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5. Make a computer sing with Plogue chipspeech

1 With the right plugins, you can make your computer sing, and one of the coolest options is Plogue’s chipspeech, which emulates a number of classic 80s voice synthesis chips – we’ll show you how to use it to add computerised singing to a spacey 80s groove. Load the backing track Space.wav in a 120BPM project in your DAW, and drop a D16 Group Frontier onto the master bus to get started.

2 Create a new MIDI instrument track and load chipspeech, then click where it says “All your base are belong to us” to type in these lyrics: “Space time traveler.” Don’t forget the full stop, as this prevents the word “traveler” looping back into “space”. Play your MIDI keyboard, and a new syllable is sung with each new nonlegato note. Now create a MIDI clip from bars 1-8, and program the rhythm shown on note D1, beginning at bar 2.

3 The timing is way off because, just like a real singer, it takes a short while for chipspeech to fully pronounce syllables. In addition, when a note is released, chipspeech begins making transitional vocal sounds in preparation for the next syllable. We need to do two things: move the notes earlier in time a little – a 16th note is a good starting point – and shorten them slightly. Do this by ear until it sounds right to you.

4 Copy the MIDI notes so it plays at bar 6 too. Click the Modulation tab and increase MW (CC1) to 3 o’clock, then Delay to 0.4s, so vibrato is gradually introduced during sustained notes. Try changing the Voice – when you’re done, set it to Lady Parsec HD, the most human-like. On the Controls panel, set Voice HF Sizzle to 17% for a less bright tone, and Stack Density to 10% for a pleasant chorusing effect.

5 Add Vengeance-Sound Philta CM, with a 48dB Highpass filter set to 150Hz, to kill any low-end artefacts, then a CM Verb with its Reverb Level at - 4.5dB, Reverb Time at just 0.16s and Low Cut at 240Hz, to add subtle space and thickness. To tame dynamics, load Xfer Records’ free OTT multiband compressor, with 50% Depth, 0% Upwd, -7dB Output, and M down to about 11 o’clock to balance the mids.

6 To hear what chipspeech can really do, load the MIDI file Space.mid so it starts on bar 12, then enter these lyrics into lines 01, 02 and 03 of the Words tab: “You’ve come so far.” “Travelling through space and time.” “Across the stars.” Set Phoneme Speed to 150% to increase the rate of pronunciation. Now try the various Voices again to hear drastically different interpretations of our cosmic melody!