Native Instruments The Mouth Vst
Is a mad, Reaktor-patching genius. What I love about his instruments is the emphasis on performance. THE FINGER put you at the helm of wild, keyboard-based effects. THE MOUTH continues the MIDI keyboard triggering, but focuses, as the name implies, on using your voice and microphone as the main input. See some of the effects in the goofy video below, but know this: a wide range of sonic mayhem is possible with this instrument. I got to spend some time with Tim in Berlin early in the summer as he was still building The Mouth, and it was great to watch his process. The patching interface in tools like Reaktor encourages experimentation, mashing together sonic bits Frankenstein-style, and he was still discovering new sounds.
In its final form, the tool does tonal and rhythmic processing of audio materials, with harmonization, separate “synth,” bass,” and “vocoder” sections, effects, matrices, editing, and performance controls. You can think of it as a way of playing a synth with a mic, as a vocoder, as a mouth-manipulated timbral generator – whatever you like. I also admire that Tim is merging interactive musical objects and performance tools, that he can build a tool to use himself onstage that also works as a way of delivering his musical ideas to others or could be a serious tool for someone else. Cost: US$79, and thanks to the new Reaktor platform, you don’t even need a copy of Reaktor to use it.
You can run it in the full Reaktor 5.5, or you can run with the free player. I’m playing more with The Mouth today, and hope to talk to Tim this week. Got some questions you’d like answered? Tim is also getting ready for a TED talk. Not sure what to think as I already bought this when it was called 'Vokator'which is now discontinued by NI (i.e. Won't run in modern os environment). First Mic Modeler, now this?
As I said, not sure what to think (and I have a voucher so it could be mine for $20!) but Vokator was far more comprehensive from what I saw in the 'Mouth' demo's and it was dropped 🙠x81 Now I am off to replace all the CD's that replaced my vinyl collection with flash drive versions (until the flash drive version is released on vinyl that is) 😀 To quote George W., 'Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twicewon't get fooled again'. Exile has certainly improved his programming chops. His first release, The Finger is damn amazing however with a heavy loaded live peformance patch (I use Audiomulch for live performance on a PC), think 7 or 8 complex instrument VST's running at the same time you can occassionaly get CPU spikes depending on snapshots. However the Mouth is extremly optimized and switching presents live for goofball effects shows no noticable glitches. The interface is straight forward and as fun as the promo video it really doesnt show off everything. I am using it to augment a homemade experimental synth by adding low-end and a talkbox effect to the buzz and crackle. The formant filtering is the best I have heard in any software (even Clavia Nord Modulars).
The mouth is definitely not a Vocoder or Autotune solution but it does some really intersting harmony/vocoder like FX. I would rather use the Mouth than say a low-end synth like a microKorg. I am quite a fan of the Finger, but am becoming less of a fan of NI and their customer treatment and as such I would recommend that anyone who has komplete not buy this product. Given NI's sales history it will most likely be included for free in the next Komplete update, and you will not be credited for its purchase. This has happened with NI and the Finger, as well as a couple of other Reaktor based instruments (like Massive).
The Mouth Vst
No offence meant to Tim, whose work I quite like. Its NI's policy emphasizing sales and new customers over existing customers that should change.
@zongo: I'm actually quite disappointed that Reaktor Player isn't going that route, just because I'd love to see what people make. (That's my own desire – I'm not responsible for NI's business!) But honestly, at this point, it seems that for really open development of music tools, we should just use open platforms. NI has chosen their route because they believe it makes sense for their business.
Since tools like Pd are open to commercial and proprietary development, maybe the right avenue is simply to improve those tools. Then you have alternatives that fit each model.
I'm guessing you've got Reaktor, at the very least the free Reaktor player? At it's simplest, just drop Reaktor FX into your audio track and load up The Mouth inside it.
You don't even need to send midi to it if you just want it to detect the notes from what you are singing. If you do want to send midi to use it more like a traditional vocoder, do as mholloway stated - just send a midi track to it and activate the keyboard mode. Mozzatron: imho it's a really cool gadget. I can get my singer to sing in a melody line and make it come out as a pure synth line. Good stuff for improv. Live 7.0.18 Axiom 61 Launchpad Homous Nanokontrol Saffire 6 Ibanez Jazzmaster Bass Biscuits.
1 audio track - set to input (for live mic use), or containing some vocal and also the reaktor+mouth. 2 or 3 midi tracks 1 with midi in from the audio track - containing the synth you want to drive from mouth, and monitor mode to set In. 1 more midi track with midi out set to the above midi track that contains the synth. You can use this to record and playing a midi keybioard to also drive the synth. 1 more midi track into which you can record clips you are playing, with its midi out set to the audio track containing mouth - this one lets you use mouth as a 'played' vocoder/synth. That should cover all likely options.
Native Instruments The Mouth Vst 2
Nothing to see here - move along!