DigiTech Guitar Talker

After trying to trigger a electrix Vocoder with a Boss bass synth, this thing is a godsend.

No an electrix, but good......good enough for my to use live.....and with the built in pad no trigger is needed, which is even better....

In the stuido I will still use the electrix and a synth (Korg Poly 800)......

I don't touch anything but NUVO......all I use it for is robo-voice.

don't know yet, had it for a week.

N/A

For $200 bucks it has made my set up alot easier......less clutter and rack units on stage......easy to set up and use, tracks rather well......I'm happy with it. The Electrix sounds much nicer, and is more versitile, but Hard as hell to use live.

Basically, It does it's job, and does it rather well........

It was very easy to get a good sound out of this unit.Hook up options are first rate and the manual very well written.

I use a '77 Strat and an '89 Strat with a ProCo Ratt2.The Nuvo effect is the only one that clear and intelligable.They should have a built in distortion though for guitarists.I can nail ROGER TROUTMAN'S sound with little effort.

Now here's where I got serious beef.This thing gives a horrendous thump through your amp and the PA system when you step on the switch to turn it on after a few months.It is so loud it's louder than the band stage volume.I sent it back to DIGITECH and when I got it back same problem.They then told me to take it back to SAM ASH and exchange it which I did.Afew months later same problem.I called them up they had me send it back again,got it back and not only was the switch not fixed but it was really screwing up when I tried to use it.

They don't know how to repair this unit,and instead of admitting they don't they just discontinued it and I'm out of $350.00 dollars.I will never buy a DIGITECH product again,that was my first and last.

I would never buy this or any other DIGITECH product again.The least they could've done was prorated the time that I used it and it actually worked then refunded me some of my money back.And that's really sad because before the problem started it was one of my favorite effects.So I'm back to the talk box('77 E-H GOLDEN THROAT)and after 24 years all I've had to do to it was replace the foot switch.So much for technology.

it's pretty easy, except setting the mic level where the effect won't get set off by the stage volume of the band. flip side of it is that it's much less of a hassle than setting up a Heil sound talkbox.

well, it's really gated sounding, and sometimes clips you hard. on the other hand, the sounds are pretty fun. at first rehearsal for laughs our pop band started playing "man in the box" and we all nearly died laughing we were so fired up. I like that it's true bypass when off, very nice.

I give it an honest 7. I rate these things as I see them.

looks pretty sturdy. i would use it w/o backup as if I lost this effect I could do without it for the night.

they were very prompt about getting me info on a replacement power supply online, which i then ordered from somebody else for $7 cheaper.

I got this unit pretty cheap used, and I have to say for the money I've really enjoyed it. It's fun for shows, the audience takes note and I've gotten lots of questions from other musicians. for the most part, it's like an envelope filter controlled by your mouth. sometimes it's kind of cheesy, very frampton/ bonjovi/ domo arigato mister roboto. but sometimes cheesy is cool. If you can pick one up for between $125-150, I say why the hell not. some people spend twice that on wah-wahs these days.

Effect level output, Guitar level input and microphone input controls presents a challenge to no one.

As I'll discuss in great lenght before, THIS IS NOT A TALKBOX, THIS IS A VOCODER. Judged under fair parameters then, it's incredibly versatile as is, if it will be used with just your guitar and mounth, but lacks (big time) of features when compared to other vocoders (manily targeted at vocalists or keyboard players), every time in processors or keyboards (even pro software or plugins) with price tags of 1,000+. Then, under tis own terms, this one might be the best, sounding, simplest, cheapest vocoder ever (also capable of convincing talkbox simulations) and you can't afford to miss it!

No patch editing, no fancy manuals, no firmware neither revision of it and no possible upgrade, just plug in and enjoy!

I've been wondering why so many people have had so different reactions about this effect, and I guess I know the answer already.

Most of past reviewers regarded this effect as if it is a Talk Box (which is not) instead of a VOCODER (which it indeed is). From there, arguments stop.

If you compare this unit vis-a-vis other vocoders (which but the way are almost non-existing devoted to guitar players) this unit is, indeed: 1. Cheap (no decent vocoder could be bagged nowhere for under 450 bucks) 2. Quality sounding (ever tried a Korg VC1? or even the ultraexpensive Nord Lead?, then you know what I'm talking about...)

The Talker utilizes Advanced Vocal Synthesis Technology (physical modeling, as any vocoder) and its factory presets (fixed, thus no editing whatosever is possible)consist of: Classic Vocoder (NuVo), talkbox emulation (TalkVox), exclusive Digitech "talking wah" and two other pitch altered flavors (down distorted -TazMania- and up clean -Alien-). Completing the package, there's an "AutoTalk" program (as in many vocoders) which shall produce modest, if any, results with guitar input (as with many vocoders).

