How to do the Dalek voice with a ring modulator. Enjoy!
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@LFOVCF6 ай бұрын
As you increase the frequency beyond the Dalek tone, you get the Cybermen twangy tone.
@tuftyindigo6 ай бұрын
though the original Cybermen effect was a voice box, which is a completely different tone and quite hard to voice-act with. If you don't have the real deal, a Mu-Tron gives a reasonable approximation.
@LFOVCF6 ай бұрын
@@tuftyindigo Just to clarify, my observation was more of the recent Cybermen, but I have no idea how that was done, i just heard the twang when Alex cranked up the frequency
@ReadAndReturn6 ай бұрын
"life in metal, looking like a kettle"
@AlexBallMusic6 ай бұрын
☕
@vinylarchaeologist6 ай бұрын
lyrics for the ages
@eancurtis93336 ай бұрын
Sick !
@entropybentwhistle6 ай бұрын
A dalek laughing at its own joke would be the ultimate galactic rarity.
@thromboid6 ай бұрын
Hilariously, some of the early Dalek voices were done by Roy Skelton, who amazingly also did Zippy from Rainbow. Adding a little bit of Zippy to a Dalek performance seems to give it the right amount of unhinged megalomania. :)
@thromboid6 ай бұрын
This of course gave rise to this gem: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/otN8YMydqqjKaJc.html
@thromboid6 ай бұрын
Also, please please please do a full version of "Dalek Girl"!
@LFOVCF6 ай бұрын
We need to hear Zippy's voice through this effect😂
@thromboid6 ай бұрын
@@LFOVCF Yes! That would be the true test of how similar they really are..
@midimoog6 ай бұрын
Thanks for the video. The Doctor Who TV was where I learnt the words Exterminate, Annihilate when I was a child. The Darlek voice was where I learnt how to use ring modulation. Both are important landmarks. Kind of.
@brentjeanneret6 ай бұрын
Missed opportunity to tebrand as "Daleks Ball"...! (And life in metal looking like a kettle line had me on the floor. God I needed that laugh. Thank you.)
@aleksamrkela8316 ай бұрын
Now, this is a great explanation of what ring modulation does. Simple and concise and, most of all, very fun. :D
@AlexBallMusic6 ай бұрын
THANK YOU HUMAN
@SamLowryDZ-0156 ай бұрын
It is well documented Ben Burt's main sound design tool is the 2600. The Radiophonic dept used what Brian Hodgson referred to as 'the Wobbulator'
@MusicEnthuZone6 ай бұрын
Wobbulator was a variable test tone generator. Totally different thing. There's lots of ring modulation devices that were in use at the time. VCS3 had one for instance. There's whatever Sabbath used for Paranoid.
@SamLowryDZ-0156 ай бұрын
@@MusicEnthuZone Unless they had a TARDIS of their own they wouldn't have had VCS3 in 1963 and Paranoid wasn't released until 1970
@JakesOnline6 ай бұрын
That Star Wars sound can be heard on a shortwave radio in single sideband mode (SSB) tuned slightly off center.
@oscar_charlie6 ай бұрын
I thought they used a detuned SSB radio to generate all the radio chatter. Now I'm not that convinced anymore.
@JakesOnline6 ай бұрын
@@oscar_charlie I assumed they did, because I recognized the sound. Just found this Ben Burtt interview. They did use a shortwave radio. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/idVgodCUzs-qeps.html @ 36 : 58
@sP33DyEd6 ай бұрын
Yes I would say also USB or LSB they used for it
@MathHammer6 ай бұрын
@@oscar_charlie Same! I suppose a ring modulator on a voice has a similar effect. My little Tecsun shortwave receiver has SSB filters with both LSB and USB.
@ringsystemmusic6 ай бұрын
Oh my god I need a full version of “Dalek Girl” asap!
@TDRKB6 ай бұрын
Ohh Alex. What a classic. Very useful information. Thanks for making my Friday morning in cloudy Sydney!
@AlexBallMusic6 ай бұрын
Cloudy with a chance of ring modulation.
@needfortweed87346 ай бұрын
Really fun that the voice in question was demonstrated, but it was also great fun to see the man, the myth, the legend, Alex Ball, goof about and improvise stuff.
