vocal harmonizer

[Lost Sheep]

Originally Posted by Chriscom

(edited for focus)

I think Artificial Intelligence will advance to the point where perfect mimicking not just of a generic voice but of our individual voices is possible, though how expensive that will be and whether it would be developed for a pedal is another question. But the deep-fake videos are already plenty impressive (and alarming).

Several yearas ago I sent emails to TC Helicon and another company developing voice-modification software (text to voice) with the idea of mimicking various sampled voices (Johnny Cash, Beverly Sills, Enrico Caruso, my own voice, etc) to put into a stomp box that would take my voice as input and ouput the same vocalizations in the replicated voice (with reduced volume and perhaps tone-shifted and micro-seconds time delayed, etc).

Daisy-chaining such units could provide a singer with a chorus of backup singers made up of anyone you could sample.

Nobody every responded.

[Goat Mick]

I've heard and used several harmonizers over the years and the best one I've heard is the now discontinued Digitech Vocalist Live 3. If you can find one, snatch it up. They are still out there used, but they bring a premium.

[L20A]

When we, the singer use a harmonizer, we want a natural vocal sound.
What we get is a mechanical sound.
To us, this is not acceptable.
To our listening audience they are hearing 2 part harmony, IF, we use the voice harmonizer sparingly.

We choose out guitars for their sound.
Our audiences hear a guitar.

My point is that we, the musicians are a lot harder on our sound than our audiences are.

Don't over drive the voice harmonizer and have fun!

[bobbyg67]

seems like a good idea

[MrDB]

All of them will provide a solo act with some harmony to break up the solo voice routine. All of them sound the same, like a robot singing harmony. I dislike them personally outside of my music room. YMMV.

[Horseflesh]

I've been researching this since I like gadgets, and we do pretty serious karaoke parties. Cheesy and heavy-handed pop music vocal effects are fun for that crowd. I also want better basic vocal sweetening (light reverb and chorus, de-essing, compression) than my EV 30M can supply.

My wife is also a genuinely good singer who is interested in stomping for high quality effects like harmony, doubling, and chorus. She's also learning to play acoustic guitar, and play + sing. So, I have clearance to get the right gear!

Keep in mind I don't have a gizmo yet, but these are my impressions so far.

The current Boss and TC Helicon products seem to have similar amounts of fans with similar testimonials to sound quality.

The Boss RC units have better looping than the TC units with loopers, but the TC units may have more or superior effects. Those who value looping highly may be happier with Boss. Those who value effects more may be happier with TC.

There is a noticeable improvement in quality from older to newer TC units.

The TC units which include guitar effects seem to do that pretty OK.

The TC units which include electric guitar amp/cab modeling do a very mediocre job at that stuff.

There is 3rd party software for managing TC patches, which is cool.

TC's lineup is kind of hard to understand. They have a lot of pedals that do just a couple of things, some mid-range boxes that do more things, and a couple of high-end boxes that, I THINK, do (almost?) everything the lower products do.

I am interested in a Voicelive 3 Extreme, which I think will do just about every trick TC has, including acoustic and electric guitar stuff. It is more than I need, but since I don't know exactly what I need, I want to play with everything and figure it out.

Unfortunately there are many complaints about Voicelive units dying prematurely. However, I think it is possible to get them serviced if they die out of warranty. The reports are common enough that I'd actually consider an extended warranty if I bought one.

It's really easy to find detailed and nerdy electric guitar modeling/effects discussion but it is really hard to find similar discussions on vocal processors.

[leew3]

Originally Posted by rokdog49

I’m blessed to have a partner in leeW3 who can sing lead and harmonize as well as play three instruments.
There is nothing more enjoyable than singing with another person in harmony.

(Well, maybe if it were two persons)

Thanks, I'm blushing. I've used a TC Helicon Play Acoustic very briefly but am considering listing it for sale for the reasons Rokdog cites here.

[mike o]

Amen brother!

