A complicated 1980's kit to build a whole vocoder! POWERTRAN ETI VOCODER

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  • Опубліковано 19 чер 2024
  • THE ETI POWERTRAN VOCODER
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    SEPTEMBER 1980 ETI :-
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    DIGISOUND 80 video • A DIY Synthesizer You ...
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  • Наука та технологія

КОМЕНТАРІ • 250

  • @curtishoffmann6956
    @curtishoffmann6956 11 місяців тому +43

    I want more of the toilet roll song! It's sounds really flush!

  • @officedurapquebecois486
    @officedurapquebecois486 11 місяців тому +29

    The drum machine + poly synth combo was glorious

  • @emdotambient
    @emdotambient 11 місяців тому +7

    Vocoders are so awesome, but they are rarely used to full advantage. Everyone immediately goes for the robot voice thing, which is cool and all, but hardly the most creative use of these devices. It's kind of like using a sampler to only play songs using a dog barking or something. You can get more interesting results when you start running guitars or anything other than a voice through them. I remember my music collaborator and I using a PAIA vocoder in the early 90s where we used a guitar as the carrier, and a sequence from an Ensoniq EPS as the modulator. It turned the guitar into an otherworldly gurgling, bubbling water sound.

    • @VarionJimmy
      @VarionJimmy 11 місяців тому +1

      Totally agree. 👍👍👍
      I was honestly a bit surprised when I noticed that most people thought that putting drums, guitar, etc thru it was a new thing.
      I’ve always had two things I tell people who just started and wants new inspiring gears: Get a reverb/echo. And get a vocoder. -And experiment!

  • @dfxmonkeyhead
    @dfxmonkeyhead 11 місяців тому +2

    I built the Paia vocoder... sitting on a rack in my garage gathering dust. I should go rescue it and see if it still works - it actually never worked all that well; I remember being slightly disappointed after I finished it - it didn't perform as well as I had dreamed. The ETI sounds like I wanted the Paia to sound.

  • @IanSlothieRolfe
    @IanSlothieRolfe 11 місяців тому +29

    While it was an expensive project back in 1980 (£175 in 1980 is about £1000 today!) I had a friend who played keyboards and other electronic instruments and he had had it demoed to him at a show and thought it was a bargain, a commercial instrument of similar quality would be 3 or 4 times that. Powertran produced some amazing products, I only wish I had the money and skill at the time to build one or two of them!

  • @donerskine7935
    @donerskine7935 11 місяців тому +6

    Richard Becker and his wife owned Powertran. Elektor magazine also published a Vocoder design.

    • @timesquare5473
      @timesquare5473 11 місяців тому +3

      Indeed; I worked for them for 3 months.

  • @professornuke7562
    @professornuke7562 11 місяців тому +17

    Good old ETI. I built several kits. I built the ETI 480 50watt amplifier as my first guitar amp, and a little 5watt one as a practice amp. Used it for years.

    • @tcpnetworks
      @tcpnetworks 9 місяців тому

      I built the ETI 499 amplifier - and I also built the Electronics Australia Playmaster 3. I ended up with 4 of them in a surround sound setup. They were all good.

  • @pheotus
    @pheotus 11 місяців тому +29

    Man I wish there was a diy kit made today of this.

    • @neeneko
      @neeneko 11 місяців тому +7

      yeah, as much as I love all the FPGA and SoC systems we have today and the projects people build off them, I kinda miss this style of kit. tindie has some, but what I wouldn't give for someone to reboot the old heathkit kits or stuff like this.

    • @GizzyDillespee
      @GizzyDillespee 11 місяців тому +3

      There's somebody from Kazakhstan, on MW forum, who's selling unpopulated PCBs to make a clone of an old German (I think) vocoder... there are projects like that, but I don't know of an affordable convenient kit?

