Roland VP-330
VP-330 tech specs
- Released: 1979-1980[1]
- Price: £899[2]
- Company: Roland
- Types: Choir machine; string machine; vocoder
- Polyphony: Paraphonic
Released in 1979 by Roland, the VP-330 was basically three machines in one: a string machine, a choir machine, and a vocoder. It's great at all three tasks, though perhaps the electronic choir sound is its most interesting, as it seems to be unique in this regard.
Originally released in 1979,[3] it was slightly redesigned the next year[4], replacing the oldfashioned, organ style rocker switches with modern, colourful alternatives sporting LEDs, bringing it inline with some less interesting models, along with upcoming classics the Jupiter-8 and TR-808.
Quotes
There's the Roland JP-4, and Vocoder Plus VP-330, which I find fantastically useful — especially the vocoder, for treating other instruments. I'm not just interested in singing and playing into it, but like to feed in another synthesiser as the program source whilst putting pre-recorded voices from tape into the mic input. This enables me to build up multi-channel voices in advance — I did this in my vocal piece for Phoenix. First I recorded the singers on to the 4-track Teac and then fed the composite signal through a D.I. box into the mic input of the Vocoder. The keyboard is bypassed with an external source such as a noise output or complex wave shape from the Serge synthesiser, and you can get the most incredible sound colour mixes. It's something that I want to investigate further.
— Tim Souster, 1981[5]
I like to use it as a vocal effect that's hardly perceptible as a vocoder. I love the way it interacts with Karl's voice.
— Rick Smith, Underworld[6]
Notable users
- BT[7]
- Vince Clarke[1]
- Heaven 17[8]
- Man Machine[9]
- Meat Beat Manifesto[1]
- Michael Jackson[1]
- The Prodigy[10]
- Ryuichi Sakamoto[1]
- Mark Shreeve[1]
- Isao Tomita[11]
- Underworld (×3)[12][6]
- Vangelis[13]
Technical notes
The following frequencies are used by the device's 17 bandpass filters (10 for the vocoder, and a separate 7 for the choirs, with some overlap in frequencies):[14]
| Frequency | Vocoder | Upper female 4' | Upper male 8' | Lower male 4' | Lower male 8' |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 200 Hz | 1 | F1 | |||
| 230 Hz | F2 | F2 | |||
| 280 Hz | 2 | ||||
| 400 Hz | 3 | ||||
| 600 Hz | 4 | F3 | F3 | F3 | F3 |
| 900 Hz | 5 | F4 | F4 | F4 | F4 |
| 1,300 Hz | 6 | F5 | |||
| 2,000 Hz | 7 | ||||
| 2,800 Hz | 8 | F6 | F6 | F6 | |
| 3,300 Hz | F7 | ||||
| 4,000 Hz | 9 | ||||
| 6,000 Hz | 10 |
References
- The A-Z of Analogue Synthesisers, Part Two: N-Z Peter Forrest, 2003, ISBN 0-952437-73-2
- "Future Music" Future Music (Vendor), Electronics & Music Maker, Mar 1982
- "Roland catalogue volume 5" Roland, 1979
- "Roland catalogue" Roland, 1980
- "Tim Souster - Electronic Music Composer" Electronics & Music Maker, May 1981
- "Underworld Interview" Roland
- "Emotional Impact" Richard Buskin, Sound On Sound, Dec 2001
- "Fact File" Tony Bacon, Electronics & Music Maker, Mar 1982
- "Machine Head" Simon Trask, Music Technology, Jul 1991
- "Liam Howlett: The Prodigy & Firestarter" Paul Nagle, Sound On Sound, Sep 1996
- "Isao Tomita" Mike Beecher, Electronics & Music Maker, Feb 1983
- "Underworld: The Making of 'Everything, Everything'" Paul Tingen, Sound On Sound, Dec 2000
- "Vangelis: Recording at Nemo Studios" Richard Clewes, Sound On Sound, Nov 1997
- "VP-330 service notes" Roland, Sep 1979
External links
Retrospectives
- "Vocal Codes From The Underground" Nick Magnus, Music Technology, Feb 1992
Downloads
Documentation
- "VP-330 manual" Roland
- "VP-330 service notes" Roland, Sep 1979
- "VP-330 service notes" Roland, Oct 1980
String machines: Behringer VC340 | Roland VP-330
Vocoders: Behringer VC340 | Roland VP-330