Re: Should I buy...
Aha...
If you have the money check if you can find these:
Roland VP330...Not only Vocoder but strings and the famous esoteric divine choirs!
Korg VC-10
More affordable then the VP330 probably and great fun to use
For modern "real" vocoders, I only know the MAM VF-11 I used that one quite a lot back in the days but then I sold it and used the Zoom 1201/1204 which I actually think sounds better (I know it sounds ridicolous but for me its like that)
Oh yeah there is also the new Roland VP550 vocal & ensemble keyboard, which is sort off a modern version of the VP330
I think this one is really cool because it kind of expands from a vocoder with "real sounding" choir and backing vocal things...like you can do some kind of Beach Boys barbershop shit like this http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=SHd_U00q3vo I don't know how expensive it is now, its already a few years on the market (since 2005 I think) when it was released it was 1200 euros I think...I really want to have one of these one day
edit: checked the price, fucking hell http://www.thomann.de/nl/roland_vp550.htmStill 979 euros