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Inspired by the EMS Flagship Vocoder ( EMS 5000 -1976- Probably the most complex and powerful analog Vocoder ever built), XILS-lab used his knowledge acquired during the emulation of both the VCS3 synthesizer and the VP300 VocoderPlus to develop the XILS Vocoder 5000 Model.
• A Matrix Patch Area (22x22 or 20x20)
• Two Synthesizer core
• Two oscillators per core, modelled from the EMS VCS3 oscillator
• One noise per core
• Two LFOs per core
• One VCA-ADSR per core
• One 22 bands filter vocoder
• One 20 bands filter vocoder
• Stereo analysis and synthesis available
• Side chain for adding external audio source to the carrier
• A virtual keyboard, which can be saved within your presets
• A finely tweak analog-like pitch tracker
• An input gate for reducing the noise
• A Voice/unVoise detector
• A full output mixer applied to any of the internal audio path
• A huge Frequency shifter effect
• All parameters are MIDI controllable
• Presets for using quickly the XILS 5000 in all is glory
Say It With Music
A Vocoder is a synthesizer which accepts an external sound source, a musical instrument or prerecorded signal, so that you can process it, with or without the keyboard, into a huge variety of sounds. Human voice, the most variable sound of all, can be fed into the Vocoder, so that you can alter its pitch, Tone, Vibrato and all its characteristics, allowing you to synthetize a Choir from a single voice or to create melodies from ordinary speech. You can also process Drums, percussive elements or Guitars and every kind of synthesizer itself, to breathe some analog life into them or completely reshape them. You can even derive some pure synth patterns from ?. drumloops. Everything is possible.
XILS Vocoder 5000
Clarity, Purity
The XILS Vocoder 5000 emulates the sophisticated filtering techniques and incredibly complex circuitry of its analog counterpart to achieve the same organic sound, precision and clarity. The Vocoder 5000 can speak a perfectly clear and understandable English or German as well as Japanese.
Easy to use for beginners, yet incredibly powerful for Veterans
The user interface offers a standard single panel view. Everything is there, right under your hands, with a lot of presets to get you started. Should you want or need, to go further, the Logo Center Panel will switch to a vast choice of advanced panels displaying the advanced parameters of the module of the Vocoder 5000 you wish to explore and experiment with. And there are dozens of advanced parameters, for your joy.
Back in 21st Century
Because it's a Xils, it offers many advanced features that its ancestor could not have offered in its time: XILS Labs added Bands number, Filter types, Filter's Emphasis and Emphasis ponderation, more Slew Rate mods, more Freeze mods, 2 LFOs ( Original had none ), Detailed FM and PWM, more Oscillators Waveforms, an improved Input detector ( Sibilants), Gate input. You can also populate the Matrix by freely drawing lines and it has its own presets. (Very useful once you've found the perfect template for a certain voice).
A Vocoder, What is this ?
A Vocoder is an effect which uses two signals to combine them into one output signal. The first signal is called the Modulator and the second one the Carrier. Typically vocals are used as the modulator ( But you can also use drums, percussive material or any other musical signal, like an orchestra or a complete track ). A Synthesizer is used as Carrier (Oscillator with different waveforms, that can be played with chords, white noise... or anything with a rich harmonic spectrum) The Modulator signal is then split into several Frequency bands using a Bandpass Filters Bank.
The same bank is used to split the Carrier signal. The levels detected in the modulator's spectrum are then applied to the carrier spectrum, resulting in what XILS Labs commonly know as "Robotic Voices", when a vocoder is used in the most simple way. For good results, understandable and clear synthetic voices, 22 bands are used in XILS Labs legacy EMS 5000 model. (Less bands were also commonly found in other hw vocoders: 10, 12 bands in most limited budget lines units).
