Vocoder Au, help with talkbox Options

[adp10390]

I recently downloaded a high-resolution vocoder as part of a package of AUs called mda. Here is the text from the readme:

mda TalkBox
-----------
This plug-in is a high resolution vocoder, designed for a natural rather than an
electronic sound. The Quality parameter is equivalent to the number of bands in a
normal "channel" vocoder. The plug-in expects a modulator signal (usually voice or
drums) in the main input bus and a carrier (usually synth or guitar) in the second
input bus, but the Input Swap parameter can be used to reverse this.

*** Please note that Talkbox is a multi-input-bus plug-in and not all AU hosts
support plug-ins with more than 1 input bus. Currently Logic and Live are known to
support this. In Logic, you can route the second input bus in via the plug-in's
"sidechain" menu selection. In Live, you will see the second input bus appear as an
audio output destination on tracks. ***

For a typical talkbox sound, try inputting a synth sound with oscillator sync (at a
fixed slave frequency, between 12 and 20 semitones above the master) with the master
oscillator volume turned down, and vibrato added with the mod wheel or aftertouch.
Alternatively, for a natural vocal sound use a low-pass filtered saw wave with
random pitch modulation, plus high-pass filtered white noise.

Now, I tried recording my voice and a synth, sending them to Bus1, and placing the talkbox effect on bus1, and i could hear no change in output, whether the effect was on or off, etc. any suggestions would be very much appreciated.

[coldharbour]

The plug-in expects a modulator signal (usually voice or drums) in the main input bus and a carrier (usually synth or guitar) in the second input bus

In Logic, you can route the second input bus in via the plug-in's "sidechain" menu selection. In Live, you will see the second input bus appear as an audio output destination on tracks.

Haven't tried the vocoder in question, but the text says you need to route your voice to Bus 1 of the Vocoder, and the carrier (synth) to the sidechain input of the vocoder.

In practise :

1. Record your voice on an audio track. Set the audio track's output to the bus # that is the bus 1 in the Vocoder, or if you want you can use a channel send instead of output to route the signal.

2. Set the synth channel's output to the bus # that is the sidechain bus # in the vocoder.

[adp10390]

Thanks! but... what is a sidechain?