I owned a MAM VF-11, a A-129 System and a Roland SVC-325. I sold them
all, and own now an Electrix WarpFactory, a Alesis Metavox and the
NordModular. All three are digital
I have to say: for any standard voice orientated vocoding, I would use
always a digital vocoder. They sound not only way better. No, they are
miles ahead. What the Electrix does is incredible. Price on ebay is
between 170 and 230 Euros.
If I would want an analogue vocoder again, then only because digital
vocoders have a timelag, which annoys if you use percussive sounds for
the modulator.
The other argument for an analogue vocoder would be its patchability. I
really appreciated the A-129-2 as VC filterbank. Also the 129-1 as
frequency selective envelope follower is nice, but a A-119 with a
multimode filter does usually a better job.
But I always missed other features on the A-129 system. For instance I
do find the fixed centerfrequencies of the filterbands as very limiting.
They are trimmed to hit the typical resonance frequencies of vocals. And
even worse: they are trimmed to hit the typical resonance frequencies of
german vocals. I once wanted to use the voice of a turkish speaker, but
turkish vocals are much darker than german ones. The vocoding with the
A-129 was disappointing. I don't blame Dieter for it, but it is
something that should be kept in mind, if someone designs a new vocoder.
What I would want is a vocoder with VC-Bandpasses in the analysis and
synthesis section. The center frequency of each band should be
adjustable in a certain range, it should be possible to shift the center
frequencies of the whole bank and also one could adjust the spread of
the bands. Also I'd like to have the resonance adjustable.
So I doubt that a "simple vocoder" on analog basis does make sense. The
recent three auctions for an Alesis Metavox here were between 45 and 109
Euros (and the Metavox sounds at a least as good as the MAM or a Korg
VC10). Beat that price with analogue gear.
If someone ever will build an analog vocoder, then it should be more
sophisticated than the A-129.
Just my 2cts.
Florian