Producer + DJ + Professional Rant Artist

Rocktron Banshee Talkbox

I recently picked up a rocktron banshee talkbox recently. It  has already delivered hours of fun.

What is a talkbox?

The concept of a talk box is pretty simple. It’s basically a speaker with a little hole in it that one sticks a tube into. The other end of the tube goes into your mouth.

Instead of your vocal chords making the tone, which is shaped by your mouth, the tube is where the sound comes out, which is then shaped by your mouth.

Tips

What sounds should I use?

The best sounds are harmonically rich – like thick saw waves, etc. I recommend using sounds that are monophonic with a little bit of portamento. There are a lot of youtube videos on people using it with the MicroKorg. Although I have a MicroKorg, I prefer to use it with the Virus.

Some recommend using a relative dry, non-effected sound. I think this is up to your taste, and of course how intelligible you want to sound. It also depends on the genre of music you produce.

Tube Size

The tube that comes with the Banshee was difficult for me to use. I found a tip that recommended a tube size of 1/2 OD (outer diameter) and 3/8 ID (inner diameter).

I also recommend a clear tube, and make sure you clean the tube regularly by rinsing it out. I do this prior to each session.

Connections

You want to go from an output – headphone, or L Mono (for example) into the Banshee input. Set the output knob higher (to taste) and use a little bit of Gain. You can play with this, of course.

Talkboxing

You’re not actually speaking words with your mouth. You’re mouthing them. Two techniques are to whisper or what works better (for me) is to hold my breath while “speaking”.

Recording

This took me a minute to understand… Since I do electronic music I pretty much plug cables into and out of things etc. and do very little recording with a microphone. To record a talkbox, one MUST use a microphone. When you’re jamming you can turn up the volume – I’m sure alone it would be great for a small space without further amplification…

However, if you want to record, then you have to get a mic. I started with a Shure SM-58, which I didn’t like so much (the omnidirectional-ness was annoying). I picked up a Shure SM-57 which is a popular monodirectional mic. I have yet to test it out – so I’ll come back to you on this at some point.