Korg VC-10 Vocoder

Korg VC-10 Image

Isn't it cute? It's a little polyphonic 20-band vocoder offered by Korg. Feed it your voice (or any other interesting sound source) and synthesize it! That is, control the sound of the synth with your voice. You can even put other sounds through its filters which will then be processed by the vocoder. This basically means you can use it as a talk-box with a guitar, for example or you can use it to add a twist to your drum loops. Other than that this machine is pretty limited. There's a nifty little analog VCU input meter. It has been used by Keith Emerson, Apollo 440, Klaus Schulze, Tomita, Labradford, Rick Wakeman, Roger Waters, Joe Zawinul, Tangerine Dream, Goldfrapp, Air, and Yes.

24 Visitor comments
MarcMarc
March 16, 2013 @ 4:15 pm
Tony wrote:
"Marc Marc you are such a loser..."mister know it all"
It's very easy to fix that "problem "

Dear all and Tony,

Tony, enlighten me on how you think you can compensate for a too slow SLEW in the
envelope followers for the higher bands concerning the 'scam'-version of the VC-10.

Regards,

Marc Marc
Tony
December 15, 2012 @ 8:25 am
Marc Marc you are such a loser..."mister know it all"
It's very easy to fix that "problem"
Steven
October 22, 2012 @ 1:33 pm
I have one of these for sale in good condition with original microphone if anyone is intrested?
VoiceEncoder
July 14, 2012 @ 2:47 pm
It's because the 20 bands/channels are non-adjustable (to lower the price) that this vocoder isn't as good as others with fewer bands/channels. The EMS Vocoders 1000, 2000, 3000; the Bode 7702 Vocoder; the Moog 16-Channel MBVO 327A Vocoder; the Synton Syntovox Vocoders; the Sky Soundlab "The Voice Spectra" Vocoder; the Roland SVC-350 Vocoder are all considered superior with fewer bands/channels because you can adjust them on those vocoders.
MarcMarc
March 31, 2012 @ 5:28 pm
Dear All,

Test: make a noise sount like "sssssst" into the mic and listen if this comes clearly through. If not, then you have one from what I call the Korg-VC-10-Scam series to make the vocoder more popular I gues (garbage voice in --> still an acceptable organ sound out). The capacitors in the ENV filter sections are all the same and not according the values from the original design.

Yours,

Marc Marc
 
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  • Demos & Media
  • YouTube Thumbnail
    Video 1
    - See and hear the original VC-10 Audio Demonstration.

    YouTube Thumbnail
    Video 2
    - VOCODER MADNESS 1

    Brochure - PDF of 1980 Korg Brochure, submitted by Niels Kloes

  • Specifications
  • Polyphony - Yes, all keys sound
  • Oscillators - 1 carrier signal + 1 input speech signal
  • LFO - Vibrato (w/ rate)
  • VCA - Mix level from dry voice to processed
  • Effects - Ensemble effect
  • Keyboard - 32 keys
  • Arpeg/Seq - None
  • Control - External pitch control CV input
  • Date Produced - 1978 - 1982

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