Talkbox anyone ?

[bjosko]

I have often thought about getting one, but more to shape a synth sound for solo use, but it seems to be more complicated than that.

Don’t think I will go into that rabbit hole 🤭

But interesting video

 

https://youtu.be/xtaHv63UfvM

[Piktor]

Check out You Tube vids of Swatkins. 

[EscapeRocks]

All should learn from the king, Roger Troutman (rip)

 

 

 

[Stokely]

I have considered the idea of getting either a talkbox or vocoder, probably in pedal format (which can be limiting at least for vocoders).  Don't like the idea of the mouth tube quite as much as using a mic for vocoding though

[Baldwin Funster]

I used one for guitar. Having a tube in your mouth is a bit funky and not james brown funky. Having an object in your mouth causes a drool response and then you have to get a fresh tube because the old one has been bio-polluted. You never see that in ads.

[rockinredeye]

We needed a talk box for a couple of songs but the guitar players refused to put a tube in their mouth! So I volunteered and we made one from scratch. A cheap driver, some clear plumbing tubing from the driver to my microphone and a left over PA amp somebody had. Overdrive a clean guitar sound and it's plenty of fun. When the PA amp cratered, I replaced it with a little Orange Micro Terror that sits on the empty left side of my PC3-7. Apparently, I'm going to have to work a bit more to get to Mr. Troutman's level.

[Art-0252]

2 hours ago, Piktor said:

Check out You Tube vids of Swatkins. 

Steve Watkins aka Swatkins is the best talkboxer I've ever heard and my favorite keyboardist out there. 

 

Here is one of my favorite clips of him:
 

 

[RABid]

I always wanted one. Being in high school when Peter Frampton hit it big does that to a musician. A friend bought one and it was fun to play with. Now I have half a dozen synths with vocoder options so I will keep putting off getting a talk box.

[ksoper]

I have a Banshee 2.  As noted above it's harder than it looks.  Things that help are cranking the volume into the tube to the point that your teeth rattle.  Whispering the words helps with intelligibility.  Another modern master is P-Thugg of Chromeo.  I love this song.  

 

 

 

 

 

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[bjosko]

Many years ago I heard story about people loosing their theets from use of talkboxes. Guess that is a myth from guitarplayers who don’t master it ? 🤭

[obxa]

I have a Digitech Talker which after doing a casual search just now my jaw dropped that's it's now selling for 4x what I paid!  Yikes.    Loved using it for covertunes anything funky.  I actually dragged it out last summer for "uptown funk"...

 

Looks like TC has  a very  similar version and pricing is nice.     https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/TalkBoxSynth--tc-helicon-talkbox-synth?mrkgadid=3341758509&mrkgcl=28&mrkgen=gpla&mrkgbflag=0&mrkgcat=guitars&acctid=21700000001645388&dskeywordid=92700046937567865&lid=92700046937567865&ds_s_kwgid=58700005283385525&ds_s_inventory_feed_id=97700000007215323&dsproductgroupid=759374731408&product_id=TalkBoxSynth&prodctry=US&prodlang=en&channel=online&storeid=&device=c&network=g&matchtype=&adpos=largenumber&locationid=1015563&creative=353747989584&targetid=aud-317132760198:pla-759374731408&campaignid=1465808371&awsearchcpc=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiAuvOPBhDXARIsAKzLQ8H8YvY8mCvFXd3MH2bxmY7Zi4wTVzvrLkvH831bfek7ItPT_3GH_AwaAodHEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

 

Though I know it's vocoder, Herbie Hancock's Sunlight is what got me interested in the whoe thing.  My  favorite talk-box is Johnny Guitar Watson's "Real-Mutha for ya"  and Joe-Walsh.  JGW is subtle and you have to listen for it... but oh so cool.

 

 I too built my own with a fish-tank hose,  margarine lid.  and my old Pig-nose amp.   

 

 

 

[Ken Beaumont]

I was looking at this little pedal sounds pretty good in the demo.

 

 

[TommyRude]

Here's where it started

 

[KuruPrionz]

Long ago and far away I had a Heil talk box. 

I never got another one. Pretty OK but not my jam. 

[Threadslayer]

Interesting. Back in the early '70s I played with a guitar player who made his own talk box - with the driver from a Heil horn - tube, mic

and off to the races. He also played pedal steel. I had no idea a steel player had come up with the concept.

