Roland VP-330 Vocoder Plus

Roland VP-330 Vocoder Plus Image

VP-330

One of the coolest instruments out there. The vocoder shapes its envelope and filters by any sound source fed into it, your voice or even a drum loop can be used which is then applied to another sound source, typically a synth pad. This creates a very unique and famous robot-like sound.

Aside from the 10-band vocoder, the VP-330 added a string synth section, choir and a human-voice sound, both of which are quite excellent themselves. Its 3 sound sections offer a few different presets that can be slightly edited with de-tuning and vibrato. The VP-330 is one of the best Vocoder synths ever and although there are many other types of Vocoders, none sound as good as this!

Roland SVC-350 Image

SVC-350

The Roland SVC-350 (pictured just above) is a similar rackmount version of the VP-330 with a modernized look and graphic EQ section. These vocoders have been used by William Ørbit, BT, Styx, Kitaro, Underworld, Meat Beat Manifesto, Überzone, Air, Royksopp, Vangelis, Tangerine Dream, and many more.

26 Visitor comments
Mike
March 26, 2010 @ 9:54 am
I had a lot of vocoders but this will always be the best to me. It’s just so fat sounding and nasty. I had 2 VP-330’s and sold them way back. Now to buy them you will need a extra job LOL. So I bought the SVC-350. Here is what I done so I can get same tone out of VP-330 in a SVC-350. I bought a AKAI S5000. There is a AKAI CDROM called “History of Roland” in S1000 format. It has all the VP-330 sounds. Load the VP-330 programs up on the S5000 and Plug this S5000 up to your SVC-350 and BAM you have a VP-330 with the same carrier sound on a SVC-350. That is just if you want to have the same sound you get when you turn on a VP-330 and use vocoder without any ext sound. 5/5
anonymous
January 23, 2010 @ 2:03 am
Yeah, the sure don't make vocoders and/or synths like they used to!!! I'll take any 1985 or before OVER any 1986 or after, everytime.
square.wave
January 11, 2010 @ 12:12 pm
Nothing sounds better than this classic. Its distinctive sound makes me reminisce hard for the early 80s when I rocked out to the 45 single of "Mr. Roboto", my first ever record of my own at the tender age of 5.
ets
April 17, 2009 @ 6:12 pm
this machine should be "THE FINAL END OF SEARCHING THE BEST VOCODER-STRING-HUMAN VOICE EVER"...I HAVE ONES....LUCKY ME..
Computron
March 17, 2009 @ 2:00 am
Ah I upgraded from a ms-2000b.I was not happy with it`s vocoder..Although I got close to imitating it..It sounds exactly like a vocoder should sound.Nice grungy nasty sound.The sound I fell in love with back in the day.I recomend it, love it, use it, n freak it!!!
 
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  • Demos & Media
  • YouTube Thumbnail
    Video 1
    - ROLAND VP-330 "Vocoder Plus" Mk2

    YouTube Thumbnail
    Video 2
    - Roland SVC-350 11 Band Analog Vocoder Demo

    Manual - Roland has made manuals for most of their products available as free PDF downloads.

  • Specifications
  • Oscillators - 3 VCO's
  • Effects - Ensemble (chorus)
  • LFO - Vibrato w/ depth, delay and rate
  • VCA - separate Mix Levels for Vocoder, String and Voice sections; 20 envelope followers
  • Filter - 18 VCFs: 54db/oct bandpass; 1 VCF: 54db/oct lowpass and highpass filters; 20 VCFs: 18db/oct lowpass filters w/ dynamic range of 60db
  • Memory - None
  • Keyboard - 49 Keys
  • Control - CV/Gate
  • Date Produced - 1979

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