Obviously, when used as some sort of "talk box" replacement, the only programs that will satisfy you will be the talk box simulator and the linear vocoder. Hence, if the sound of Peter Frampton, Joe Walsh, Slash, Alice In Chains, Aerosmith and countless others is exactly what you're after, go buy a Jim Dunlop "Heil Sound" talkbox It's unsanitary, it's crude sounding, it can be set up with one guitar amp, but requires separate microphone and mic amp... but it's under 250 bucks!

Let's go a little bit deeper into this: A VOCODER is an electronic device with, roughly, two inputs, a electronic musical instrument that provides the basic sound and pitch, and a microhpone input for your voice that provides the vocal intonations. In simple terms, it adds the speech patterns of your voice to the sound being played. The sound/pitch is usually driven by a synthesizer, but can be guitar. DigiTech's Guitar Talker uses this type of technology. On the other hand, a TALK BOX is a guitar and amp driving a midrange horn driver with a tube attached to the diaphram instead of a horn shaped sound output fixture. The open end of the tube is placed in your mouth and the guitar sounds are shaped by your mouth as if you were talking. Some commercial examples of this kind of talk box are: the Heil Talk Box, Electro Harmonix Golden Throat, Rocktron Banshee, Electro-Harmonix Soul Kiss, Korg AX30G multieffector & Kustom Electronics' "The Bag". Knowing that, everything gets more clear, and be certain that you can find many more alternative uses to this vocoder than you will with a talkbox.

Moreover, the "talkbox" is the thing you've heard in Aerosmith's "Sweet Emotion"; Alice in Chains's "Man In The Box"; Jeff Beck's "She's A Woman"; Bon Jovi's "It's My Life" and "Livin' On A Prayer"; Eagles' "Those Shoes"; Foo Fighters' "Generator"; Peter Frampton's "Do You Feel Like We Do?" and "Show Me The Way"; Nazareth's "Hair of the Dog"; Rufus' "Tell Me Something Good"; Scorpions' "The Zoo"; Steely Dan's "Haitian Divorce"; Stillwater's "Mind Bender"; and the unforgettable Joe Walsh's "Rocky Mountain Way". The VOCODER is what you hear in all of Draft Punk, Giorgio Mororder, Beastie Boys and Styx's "Mr. Roboto". As you'll agree, vaguely similar is not the same...

The Talker it's completely self-contained, no speaker connections or pop filters are required. Even when this feature is also present in E-H Deluxe Golden Throat and Rocktron Banshee, is very much welcomed, since it reduces the mess and enhances the tone. The Talker sounds g.r.e.a.t with guitar and awesome with a synthesizer, and it's (added bonus) a convincing talkbox e

Regarded as a stomp pedal is rock solid. Considering that is a vocoder, is unbelievable rugged. Nothing less than a 10 will do (in addition is cool looking!).

No need to contact them, so never did.

This is an EXTREME effect. Like an H-Bomb, is so radical that you'll probably use it once in while, unless you want that your audience kill you in annoyance of you are Draft Punk or some other tecnodullroboticspeaking dude. Therefore, if you've got 300 bucks to spare (or even less) to get an H-Bomb, this is a sure shot. BTW, if you want a talkbox, go buy a Heil Box.

I've been playing for more than 20 years now, both as professional and amateur, and nowadays own more than 30 guitars and many, many effects from the 80's to date. If you?re planning purchase, please do not disregard this guitar as some sort of ?novelty? piece, since there's a world of experimentation ahead and there's no cheapest, better vocoder out there (with the only exception of Craig Anderton's kit). From there on, you'll agree that its price tag is appealing, and you?ll find it amusing and tasteful, regardless of style. Considered as a whole, pricing is justified and you?ll be having a ball.

If you?re interested in pictures, original wiring diagrams, parts debriefing or just further details, be welcomed to my homepage at HTTP://ELECTRICGUITAR.50MEGS.COM

How easy is it to get a good sound out of it?
The talker can produce authentic talkbox sounds, however to achieve the best sounds you need to have good quality pickups fitted to your guitar, otherwise it can sound very muddy. With quality pickups you can get a spectacular response from the talker (bon jovi/frampton etc). I give it a ten because it only has two switches and also you don't need to fit a silly looking tube like other voiceboxes/vocoders, you just talk into the mike. There are six preset patches which you can't edit and of all six only two of them are useable these are 'Nuvo' and 'Talkbox', Nuvo is the most intelligable patch, i'e you can hear every word and 'Talkbox' sounds like an old talkbox and does good take on living on a prayer.
The only downside to this unit is that you physically have to make a sound with your mouth so while you have to breath and the effect is only produced when you make a sound down the mike so the signal dies when you breath, however with practise it can be mastered.