    • @MattOGormanSmith
      @MattOGormanSmith 11 місяців тому +6

      Julian Ilett built a copy of this a few years ago. You can still get all the components and have the PCBs made, ua-cam.com/play/PLjzGSu1yGFjXKZ5igKxwlgfGdy25yZoPN.html

    • @VarionJimmy
      @VarionJimmy 11 місяців тому

      Yes please 😁
      I saw the responses. To bad that UA-cam doesn’t allow links…

    • @fluke196c
      @fluke196c 11 місяців тому

      @@GizzyDillespee What is the MW forum? Can you drop some links here so I can find what you're referring to?

  • @headfirstonly
    @headfirstonly Місяць тому

    Watched this entire video with a huge grin on my face. Brilliant!

  • @skyrocketautomotive670
    @skyrocketautomotive670 11 місяців тому +15

    If that was a Georgio Moroder impression at 10:55 you nailed it my friend 😅
    What an awesome and versatile machine!!

  • @markedis5902
    @markedis5902 11 місяців тому +3

    I miss the electronics magazines. Used to waste a lot of time drooling over the adverts.

  • @NONFamers
    @NONFamers 11 місяців тому +7

    I read the first article on the ETI vocoder and desperately wanted to build one. However, I had several things working against me. Firstly, I was still at school at the time with only my allowances to save up from. Secondly, I lived (and still live) in Denmark, and electronic components were hard to come by. Thirdly, I never got my hands on the issue holding the second article in the series, and when I finally managed to track down a copy of it, ETI had gone out of business! However, I did learn a lot about the inner workings of a vocoder by studying that article. Thanks for sharing this!

  • @dfxmonkeyhead
    @dfxmonkeyhead 11 місяців тому +1

    Love the 70's fro and stache. You were really, groovin', man. Right on! Solid and outta site!

  • @miahsbrokengarage
    @miahsbrokengarage 11 місяців тому +12

    Amazing. I don't do synths, or vocoders, and I'm terrible on my guitar (though I still like to pluck the strings). But I love your channel. The energy you put into these videos and knowledge you drop is just perfection. Thank you!

    • @wideyxyz2271
      @wideyxyz2271 11 місяців тому +1

      Dude it doesn't matter how good you are as long as you have fun and enjoy doing it keep on keeping on!

    • @Hoptronics
      @Hoptronics 11 місяців тому +1

      I don't play anything.. I love music and electronics so I've been working on a project for my friends.

  • @i_never_asked_for_an_alias
    @i_never_asked_for_an_alias 11 місяців тому +1

    Love your enthusiasm in everything you do.Big love my good Sir.

  • @tomahzo
    @tomahzo 11 місяців тому +2

    Your seventies twin DEFINITELY needs more screen time :D.

  • @MrGlenfraser
    @MrGlenfraser 11 місяців тому

    I used to talk to his brother John Becker about this back in 2003 when I worked at Essex Radio in charge of Engineering. John used to live in Kent at the time but travel down to another electronics magazine.... This was a great product and later In the 1980's they issued I am sure some mods to that project with values etc...... I will try to visit your musium one day as when I left school in 1981 I worked on ZX81's BBC Micros and a host of other computers repairing them as my first job....and at Amstrad.

  • @ScorobeSlavinpoop
    @ScorobeSlavinpoop 11 місяців тому +3

    This is my favorite way to start my day! Thanks for the new video!

  • @daf666
    @daf666 11 місяців тому

    I dunno how you knew I wasn't deserving of all those bog rolls, but you nailed it.

  • @Super8Rescue
    @Super8Rescue 11 місяців тому +12

    I have always wanted a vocoder. Kenny Everett was the Genius when it came to vocoders.
    He sung my name jingles for radio with a vocoder back in the 70's
    Plug a keyboard in to it to play chords with the vocal.

    • @professornuke7562
      @professornuke7562 11 місяців тому

      He'd sing whole choirs with them, and use video feedback as well when he made it to the telly. But never forget the BBC radiophonic workshop. EXTERMINATE!!!!

  • @Kaminskip
    @Kaminskip 11 місяців тому +5

    That sounds awesome with the drum machine running though it!

