talkbox without talking possible?

[11-90-an]

So i was thinking if it would be possible to create a pedal which has the same effect of a talkbox (that the guitar seems to speak) in which the human voice is generated from a speaker/transducer inside the pedal? (Just wondering )

[Rodgre]

What do you envision controlling that "voice", modulating it? If you're looking for something that is just repeating a phrase, you could have a looper or a sampler as the modulator, but I'm not 100% sure what you're picturing.

Roger

[11-90-an]

well I don't exactly know... but i was thinking of something similar to the korg miku, but instead of it saying many phrases, it would only say 1 or 2 default presets... so instead of the pedal sampling the guitar signal, there would just be an internal speaker and reciever that has a similar concept as the talkbox

[antonis]

What about farting in tune..??

[11-90-an]

What about farting in tune..??

If i can record some farts and play it in this circuit... perhaps.... That would be interesting tone

[toneman]

heh heh

just do a search for "fart keyboard"
yeh, I have one!!!!!! 

there's this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aiqZzssUPs

and this:
https://www.burpandfartpiano.com/

yeh, I actually have one!!!!!
https://www.amazon.com/sky-rocket-prank-star-piano/dp/b00fn6rav8

[Mark Hammer]

"Talking" pedals attempt to mimic human vocal characteristics by using two counterswept bandpass filters to simulate movement of formants.  I wouldn't call them accurate, but they certainly sound more like a voice than they sound like an autowah or wah.

A recent thread asked about an auto-wah using an LFO ( https://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=124587.0 ).  I suspect that what 11-90-AN is asking about/for could be reasonably achieved by having two bandpass filters independently swept by independent LFOs.  The passbands, and their respective Q and range of sweep would need to be chosen wisely, and empirically.  While the LFOs would be unsynced, they would need to aim for comparable speeds, since one would not normally move one part of your vocal tract at a different rate than any other.  As well, there would be points in the sweep-cycle when it would, and wouldn't, sound like speech, as the passbands/formants achieve relationships similar to and different from what your throat normally does.

[Digital Larry]

Here's some very vocal sounding patches I came up half by accident with using SpinCAD (and some hand editing to increase the resonance of the filters).  They are, as Mark mentioned, two resonant filters sweeping in opposite directions.  Triggering with the guitar envelope makes for a very dynamic and interactive effect.  I'm almost surprised that people haven't formed entire ensembles based on this sound.

https://soundclick.com/r/s7roow
https://soundclick.com/r/s7rm8m

DL

[Mark Hammer]

I was reminded that the EHX Bass Balls pedal has two envelope-swept bandpass filters.  There are times when it sounds vaguely voice-like.  The trim-pots it uses to tune the bandpass filters can be set to stagger the filters farther apart or closer together.  They also partly set the width of sweep in response to the rectified envelope.  I imagine some interesting and vaguely voice-like sounds might be obtained by sweeping the lower filter with an LFO, while maintaining the envelope-driven sweep of the upper filter.  I will note that, when the attack time is kept very short (e.g., reducing the 100R resistor to 47 or even 22R), the filter will seem to only sweep downward, because the fall time is so long, relative to the rise time.  That's an advantage in attempting to mimic voice, and especially since we want to be able to have a more responsive upper formant, as the lower one moves around.

Rich/kipper4, haven't you dickered around with something along these lines, or am I only imagining it?

[bluebunny]

If it's got anything to do with envelopes, then that'll be Rich.  I hear the Royal Mail is one of his projects.   

[11-90-an]

the fact that talkboxes seem to "blend" the human voice and the guitar, gave me the idea to substitute the human voice for a preset fart recording, for example, set on a loop. So when you play the guitar, the sound of the fart wil be blended in with the guitar sound.

[11-90-an]

Not sure if this pedal would be useful, just curious haha

[Digital Larry]

I'm pretty sure that Alexander Graham Bell, just prior to spilling the acid and saying "I need you Watson", had ripped a few good ones into the microphone for Watson's benefit, but that story got suppressed in favor of the one we all know today.  And so on with every recording medium.  I had a tape recorder as a kid.  Wow with double and half speed we were in hysterics for weeks at a time.  Fast forward to the early days of digital recording on a PC, there it was again!

[Mark Hammer]

I think the exact phrase was "Watson, come here quick.  I need you to pull my finger!"

[strungout]

Maybe OT but, all this talk about fart reminded me of a recent thought: the minute they invent tele-odor, I'm making prank fart-calls.

[ashcat_lt]

the fact that talkboxes seem to "blend" the human voice and the guitar...

Butt... (pun intended)

...they don't.  At least usually not.  I mean, I suppose you could sing at the same time and if you're loud enough compared to what comes out of the tube, you'd get some mix of the voice with the guitar.  I didn't really think that was particularly normal usage for a talkbox, though.  What you're actually getting is just the filter action of the resonant space changing around the sound source. 

I'm not sure a fart would work the same way.  You could jam a tube up there if you want, but most of us don't have a lot of control over the shape of that space or its aperature.  I did once experience a noise/performance "artist" who jammed a (small) microphone up there while they danced around.  They got some pretty interesting feedback that changed based on position.  Not exactly the same thing...

[pinkjimiphoton]

cof cof

talkalyzer

vocalizer

diphtongizer

talking pedal

there's been quite a few....

[r080]

I am pretty sure this is not what the OP is looking for. As far as I understand, you don't need to talk or sing for a talkbox to affect the sound of your guitar. It is a speaker directed into your mouth, then you put your mouth by a microphone. If you had a talkbox directed into some other resonant cavity with a way to change the size/shape of the cavity using your foot (or some other muscle), it seems like you would be halfway there.

[11-90-an]

I am pretty sure this is not what the OP is looking for. As far as I understand, you don't need to talk or sing for a talkbox to affect the sound of your guitar. It is a speaker directed into your mouth, then you put your mouth by a microphone.

Ahhh... Looks like what I thought a talkbox is is wrong .
Thanks anyway, guys, I was able to still learn new things (And I think some of you could say the same )

[Mark Hammer]

It sure looks like the user is talking, and in some respects actually talking helps to form one's mouth cavity in the appropriate way, but yes, no talking is actually required, just the mouth cavity.

That said, it takes considerable practice to make such devices sound vaguely voice-like.  For gigging purposes, the requirement for a voice mic risks feedback on smaller stages.  I have  Danelectro Free Speech pedal, which crowds a pair of small electret capsules at the mouth-tube entrance, making it easier to block any extraneous sound from being picked up.