My main guitar which i use with this is my strat plus deluxe (lace sensors) it makes this unit sing ( no pun intended ). Digitech recommend a distortion effect on your guitars signal before this unit (sounds best with a distorted guitar signal) and time based effets after it so i set it up as follows:
My guitar plugs straight into my Roc Pro 100 and in the fx loop i have, in order, talker, zoom 4040 (Me30 in 4040 Fx loop). This set up allows me to use the great distortion which my amp gives (via amp footswitch) and then selct the talker and bypass the 4040 as i never use an effect after the talker, there is no need but if i bypass the talker i can use the boss me30 and zoom 4040 as normal (i use the amp for distortion the effects boards are purely for delay chorus,etc. With my set up id give the talker a nine however with a lesser distortion pedal who knows?

I have used this effect for loads of gigs (with great audience reactions) and it has never broken down, after all its digitech and is encased in a steel chasis and has rubber feet to stop it from going skating. I don't have a bacup but this is a serious looking unit and i trust it.

Never had to deal with digitech

I play in a band which mostly plays rock and ballads and this pedal provides a great effect is used sparingly (don't over use it or the exclusiveness goes) i have owned many guitar effects and i'd say this is the most inspirational pedal i have evr owned it's irresistable to break into the it's my life riff and watch the whole band moan during rehersal. If it were stolen i would definately buy another. Well done digitech on another quality effects pedal. Take the dipp and buy it you wont be dissapointed, any questions or comments just email me

the unit is easy to use, its basically plug in and play. then when you have done that just go for it and see what happens.

with the exception of taz "devil voice" and auto talk the effects are grand, but when going through the rp7's distortion the effects sometimes sound over sensitive.

as with most of digitechs floor units i feel i could use it to hold my car up while i changed my tyres.

i have sent digitech a few emails and have had no reply as of yet andi will not be holding my breath for one either

i currently own an rp7, the talker and an old pds1550 "programmable distortion" all digitech, this is not an addiction to digitech, more like they effects had the sounds i wanted at the time.
as the talker is my first vocoder type effect i cant compare but the sounds from it are great and i would recommend it to someone wanting to acheive the vocoder style sounds.

How easy? I think I could teach a rhesus monkee to use it. THAT easy.

I'm running the Talker along with a Boss Distortion pedal(maxed out), and using an SM57 Shure mic, with LOTS of compression. I've stumbled across the fact that using a strong triangle wave gets me even more close to the Roger sound than a nice sawtooth. It still freaks me out. I've been looking for that sound for 8 years. Gets the Cher sound(w/Auto-Tune). Only the NuVo program for me. The others don't even matter.
The 10 rating is based on the Talker giving me what I need.

So far, so good

haven't needed it

I play mello-soul w/a radio friendly edge. There are elements of funk,classical, jazz, techno, etc. in my sound. The Talker is EXCACtly what I've been trying to get in a vocoder. Its The Bomb.

Very Easy to set-up. It's a no brainer. As a matter of fact the set-up makes the ussage of it easy. Instead of using a talkbox with a tube and an external amp. All you need is a Mic. The Mic goes directly into the unit. Not only is it easy to set-up, it's convienent.

What everyone else said is true. The only patches that sound decent are the NuVo, Talkbox, and Alien Patches. The best one out of all of them is the NuVo.

The Talkbox is the same as the NuVo, just EQ'd a little different and it has a little nuance to it. It sounds a little more muffled (not as clear) and the words sound a little different. It makes an attempt to mimmic a real talkbox. They do ok, but not that good.

The Alien is a little noisy. I would use it musically. I'd use it for a special FX for a play or something. It's OK.

The real beast is the NuVo. I do gospel music and I use it in church (all to the glory of God), and I have the Banshee talkbox too. So I tested it out. I taped the talkbox with the Banshee and compared it to the NuVo patch. Mind you, I'm using a keyboard not a guitar. The sound sounded better. The key to making it sound like Roger (Zapp) is tweaking the sound on your keyboard. To make it sound real I used a super Saw mono lead and I added a distortion effect to it. On this effect it has different options and I chose fuzz. Make the overall effect dry. The sound should sound almost like a motor engine (if you know what I mean). If you do this and play it throuhg the NuVo patch, it will sound just like a talkbox. In fact, it sounds better, because the words are understandable and clear. If you play the lead by it's it will sound very ugly. That's good. The more "fuzz" and the tighter the saw, the better.
*Don't use sine waves or squares. If you look at the wave pattern of a normal voice, it best mimics a saw wave. That's why the saw wave is the best to use. I fortunately have a Yamaha EX5 that has a portion of the VL1 on it, so my lead sounds very analog.
For that Vocoder effect; use a synth saw. Your synth saw should sound something like a buuuzzzzzzz or zzzzzzzz (if you know what I mean). This will sound very good when building fat chords. You sound kinda like an electronic Take 6. Still use the NuVo.
The key is to use your keyboard to get the sound you want out of it!

