Vocorder

An electronic device used to alter the voice. Typically used by talentless "musicians" to try and sound like they can sing.

Guy 1: "Have you heard any new songs by Akon or T-Pain?"

Guy 2: "Why should I bother? I can type lyrics into my Macintosh and have it sing just as well as they do."

Guy 1: "What is that supposed to mean?"

Guy 2: "It means anybody who can get a hold of a vocorder can sound good."

Vocorder by SeventySixtyThree April 4, 2009

vocoder 

A vocoder is a sound effect that can make a human voice sound synthetic. It is often used to speak like a robot, with a metallic and monotonous voice.
To put it simple: whenever you speak, your voice consists of two components. The first component is your basic voice type, produced by your vocal chords. It varies in pitch but remains nearly constant in type and is quite unique. That's why you can distinguish between persons when you hear their voices. The second component is how you modulate the basic voice. Modulation means that you dynamically amplify and attenuate frequencies. This is done by the mouth and tongue when you speak.

The benefit of doing this is, you can make the carrier speak or sing. As a side effect, the formant's voice type is absolutely irrelevant to the output so everybody (even those with an ugly voice) can create cool and futuristic samples.

If you want to hear good examples of it's usage, listen to a few songs from Zapp & Roger/Roger Troutman.

The group Zapp & Roger was known for producing funk music while using the vocoder. The popular song "More Bounce to the Ounce" has been sampled into many hip-hop artist's songs.

vocoder by Devin th' Dude August 3, 2005

vocoder 

n. Synthesized voice used in any form of music.

vocoder by Anonymous August 26, 2003