Skip to main content
Music Radar MusicRadar The No.1 website for musicians
Sign in
  • View Profile
  • Sign out
  • Guitar Amps
  • Plugin Week 25
  • Guitar Pedals
  • Synths
  • Guitars
  • Artist news
  • Keyboards & Pianos
  • Controllers
  • Software & Apps
  • Drums
  • More
    • Recording
    • DJ Gear
    • Acoustic Guitars
    • Bass Guitars
    • Tech
    • Tutorials
    • Reviews
    • Buying Guides
    • About Us
More
  • Plugin Week A-Z
  • You Oughta Know
  • Fake AI band
  • 95k+ free music samples
  • Wrecking Crew
Recommended reading
API
Plugins Our pick of the very best VCA compressor software emulation plugins for any music project
Pluginweek logo
Plugins Plugin Week 2025: Exhibitor A-Z
waves free plguins
Tech Waves makes 7 plugins available for free, including convolution reverb, FM synth and tube saturator
Plugins Future owns
Plugins Our resident platinum award-winning mixer and producer shares 10 of his go-to plugins
Plugins Future owns
Plugins Our resident platinum award-winning mixer and producer shares 10 of his go-to plugins
Odin 2
Synths Fantastic (free) plugins and how to use them: The Wave Warden Odin 2
plugins
Tech "It's a stupendously powerful tool": 10 of the best sampler plugins in 2025
  1. Tech
  2. Software & Apps
  3. Plugins

7 great vocoder plug-ins

Tuition
By Computer Music ( Computer Music ) published 15 November 2011

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

I. Am. A. Robot.

I. Am. A. Robot.

Vocoders have been popping up in music production since the early 1970s, and every now and then they make a comeback (hands up, Daft Punk fans).

But for every over-indulgent, funktastic outing (Herbie Hancock’s late 70s o­fferings are a particular guilty pleasure of the crew), there are hundreds of users out there sneaking snatches of vocoded vocals (and more) into their tracks. Like Auto-Tune, the e­ffect has become a mainstay of music production.

But before we go hunting, what are we actually talking about here? In essence, a vocoder is a device that uses multiband ­filtering to take the ‘response’ of one sound (the modulator) and give it the character of another (the carrier).

The modulator is typically a voice or percussive instrument and, although the carrier signal can be anything you like, a synthesiser gives the classic vocoded ‘talking synth’ or robot voice sound. Plug-ins tend to have built-in sound generation (ie, a basic synth) but often can process external carriers too.

All of the vocoders in our round-up are dual-platform, except Vocodex (PC-only) and OrangeVocoder (Mac-only). Let’s find out a little bit more about them.

NEXT: SoniVox Vocalizer

Page 1 of 8
Page 1 of 8
SoniVox Vocalizer

SoniVox Vocalizer

Delivers both traditional vocoder effects and more creative sounds in an easily playable format.

Find out more about SoniVox Vocalizer

Page 2 of 8
Page 2 of 8
Eiosis ELS Vocoder

Eiosis ELS Vocoder

Based on the EMS 5000, this is a feature-rich vocoder with multiple analogue-influenced filter bank configurations. It can also handle two stereo sidechains.

Read Eiosis ELS Vocoder review

Page 3 of 8
Page 3 of 8
VirSyn Matrix

VirSyn Matrix

Includes very fast envelope followers for accurate resynthesis and an optional VSM filter module based on Sennheiser’s classic 201 Vocoder.

Read VirSyn Matrix review

Page 4 of 8
Page 4 of 8
Sonic Charge Bitspeek

Sonic Charge Bitspeek

A wildcard entry, this one isn’t a vocoder, strictly speaking. However, if it’s robot voices you’re after, Bitspeek simply has to be considered, hence its inclusion.

Read Sonic Charge Bitspeek review

Page 5 of 8
Page 5 of 8
Sugar Bytes Robotronic

Sugar Bytes Robotronic

Crams loads of features into a tiny frame, including formant shift, EQ, compressor, multieffects and even a sample player. A standalone version is included too.

Find out more about Sugar Bytes Robotronic

Page 6 of 8
Page 6 of 8
Prosoniq OrangeVocoder

Prosoniq OrangeVocoder

A plug-in that’s been around forever, it seems - this is the 10th Anniversary edition. Easy to use, flexible and great-sounding, it delivers instant gratification.

Find out more about Prosoniq OrangeVocoder

Page 7 of 8
Page 7 of 8
Image-Line Vocodex

Image-Line Vocodex

Offers many options including doubling, band unison and an output limiter. The real gem, though, is the option to use anything from 5 to 100 bands.

Find out more about Image-Line Vocodex

Liked this? Now read: 96 vocal tips

Connect with MusicRadar: via Twitter, Facebook and YouTube

Page 8 of 8
Page 8 of 8
Computer Music
Computer Music
Social Links Navigation

Computer Music magazine is the world’s best selling publication dedicated solely to making great music with your Mac or PC computer. Each issue it brings its lucky readers the best in cutting-edge tutorials, need-to-know, expert software reviews and even all the tools you actually need to make great music today, courtesy of our legendary CM Plugin Suite.

Read more
API
Our pick of the very best VCA compressor software emulation plugins for any music project
Pluginweek logo
Plugin Week 2025: Exhibitor A-Z
waves free plguins
Waves makes 7 plugins available for free, including convolution reverb, FM synth and tube saturator
Plugins Future owns
Our resident platinum award-winning mixer and producer shares 10 of his go-to plugins
Plugins Future owns
Our resident platinum award-winning mixer and producer shares 10 of his go-to plugins
Odin 2
Fantastic (free) plugins and how to use them: The Wave Warden Odin 2
Latest in Plugins
caelum audio
"If your singing sounds like a dying cat, this finally kills the cat": This hilariously bad mic modelling plugin is free for International Joke Day
Pluginweek logo
Plugin Week 2025: Exhibitor A-Z
gregg lehrman
Output's AI-powered Co-Producer plugin chooses samples for you, but is it streamlining workflows or outsourcing creativity to AI?
plugins
"It's a stupendously powerful tool": 10 of the best sampler plugins in 2025
bloom kshmr
Excite Audio and KSHMR team up for South Asian-inspired software instrument based on authentic recordings
A guitar VST running in Kontakt player on a computer
Best guitar VSTs 2025: Get the best simulated guitar tones for your next production
Latest in Tuition
Odin 2
Fantastic (free) plugins and how to use them: The Wave Warden Odin 2
ableton
8 things you can do with Ableton Live's updated Auto Filter device
mixing desk
“Learning how to mix is almost as important as hitting on your original musical idea”: New to the mixing process? Start here
Best VST synths
Don't know where to start with virtual instruments? We're here to help
Guitarists
How to record virtual and live instruments more smoothly by taking stock of your sample buffer
Compressor settings
The ultimate compression cheat sheet – go-to settings to help you make better music

MusicRadar is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

  • About Us
  • Contact Future's experts
  • Terms and conditions
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies policy
  • Advertise with us
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Careers

© Future Publishing Limited Quay House, The Ambury, Bath BA1 1UA. All rights reserved. England and Wales company registration number 2008885.

Please login or signup to comment

Please wait...