Never had a problem. It seems pretty durable. I'm not too sure about the electronics on the inside. You might fry something if you go in to it to0 hot from your synth

Never had to use them!!!

I play contemporary gospel, with a jazz/R&B/funk feel. I love this unit. I prefer this over my Banshee Talkbox, because it's clear and you can understand the words. Understanding the words is very crucial in Praise and Worship, because you want to exhort the people to praising God and not have the people sitting there wondering what in the world you are talking about.
The features are pretty good. You have various options: for different setups. I use a headset mic right into the unit with my EX5. If you don't have an additional channel out, you can use the same Phono out that you use for your keyboard. *Note: try to get a separate out, so you can EQ it like you want to. The NuVo and the Talkbox are the only ones I use. You have a bypass switch that you can hit with your foot to go from effect to keyboard. Pretty easy and convenient.

Other people had opinions on it, but my personal opinion is that this is the best on the market. If you can't get the sound out of it you desire; then just make the sound on your keyboard. Just like a talkbox, you have to make the right sound on your keyboard for it to work right. Even sin waves on a talkbox don't work as well. I talk to some guys and Roger uses a Yamaha DX7 and he uses some sort of super saw sound on his stuff.

Hope this helps

No magic buttons here... Very simple and straight forward controls.

The NuVo is great... All the other settings (except for bypass) are worthless. The noise gate is standard Digitech, pulling a Lorena Bobbitt on your signal... (CHOP! Sounds done!) I wish the noise gate would go away.

It's built of solid armour.

Hmm... Somewhere I read that this was the piece of equipment used in Cher's "Believe" and Kid Rock's "Only God Knows Why". I can't get my stuff to sound anywhere NEAR that. No one will seem to help me get it right. Anyone know???? Pleeeease????

It has yet to become one of those often used piece of equipment in my studio. All in all, neat product.

I would give it a ten but because of the different output levels of the presets you have to work something to get them equal

If you've never tried other vocoders/talkboxes you might think this is awesome but it just do o good job, it's too "clear" wich might be good if you want your words to be understanded clearly but I would have prefer a more dirty or "lo-fi" sound, in the "Nuvo" preset if you feed it with a non guitar or "sine-wave" like signal it just sound like if you were mixing them on a chepo mixer with almost no blending between the signals (especially with drum loop sounds); Of the 6 presets just "Talkbox" and "Alien" are the ones which are useful but "Alien" is the same as "Talkbox" with just a pitch shifter, the other presets are just unuseful and stupid, the noise gate wich activates the "Devilish" voice and the Auto Talk is set TOO HIGH just as Digitech usually does on it's procesors but this time you don't have a way to adjust it or disable it, it's just there!, the "Nuwah" preset it's just a BAD envelope follower, The "Hardwire" bypass is a GOOD point. I think the guy who payed +400 and give it a 10 on all of the categories is working for Digitech!

It looks very sturdy

I've e-mail them various times to make them comments about this pedal and possible upgrades for it but I've been ignored all the times, No replys yet!

I'm primarly a guitarist and I think It's good for live guitar perfomance but not for recording or other signal processing except for distorted and sine or square synth leads, the only preset that works it's the "Talkbox" 'cause "Alien" the other one which does it too it's the same just with a pitch shifter added, most of the multieffects today incorporate a pitch shifter and most of us have one in our rig, why do we have to pay for another one? it's pricey for just an usable sound, I think we will save more money if this were an "effect on/off" pedal only (just the "Talkbox" preset!), why they didn't use the white noise generator already built in to make a preset mixed with the guitar sound and not just with the voice? or, if they want to get serious into this vocoder stuff they at least should let you do some editing into this thing!, I bought mine without giving it a chech first 'cause I hadn't the chance to do it, (I just told a friend who travelled to the U.S. to bought it for me) and I thought it was cool 'cause of some comments I read in some magazine reviews, I live in Guadalajara, Mexico and here the music stores doesn't carry too much variety and new things (I've haven't seen one here yet after year and a half since I bought mine!, They doesn't even know it!), of course a dedicated vocoder will do a better job but this still has some nice features that a normal Talbox wont let you do and you doesn't have to put a plastic tube in your troath, I can sell it to you if you want it, just contact me.