How To Play: Harder Better Faster Stronger on Vocoder (Daft Punk)

How to Play the iconic vocoder line from Daft Punk's 2001 smash hit "Harder Better Faster Stronger". This was tricky to get down! I recreated the vocoder using an Electro-Harmonix V256 vocoder with the built in robo-voice controlled with midi from my Nord Stage. From there in Logic I bit-crushed the sound, added chorus, distortion, and reverb to get the final sound. I think it got pretty close, but this would not have been the vocoder Daft Punk would have recorded on. That was likely a Digitech Talker - which I would love to get my hands on but they are incredibly rare! However, a lot of the sound of the vocoder comes from post-production, the processing effects, and adding a French accent to some words! (e.g. "fast-eur, strong-eur" & "do it, make-suds"). I transcribed the notation in Sibelius and animated it in After Effects. In London I have been part of a group that has regularly performed this music in nightclubs and venues all around the UK. We perform this and many other Daft Punk classics and I am privileged to play vocoder and talkbox on this show! It is such a shame that club culture and gigs have all been cancelled because of the Covid pandemic. I think I speak for all musicians when I say we miss it so much and cannot wait to perform as soon as we can! The parties are going to be incredible. Thanks for watching! Please subscribe and share and help grow my channel! This is the second in the "How To Play" series and there are many more to come! Note: Some of the "hour" phrases sound like "power" or "now or". In Daft Punk's official lyrics, this word is always written as "hour" so that's what I have put. However, with the vocals, I imitated the sound that is on the record to make it most accurate. Like all scores, they are a guide to get the best performance, not the gospel. Thanks! --------- CREDITS: Performance, transcription, animation & editing by James Beckwith "Harder Better Faster Stronger" by Daft Punk (Virgin Records) --------- ORIGINAL MUSIC: Bandcamp: https://jamesbeckwith.bandcamp.com Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2IKev... Apple Music:   / artist   --------- SOCIAL MEDIA: Website: https://www.jamesbeckwith.com Instagram:   / iamjamesbeckwith   Facebook:   / jamesbeckwithmusic