The Ghetto Talk Box

After stumbling a cross a few tutorials on how to build a "Ghetto talk box" we decided to be sound rebels and build one. I guess the the guy in the hardware shop thought we where going to make either a bong or a bomb.

For you who are new to talk boxes, Its the sound effect processor that turns your voice in to a robotic voice (its slightly different from a vocoder in sound). Talk boxes can be heard in tracks such as "Around the World" with Daft Punk, "California Love" with 2pac or "needy girl" with Chromeo.

Well, the result turned out looking like a home made bomb more or less. And what about the sound? Well the volume is far to low, I guess that's what you get when you buy the shittiest, cheapest speakers you can find. And to be honest its bloody hard to make it sound like words.

Here is a first demo on how it sounds. Please, please and please again, please keep the following in mind.

I had to use headphones as microphone, holding them while crouching, having the plastic tube in my mouth singing recording and playing the melody with the other hand. And on top of that I'm pretty crap too, and the talk box is not quite state of the art either. But I think we can claim top marks for effort. And with a bit of practice you might here "Californa love" in the near future :)

Here is the first example: http://www.philipsportfolio.se/share/aroundtheworld.mp3
Its a bit embarrassing, but I owe you that one.

Cheers.