  • @HOLLASOUNDS
    @HOLLASOUNDS 11 місяців тому +1

    6:45 Cat was laying relaxed but is now looking at Me in confusion looking like He is thinking "What the fxxx is that sound?".

  • @genghisbunny
    @genghisbunny 11 місяців тому

    That was really cool. Thanks for sharing it!

  • @PaulTheSkeptic
    @PaulTheSkeptic 11 місяців тому +6

    I want my voice to sound like this all the time. I wonder if I can have one surgically installed. Then instead of speaking normally, when people say "Some weather we're having eh?" I can say things like "Atmospheric conditions are adequate to maintain peak performance on all my systems.". Or "This food is good." "Thank you for the information fellow human. I also intake dead bio matter in a disgusting process of digestion instead of more efficiently recharging like a higher life form would."

  • @davidmarshall5665
    @davidmarshall5665 11 місяців тому +1

    I love seeing all these old synths and the building processes but I’ve never wanted any of them like I’ve wanted this vocoder❤️❤️

  • @mikethetexan76
    @mikethetexan76 11 місяців тому

    I really appreciate the synth patch walkthrough on the Furby machine.

  • @midimagic7097
    @midimagic7097 11 місяців тому

    Well done. A great demo of the Vocoder. Sounds like you had great fun playing with it.

  • @AileTheAlien
    @AileTheAlien 11 місяців тому

    Thanks so much for going into the theory of how these things work! Very interesting! 🎤

  • @adzy31
    @adzy31 11 місяців тому

    I love how much fun you clearly had making this video. Couldn't stop chuckling

  • @macronencer
    @macronencer 11 місяців тому

    That trip through the magazine was a nostalgia fix! My grandad had a ZX80, and he also built the Maplin organ, which I remember playing when I visited. My first job after leaving uni was actually in Maplin Electronics in Southampton as well :) I spent a couple of years there before starting a career in software. It was quite instructive, and my staff discount was handy for getting and building kits now and then too.

  • @joyboricua3721
    @joyboricua3721 7 місяців тому

    Sounds wicked! Kudos

  • @dedicatedspuddler7641
    @dedicatedspuddler7641 11 місяців тому +1

    Very cool piece of kit and history.

  • @padders1068
    @padders1068 11 місяців тому +2

    Sam! Brilliant and hilarious as ever! Keep up the good work mate! 🙂

  • @classicaudioadventures
    @classicaudioadventures 11 місяців тому

    That actually sounds amazing.

  • @gnarlysoundscapes7210
    @gnarlysoundscapes7210 11 місяців тому +1

    That last jam vocoding the bassline was badass. You should build a whole song around that.

  • @makers_lab
    @makers_lab 11 місяців тому

    C;lassic kit and lots of memories in those mags. We built a comp80 at school, and I had fun secretly patching CP/M to behave a little differently, ZX80 kit as my first computer, and was really keen on the transcendent 2000. Still got an original demo tape for it somewhere.

  • @wideyxyz2271
    @wideyxyz2271 11 місяців тому

    What a cracking bit of kit. My vocoder is part of my DAW and I dont use it much but I will have a play around with it. A stand alone one would be very cool. Actually thinking about it I do have a Behringer vocoder somewhere in the shed. I will have to dig it out!

  • @undereeries
    @undereeries 11 місяців тому

    dude vocoders are SICK AND THIS IS COOL ANDTHANKS

  • @newtronix
    @newtronix 11 місяців тому

    Wow it's quite versatile. I want one!

  • @dcallan812
    @dcallan812 11 місяців тому +6

    Neal Armstrong was a big synthesiser user, he loved the echo you got in space, apparently it was out of this world (echo in a vacuum🤣😂)
    Interesting vocoder 2x👍

    • @mediaphile
      @mediaphile 11 місяців тому

      In space, no one can hear you scream...

    • @wideyxyz2271
      @wideyxyz2271 11 місяців тому

      @@mediaphile In the Nevada desert at night with a synthesiser you can pretend you are on the moon!