@billyruss6 ай бұрын
Great fun! I love the ring modulator on the Yamaha CS-80 (and the 50 and 60). I had a CS-50 back in the day and spent hours getting Vangelis-like swoops and whistles playing with the ring mod. More recently. the YC range have incorporated a ring modulator that gives some surprisingly great effects - I managed a Vangelis "Beaubourg" tribute (on my channel) using just this.
@unclemick-synths6 ай бұрын
Ah Beaubourg - contractual obligation album or not? It does have a certain charm all of itself even if my landlady threatened me with eviction if I ever played it within her earshot!😂
@billyruss6 ай бұрын
@@unclemick-synths Apparently, Vangelis was disdainful of the album in later years but I've always loved it 🙂
@dinogoldie97166 ай бұрын
2:39 Mild ring mod sounds like Davros. 2:44 A little more sounds more Daleky. 2:48 Go even higher and that's the Cyberman voice.
@AlexBallMusic6 ай бұрын
Yes! Variations of the same effect.
@AutPen386 ай бұрын
I was reminded of the Zippy-like "aliens" in the old 'For mash, get Smash' adverts. What I'd completely forgotten was that Smash was made by Cadbury. Those robotic voices were quite different to the silky tones in the adverts for Flake and Caramel.
@greg_d6 ай бұрын
Wikipedia says the original (1963) Dalek voice was a "midrange boosted human voice" ring modulated by a 30 Hz. sine wave.
@cylobsonicresearch6 ай бұрын
The Conversation is another film with lots of hot ringmod action
@unclemick-synths6 ай бұрын
Great movie 👍
@JamesPhipps6 ай бұрын
Learning how to create the signal chains needed for the sound you’re looking for can be challenging, but having examples I know & love used as reference points really helps. Thanks!
@CORBARocks6 ай бұрын
Educates, Informs and Entertains!
@GNeuman6 ай бұрын
And the voice of Commander Powell in John Carpenter's first film, "Dark Star."
@colinmorgan67336 ай бұрын
I'm getting over a bout of the lurgy and that made me laugh out loud. Apart from coughing my internals externally that's a brilliant demonstration and description. :)
@Waldemar_la_Tendresse6 ай бұрын
“I am and always will be the optimist" that there will continue to be great content on this channel.
@oliviaartzmodular3596 ай бұрын
A ring modulator gives you the product, not the sum of the two signals. Fantastic video! As always
@AlexBallMusic6 ай бұрын
Thank you! I've got about a dozen explanations all saying sum and difference. Would you mind explaining "product" as I've not seen that anywhere. Would be good to know.
@hpoz2226 ай бұрын
@@AlexBallMusic a ring modulator multiplies one input by the amplitude of the other. The frequencies produced are indeed at the sum and difference of the frequencies of the two inputs but the process to get there is multiplicative
@the8bitdeity6 ай бұрын
@@hpoz222I believe in mathematical terms it's called a 4 quadrant multiplier, correct? Whereas AM is 2 Quadrant
@AlexBallMusic6 ай бұрын
@@hpoz222 Thank you. OK, so my explanation was correct, I just didn't get into the multiplication part, although I did show the MS-50 legend with 'A x B' written on it and thought about going into that but it felt like too much info. Perhaps I should have clarified. Edit - Just realised that that is what 'product' is referring to in the original comment - mathematical product meaning the result of multiplication. Ok, so we're all talking about the same thing. In hindsight it would have been better to have explained that rather than jumping to the result. I live and learn. Thanks for the comments.
@KarlAdamsAudio6 ай бұрын
The terminology around this can be quite confusing - in the RF world, a ring modulator circuit (and other kinds of multipliers) would be called a "mixer", in reference to its behaviour in the frequency domain. An entirely different concept to "mixer" in an audio context, where we're talking about summing signals, rather than multiplying them.
@peter-utrblk6 ай бұрын
Thank you for this proper lesson. At least i understood Ring Modulation🙂
@chriswareham6 ай бұрын
The blue on grey of the classic dalek is a dead ringer for the Boss DR-110 drum machine's colour scheme. A coincidence? I think not 😵💫
@SpikesStudio36 ай бұрын
When i engaged my beloved Penelope, i bought her and engagement ring and in return, she bought me an mf102 "Engagement Ring modulator". True story. 😁
@AlexBallMusic6 ай бұрын
True love.
