VP-330 (analog speech synthesis)

[Mark Smart]

> Juergen wrote:
> 
> Tony Banks of Genesis did the same thing in 1980. The VP-330 choir
> can be heard on "Afterglow" off the "Three Sides Live" album, and
> vocoder effects on "Duchess" (off the same album). 

I checked this out a couple of days ago. It's used on "The Cage" medley,
too.

> 
> I really like the VP-330 choir, although it isn't nearly as dramatic
> as that of the Mellotron. And the analog filter bank sound shaping
> method is quite fascinating of course.
> 
> BTW, I seem to recall that the main internal differences between the
> two VP-330 versions were in the choir section. Does anyone know what
> those differences were? I've only got the service manual for the
> later version (the one with momentary LED buttons instead of rocker
> switches).
> 
> -joachim

In my search for info I found a note somewhere saying that the Mark I and
Mark II versions had different chorus circuits (the effect, not the group
of people singing). I think the note said the Mark I used Reticon chips and
the Mark II used Panasonic chips. My experiences with ARP Omni's leads me
to believe that the Reticon chips have a much better high end response at
the same clock speed than the Panasonic chips. Of course it's possible that
this is only true of an SAD512 vs. an MN3002. Dunno.

That and the different buttons are the only difference I've heard of so
far.



************************************************
*     Mark Smart                               *
*     Electronics Engineer                     *
*     NovaNET Learning, Inc.                   *
*     smart at medusa.nn.com                      *
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