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

THE ETI POWERTRAN VOCODER
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SEPTEMBER 1980 ETI :-
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[@officedurapquebecois486]

The drum machine + poly synth combo was glorious

[@curtishoffmann6956]

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

[@cleverhardy5230]

Sounds flush! 🤣🤣🤣

[@emdotambient]

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]

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!

[@donerskine7935]

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

[@timesquare5473]

Indeed; I worked for them for 3 months.

[@dfxmonkeyhead]

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.

[@headfirstonly]

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

[@markedis5902]

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

[@IanSlothieRolfe]

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!

[@professornuke7562]

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]

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]

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

[@neeneko]

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]

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]

Julian Ilett built a copy of this a few years ago. You can still get all the components and have the PCBs made, kzbin.info/aero/PLjzGSu1yGFjXKZ5igKxwlgfGdy25yZoPN

[@VarionJimmy]

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

[@fluke196c]

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

[@skyrocketautomotive670]

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

[@dfxmonkeyhead]

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

[@NONFamers]

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!

[@i_never_asked_for_an_alias]

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

[@Super8Rescue]

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]

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!!!!

[@tomahzo]

Your seventies twin DEFINITELY needs more screen time :D.

[@MrGlenfraser]

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.

[@mikethetexan76]

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

[@macronencer]

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.

[@miahsbrokengarage]

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]

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

[@Hoptronics]

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

[@Kaminskip]

That sounds awesome with the drum machine running though it!

[@padders1068]

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

[@daf666]

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

[@infn8loopmusic]

@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!

[@gnarlysoundscapes7210]

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

[@ScorobeSlavinpoop]

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

[@classicaudioadventures]

That actually sounds amazing.

[@genghisbunny]

That was really cool. Thanks for sharing it!

[@PaulTheSkeptic]

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]

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❤️❤️

[@StooCambridgeArtist]

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]

And cheaper than the ARP 2500 synthesizer they used.

[@helpermonkey6641]

Battlestar Galactica. I thought the same thing.

[@midimagic7097]

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

[@AileTheAlien]

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

[@dcallan812]

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]

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

[@wideyxyz2271]

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

[@MattOGormanSmith]

His nightclub was awful though,. No atmosphere.

[@jochenstacker7448]

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

[@jameshamaker9321]

brilliant.

[@joyboricua3721]

Sounds wicked! Kudos

[@jusch5937]

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

[@adzy31]

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

[@Barnaclebeard]

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

[@undereeries]

dude vocoders are SICK AND THIS IS COOL ANDTHANKS

[@Crackalacking_Z]

I really enjoyed the impromptu jams XD

[@ANTHONYBOOTH]

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!!!

[@HOLLASOUNDS]

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?".

[@infn8loopmusic]

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

[@falangistavaleroso9689]

I sold mine 8 years ago, great sounding processor

[@newtronix]

Wow it's quite versatile. I want one!

[@makers_lab]

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]

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!

[@edmx]

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

[@cpm1003]

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

[@dedicatedspuddler7641]

Very cool piece of kit and history.

[@michelvondenhoff9673]

Awesome, never heard of this one.

[@stubrakon9683]

Brilliant video cheers 👍😃😎🤘

[@R3TR0R4V3]

Pretty rad 😎

[@BillHustonPodcast]

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!

[@riusma.]

Thanks.

[@catface101]

What does a harmonica thru a vocoder sound like?

[@silaswallflower8938]

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.

[@Nobe_Oddy]

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!!!!!

[@suitandtieguy]

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.

[@soulflower8687]

I want to hear more of the song from your 1970's twin. Getting wiggy wid it.

[@MrMargaretScratcher]

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

[@whiggy6976]

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

[@deankdx]

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

[@robertkielty5094]

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

[@teaurn]

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

[@andreasbauer6652]

neat sound! 😂❤

[@mattbba8451]

Funkin' Awesome.

[@catandtheostrich]

By your command, imperious leader!

[@mmcc8657]

Thanks

[@xXd3m0lXx]

Cool Dalek voice🪠

[@phoenixx5092]

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

[@Alkatross]

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]

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

[@Alkatross]

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

[@lurkersmith810]

When are you going to release "There's a Crackle In My Heart and a Crackle In My Vocoder"?

[@KarldorisLambley]

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

[@arekpocicki5681]

Sam nice documentacion

[@EdEditz]

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. ^^

[@buffplums]

Going to build one of these from scratch …

[@JK-of8tb]

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

[@Doctormix]

😍

[@t55a2]

That Digital Delay looks decent

[@AdrianHiggins83]

Hope to see you in bgt

[@3D6Space]

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

[@jamesh5460]

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

[@mikrikbell]

Hitting my ears like Intergalactic by The Beastie Boys

[@chrislee1701]

Die Stimme der Energie!

[@erik-janvanoosten1450]

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

[@pswanberg1]

someone get this man a level and stable table.

[@jenshoffmannolsen]

why?

[@scramblesthedeathdealer]

When he plugged in the delay, did it say "toilet ROMs?"

[@kenho4ba]

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.

[@niclash]

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

[@weapea]

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

[@bobbler42]

Big Radiophonie workshop energy.

[@DAVIDGREGORYKERR]

There is a guy in the IOM that likes to do this sort of thing as well as solar electronics.

[@abeatcure3163]

Great ! We need more Robot Voice !!

[@McTroyd]

Remember Sam... the difference between 70s Sam and 80s Sam is a pair of aviator sunglasses. 😁 That is a great little vocoder. 👍

[@russellwaite5874]

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]

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

[@craigparsons7595]

I was also built in September 1980