What do you call those straw mic hooked to a synth?

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geeq

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What do you call those straw mic hooked to a synth? I've seen this stuffs from various music videos (Various Artists - Still More Bounce, NB Ridaz - Runaway).. I wanted to try out that Roger Trautman effects with MS-2000... Is there a configuration/way to get the sound/tone from Roger Trautman using a MS-2000. I tried to play around with the vocoders, but it's not what I wanted... please help me out :)

Gee-Q
 
Are you talking about a breath controller?

If so, it's a hollow device you blow into which converts air pressure to controller messages. It's loads of fun for sax patches when you use it as a pitch bend controller. Goes all the way back to the DX7.

Or, it could be similar to the old Peter Frampton "Bagman" which was a guitar amp output through a JBL horn driver with a rubber tube attached where the horn usually is. You stick the tube in your mouth and form words and wah wah stuff that is picked up in an ordinary vocal mic. This gimmick was originated in the 50s, I believe, by a guy who billed himself as "Alvino Rey and His Talking Guitar". It was also used to great effect by Rufus (Featuring Shaka Khan) on their # 1 hit, "Tell Me Somethin' Good", and of course Frampton on his "Frampton Comes Alive" album. I don't see why you couldn't use a synth instead of a guitar. I don't know if the "Bagman" is still being made but I think I've seen modern versions in the MF catalog. etc.

If it's really a mic you are talking about I'd like to know what it is too....
 
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In Frank Zappa's late '70s and early '80s band setup he always had a synth with a mic hooked to it somehow, and the synth player would ooh or aah into the mic and it'd sound vaguely like a choir.
 
octoruss said:
Are you talking about this?http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7...94835591/search/g=guitar/detail/base_id/53035
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That is indeed what robert is talking about. The talkbox. Peter Framton likes the toy. hehe. David Gilmour also uses it every now and then.

But I haven't seen it used by keyboardplayers. Vocoders are more common. I think it's all vocoders that you mentionned. Maybe try input different waveforms in?

What a vocoder does is divide your voice in different frequency bands, and measure the amplitude of every band. Then it will divide the synth signal in the same bands, and let it pass according to the amplitude measured from the voice signal. So it will kinda take your voices frequency spectrum, and enforce that on the synths signal.

I don't know what trick zappa used. Maybe it was a sampled choir or something with a vocoder on it? This sounds like a cool idea btw, gotta try it... hehe...
 
There are 3 possibilities here:

1) Keyboards like the Yamaha DX7 had a breath controller in the 80s. It was a small double reed looking thing with a wire the plugged into the keyboard....kinda "digital hookah". Think something sounding like Stevie Wonder's harmonica on "That's What Friends are For"

2) Heil Talkbox was the famous one. It was, as mentioned, a driver connected to a tube that rattled your head and allowed you to use your mouth to "shape" the sound of the signal coming from your speaker out of your amp. You needed it to be near a mic for reproduction...it is not loud on it's own. Think Joe Walsh "Rocky Mtn Way" solo.

3) a vocoder was pretty cool. It took the attack, sustain and release forms from the mic....basically the dynamic portions and applied them to the waveform from a synth. It allowed for it to sound like a keyboard was talking to you. Think Def Leppard's "Love Bites".

Now....there are harmonizers (Digitech and many others) that allow for midi control of pitch. You can sing into the mic and the keys you press will then tell the harmonizers to harmonize your own voice with itself. Pretty cool.

T
 
geeq said:
yes! that one! a talkbox.. thanks alot, people.. are there any other cheaper talkbox? :)
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You can make a talk box yourself(I used to have a Electroharmonix one), just get a cheap horn of some sort, radio shack will do, and seal a tube to it. I had book with simple plans, but theres probably one on the net. No matter, its pretty easy to figure out.
 
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