We have actually experimented with VariAudio and the Pitch correct plug-in that comes with Cubase in some of our earlier productions this year. Like you said, it does keep the vocals clearer and its an easier approach if you have a well recorded vocal. The problem we were running into was that our outboard gear doesn’t match the sound quality of our software gear. It was specially hard to match the crisp high mids end or cutting bass you get out of the box with some of these synths. The advantage of using the vocoder was that we could use the awesome sound of the synth + essentially any input source (our voices). Likewise, we didn’t have to find an actual singer to sing the part 
.The downside though, was the loss of intelligibility in the words.
I’m really curious about how bands like Daft Punk managed to get such a crystal clear sound out of their vocoder in their latest album. They have sure mastered this type of technique.
Thanks a lot man, and really glad you enjoyed the theme of the song. We were fond of these lyrics too; they had a clear “mood,” yet they are still pretty open to your own interpretation.