    • @MattOGormanSmith
      @MattOGormanSmith 11 місяців тому +1

      His nightclub was awful though,. No atmosphere.

  • @jochenstacker7448
    @jochenstacker7448 11 місяців тому

    10:43 channeling Giorgio Moroder, I LOVE it!😅
    Sam, you are a treasure.

  • @StooCambridgeArtist
    @StooCambridgeArtist 11 місяців тому +3

    Since watching BattleStar Galactica in the late 70s I wanted a vocoder. The sound of the Cylons - Awesome!
    They were used so much during those early years, defined a lot of music of the day.
    Love it!
    Vocoder'tastic!

    • @littlebacchus216
      @littlebacchus216 11 місяців тому +1

      And cheaper than the ARP 2500 synthesizer they used.

    • @helpermonkey6641
      @helpermonkey6641 11 місяців тому

      Battlestar Galactica. I thought the same thing.

  • @Barnaclebeard
    @Barnaclebeard 11 місяців тому

    Gorgeous typesetting in that magazine. We used to do it up nice.

  • @Crackalacking_Z
    @Crackalacking_Z 11 місяців тому

    I really enjoyed the impromptu jams XD

  • @edmx
    @edmx 11 місяців тому

    Wow that is really good. Sounds as good as the EMS!

  • @michelvondenhoff9673
    @michelvondenhoff9673 11 місяців тому

    Awesome, never heard of this one.

  • @falangistavaleroso9689
    @falangistavaleroso9689 11 місяців тому

    I sold mine 8 years ago, great sounding processor

  • @jusch5937
    @jusch5937 11 місяців тому

    omg you build the vocoder julian ilett is buildung for what feels like 10 years

  • @robertkielty5094
    @robertkielty5094 11 місяців тому +1

    The UA-cam caption generator as a vocoder decoder was un-phased up until the load of Toilet Roll Mumbo Jumbo Song.

  • @Nobe_Oddy
    @Nobe_Oddy 11 місяців тому

    I just had a VOCASIM!!!!!! OMG!!! You just brought back so great memories.... but you REALLY TICKLED MY PICKLE with that vocoded b-line!!! - You BETTER make a dope ass track with that and POST IT ON YT!!! HAHA!!!! LUV YA M8!!!!!

  • @infn8loopmusic
    @infn8loopmusic 11 місяців тому

    @8:09 that classic basic basic vocoder noise. Very cool just by itself. 🔥

  • @JK-of8tb
    @JK-of8tb 11 місяців тому

    16:35 when you're calling tech support but you are on hold for an hour

  • @stubrakon9683
    @stubrakon9683 11 місяців тому

    Brilliant video cheers 👍😃😎🤘

  • @deankdx
    @deankdx 11 місяців тому

    This episode was freaking awesome! Need more vocoder music :)

  • @R3TR0R4V3
    @R3TR0R4V3 11 місяців тому

    Pretty rad 😎

  • @infn8loopmusic
    @infn8loopmusic 11 місяців тому +1

    @10:00 putting drums through a vocoder 🤔😲 not sure why I never thought of that. I've been trying to build more musical / but percussive drum sounds. That's exactly what I need!

  • @cpm1003
    @cpm1003 11 місяців тому

    I love this thing! So did one of my favorite bands, ELO. 🎶Mister Blue Sky! 🎶

  • @whiggy6976
    @whiggy6976 11 місяців тому

    I remember seeing this, I had the magazines for the PA stuff but could never afford their kits, their synths were awesome

  • @BillHustonPodcast
    @BillHustonPodcast 11 місяців тому +6

    Man, that thing sounds great! I built a PAIA vocoder when I was a kid, and I never could make it sound good. The filters really kind of sucked, IMHO. Needs a sharper Q? Or more stages? Dunno what the secret is. I also tried building one in Pure Data, and could never get that Phat Sound!

  • @catandtheostrich
    @catandtheostrich 11 місяців тому +1

    By your command, imperious leader!

