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

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  • čas přidán 15. 06. 2024
  • THE ETI POWERTRAN VOCODER
    if you'd like to see more videos on this project/livestreams and more
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    it also makes ‪@THISMUSEUMISNOTOBSOLETE‬ get bigger and better. :)
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    SEPTEMBER 1980 ETI :-
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Komentáře • 250

  • @officedurapquebecois486
    @officedurapquebecois486 Před 11 měsíci +29

    The drum machine + poly synth combo was glorious

  • @curtishoffmann6956
    @curtishoffmann6956 Před 11 měsíci +43

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

  • @emdotambient
    @emdotambient Před 11 měsíci +7

    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
      @VarionJimmy Před 11 měsíci +1

      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
    @donerskine7935 Před 11 měsíci +6

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

    • @timesquare5473
      @timesquare5473 Před 11 měsíci +3

      Indeed; I worked for them for 3 months.

  • @dfxmonkeyhead
    @dfxmonkeyhead Před 11 měsíci +2

    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.

  • @IanSlothieRolfe
    @IanSlothieRolfe Před 11 měsíci +29

    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
    @professornuke7562 Před 11 měsíci +17

    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
      @tcpnetworks Před 9 měsíci

      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
    @pheotus Před 11 měsíci +29

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

    • @neeneko
      @neeneko Před 11 měsíci +7

      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
      @GizzyDillespee Před 11 měsíci +3

      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
      @MattOGormanSmith Před 11 měsíci +6

      Julian Ilett built a copy of this a few years ago. You can still get all the components and have the PCBs made, czcams.com/play/PLjzGSu1yGFjXKZ5igKxwlgfGdy25yZoPN.html

    • @VarionJimmy
      @VarionJimmy Před 11 měsíci

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

    • @fluke196c
      @fluke196c Před 11 měsíci

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

  • @skyrocketautomotive670
    @skyrocketautomotive670 Před 11 měsíci +15

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

  • @markedis5902
    @markedis5902 Před 11 měsíci +3

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

  • @dfxmonkeyhead
    @dfxmonkeyhead Před 11 měsíci +1

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

  • @NONFamers
    @NONFamers Před 11 měsíci +7

    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!

  • @headfirstonly
    @headfirstonly Před měsícem

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

  • @i_never_asked_for_an_alias
    @i_never_asked_for_an_alias Před 11 měsíci +1

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

  • @miahsbrokengarage
    @miahsbrokengarage Před 11 měsíci +12

    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
      @wideyxyz2271 Před 11 měsíci +1

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

    • @Hoptronics
      @Hoptronics Před 11 měsíci +1

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

  • @MrGlenfraser
    @MrGlenfraser Před 10 měsíci

    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.

  • @Super8Rescue
    @Super8Rescue Před 11 měsíci +12

    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
      @professornuke7562 Před 11 měsíci

      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!!!!

  • @Kaminskip
    @Kaminskip Před 11 měsíci +5

    That sounds awesome with the drum machine running though it!

  • @tomahzo
    @tomahzo Před 11 měsíci +2

    Your seventies twin DEFINITELY needs more screen time :D.

  • @macronencer
    @macronencer Před 11 měsíci

    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.

  • @ScorobeSlavinpoop
    @ScorobeSlavinpoop Před 11 měsíci +3

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

  • @PaulTheSkeptic
    @PaulTheSkeptic Před 11 měsíci +6

    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."

  • @mikethetexan76
    @mikethetexan76 Před 11 měsíci

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

  • @dcallan812
    @dcallan812 Před 11 měsíci +6

    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
      @mediaphile Před 11 měsíci

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

    • @wideyxyz2271
      @wideyxyz2271 Před 11 měsíci

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

    • @MattOGormanSmith
      @MattOGormanSmith Před 11 měsíci +1

      His nightclub was awful though,. No atmosphere.

