Built by Italian synthesizer craftspeople and unveiled at Superbooth 2019, the V22 stands apart as a fully analog vocoder that treats the instrument more like a creative sound design tool than a simple effects processor. Unlike digital vocoders that compress the signal into software algorithms, this one uses genuine analog circuitry throughout both its analysis and synthesis sections, giving it a character and responsiveness that feels immediate and organic.
The heart of the V22 is its 22-band filter architecture: twenty bandpass filters covering the vocal spectrum from 220 Hz up through 1245 Hz, plus dedicated lowpass and highpass filters, each with 48 dB per octave slopes. Every band has its own envelope follower in the analysis section and a voltage-controlled amplifier in the synthesis section, which means you can patch and reprogram the signal flow in ways most vocoders simply don't allow. The internal carrier is a voltage-controlled oscillator with selectable sawtooth and pulse waves, pulse width modulation via the onboard LFO, and full MIDI control over pitch and pitchbend. You can also feed external audio as the carrier, opening up possibilities for layering complex sounds through the vocoder's filter bank. The microphone preamp includes a compressor and noise gate to keep your modulation signal clean and consistent, while a dedicated freeze control lets you lock the analysis in place and tweak individual bands without the input changing underneath you.
The wooden-paneled desktop cabinet houses everything in a compact footprint, with patch points for every envelope follower and VCA input normalized but fully normalizeable, plus separate outputs for each synthesis band feeding into a stereo mixer. Since its release, the V22 has earned respect in the modular and experimental synthesis communities for its sound quality and flexibility, though its price point and analog-only workflow mean it appeals more to dedicated synthesists than casual users looking for quick vocal effects.
