The vocoder — especially the Roland SVC-350 — was the standard voice-processing tool giving electro its robotic vocals

The robotic vocal central to electro’s aesthetic was produced by vocoders — devices that impose the spectral characteristics of a voice onto a synthesizer carrier signal. The rackmount Roland SVC-350 was the vocoder of choice for most electro producers (Egyptian Lover, and likely Pretty Tony). More expensive options appeared on higher-budget productions: the Korg VC-10 (Twilight 22’s ‘Electric Kingdom’) and the Sennheiser VSM-201 (Herbie Hancock’s ‘Rockit’ — the same unit Kraftwerk used, ‘too rare and expensive for most electro producers’).

Examples

Egyptian Lover ‘Egypt, Egypt’: Roland SVC-350 gives the vocoder flavor. Herbie Hancock ‘Rockit’: Sennheiser VSM-201 (Kraftwerk’s vocoder). Twilight 22 ‘Electric Kingdom’: Korg VC-10.

Assessment

Explain the acoustic principle of a vocoder (voice modulator over a synth carrier). Name three vocoder models used in classic electro and rank them by approximate price/availability in 1983.