The quality of a vocoder depends heavily on the following components
• The filter bank: it must provide a good analysis spectrum. Each band must be equally measured (without any digital artifacts)
• The band level analysis: the way each band level is measured and is the key factor for an hi-end vocoder with clarity and precision
• The synthesis band modulation: the way each synthesis band gets modulated is also part of the vocoder sound, its quality, its smoothness
• Synthesizer carrier: Without a good synthesizer feeding the vocoder's filters, results will not be as good as expected
The XILS Vocoder 5000 will match all your expectations
• Synthesizer sound is based on XILS Labs acclaimed VCS 3 oscillators emulation ( Original also had EMS oscillators of course )
• The 20 or 22 bands filter bank is based on XILS Labs analog like, zero-delay behavior filters, ensuring that all bands are equally measured
• Level analysis and spectrum followers were developed in the labs for many years now and considered as state of the art by all reviewers, as you can see in XILS Labs VP-330 emulation
Finally, what also makes the XILS Vocoder 5000 incredibly powerful and versatile is the Matrix patch area: You can connect any band of the modulator to any band of the carrier. This means endless sound possibilities. And also that no other Analog Vocoder will ever offer you more flexibility and freedom.
More than an extreme Vocoder
The XILS Vocoder 5000 is also a wonderful synthesizer tool with a Voice/Unvoice detector, a Pitch Tracker and a Frequency Shifter which can give you a lot of fun to manipulate voices, drums, bass lines or anything ! You can even play it as a -not so- standard synthesizer. And you can mix all these signals along with the Vocoder output and dry signal in the most subtle, convenient and precise way: All the modules have their own set of parameters, including output levels.
The Vocoder 5000 Modules
The Matrix Patch Area
The patch area allows you to connect any band of the analysis filter bank to any band of the synthesis filter bank. It is very easy to edit the formants, replacing a man voice by a child's one, make some special effects or get the weirdest electronic voices This patch area is also very useful to sculpt sound in a vey precise way when you use other signal as modulators, such as drums Fats use: XILS Labs added a preset manager dedicated to the patch area: It provides some init configurations (formant +1, formant -2, inverted, ....) or you can save your own Matrix patches.
XILS Vocoder 5000 Heart: the Filter Bank
A Vocoder global quality depends heavily on its filter bank quality Thanks to its deep experience in filtering algorithms ( Analog like, un-wrapped, zero-delay behavior filters are already used in Xils synthesizers for many years ), XILS-lab has developed a very accurate filter bank which splits both Modulator and Carrier signals into bands with an EQUAL width ( Which is quite difficult to achieve in the digital domain ). Resulting in the most accurate software vocoder ever done, almost 100% identical to its model.
XILS Labs added some new features: you can tweak the emphasis and add a ponderation curve. The ponderation curve allows you to adapt the filter of each Filter's Bands so that it can deliver some very smooth and warm bass frequencies, while totally preserving clarity, without the "tube" effect. More possibilities: you can choose the number of bands (22 or 20 bands and the filters order (12,18 or 24 db/oct)
At the power of the XILS Vocoder 5000: the Oscillators and the Noise
nspired by the EMS VCS3 oscillators, already emulated in the acclaimed XILS 3, XILS 4 synthesizers, theXILS Vocoder 5000 provides two arm sounding, clear and transparent oscillators. Oscillators Frequency ( FM) and Shape ( PWM) can be modulated ( Vibratos etc). Oscillators frequency can be fixed or use Keyboard Tracking (The key to nice vocoding chords effects). It can also follow the input voice/signal frequency via the Pitch Tracker module.
Next, XILS Labs have the Voice/UnVoice module: Oscillators levels are automatically adapted to match the input voice behavior, sibilant or voiced. Clicking on the "Advanced" icon opens, as it should, the Oscillator Advanced Parameters Panel: Here, you can choose the Oscillator Waveform (Saw, Pulse, Triangle, Sine), specify its shape and select the FM and PWM sources (LFO1 or LFO2). Finally, the Noise Generator: is also full part of the synthesizer sound, and, like the oscillators, can be driven by the Voice/unVoice module.