Auto-Tune,Talkbox and Vocoder - What's the difference??? (Well, here it is!)

Family,

A few of you out there have mistakingly lumped the soul funk groovings of Roger Troutman's vocoder skills with that of T-Pain's "auto-tune" flavor. Both are masters of their domain, but they use different types of musical technology. Roger used a "talkbox", which one actually must know how to play an instrument to actually use. (I always prefer this over autotune), while Auto-Tune does NOT require you to be a musician of any sort. (Outside of being a decent singer)

I am going to school you now on the difference between the two distinctive technologies:

VOCODER & TALKBOX
A vocoder is an analysis / synthesis system, mostly used for speech in which the input is passed through a multiband filter, each filter is passed through an envelope follower, the control signals from the envelope followers are communicated, and the decoder applies these (amplitude) control signals to corresponding filters in the (re)synthesizer. It was originally developed as a speech coder for telecommunications applications in the 1930s, the idea being to code speech for transmission. Its primary use in this fashion is for secure radio communication, where voice has to be encrypted and then transmitted. The advantage of this method of "encryption" is that no 'signal' is sent, but rather envelopes of the bandpass filters. The receiving unit needs to be set up in the same channel configuration to resynthesize a version of the original signal spectrum. The vocoder as both hardware and software has also been used extensively as an electronic musical instrument.
The vocoder is related to, but essentially different from, the computer algorithm known as the "phase vocoder". Whereas the vocoder analyzes speech, transforms it into electronically transmitted information, and recreates it, the voder (from Voice Operating Demonstrator) generates synthesized speech by means of a console with fifteen touch-sensitive keys and a foot pedal, basically consisting of the "second half" of the vocoder, but with manual filter controls, needing a highly trained operator.

TALK BOX
A talk box is an effects device that allows a musician to modify the sound of a musical instrument. The musician controls the modification by changing the shape of their mouth.

The effect can be used to shape the frequency content of the sound and to apply speech sounds (in the same way as singing) onto a musical instrument, typically a guitar (its non-guitar use is often confused with the vocoder) and keyboards.

A talk box is usually an effects pedal that sits on the floor and contains a speaker attached with an air tight connection to a plastic tube, however, it can come in other forms, such as the 'Ghetto Talkbox' (a homemade version which is usually crude) or higher quality custom made versions. The speaker is generally in the form of a horn driver, the sound generating part of a horn speaker with the horn replaced by the tube connection.

The box has connectors for the connection to the speaker output of an amplifier and a connection to a normal instrument speaker. A foot-operated switch on the box directs the sound either to the talkbox speaker or to the normal speaker. The switch is usually a push-on/push-off type. The other end of the tube is taped to the side of a microphone, extending enough to direct the reproduced sound in or near the performer's mouth.

When activated, the sound from the amplifier is reproduced by the speaker in the talkbox and directed through the tube into the performer's mouth. The shape of the mouth filters the sound, with the modified sound being picked up by the microphone. The shape of the mouth changes the harmonic content of the sound in the same way it affects the harmonic content generated by the vocal folds when speaking.

The performer can vary the shape of the mouth and position of the tongue, changing the sound of the instrument being reproduced by the talkbox speaker. The performer can mouth words, with the resulting effect sounding as though the instrument is speaking. This "shaped" sound exits the performer's mouth, and when it enters a microphone, an instrument/voice hybrid is heard.

The sound can be that of any musical instrument, but the effect is most commonly associated with the guitar. The rich harmonics of an electric guitar are shaped by the mouth producing a sound very similar to voice, effectively allowing the guitar to appear to "speak".

AUTO TUNE
Auto-Tune is a proprietary audio processor created by Antares Audio Technologies which uses a phase vocoder to correct pitch in vocal and instrumental performances. It is used to disguise inaccuracies and mistakes, and has allowed many artists to produce more precisely tuned recordings. Auto-Tune is available as a plug-in for professional audio multi-tracking suites used in a studio setting and as a stand-alone, rackmount unit for live performance processing. Auto-tune has become standard equipment in professional recording studios.

Auto-Tune was used to prominent effect for Cher's Believe, recorded in 1998. When first interviewed about this, the sound engineers claimed they had used a vocoder, in what Sound on Sound perceives as an attempt to preserve a trade secret.[4] R&B singer T-Pain has been credited with revitalizing the technique in contemporary music by making active use of it in his songs, a style which has since gone on to be imitated by numerous other R&B, Hip-hop (including Kanye West), and Pop artists.According to the Boston Herald, "Country stars Reba McEntire, Faith Hill and Tim McGraw have all confessed to using Auto-Tune in performance, claiming it is a safety net that guarantees ticket buyers a good performance."

One of the biggest misconceptions is that autotune will actually make you sound like T-Pain. that is not the case. T-Pain can actually sing a bit, that's why when he does it, it sounds so smooth. Auto-Tune merely enhances whatever is inputted into it.

Now that you know...spread the freaking word, SISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSY!

One - Cap-D