  • @daf666
    @daf666 Před 11 měsíci

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

  • @padders1068
    @padders1068 Před 11 měsíci +2

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

  • @gnarlysoundscapes7210
    @gnarlysoundscapes7210 Před 11 měsíci +1

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

  • @midimagic7097
    @midimagic7097 Před 11 měsíci

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

  • @jochenstacker7448
    @jochenstacker7448 Před 11 měsíci

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

  • @davidmarshall5665
    @davidmarshall5665 Před 11 měsíci +1

    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❤️❤️

  • @AileTheAlien
    @AileTheAlien Před 11 měsíci

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

  • @wideyxyz2271
    @wideyxyz2271 Před 11 měsíci

    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!

  • @StooCambridgeArtist
    @StooCambridgeArtist Před 11 měsíci +3

    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
      @littlebacchus216 Před 11 měsíci +1

      And cheaper than the ARP 2500 synthesizer they used.

    • @helpermonkey6641
      @helpermonkey6641 Před 11 měsíci

      Battlestar Galactica. I thought the same thing.

  • @adzy31
    @adzy31 Před 11 měsíci

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

  • @HOLLASOUNDS
    @HOLLASOUNDS Před 11 měsíci +1

    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
    @infn8loopmusic Před 11 měsíci +1

    @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!

  • @makers_lab
    @makers_lab Před 11 měsíci

    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.

  • @genghisbunny
    @genghisbunny Před 11 měsíci

    That was really cool. Thanks for sharing it!

  • @suitandtieguy
    @suitandtieguy Před 11 měsíci

    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.

  • @jusch5937
    @jusch5937 Před 11 měsíci

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

  • @classicaudioadventures
    @classicaudioadventures Před 11 měsíci

    That actually sounds amazing.

  • @Barnaclebeard
    @Barnaclebeard Před 11 měsíci

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

  • @joyboricua3721
    @joyboricua3721 Před 7 měsíci

    Sounds wicked! Kudos

  • @Nobe_Oddy
    @Nobe_Oddy Před 11 měsíci

    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!!!!!

  • @infn8loopmusic
    @infn8loopmusic Před 11 měsíci

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

  • @Crackalacking_Z
    @Crackalacking_Z Před 11 měsíci

    I really enjoyed the impromptu jams XD

  • @undereeries
    @undereeries Před 11 měsíci

    dude vocoders are SICK AND THIS IS COOL ANDTHANKS

  • @newtronix
    @newtronix Před 11 měsíci

    Wow it's quite versatile. I want one!

  • @cpm1003
    @cpm1003 Před 11 měsíci

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

  • @dedicatedspuddler7641
    @dedicatedspuddler7641 Před 11 měsíci +1

    Very cool piece of kit and history.

  • @edmx
    @edmx Před 11 měsíci

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

  • @silaswallflower8938
    @silaswallflower8938 Před 11 měsíci

    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.

  • @ANTHONYBOOTH
    @ANTHONYBOOTH Před 11 měsíci +1

    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!!!

  • @MrMargaretScratcher
    @MrMargaretScratcher Před 11 měsíci

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

  • @michelvondenhoff9673
    @michelvondenhoff9673 Před 11 měsíci

    Awesome, never heard of this one.

  • @teaurn
    @teaurn Před 11 měsíci +1

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

  • @falangistavaleroso9689
    @falangistavaleroso9689 Před 11 měsíci

    I sold mine 8 years ago, great sounding processor

  • @robertkielty5094
    @robertkielty5094 Před 11 měsíci +1

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

  • @stubrakon9683
    @stubrakon9683 Před 11 měsíci

    Brilliant video cheers 👍😃😎🤘

  • @BillHustonPodcast
    @BillHustonPodcast Před 11 měsíci +6

    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!

  • @deankdx
    @deankdx Před 11 měsíci

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

  • @catandtheostrich
    @catandtheostrich Před 11 měsíci +1

    By your command, imperious leader!

