Not quite sure where to put this (someone will no doubt tell me ...) as not quite hi-fi, not quite music. Guitarists (certainly the electronic variety) frequently use gadgets for effects, including devices such as phase vocoders, which can be used to change pitch amongst other things in real time. It is possible to do some of these effects with software plug-ins with some DAWs.
Are there people reading round here who actually use any of this stuff? Also, are most of the vocoders used for guitars, or are they used in a wider community.
Lastly, are there any recommended hardware units? [Go on, you can mention software as well, if you like!]