@thelanavishnuorchestra6 ай бұрын
Thank you for explaining that. I've never used a ring modulator for that purpose, but now I'm going to have to give it a try.
@adastra1236 ай бұрын
Oh man , I am in bed with an absys in my tooth feeling sorry for my self ( kind of ). But that made me laugh so much I think it got the blood circulation going again giving a bit of relief. Great video , oh man that was funny.
@AlexBallMusic6 ай бұрын
Sounds like a visit from the Doctor was helpful. 😉
@mastercylinder19396 ай бұрын
Holding out for, “ The Daleks do Disco”.
@David_K_Booth6 ай бұрын
I was thinking about the MS50's VCA and ring modulator the other day, because of comments we exchanged recently: *if* they both work all the way down to DC, and *if* they are accurately linear, I reckon you will be able to use them to scale and multiply the pitch CVs out of an SQ10 and a keyboard. The output would give you correct pitch transposition of the sequence.
@AlexBallMusic6 ай бұрын
My, my. How would one set that up?
@David_K_Booth6 ай бұрын
@@AlexBallMusic I've had a look at an online manual for the MS50 now, and I need to point out that this won't work if you use the VCA that's got a low cut filter, because that won't pass DC voltages - use the one with no knobs. I sold my MS series kit fifteen years ago when I left the UK, and I'd forgotten there were two separate VCAs on the unit. I think it's going to be necessary to use the VCA to scale down the keyboard CV, because otherwise it might get large enough to drive the ring mod into clipping. First thing, connect the mod wheel of the MS20 or the voltage source of the MS50 to the control input of the VCA and the keyboard CV to the other, and patch the output to the meter. If you set the mod wheel / voltage source about half way up and play a key, does the meter show a steady output voltage or does it drift towards zero? Check this for both the VCA and the ring mod, and if both of them show a steady reading, things might work. It shouldn't matter which way round you plug them into the A and B inputs of the ring mod Second thing would be to check if the VCA is decently linear. Patch the mod wheel of the MS20 or the voltage source of the MS50 to the control input of the VCA and the keyboard to the other, and route the output to the oscillator pitch CV input. You should find that if you hold a key and adjust the mod wheel / voltage source, it will transpose the pitch. If you play octave jumps on the keyboard, does the oscillator jump octaves, or does it go out of tune? If it stays in tune, we're good: try the same thing with the ring mod. If both of them stay in tune, I would set up the patch as: Mod wheel or voltage source to the control input of the VCA, keyboard CV to the signal input of the VCA, output of the VCA to one input of the ring mod, pitch CV from the SQ10 to the other, output of the ring mod to the pitch CV of your oscillators. If you don't have the SQ10 at the moment, but do have a second MS series keyboard to hand, you can do a proof of concept by connecting the second keyboard in place of the sequencer. What I'm expecting is that both keyboards should track octaves correctly, and you should be able to use the control input of the VCA to adjust the overall tuning. So if you play a C on both keyboards, there will be a setting of the VCA that makes the oscillators play C. I hope this is reasonably clear. We can take this to email if you prefer.
@David_K_Booth6 ай бұрын
I forgot the meter on the MS50 had separate inputs for DC and AC - use the DC one.
@AlexBallMusic6 ай бұрын
@@David_K_Booth Awesome - thank you!
@David_K_Booth6 ай бұрын
@@AlexBallMusic It could go wrong at any point, but it's the best approach I can think of. This is why we ended up with linear 1v per octave as the de facto standard, not Korg's exponential tracking: you don't need to go through contortions like that in order to do something as simple as transposing from a keyboard. Let us know how it works out?
@keyboardkingpin6 ай бұрын
Hahaha great video Alex! We were all wondering how they did it! Dope video.
@jamesb85736 ай бұрын
But if we push the workers any harder they will die. Dalek: Only the weak will die!
@christopheroliver1486 ай бұрын
There have been a few comments about how (ignoring non-linearity) a ring modulator outputs the product of the carrier and modulator. To see this, we dig out the old high-school trig to get: sin(a)sin(b) = (cos(a-b)-cos(a+b))/2. I.e. ignoring phase, the sum of sine waves at the sum and difference of frequencies a and b. The effect is basically that for a wave with overtones, the resulting sine waves are no longer spaced harmonically. I got to play with some of this stuff when I contributed to an opensource software synth years ago.
