KORG DVP-1 VOCODER - HELP NEED!

bananmelon · Post by **bananmelon** » Sun Jan 09, 2011 11:26 pm

Hi everyone.

I have an serious problem wth my DVP-1 Vocoder. I gave it to my nearest Korg service (in Poland) - i needed to change DVP from 110 to 230V. But something happend and instrument has lost his system memory (EPROM). Korg answered, that they don't have system to DVP, any of my friend or musicians whom i know never even heard about this vocoder, i think it is an only DVP in Poland. Please, help me - i don't know what to do! i heard, that it is possible to send this system file via mail - maybe one of You have DVP and know how to do it? Please, let me know - i need to fix it - i love this instrument!

Thanks

xmlguy · Post by **xmlguy** » Mon Jan 10, 2011 1:21 am

What does the DVP-1 do that you can't do with the vocoder on your Radias-R or MS2000?

The only way to get that EPROM back may be to pull the EPROM from an existing DVP-1, read it with an EPROM reader and burn a new one. I don't think anyone would be willing to pull the EPROM from their own DVP, because they could break it in the process, leaving them in the same situation as you. So your only option to fix it would be to buy another one and take that risk yourself. It will probably cost you much more than it's worth to do that. That's why I asked the first question above. You may be able to get the same sound from the Radias-R.

McHale · Post by **McHale** » Mon Jan 10, 2011 2:39 am

I think he means he lost all his patches. And the DVP-1 freaking rocks. It does a lot of stuff that nothing since can do.

I just happen to have a DVP-1 *WITH* the default patches loaded on it.

I'm pretty sure the patches can be loaded and saved via SYSEX. I've never had to do it but I'm sure there's a way to back up the patches.

Is that what you mean?

bananmelon · Post by **bananmelon** » Mon Jan 10, 2011 8:44 am

McHale wrote: Is that what you mean?

no! i don't lost my patches (i have sysex etc) i lost system. Guy from service says, that it is no such big problem wth copying system - he says that is easy and anyone can do it in 5 minutes.

and i'm shure that any vocoder can't do things like DVP. it sounds really weard. i think u never heard it in action if u asking.

and - my signature is not instruments i HAVE that moment - i had all of them. Now i have only m1, radias, triton, dvp-1(?) wavestation, prophecy, karma+exbmoss & esx-1. I wrote all of them so u can see that i can help wth all this instruments.

anyway, thanks for help, i waiting for some more!

ozy · Post by **ozy** » Mon Jan 10, 2011 2:20 pm

I have a DVP-1 in perfect working condition,

and another one I keep as a spare.

Have the service contact me by mail, in good English, with clear instructions, not expecting from me that I find a way by browsing on the net for hours, but leading me step by step,

and if it's possible I'll be glad to download/send you what you need.

message me in private to get my e-mail, it's not safe to post it on forums.

If they know how to use my spare DVP-1, I can think of selling it to you, or have the eprom extracted and send it to you.

Private message, again.

xmlguy wrote:What does the DVP-1 do that you can't do with the vocoder on your Radias-R or MS2000?

hilarious.

"What can the dvp-1 do"?

It can sound good, while the radias's vocoder sounds like the radias.

bananmelon · Post by **bananmelon** » Mon Jan 10, 2011 8:03 pm

man, thank you, im really glad to hear that! i'll ask guy from service about all, clear information, then i'll contact U.

man, thanks again

ps. maybe u know what vocoder has been used by Joe Zawinul after using DVP-1? i mean recordings from 1996-2004

thanks

xmlguy · Post by **xmlguy** » Mon Jan 10, 2011 8:11 pm

ozy wrote:
xmlguy wrote:What does the DVP-1 do that you can't do with the vocoder on your Radias-R or MS2000?
hilarious.

"What can the dvp-1 do"?

It can sound good, while the radias's vocoder sounds like the radias.

It was a question, not a statement.

I'm still waiting for someone to actually describe what it does that's different and good. I'm not saying it doesn't do something different or good by asking this question. I don't have one. I haven't heard one. I'm interested in good vocal effects. There isn't a lot of information I've found about this 24 year old gear.

ozy · Post by **ozy** » Tue Jan 11, 2011 1:25 pm

xmlguy wrote:I'm still waiting for someone to actually describe what it does that's different and good. I'm not saying it doesn't do something different or good by asking this question. I don't have one. I haven't heard one. I'm interested in good vocal effects. There isn't a lot of information I've found about this 24 year old gear.

I didn't mean to be harsh. I had answered, maybe in too short a way.

I'll explain, and you'll see that I was on the point.

the DVP-1 is a vocoder... er... is NOT a vocoder in the modern and complete meaning of the word.

It has NO audio in for the carrier, just audio in for the modulator,

and has very limited programming access to the filterbank.

It is indeed almost a "preset" vocoder.

It "vocodes" some internal waves [quasi-vocal waves, which some musicians used as solo voices! Awful, IMHO, but higly recognizable and indeed playable], some aahhh and ooohh and eeeehs,

applying to the the usual filter modulation following the inout voice.

the CONTRA are that: it has a limited range of tones, it is not suitable for use with a drum riff as modulator, and it's very limited for exoerimentation.

the PRO is... one: it is so little programmable because the filters are carefull and musically set at paramentes which nicely match the various internal waves.