Originally Posted by L20A

When we, the singer use a harmonizer, we want a natural vocal sound.
What we get is a mechanical sound.
To us, this is not acceptable.
To our listening audience they are hearing 2 part harmony, IF, we use the voice harmonizer sparingly.

We choose out guitars for their sound.
Our audiences hear a guitar.

My point is that we, the musicians are a lot harder on our sound than our audiences are.

Don't over drive the voice harmonizer and have fun!

[JWJ915]

Originally Posted by Lost Sheep

I have a TC Helicon Harmony and a TC Helicon GxT (which was discontinued years ago). I find the GxT quite listenable and usable (medium difficulty in learning to use presets). Supposedly the later harmonizers built on the same programming, but I like the sound of the GxT better.

If you can find one on the used market or to borrow for a test drive, I believe it would be worthwhile.

I’ve tried a ton of them. The G-XT is the best sounding unit I’ve come across.

[guitaniac]

Originally Posted by bobbyg67

looking for a vocal harmonizer that can voice double and do a simple third up or down. prefer simplicity.have a tc helicon 1 but don't use it anymore. just sounds unnatural and sometimes terrible. i sing pretty good and will use it sparingly, really not much at all but would like to have the option on certain songs.

just can't count on duo partners anymore.

I have an old Harmony G, but the efx button no longer works to advance thru the various reverbs and efx. It’s stuck on “Combi”. If you have efx on your mixer channel, you wouldn’t need the efx anyway. The harmonies and the vocal doubler work fine. You can turn “Combi” completely off with the efx dial.

[Guitars44me]

Originally Posted by Lost Sheep

I have a TC Helicon Harmony and a TC Helicon GxT (which was discontinued years ago). I find the GxT quite listenable and usable (medium difficulty in learning to use presets). Supposedly the later harmonizers built on the same programming, but I like the sound of the GxT better.

If you can find one on the used market or to borrow for a test drive, I believe it would be worthwhile.

I like the TC HGXT too. The newer harmonizers all sound even more artificial to me.

As always, a little goes a long way! Less is more, etc.

I find the preamps are both good and like the submix possibilities. The Effects are nice, in moderation

The LAST thing I want is auto tune! It makes everything sound robotic.

Good luck finding what works for you!!!

Paul

[swarfrat]

I've only played with the Boss VE-8. My take is that not matter how magical they ever get harmonizers to be, its always going to sound goofy if you're singing lead/solo and a box is singing with you. As a result I've reprogrammed my VE-8 to do the harmonizer only on momentary push button. So i can step on it for phrases, usually on a big chorus.

I could see it maybe working to thicken up someone who is singing BGV's, but the box is kind of aimed at the solo acoustic guitarist thing. (Given the userbase obsession with the looper, I'd say this is accurate in practice even if it wasn't the intent).

Background vocals aren't the same parts as lead vocals just spaced at fixed or even smart intervals. Its going to sound like background singers horning in on the lead part.

[RogerPease]

The momentary switch thing is the way to go.
And keep the harmony levels to the just discernible level.

Cheers, _Roger

[The Bard Rocks]

I am happy with my TC GxT, but use it rarely, feeling weird knowing the audience will wonder where the extra voice is coming from. I used it on 3 tracks on my last CD. Mostly, I did the harmony live, but on 2 tracks, managed to get a sound that sounds like an audience singing along, which sounded very natural. On the 3rd, I used a track I'd done when i first got it, with the electronic voices at higher volume than i'd normally do. but the stars aligned on that one and I overdubbed the guitar.

If your live voice predominates the sound and the harmony just fills in and adds some width, I think you are, in general, best off. It is easy to overdo it and you are better of being conservative instead. Done this way, I have not felt it sounded artificial or mechanical. And I worry about such things as voice is not my strong point.

One nice thing with one, your phrasing will always be perfect. Consider that.

[EZYPIKINS]

Originally Posted by rokdog49

I’m blessed to have a partner in leeW3 who can sing lead and harmonize as well as play three instruments.
There is nothing more enjoyable than singing with another person in harmony.

(Well, maybe if it were two persons)

Have to say, I concur totally, rockdog.