@macronencer6 ай бұрын
Great to see you cover one of my very favourite devices. Every analogue synth should have one of these! It's the thing I most wish they'd included on the MatrixBrute. I also think it's important to tell people that what it's actually doing is multiplying the two waveforms together. I reckon that's just as important as talking about sums and differences, because it makes it easier to imagine what's actually going on. The link between the two is a bit trickier to explain, but anyone who's curious and not scared of a bit of maths can look it up: it's to do with trigonometric identities for sin(ax).sin(bx) making an expression that involves both sin((a+b)x) and sin((a-b)x). I think. It's been a while since I studied it!
@iNuchalHead6 ай бұрын
Timely and topical. I'm amazed.
@theniceorganization6 ай бұрын
The voice variable, famously, being provided (in the early days) by (among others) Captain Pugwash, Brains from Thunderbirds and Zippy from Rainbow. This is actually true.
@AlexBallMusic6 ай бұрын
I like to think that inside, Daleks look like Zippy.
@stephenswift98686 ай бұрын
“Everybody knows that, Bunglebones!”
@deanie5576 ай бұрын
I am a Dalek & I love Garlic! 😂
@echodelta96 ай бұрын
A late turn of the century windows app was an early text to speech converter, with careful misspelling and pitch options I had it say the most often heard order, advance... I have a copy of it around the program has long vanished. It sounds very good. The Outer Limits used the ring often starting with the first show early 60's.
@stereoroid6 ай бұрын
A Dalek once gave me some great skin care advice ... *EXFOLIATE*
@brettlemmings6 ай бұрын
yeh, ringmod is a very cool tool,. i use it all the time. great content Alex! 👍
@WoolwichHouseStudio6 ай бұрын
Cheers m'dear. Will be trying this out at my next team meeting. Just to freak 'em out.
@geertvanschlanger80576 ай бұрын
I like having my ring modulated. Yesh.
@MultiSkiez6 ай бұрын
Geert, how dare you sully the comments under Alex's video with your cheap innuendo! He is sure to be furious.
@GloveBunniesVideos6 ай бұрын
I always wished a Dalek would roll in and quip, "What's all this then?!?"
@SynthgodXXX6 ай бұрын
Perfection 👌
@jamisondonald3846 ай бұрын
Impressively authentic
@JoeJohnston-taskboy6 ай бұрын
Finally! A synth tip for my generation!
@klinkske6 ай бұрын
Sorry i only know the polished kettle, that says ‘by your command’. It scared me as a kid. I now love it 🤖
@NeuroPete6 ай бұрын
I think that is from the Cylons in Battlestar Galactica in the late 1970's. The technique used there was the Vocoder, where the human voice is used to modulate a synth carrier, such as a sawtooth wave.
@klinkske6 ай бұрын
yes vocoder, the question is, which one was it. There is a website about it somewhere :)@@NeuroPete
@NeuroPete6 ай бұрын
It was the EMS Vocoder 1000 using an ARP 2500 synth for the carrier, plus other analog gear adding color to the sound, such as EQ, compressor, tape machine and more. A KZfaqr called Supajc talked to someone who actually did the analog audio processing for the Cylon voice. He produced an excellent set of 7 videos detailing his research and demonstrating the sounds.
@HOLLASOUNDS6 ай бұрын
The windows app Goldwave has a opinion called robot which basically sounds like a Delek.
@supersteveworld6 ай бұрын
They also used a Ring Mod for the opening theme tune reboot in the Tom Baker era for the cool intro noise.
@MePeterNicholls6 ай бұрын
I’d love to know how to recreate that scream
@supersteveworld6 ай бұрын
@@MePeterNicholls there is a BBC Radiophonic Workshop video someplace on YT or used to be..showing how they did the theme remake with a CS80 and ARP Odyssey. It was good.
@MePeterNicholls6 ай бұрын
@@supersteveworld yeh. That screams not as good tho ;)
@furiobisotti81506 ай бұрын
As usual. Know how and fun. If only schools could be managed this way...
