Roland SVC-350 vocoder.
I just got this from eBay, it was quite cheap and very scratched up but working. I have cleaned it up and replaced the slider-caps (thanks to Steve Alcorn in the US for sending them to me - a complete stranger - for free). I'm still looking for some rack ears though....
This is a great-sounding vocoder apparently used by Kraftwerk and YMO. It sounds reasonably intelligible if you make an effort in the way you speak into it, and it has a sibilance detector for unvoiced sounds and controls for the levels of its 11 bands. It also has a nice ensemble effect built-in which you can only turn off by plugging a lead into the "ensemble" socket on the front panel.
The vocoder on most of my records is an EMS Vocoder 2000 which was kindly lent to me by one of the owners of the label that releases my tracks (thanks Rich). I also used the vocoder on the Korg MS2000 but it wasn't that good, and the synth was middling so it had to go, plus it ruined the nice 80s vibe in my studio.
EXAMPLE SOUNDS
All these sounds are just SVC-350 with my voice straight from the C414 microphone as the modulator and either MKS-80 or TX81Z as the carrier..
SVC3501 - TX81Z low notes.
SVC3502 - TX81Z chords.
SVC3503 - MKS-80 chords.
SVC3504 - MKS-80 chords.
SVC3505 - MKS-80 low notes and chords.
SVC3506 - MKS-80 white noise unfiltered and then filtered with resonance.
SVC3507 - MKS-80 chords and SVC-350 built-in ensemble effect.
SVC3508 - MKS-80 low note.
SVC3509 - more MKS-80.
LINKS
Vintage Synth Roland page here
Harmony Central reviews here
Roland manual downloads here
A great vocoder page here here