Our Research

VOCOMOTION is actively researching better ways to get the best sounds out of beatboxers and vocal percussionists. Here are a few of the projects we've been working on...

Dynamic Thump-Pass Filter

In previous models of the Thumper throat microphone, we were running a low-pass filter on the entire sound with a corner-off frequency of approximately 175hz. First, I say approximately because it was difficult to tune our analog filter with much accuracy. By switching to completely digital processing in the TH100/P2, we are able to very accurately set the parameter for all filters and other processors.

The purpose of filtering all the frequencies above 175hz was to try to remove the snare, hihat, and other percussive sounds that were not low kick-drum type sounds. The result is a mushy and muffled sounding kick sound.

Using our new proprietary Dynamic Thump-Pass Filter in the Thumper TH100, we are passing only kick drum sounds from the source material, but leaving the entire frequency spectrum of that kick sound in tact. Then it can be EQ'ed and compressed appropriately. This allows for the typical smack and click aspects of a kick to come through. Those aspects are necessary to really identify the attack of a kick beat, rather than merely the boom of the beat. The result should be similar to recording a vocal percussion beat and manually cutting out all sounds but the kick sound using ProTools.

The Thumper-USB

We have a prototype model of the Thumper throat microphone that has a USB audio output, instead of the standard 1/4" unbalanced connector on our other models. This could be used to record other sources, such as Didjeridu or even the purring of a cat. Freddie recently recorded a sample of his cat Tigger, using a Thumper-USB: listen here.

The Thumper-Neural

VOCOMOTION has been experimenting with using Electromyogram (EMG), placed on the performer's neck, to pick up muscle impulses directly and feed these signals to our Dynamic Thump-Pass Filter. The hope is to better control the triggering of the filter and also make it possible to utilize sub-vocal information in performance.

The Rumbler

A studio microphone designed for bass a cappella singers that couples Electroglottogram (EGG) electrodes and the Thumper pickup to extract the fundamental frequency being sung, to allow the singer to sound more like an instrumental bass.