@streck04866 ай бұрын
Any other old gabber heads having a revelation about "I will have that power"? 😅
@Psychlist19726 ай бұрын
It always sounded to me like they used the higher-pitched ring modulator for the voice of the Cybermen as well.
@YotamPiano6 ай бұрын
Hahaha nice once ! Memories of my childhood watching Dr. Who.. I only watched the first 4 seasons and I was told they were the best ones. There's something else in this tutorial, it only works with a British accent xD
@Dolores50006 ай бұрын
It’s like instant Hawkwind and Dave Brock too!
@arcanics19716 ай бұрын
Oh come now, you cannot tease like that! You HAVE to record a cover of Dalek Girl now. Life is metal, looking like a kettle? DO IT. OR YOU WILL BE EXFOLATED. EXFOLIATE! EXFOLIATE!
@puppetsnob6 ай бұрын
Natash Beddingfeld has a nice Dalek song... "No one else can do it for you! No one else! No one else!"
@mixolydian20106 ай бұрын
Great fun ,cheers Alex
@final_mile_music97136 ай бұрын
I’m still scared of the Daleks. It started in 1974 for me.
@Rr0gu3_5uture6 ай бұрын
I remember years ago, my Dad howling with laughter at the new Moog MF-102 pedal I'd wasted my money on. For the next few days I was subjected to a constant barrage of 'ring' based Dad jokes.
@AlexBallMusic6 ай бұрын
All jokes are funnier through a ring mod. This is science.
@MatthewHarrold6 ай бұрын
I can do it with an epiglottis frig or whatever it is called. My 10-year-old son was impressed with my impression of Davros and you can get as technical as you like, but those fundamentals don't engage with a kid in grade 5. Otherwise ... very entertaining. On the Ball as always. $0.02
@TheSynthnut6 ай бұрын
Ah, I must find my Dalek relaxation tape for humans. Breath in....
@AlexBallMusic6 ай бұрын
YOU ARE FLOATING ON A CLOUD ALL IS TRANQUIL TRANQUIL! TRANQUIIIIILLL!!!
@Beorninki6 ай бұрын
Oh! I LOVE this episode. May the Daleks not exterminate Alex for a very long time and if they try, I hope he has a screwdriver with him. And a towel, as even the hitchhiker of Galaxy who travels with synthesizers naturally has.
@dillipphunbar79246 ай бұрын
Imagine a gathering consisting exclusively of Daleks and Vogons. "Worst party everrrr!"
@Beorninki6 ай бұрын
@@dillipphunbar7924 :D
@cds90004 ай бұрын
I just realized this is the same technique used to do some of the beetle voices in Spoilsbury Toast Boy. Weird. Maybe Alex is a beetle.
@skoog70916 ай бұрын
Finally a tutorial we want and need!
@johnnymidnight29826 ай бұрын
***SCANNER TO SYSTEM - I SEE THE REBEL BASE***
@SeverityOne6 ай бұрын
"...put your voice into it and experiment. Experiment! Experiment!"
@gaston-alegre-stotzer6 ай бұрын
Thanks for this video Dalex. 😮
@pthelo6 ай бұрын
OMG I'm a Dalek Girl was PURE WIN.
@dagobertkrikelin15876 ай бұрын
Meet me upstairs, Mr. Dalek.
@mudi2000a6 ай бұрын
Ex-ter-mi-nate!!!
@Kurzula51506 ай бұрын
"No, R2. I am your father."
@pedrogomis6 ай бұрын
Great. In my channel I have mine using AJH Synth modules.
@DaraM736 ай бұрын
Like this fun tutorial. How about Metal Mickey? He’s well dodgy, even more so than a robo-fascist.
@th3d3wd3r6 ай бұрын
Fucking mental video... loved it!
@JayKaufman4 ай бұрын
I have no known fears... I'm not scared of heights, tight spaces, crowds, bugs, etc... Other than Daleks. They scare the living bejebus out of me. As a kid growing up in the 1980s, Dr. Who would come on after Sesame Street or other kids shows and proceed to scare the crap out of me. To this day Daleks creep me the eff out!
@Psychlist19726 ай бұрын
This works so much better if you have an English accent :)
@flourfree2K6 ай бұрын
The Doepfer A-114 Dual Ring Modulator MULTIPLIES the two inputs. Curious, isn't it?
@peterstanchion31976 ай бұрын
I ate the jam sandwich.
