Eiosis ELS Vocoder review


  • €219
The Eiosis Els Vocoder is gloriously retro.

Our Verdict

There´s plenty to like about this unconventional and unexpected addition to the Eiosis product range. That said, it´s neither essential nor for the faint-hearted.




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The Eiosis Els Vocoder is gloriously retro.

The Eiosis Els Vocoder is gloriously retro.
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The pitch extractor module's advanced options.

The pitch extractor module's advanced options.




Audio enters the plug-in via a noise gate and then proceeds to the pitch extractor. Next to this you´ll find the oscillator section - comprising twin VCOs (plus related LFO and filter ‘circuitry´), this generates the pitched carrier signal. Notes can be controlled by MIDI, detected pitch or both. A noise generator produces ‘unpitched´ carrier information. How the input controls the various sections depends on the settings of the V/UV Detector. This separates those parts of the audio that are pitched from those that are unpitched (a bit like a de-esser).

There are many extra controls to alter how the input signal influences the spectrum of the synth section, including a ‘slew´ knob and a full matrix ‘plug-board´. This part of the plug-in is actually rather daunting, and the badly translated (temporary) manual isn´t much help. Finally, there´s a frequency shifter module (for modulation effects) that can be inserted at various points.

Eiosis´s plug-in sounds different to other software vocoders we´ve used, but in a good way. However, with just a few presets, it won´t provide instant gratification, and it eats CPU. Also, you can´t use other sound sources as the carrier or alter the number of vocoding bands. Eiosis say they´ll address these issues soon, though. The key to using this plug-in is to not think of it as a conventional vocoder, but as a sound design tool that´s capable of delivering very interesting results. Try it with drums, guitar, synth or whatever you fancy. It´s hardly a studio essential, but ELS Vocoder is great if you like to experiment. There really isn´t anything else quite like it.