Hello Softube/Tom, after way longer trial, error and research than I'd like to admit: I finally found a way to control the notes the vocoder lets an audio play with a remote midi-track. Since there is no side-chain-option in the plugin - neither in Pro Tools nor in Ableton-, the only way I found to do it is to drop the Vocoder (Plugin) on the Audio-Track and route the midi directly to the Vocoder. I must admit, this strikes me as rather un-intuitive! For example the (free) TAL-Vocoder I'm "used to" enables me to do this with a sidechain-option, that also allows me to drop the plugin on a midi-track and side-chain the audio - with the exact same sonic result as doing it vice versa. Now obviously I wouldn't take the time to write a comment just to hate, because as is well known: Gerhard is a lover! I really like the sound and the tweakabilities the Softube Vocoder has (and the TAL lacks). I wouldn't be Gerhard, if I didn't "want it all".. so this is me, kindly asking to integrate a "sidechain" option for a more intuitive workflow in DAWs that are not Logic (where I know you have the side-chain-option eitherway). I would be delighted to add the Vocoder to my ever-growing collection of softube-plugins - all of which I use and cherish. I just feel in the current state it is not completely up to your standards, eventhough it sounds great! Please consider it and enjoy your weekend!
for Ableton users that can't get audio to play after turning off the transpose function (aka using chords from an external carrier). 1) the midi track needs to be empty as far as instruments go. Have your chords drawn in of course, but don't add any synths etc... because that will come from the vocoder itself on the audio track. 2) Have your midi track's output set to the audio track containing the vocoder plugin (transpose turned off). If you followed step one correctly, the 2nd dropdown menu below your output will mention Softube Vocoder as the specific output. NOTEL if your midi track has an instrument "blocking" it, the Vocoder WILL NOT APPEAR IN THE DROPDOWN output menu. 3) the vocoder audio track should not require any routing. Just your vocal's audio (or record enabled for real-time processing). Again, it should contain the Softube Vocoder with "transpose" and "midi bypass" OFF. I personally like that the vocoder has its own "generic" synth tone as finding the right carrier tone can be be challenging for some of us less experienced folks. Eg. a saw based synth behaving different than a square wave etc.... Obviously this comes at the expense of flexibility to incorporate your favorite synth textures etc for which I recommend a different vocoder. UAD should make a video explaining this explicitly because I wasted hours on this while the product is not bad. Cheers!
Works fine in cubase. Use the vocoder as an Insert on any audio or instrument track, then create a separate MIDI track and route that to the vocoder. 👍🏻