  • @whiggy6976
    @whiggy6976 Před 11 měsíci

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

  • @JK-of8tb
    @JK-of8tb Před 11 měsíci

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

  • @EdEditz
    @EdEditz Před 11 měsíci +1

    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. ^^

  • @Alkatross
    @Alkatross Před 11 měsíci

    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
      @BatteryCoverMissing Před 11 měsíci

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

    • @Alkatross
      @Alkatross Před 11 měsíci

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

  • @R3TR0R4V3
    @R3TR0R4V3 Před 11 měsíci

    Pretty rad 😎

  • @3D6Space
    @3D6Space Před 11 měsíci

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

  • @erik-janvanoosten1450
    @erik-janvanoosten1450 Před 11 měsíci

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

  • @pswanberg1
    @pswanberg1 Před 11 měsíci +5

    someone get this man a level and stable table.

  • @jamesh5460
    @jamesh5460 Před 11 měsíci

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

  • @phoenixx5092
    @phoenixx5092 Před 11 měsíci

    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

  • @xXd3m0lXx
    @xXd3m0lXx Před 11 měsíci

    Cool Dalek voice🪠

  • @mikrikbell
    @mikrikbell Před 11 měsíci +1

    Hitting my ears like Intergalactic by The Beastie Boys

  • @arekpocicki5681
    @arekpocicki5681 Před 11 měsíci

    Sam nice documentacion

  • @kenho4ba
    @kenho4ba Před 11 měsíci

    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.

  • @sebastianyoung2404
    @sebastianyoung2404 Před 11 měsíci

    That's so cool! What's your Dual Resonator module based off? 😯

  • @chrislee1701
    @chrislee1701 Před 11 měsíci

    Die Stimme der Energie!

  • @russellwaite5874
    @russellwaite5874 Před 11 měsíci

    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

  • @niclash
    @niclash Před 11 měsíci

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

  • @t55a2
    @t55a2 Před 11 měsíci

    That Digital Delay looks decent

  • @ChrisHopkinsBass
    @ChrisHopkinsBass Před 11 měsíci

    3:00 The Smash Aliens called - they want their colleague back!

  • @weapea
    @weapea Před 11 měsíci +1

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

  • @jameshamaker9321
    @jameshamaker9321 Před 10 měsíci

    brilliant.

  • @KarldorisLambley
    @KarldorisLambley Před 9 měsíci

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

  • @mattbba8451
    @mattbba8451 Před 11 měsíci

    Funkin' Awesome.

  • @andreasbauer6652
    @andreasbauer6652 Před 11 měsíci

    neat sound! 😂❤

  • @buffplums
    @buffplums Před 11 měsíci

    Going to build one of these from scratch …

  • @McTroyd
    @McTroyd Před 11 měsíci

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

  • @AdrianHiggins83
    @AdrianHiggins83 Před 11 měsíci +1

    Hope to see you in bgt

  • @jochenstacker7448
    @jochenstacker7448 Před 11 měsíci

    YOU HAVE A VOCODER, HOLY SHIT!

  • @hellboundgrinnin
    @hellboundgrinnin Před 11 měsíci

    is that a bosa NOva @9:50 I do like that set up Would be cool to hear a nice modern beat morph into the vintage lo-fi sound.

  • @danhat606
    @danhat606 Před 11 měsíci

    Diggin' the 80's dress up----Although you look like one of the Scousers off Harry Enfields show lolololo!

  • @KristofferEngdahl
    @KristofferEngdahl Před 11 měsíci

    Almost spat out my muesli when you said Powertran e-t-i. I hear something completely different.

  • @mmcc8657
    @mmcc8657 Před 11 měsíci

    Thanks

  • @Doctormix
    @Doctormix Před 11 měsíci +1

    😍

  • @DAVIDGREGORYKERR
    @DAVIDGREGORYKERR Před 3 měsíci

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

  • @riusma.
    @riusma. Před 10 měsíci

    Thanks.

  • @macronencer
    @macronencer Před 11 měsíci

    I'm quite impressed by how good this thing sounded, for what it was! I seem to remember that some vocoders had a sibilance detector that would switch the source to noise when activated. Was that the case here? I didn't quite follow that part, sorry.

  • @timsgaf
    @timsgaf Před 11 měsíci

    its a cybotron from battlestar galactica. all us oldies know that. really cool.