@ramsaysg6 ай бұрын
great fun
@B1SCOOP6 ай бұрын
At brief moment at 2:48 you sound like Max Headroom who hacked Chicago TV in 87. Ironically they were airing a Dr Who episode exactly in that time. Same ring mode technique was also likely also used when voicing Helper robot from Venture Bros, but with different wave than pure sine.
@gingenie6 ай бұрын
I tried to use some tricks, sometimes it was very close to Nick Briggs' voice
@crunchyfrog5556 ай бұрын
After many years of wanting one, I recently bought a Behringer 2600. Can you guess what the first thing I did was to annoy the missus with?
@user-ec3tb9xe6p5 ай бұрын
Try moving the formant up a bit; or even the pitch. Sounds Dal-icious!
@mraduanemc6 ай бұрын
Leave it to Alex Ball to give an informative and entertaining demonstration of an ancient technique I previously assumed I had a perfectly good understanding of. Props.
@U20316 ай бұрын
Does this effect go in before the mic pre-amp I'm guessing? I'm thinking about making a pedal that does this and getting my mate to sing part of a song as a dalek at our next gig.
@echodub816 ай бұрын
Dude 😂 0:52 had me crying
@AudioPilz6 ай бұрын
I'm a Dalek Girl😂😂😂
@AlexBallMusic6 ай бұрын
You need to do Dalek Patreon shout outs.
@SomeMorganSomewhere5 ай бұрын
"I'm a dalek girl..." ended me ;)
@Reg-Edit6 ай бұрын
love it 🖐😂❤️
@DetroitMicroSound6 ай бұрын
😄 Super fun!
@mycosys6 ай бұрын
Does the MS-50 have a real ring mod? The thing marked as a ring mod on the MS20 is a logic gate iirc
@newenglisharchitecture10126 ай бұрын
Giving Nicholas Briggs a run for his money. Or behind his sofa.
@FatNorthernBigot6 ай бұрын
It almost sounds overdriven, too. Amp'ed
@mastercylinder19396 ай бұрын
Next, Metal Mickey...
@MePeterNicholls6 ай бұрын
You need to try less pitch variation except to the key words very deliberately
@iamyourfuture8086 ай бұрын
Bang on
@mikemnemonic3116 ай бұрын
@ 3:40 Me terrified. Job done
@rich_in_paradise6 ай бұрын
I was wondering when you'd do some Dr Who content. I've been watching the old Who (the true Who, I'd say) now that it's all on iPlayer. Most of the early '70s series with Jon Pertwee are scored entirely with synths of the era and it's a veritable bleep and shreak fest. When you get to Tom Baker they'd gone for more orchestral sounds (though not a full orchestra - got to think of the BBC budgets!).
@AlexBallMusic6 ай бұрын
I've seen very few of the very early ones. I'll have to have an iPlayer trawl.
@jokkemursula87316 ай бұрын
@@AlexBallMusicEvery season 8 (Jon Pertwee's second season) score was done electronically. After that it varied a bit but The Sea Devils has an extremely experimental electronic score by Malcolm Clarke. As mentioned, the small orchestra playing music composed by Dudley Simpson became the norm in the Tom Baker era. This changed in season 18 when John Nathan-Turner became producer and decided that the music should be done electronically by the Radiophonic Workshop. The early 80s scores mainly featured the CS-80, the mid 80s had A LOT of DX7 and occasionally the Elka Synthex and the late 80s stuff is more varied but generally features lots of samplers, the D-50, some DX7 and the M1. Keff McCulloch's work is about as 80s as you can get (the amount of orchestra hits is INSANE at times).
@unclemick-synths6 ай бұрын
@@AlexBallMusic the Autons were great in Jon Pertwee's debut. Definitely got me peeking round the sofa!
@electrosonicnebula6 ай бұрын
Ring mod should be outlawed. Now I know the enemy better.
@studiomofunic25036 ай бұрын
Can you also do that with an Odyssey? I tried it but I didn't get much out of it
@ednasdiscomachine60496 ай бұрын
4:17 - you mean Sonic Screwdriver.
@AlexBallMusic6 ай бұрын
Excellent.
@Taschenschieber6 ай бұрын
What's the three-stringed instrument in the background at 2:04?