attempt.mp3

So now theres both a song for osiris and one for blortblort (whos flp finally showed me how to do it).

Sotiris this thing is great indeed Just got it working.

/edit2: well I seem to have made a total mess of my posts here. Sorry. But since you are all obviously way smarter than I am, I guess you all can catch my drift! heheh