  • @suitandtieguy
    @suitandtieguy 11 місяців тому

    I really like how Powertran used the KLF font. hadn't noticed that until now and as a synth nerd who is obsessed with the KLF I'm rather disappointed in myself.

  • @silaswallflower8938
    @silaswallflower8938 11 місяців тому

    I loved ETI - was fascinated by the Vocoder but could never afford to build it (not that I have any musical talent to use it with!). It was an interesting to compare the design of this vocoder with the Elektor vocoder which came out earlier the same year but which had fewer channels.

  • @teaurn
    @teaurn 11 місяців тому +1

    Ooh, getting Astro Blaster vibes from parts of this! "Alert, Alert. Invader in Sector 1, Player 1 to battle stations!" God, I'm old... 😁

  • @MrMargaretScratcher
    @MrMargaretScratcher 11 місяців тому

    I like the 4 little circuit diagram dudes hanging out at 4:32

  • @kenho4ba
    @kenho4ba 11 місяців тому

    The Buchla module 296t is coming to eurorack from Tiptop soon and i have seen others (even a kit version, bt i cannot now remember the manufacturer), so if someone likes this vocoder and cannot get this particular one, those are an alternative.

  • @EdEditz
    @EdEditz 11 місяців тому +1

    That sounds amazing! Very Battlestar Galactica Cylons ^___^ (Well they used an EMS 1000 for that so no wonder it sounds very close). I think the 14 or 16 band Vocoders sound the best. I love these things. That patch at 16:00 sounded awesome too! Very Daft Punk I thought. ^^

  • @andreasbauer6652
    @andreasbauer6652 11 місяців тому

    neat sound! 😂❤

  • @jameshamaker9321
    @jameshamaker9321 10 місяців тому

    brilliant.

  • @erik-janvanoosten1450
    @erik-janvanoosten1450 11 місяців тому

    you basically made an early Boys Noize track there in the end :P great work!

  • @mattbba8451
    @mattbba8451 11 місяців тому

    Funkin' Awesome.

  • @niclash
    @niclash 11 місяців тому

    Classic!!! How many were started to be built and was never completed? Heaps!

  • @ANTHONYBOOTH
    @ANTHONYBOOTH 11 місяців тому +1

    yeah, - using a drum machine to modulate the amplitude of whatever synth; - that's one part of the current scene in reason studios (OBJEKT) ...I like my virtual instruments but also value real ones as I don't like to fire up an entire DAW desk just for relatively petty things... - those boards look easy enough to assemble = I would just get my boards made by PCBWAY etc ...I did plenty of pcb making and even built a Z-80 computer test jig there at THANET... = be careful what legged birds you invite back to your flat, - you can be back on the road with nothing in NO TIME!!!

  • @Doctormix
    @Doctormix 11 місяців тому +1

    😍

  • @AdrianHiggins83
    @AdrianHiggins83 11 місяців тому +1

    Hope to see you in bgt

  • @phoenixx5092
    @phoenixx5092 11 місяців тому

    nowhere near your level but i found running a mic into an overdrive pedal allowed me to use my voice for heavy metal sounding power chords. That was kinda cool so i got a bowie stylaphone and a gen x1 stylaphone and a few mic input splitters then plugged them all in together in series, then got some ever more interesting cool sounds as the input splitter let me plug a guitar in too.. and the x1 allowed you to feed audio into it too which it was able to do synth things too. Thats probably the functions of two of your basic modules and you have walls of hundreds of them. You must have fun making wierd sounds

  • @jamesh5460
    @jamesh5460 11 місяців тому

    Cool! Has a KMFDM vibe to the voice. Awesome! Also makes me think Beastie Boys as well.

  • @KarldorisLambley
    @KarldorisLambley 9 місяців тому

    your seventies twin appears to hail from liverpool. i can see him saying "calm down, calm down!"

  • @arekpocicki5681
    @arekpocicki5681 11 місяців тому

    Sam nice documentacion

  • @pswanberg1
    @pswanberg1 11 місяців тому +5

    someone get this man a level and stable table.

