The latest classic hardware curio to get the XILS-Lab emulation treatment is the super rare Sennheiser VSM 201 vocoder from the 70s, famously used by Herbie Hancock, Kraftwerk, Daft Punk et al. X201 is based on two 20-band filterbanks, and includes an internal analogue-style synth for use as a carrier – although any external audio signal can be routed in for the same purpose. The ’Silence Bridging’ feature sees a multiband envelope follower used to modulate gain according to the harmonic content of the input signal; and onboard reverb, chorus, phaser and delay effects are the icing on the cake, giving the plugin a secondary role as a non-vocoding filterbank and multi-effects unit. X201 is out now, priced €149.
xils-lab.com