Electro-Harmonix V256 Vocoder

The Electro-Harmonix V256 is a digital vocoder pedal that, in the maker's words, "welds your voice to your axe": you sing into a microphone while your guitar (or an internal synthesizer) supplies the carrier signal, and the vocoder reshapes your voice with that signal¹. It is a floor unit in pedal format rather than a rackmount, aimed at players who want robotic vocal effects, pitch transposition and drone synths on a pedalboard.

The V256 offers vocoder band adjustment from 8 bands up to 256 bands, and Premier Guitar's reviewer described that range as running from "a miniscule 8 bands all the way up to a smooth-sounding 256 bands"². It carries an MSRP of $286 and a street price of $215, as reported by Premier Guitar in 2023².

The controls: Bands, Mode and Mic Gain

The front panel is built around a handful of knobs and one toggle, each with a clear job¹:

The Bands control is the heart of the vocoder character: fewer bands give a coarser, more obviously synthetic result, while the full 256 bands sound smoother, as Premier Guitar's reviewer put it². The Gender Bender works on formants rather than pitch, effectively changing the apparent size of the vocal tract behind the processed voice¹.

Premier Guitar's reviewer noted the mic side of the equation in practice: "The V256 has a Mic Gain switch, but at the time it was switched to the Low setting," and found that "the V256's mic input is rather sensitive (which is a good thing)"². For a quiet microphone, the toggle's higher sensitivity setting is where to look.

The nine modes

The Mode knob selects between nine modes, which Premier Guitar broke down into three groups²:

• Three robotic synth modes
• Three drone synth modes (single, major or minor)
• Three transposition modes: Instrument Ctrl, Transposition and Reflex-Tune

The instrument input behaves differently depending on the mode. In the vocoder modes, the instrument signal can be used as the carrier signal for the vocoder effect. In Instrument Ctrl mode, the instrument signal determines the note that replaces the pitch of the sung note. In Reflex-Tune mode, with the Pitch knob set fully counterclockwise, the instrument signal determines the diatonic key and the V256 quantizes to notes in that key's scale¹.

Inputs and outputs: XLR and TRS

The V256 has dual inputs and dual outputs, one on each side: an XLR connection for a microphone and a standard 1/4" TRS instrument plug². Each jack has its own role¹:

• Mic input (XLR): connect your microphone directly to this jack.
• Instrument input (1/4"): carries the guitar or bass signal used as the vocoder carrier, the pitch reference in Instrument Ctrl mode, or the key reference in Reflex-Tune mode.
• Effect output (XLR): the vocoder effect, plus the dry and bypassed vocals, come out of this jack on the side of the unit.
• Instrument output (1/4"): outputs a blend of the effected signal with the dry instrument signal or the MIDI-controlled internal synthesizer.

The audio path is mono, not stereo¹, so both outputs carry the same single channel of audio in their respective formats.

MIDI control

Every function in the V256 is MIDI controllable: the unit can receive control messages from a MIDI controller or other MIDI device³. Over MIDI program change, program numbers 11 to 19 select the V256's modes without presets loaded, with 11 being VOX ROBO 1 and 19 REFLEX-TUNE³.

For players who want foot control, Microdesignum makes the MIDI Piccolo 2F1D, a MIDI footswitch controller specially adjusted for controlling the V256⁴.

The V256 and the Voice Box

The V256 shares some things in common with the Voice Box, another Electro-Harmonix vocal processor, as Premier Guitar noted in its review². Where the V256 centers on the vocoder itself, with its 8 to 256 band range and nine modes spanning robotic synths, drone synths and transposition, the Voice Box sits alongside it in the maker's vocal-effects lineup rather than replacing it.

What reviewers found

Premier Guitar reviewed the V256 and covered it with real gear: the review clip was recorded with a '78 Les Paul Custom through a Mesa Boogie Electra-Dyne half stack, and the reviewer also used a 1978 set-neck Ibanez Iceman, moving from an SM58 to an SM57 microphone². Beyond the band range and the sensitive mic input already noted, the review's breakdown of the nine modes and the dual XLR and TRS connections on each side of the unit gives a picture of a unit designed to sit between a microphone and a guitar rig at once².

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