  • @xXd3m0lXx
    @xXd3m0lXx 11 місяців тому

    Cool Dalek voice🪠

  • @Alkatross
    @Alkatross 11 місяців тому

    This is the best sounding vocoder I have ever heard. The digital vocoder plugins don't sound nearly as dirty/grungy as this one.

    • @BatteryCoverMissing
      @BatteryCoverMissing 11 місяців тому

      You just need to run a dirtier carrier signal into them. Should get you into the ballpark more?

    • @Alkatross
      @Alkatross 11 місяців тому

      @@BatteryCoverMissing yeah, it sounds distorted at both ends. Really unique

  • @hellboundgrinnin
    @hellboundgrinnin 11 місяців тому

    is that a bosa NOva @9:50 I do like that set up Would be cool to hear a nice modern beat morph into the vintage lo-fi sound.

  • @sebastianyoung2404
    @sebastianyoung2404 11 місяців тому

    That's so cool! What's your Dual Resonator module based off? 😯

  • @weapea
    @weapea 11 місяців тому +1

    You should have seen my cats react when he hears that voco-delay The first time 😳😂

  • @3D6Space
    @3D6Space 11 місяців тому

    I love the giant turny knobs, straight out of some Frankenstein movie or Batman computer.

  • @russellwaite5874
    @russellwaite5874 11 місяців тому

    I really enjoyed this one ! Just past 14 minutes I thought you were about to go into DALEK mode. :-) I remember them when they first came out, ( black and white ). While I'm here, Just wondered if you'd had time to do a bit of tuning on the organ ? ps, I still play around with my old Echoman EM150 analogue echo unit, good fun. Take care and keep it up

  • @ReverendFlatus
    @ReverendFlatus 11 місяців тому

    A vocoder was used in the SIGSALY system during WW2 for secure, encrypted communication.

  • @mmcc8657
    @mmcc8657 11 місяців тому

    Thanks

  • @erickvond6825
    @erickvond6825 11 місяців тому

    Hearing you use this thing, it makes me wonder if that's what they used for the Cylons from the original Battlestar Galactica TV program.

  • @buffplums
    @buffplums 11 місяців тому

    Going to build one of these from scratch …

  • @t55a2
    @t55a2 11 місяців тому

    That Digital Delay looks decent

  • @chrislee1701
    @chrislee1701 11 місяців тому

    Die Stimme der Energie!

  • @riusma.
    @riusma. 10 місяців тому

    Thanks.

  • @sapphiresphone7144
    @sapphiresphone7144 11 місяців тому +1

    In each filter band, is the voice element the control or the input to the VCA? The article initial text indicated it is the control, but later explanation was the other way around. Which is it?
    Also, thank you for the detailed description and walk through, learning a lot!

    • @LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER
      @LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER  11 місяців тому +1

      In actual fact it can work either way round. But look at the block diagram cv comes from excitation. In the end it would work like a four quadrant multiplier so similar results either way

    • @LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER
      @LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER  11 місяців тому +1

      Regarding the vca that is

  • @marcus0018
    @marcus0018 11 місяців тому

    Hello just a heads up Julian Ilett of the Julian Ilett UA-cam channel is building one from scratch

  • @jochenstacker7448
    @jochenstacker7448 11 місяців тому

    YOU HAVE A VOCODER, HOLY SHIT!

  • @mikrikbell
    @mikrikbell 11 місяців тому +1

    Hitting my ears like Intergalactic by The Beastie Boys

  • @TotoGuy-Original
    @TotoGuy-Original 11 місяців тому

    i love your tshirt where did you get it ?

  • @gamusino78
    @gamusino78 11 місяців тому +1

    Quickly, watching this video, the memory of this song came to my head like a punch... Beastie Boys - Intergalactic, could you do a version of the theme with it?

  • @ChrisHopkinsBass
    @ChrisHopkinsBass 11 місяців тому

    3:00 The Smash Aliens called - they want their colleague back!