Emagic's EVOC20 Vocoder to Ship in February

The EVOC20 package actually contains three new software products. Firstly, the Vocoder with up to 20 bands of filtering and advanced monophonic pitch tracking. Secondly, a Vocoder with a built-in polyphonic carrier sound engine, and thirdly a formant filterbank. All feature an elegant new graphical user interface.

The EVOC20 architecture was modelled after the finest analog vocoders, and allows the sonic characteristic of the analysis signal to be printed to the synthesis signal. The first unit monophonically tracks the pitch of incoming audio and delivers results which "sing". It is best suited to spoken or sung vocal phrases, but can deliver interesting results on any sonic material, particularly percussion.

The second unit accepts polyphonic MIDI input for control of its polyphonic sound source, and can be played, just like "classic" vocoders. Both units feature high and low knobs to determine the part of the signal to be examined.

On both units, Formant stretch and shift controls encompass a wider frequency range or can shift across it. Resonance controls the "sound" of the vocoder, ranging from soft and purring, through to vicious and snarling. A "freeze" function allows the sonic characteristic of the analysis signal to be captured.

The third unit is a formant filterbank. It features volume faders for each band, allowing levels to be set freely for unusual effects. It also allows control over filter bandwidth and range via the formant stretch and shift controls.

The EVOC20 runs under any program in the Logic series from Version 5 upwards and is copy-protected via the new XSKey.

New copy protection: the XSKey

The new XSKey -- Expandable System Key -- replaces all previous Emagic copy protections like dongles and CDs. This programmable hardware key for the USB port includes the license for Logic 5 and also temporary licenses for all Emagic software instruments: after the first start of Logic 5 users can try out all Emagic software instruments for one month without any restrictions in functionality. To get an unlimited license for the EVOC20 you just pay for a special XSKey code, which will then be sent to you via e-mail or mail.

Pricing and Availability

Please contact the local Emagic distributor for details of prices in each country.

US$ MSRP $179.00

The EVOC20 will be available in February 2002.