[Docbop]

4 hours ago, Threadslayer said:

Interesting. Back in the early '70s I played with a guitar player who made his own talk box - with the driver from a Heil horn - tube, mic

and off to the races. He also played pedal steel. I had no idea a steel player had come up with the concept.

 

Back in the day I was friends with great guitarist Jay Graydon and he was getting established in the studio guitar world.   Talkboxes were big at the time and Jay was alway a tinkered with guitars and stuff so he decided to make talkbox.   He came up with a good design and it sounded good, but Jay wanted experiment and find the best, because he was thinking of selling them.   Jay started playing around with all sorts of horn drivers, so he order the biggest JBL horn driver they made to see if size does matter.    Jay did some low level tests and good so he cranked it.   Jay said the dam thing blew his cheeks out like Dizzy Gillespie, his mouth opened the the tube came flying out.  That must of been a site to see.   Jay eventually did come up with a talkbox that he sold for awhile and called the Yackie Tube or something like that.   So talkbox R&D can be fun. 

[Stokely]

I thought about it but I think I'll go with a vocoder/voice fx thing instead.  My modx has vocoding I just need to set it up and try it.  Less slobber and bacteria!  

[SamuelBLupowitz]

I got a talkbox (the MXR pedal) in 2017 and I use it all the time! Usually I just run whatever synth is in my rig through it, and I have a mono saw lead programmed specifically for running through the box. It gets a great response on a gig as long as you don't overuse it.

[ABECK]

I had a Banshee for a while.  It is not an easy skill to master.  And yes, it gets messy!  I think the size and shape of your mouth can also determine weather it works well or not.  

[timwat]

3 minutes ago, ABECK said:

I had a Banshee for a while.  It is not an easy skill to master.  And yes, it gets messy!  I think the size and shape of your mouth can also determine weather it works well or not.  

That's probably true of a lot of things.

[Delaware Dave]

I'll leave the talkbox's with the guitar players.  Being the flute, harmonica, strings player, sax, trumpet and brass section is enough work for one person already.

[Dave Bryce]

I got one a few months ago (MXR M222).  Been using it mostly with the guitars.  I quite like it.

 

Definitely going to slap it on the MiniMoog at one point.

 

dB

[SamuelBLupowitz]

3 hours ago, Dave Bryce said:

I got one a few months ago (MXR M222).  Been using it mostly with the guitars.  I quite like it.

 

Definitely going to slap it on the MiniMoog at one point.

 

dB

dB, I used that same MXR talkbox on a borrowed MiniMoog while I was making my solo record during lockdown. You will not be disappointed.

[Mark Schmieder]

Good to hear feedback on the Banshee as that is the one I almost bought a number of years ago. As I suspected, it's too much trouble.

 

The last time this topic came up, I reported on the Talk Wah effect in NI Guitar Rig, which changes in a non backward compatible way with each release, so I always have to reprogram my presets. I think I shared my presets here at one point. It's a little tricky to learn, but easy to use once set up correctly. Unfortunately, I think it might have been removed altogether in the latest Guitar Rig release, but I haven't revisited any of my projects that use Talk Box in a number of years now.

 

I recently read about one of the Moog effects being usable as a talk box, but I can't remember if it was a 70's rack effect or a moogerfooger pedal. I read about it in the write-up of either Moog's new moogerfooger plug-ins or Cherry Audio's plug-in suite for the 70's rack effects.

[o0Ampy0o]

Closest I got to a talk box, I was at a Guitar Center and a guy came in who had to come up with fast cash and catch a plane I think because family member was in the hospital. The GC guy behind the counter wasn't interested but a customer overheard the conversation and bought it. This guy said he only used it occasionally for Sweet Emotion.

 

After Peter Frampton did the "Do you feel..." "...like I do?" interaction with the audience I cringed hearing Jeff Beck asking something about how the audience felt using one during a concert on a live album with Jan Hammer.  Ironically, the most original improvising rock/fusion guitarist in Rock & Roll came too close to copying what another guitarist had become world famous for.

 

I wonder what reaction a talk box gets from a cover band these days. It seems to be one of those distinct effects that needs to be used in a unique manner. Of the famous songs I can think of they all use it differently, (i.e. Sweet Emotion, Do You Feel Like I Do, Rocky Mountain Way, Pigs, Haitian Divorce). Something about speaking to the audience through one is extra personal. You doing it means you are the one speaking not just covering the song so there is an element of "Are you big enough to play the game?" or it emphasizes how much everyone and everything is not the real thing.