The artist Love Hulten, known for his funny and curious constructions, presents his latest creation in a video – the VOC-25, a vocal synthesizer based on the Axoloti Core and 25 sets of plastic teeth, each set representing a unique note on the keyboard.
The three-part wooden setup echoes a classic desktop computer‘s look, including a monitor, main console, and keyboard. RAW vocal audio samples are fed into the main console via USB, creating a personal voicebank. There are two built-in effects, reverb and delay. An Axoloti board translates MIDI input to DC currents through control boards inside the “monitor” of the PC-like device.
These signals are converted to DC current via control boards located inside the monitor segment. The custom-built boards direct the “choir” – 25 individual solenoids, each one connected to a set of hinged teeth. The setup can be used standalone with its built-in speakers, but it also outputs mono in the back, and using external monitors is a good way to reduce mechanical noise.
In order for the melody to come out pleasant, the synthesizer must be tuned. For example, you can change the timbre, enable sound effects, be it echo, fade-out, or repeated repetition of the same sound. If you do not do this, you will get very strange and even unpleasant sounds – they are presented at the beginning of the video when it seems that someone is beeping or shouting at the camera.
Like Love Hultan’s other work, the vocal synthesizer is a one-off concept that won’t hit stores. Nevertheless, the idea is unusual and funny, and also, according to the creator of the device, it proves that even synthesizers in the modern world can be surprising.
