SETUP
©2013-2022 Vito Biliti @vbiliti
POCKET TALKBOX USER'S GUIDE
Current version 2.0.5
BEGINNIERS GUIDE
To understand the basics of talkboxing, please first see
the TUTORIAL:
Skip ahead to DEVICE SETUP
HOW TO MAKE THE NOTES ‘TALK’
DO NOT SING into it like a microphone- that is not
how a talk box works.
Point the speaker directly into your mouth. Be sure to clean your device first.
When you play the notes, the speaker should be sending the
sound waves straight into your mouth. The
shape of your mouth creates
the effect,
not your voice.
Shape your mouth to different sounds and practice basic
vowels at first. Try giving the notes a wah-wah effect.
Hard consonants will take time to
master, and eventually full words, phrases, then of course, lyrics.
You should still breathe like you are really singing, just
don't actually say anything.
The sound from the phone
replaces
your real voice. Whispering is allowed if that helps.
All musical instruments require a certain amount of
practice, and this is no exception. Spend some time with it.
SETUP
Pocket Talkbox comes ready-to-go for most iPhone and newer
Androids, set up like in the tutorial, with the main speaker being on the
foot of the phone. Using this speaker will produce the best talking effect and
allow you to see the keyboard while you play.
If your device allows, disable accidental edge swipes.
On iPhone, do this by turning on
Guided Access.
From now on you can lock into any app with a triple tap of the power /
home button. On Android, see
Screen Pinning.
Some devices, require a more creative setup and for
that you have the SPEAKER menu. Please set the sound to only whichever
speaker you will be pointing into your mouth.
If you are left-handed, or depending on where your speaker
is located, you may want to use the FLIP setting to change the orientation of
the notes.
Note: The save button
works, but is pointless as the system now auto-saves when you exit each menu.
The back button is also redundant as you can tap anywhere on most screens
to exit.
INTERFACE
The top row of keys controls PITCH BEND (left)
and OCTAVE SHIFT (right).
The typical keyboard layout has dark blue as the lowest
note and light blue as highest.
Dark blue is not always the root of the scale, though.
VIBRATO - Slide to the edge of the screen to make
the pitch ‘wobble.’
Access the SETTINGS MENU with a tap of the 3
lines at the bottom of the screen. If your speaker is also on this side, you can
move this button to the other side in CONTROLS.
More controls coming soon!
OCTAVE KEYS
Hold down an octave key (up / down buttons on right) to
instantly shift all pitches 12 semi-tones higher or lower.
When you release the key, the octave will return to normal.
With this, you have 24 notes instead of just 8.
A 32-note expansion is planned for a future update.
PITCH BEND
While playing a note, press the up / down buttons to bend
the pitch up or down to the next note in the scale.
The speed of the bend is adjustable in the settings menu.
VIBRATO
To activate vibrato, slide your finger to the edge of the
screen while playing. In the
settings menu, you can adjust the speed and depth of the sound, but please note
that some devices produce unexpected results at high settings in the current
version 2.0.5. It is recommended to
keep these sliders at 50% or less for now and I’ll be revising this for a future
update.
TONES
CLASSIC – The default SAWTOOTH wave, for clear, funky
speech in the style of Daft Punk robo-voice.
SMOOTH – For the classic Zapp sound, 24K Magic.
VOICE – An airy breath effect.
GTAR – For a Bon Jovi electric guitar talkbox sound.
*More tones planned for future updates.
SCALES
CUSTOM – Allows you to program and save your own scales,
making up to 8 user presets. For
editing instructions see CUSTOM SCALES.
MAJOR -
Do-Re-Mi-Fa-So-La-Ti-Do.
MINOR – Harmonic Minor 1-2-b3-4-5-b6-7-8.
BLUES – A traditional blues scale – 1-b3-4-#4-5-b7-8.
BLUE2 - A more
practical blues scale. See it in action in the
Blinding Lights and
Papa Was a Rolling Stone videos.
CALI – This scale is
set to the chorus of 2PAC's
California Love.
See the full
California Love Tutorial with
notes on screen. To music theory
people, this is a PHRYGIAN Scale!
Full scale modes and
more song presets planned for future.
CUSTOM
SCALES
EDIT – When you first select the custom scale, you have the
option to edit the notes. Tap or hold the up / down arrows to change each
individual note. Please note that
the transpose slider cannot be applied here (yet), but the octave switch
functions as normal.
SAVE – Select which slot to overwrite and rename.
Use the onscreen keyboard to rename your presets.
To exit the save screen without saving, tap to the right of EXIT.
LOAD – Replace the current setup with a previously saved
custom scale.
MONO / POLY
·
MONO: This mode allows only one note to be played at a time. It supports
hammer-ons and pull-offs and plays like a typical talkbox synth.
·
POLY:
This
mode allows multiple notes to be played at the same time. Use it for chords and
to emulate a vocoder sound.
Other
settings include:
- DARK (a screen filter to cut the brightness by an extra 50%).
- TRANSPOSE to globally change the OCTAVE and KEY (raise or lower the pitch of ALL notes).
- FACTORY RESET (restore all settings and presets to original state). WARNING - this erases everything including speaker setup and custom scales!
FUTURE UPDATES
Pocket Talkbox is always in a state of development, and there is a list of features and improvements planned for 2.1 and beyond.
-
Customizable controls with the option to swap out
a pitch bend or octave key for other functions, such as:
o Sharp / flat key
o
Double octave key
-
MORE TONES – and the return of 3RDS
-
MORE SCALE and song PRESETS
-
CUSTOM set note 9 and 0 for Pitch Bending
-
To allow full transposing of CUSTOM scales
KNOWN BUGS
As this app is always being improved, there is a list of known bugs and glitches to be worked out. Please don't hesitate to report any unusual activity:
- iPhone muted 2nd speaker still plays some sound even when audio is panned hard in system settings.
-
Vibrato settings past 50% can sound a little out
of control, especially on Android.
-
Back button on custom save screen is tap on right
instead of center where the text is.
-
Pressing the Pitch Bend down while already
pressing up produces an unusual bend.