The result is ALWAYS smooth and musical.

No matter how you fiddle with controls, no matter how much you scream in the mic, the output is consistent, sweet. Musical. The output is clear and powerful, when you get far from the micro you get less saturation and volume but no loss of definition.

It's a "less variations, more quality" tool.

You can experiment little, but if you are performance-oriented it's always ready to go.

On the contrary, a Radias or a K-station or the radias-M3 has a very programmable vocoder, very powerful, with plenty of tweakability, but if you start fidling with the filter bak you'll ear MANY unpleasant sounds until you get to a result.

If you count how many GOOD variations you can get from a radias in the end, and HOW MANY from a DVP-1,

the DVP-1 has as many as the Radias. On the radias you try 25000 and use 10, in the DVP-1 you try 11 and use 10.

To me, that's a compliment.

It's like some analogue synths which "can't do wrong".

No matter how you twist them, they may sound better or worse, but never screechy, never "bad".

There's almost no way of having a minimoog sound "cheap", right? Well, there's almost no way of having the DVP-1 sound "eeeechhh!".

Think of experimenting live (or of being focused on music not on "tech lust"): that's enormous value.

In addition, on the DVP-1 you can play

* directly the internal waves , for strange low-fi choirs

* or use it like an harmonizer (not the best I have ever seen, to be polite).

When the DVP-1 was NEW, the harmonizer was state-of-the art and the vocal "samples" were nice.

Today they are laughable.

What remains is the men-hours spent by somebody who programmed the vocoder to be tighlty integrated (see above).

On sale for 250 euros in good conditions, it's excelent bang for the buck.

bananmelon wrote:ps. maybe u know what vocoder has been used by Joe Zawinul after using DVP-1? i mean recordings from 1996-2004

For what I know, which is not the Bible, just some observation live, LOTTA listening, a chat or two and lot of experimenting with the tools myself,

JZ used the DFP-1 until very late.

It's the DVP-1 on "the immigrants", "lost tribes" and even on "world tour".

I later saw a clavia micro-modular (I used it myself and it's very nice. It even does very nice self-vocoding [input a synth "hammond" patch into modulator, a saw into carrier, leave the mic open on stage, get the typical zawinul solo with odd harmonics getting seemingly out of nowhere. That's hard to emulate on a digital vocoder [the radias just can't do it, it's too screechy], and the digital clavia managed to get it).

Then JZ finally moved to Roland's voice processing tools, finally the XT, which he said was "the best vocoder he had used" (think of the vocal samples in "faces and places", and listen to those voices used live in "75", where you realize some of the solo sounds are just snippets of the long intro samples used in "faces and places", played on the XT).

In the meantime he experimented with the wavestation A/D and more or less anything, but the DVP-1, the clavia and the Roland XT have been the main tools.

During those years, he also added, though, an harmonizer to the vocoder:

the saturated voice in the introduction to "carnavalito" ("world tour"), e.g., comes from a digitech harmonizer,

the same has the voices in "waraya" and "bimoya" and "papa do you want some tea?" ("my people", "world tour").

Most of the time, live, the harmoinizer was a small VHM-5, but he had also a rack version, then a tc-helicon prism,

and finally the harmonizer and the vocoder converged in the Roland XT.

This is what I know, not having been his producer but just a fan+cover musician.

I am still stuck to the DVP-1 + Digitech setup, though. It's cheap and impossibly performant.

bananmelon · Post by **bananmelon** » Tue Jan 11, 2011 7:20 pm

yeah, most of this i know. his vocoders sounds so natural & organic, for me the best vocoder playing ever. however, "75th"s vocoder sounds mor analog than ever before in Zawinul music. Something like simple VC-10 from late Weather Report. Thanks again!

DVP1 - in one word - sounds really natural and "organic". it always sounds more like voice then synthesizer. i think, it is one of the most recognizible vocoders ever made. and, even without lot of controls - its very flexible.

ozy · Post by **ozy** » Tue Jan 11, 2011 8:02 pm

"75" is the Roland XT plus the tc helicon harmonzier. Saw that live and that was the setup.

I love that sound (and the huge effects: think of the vocalisations at the end of "Hymn" [at 2'55"]).

But I never managed to tackle the learning curve of a totally new diogital synth, and the almost 1000 euros of a USED roland XT rack, just for the sake of a few samples and vocal effects.

I am currently working on the vocoder+voice sound of the first theme in "towers of silence" (studio version in "faces and places"). Nice challenge...

ozy · Post by **ozy** » Wed Jan 26, 2011 4:14 pm

operating system shipped today for bananmelon

Hope that works, otherwise call me

bananmelon · Post by **bananmelon** » Thu Feb 03, 2011 11:53 am

Today i got an message from service - DVP1 WORKS!

one more time, thank U Ozy - you are the greatest!

asterisk · Post by **asterisk** » Sun Dec 18, 2011 6:38 am

hi friends,
i have a korg dvp-1 and when i power it up it just shows an 'A' where the program # is. can you tell me what this means and how i should go about trying to get it fixed?

is there a way to send a factory reset/presets sysex file to the DVP1 from a computer?

any help here would be greatly appreciated.
thanks!
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