If you've listened to pop music in the past 40 years, you've probably heard more than a few songs with a robotic sound. That's thanks to the vocoder, a device invented by Bell Labs, the research ...

A few weeks ago, the music writer Dave Tompkins took a podium in one of NYU’s many windowless annexes to promote his upcoming book, How To Wreck a Nice Beach: The Vocoder From World War II To Hip-Hop.

Casio is capturing a bit of Daft Punk magic with the new Casiotone CT-S1000V, which comes with the ability to “sing” using a built-in, customizable, voice synthesizer. The CT-S1000V, when used in ...