Electro-Harmonix V256 Vocoder

Name: Electro-Harmonix V256 Vocoder
Brand: Electro-Harmonix
Rating: 4 (9 reviews)

Vocoder Pedal with Phantom-powered XLR Input, "Reflex Tune" for Pitch Correction, and Vocoder Band Adjustment from 8-256 Bands

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Item ID: Vocoder

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Electro-Harmonix V256 Vocoder

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Take the Stage with Vocoding and Pitch Shifting

The V256 Vocoder from Electro-Harmonix gives you up to 256 bands of vocoding — and a whole lot more! Plug your instrument and mic into the inputs, connect to your amp or mixer, and you're ready to go. The V256 Vocoder sports three robotic voices and gender-bending male and female emphasis adjustment on top of the vocoding, adding even more flavor to your vocal sound. But the fun doesn't stop there, as you have the popular pitch-corrected sound at your feet in a live or studio situation, with the V256 Vocoder.

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How to Get the Most Out of Vocoders

Jan 24, 2020

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Tech Specs

Effects: 3 x Robotic Voices, Gender Bender, Transposition, Reflex Tune
MIDI I/O: In
Power Source: 9V DC power supply (included)
Power Usage: 200mA
Height: 2.5"
Width: 4.75"
Depth: 5.75"
Weight: 2 lbs.
Manufacturer Part Number: V256

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Reviews

3.8

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Picked this up because I've always wanted a vocoder and somehow convinced myself I didn't need another synth. Tons of options. Fairly intuitive but definitely need to check out the manual to get the most of it. Auto tune has more control than my MPC. The other fun thing I've been doing is force pitch correcting instruments instead of voice using and Xlr to 1/4 adapter. I make a lot of weird stuff and this is great to have in my toolbox.

This thing sounds amazing once you get it dialed in properly. I've owned rack-mounted vocoders before by Roland and MAM, and the V256 can hold its own even though it is not a vintage analog machine. I highly recommend reading the manual and watching some instructional videos, because some of the features are not obvious by just looking at the front panel.

Some of the other reviews complain about pitch "tracking", which takes your instrument Input and tries to discern the pitch in order to play the built-in synth voices in this pedal. While that can be a neat trick, it is not really what a vocoder does. All those features are "extra" in the V256 as far as I'm concerned, even though a lot of front panel space is devoted to those tricks.

A true vocoder lets you take the actual AUDIO from both inputs, Instrument (Carrier) and Microphone (Modulator), and thrn a bank of filters will imprint the Modulator's sound on to the Carrier. The V256 lets you do this, but the settings might not be immediately obvious - that's where the manual comes in handy. You need to have the program set to one of the "Vox-Robo" options, and also set the PITCH knob to either zero or max (fully clockwise or counter-clockwise). Only then will the Input's audio signal be used as the Carrier. This is the mode I use most on the pedal, by far.

The MIDI input is great as a backup option if you have a MIDI keyboard, but don't want to use the audio input. You are then playing (and limited to) the internal built-in synth sound. The final option is to plug in a guitar at the input and let the pedal attempt to track pitch. This would be the method I use least, as it is not nearly as reliable. To get the best results I recommend using it as a true vocoder, as mentioned above. But that means you need to supply the audio signal, be it a synth pad, guitar chords, whatever. Experimentation with different Input signals can offer some nice surprises.

Drawbacks: Mic input only has a Hi/Lo level switch. A knob would have been much better to help get proper mic levels. You can leave it in the Low position and plug in an external mic preamp if you want to have better level control, just make sure to leave Phantom Power turned off if you use it that way. Despite being a little difficult to use and dial in properly, this pedal still gets 5 stars from me. It's very convenient to have a great sounding vocoder in pedal form, since I got rid of all my rack year several years ago.

I got this pedal on a whim, just to mess around with it and see what I could use it for. I'm SO GLAD I picked it up. This thing is incredibly fun to play with, but it's also extremely useful in the studio. I actually use it in my monitor mix, set to a mild reflex tune with the wet/dry set to about 50%. The result is that I can hear both my the note I'm singing, and the right note, and as a result, I can pull myself in tune much better. The vocals I've produced using this method are night-and-day better than what I was producing before. Oh, and did I mention it's also incredibly fun to mess around with? Totally worth the cash. Buy one and find out for yourself!

stellar.

I can't seem to get pitch correction to work. Other than that its pretty kewl

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What Do Our In-house Gear Experts Think?

Carson McClain

With the V256 Vocoder you do not have to provide the carrier signal from an instrument such as guitar or keyboard because it has a built-in synthesizer. So you can simply connect a mic and start vocoding. There is a pitch knob to change the pitch of the internal synth plus a tone control to change the timbre. There are also two different types of synths. In the Robo modes it's traditional analog synth sound, in the drone modes it is more of an organ sound. You can also play the internal synth with a MIDI-capable device!