Tried the Boss VE8 and Harmony Singer

[Kindness]

Guitar Center didn't have the Voicelive Play.

So I tried the Harmony Singer. Not natural sounding at all to me. I asked the guy if we were doing something wrong, and he said, "I was hesitant to take it out in the first place." Nope plugged in properly.

Plugged in the Boss....

OH MY GAWD!!! The harmonies were outstanding. It also smoothed out the guitar sound quite nicely. Super impressed.

Now I just need to get my hands on the Voicelive Play!

[necrome]

There is a bit of a learning curve with these things. You can find great sounding clips of both devices on Youtube and it's not so much the tech but rather what the musician does with the tech. For the Harmony Singer, you basically can't have the harmony volume above 30%, anything higher and it sounds robotic and you start catching note shifts. But 30% or below and it sounds like a natural backer with some pitching imperfections

[dcopper]

Lisa,
Keep at it! I like the VE8 for its ease of use and the harmonies are "workable". I picked up a Play Acoustic used and it was a bit of a challenge at first to learn how to use it, but IMHO the harmonies were a little more natural. The key is keeping the harmonies down to about 50% or less. I used the original harmony singer for years and it worked fine as long as the harmonies were just present and not over powering.
The VE8 is typical of BOSS pedals - easy to use and a working player's tool.
Good luck!
davidc

[Kindness]

Originally Posted by dcopper

Lisa,
Keep at it! I like the VE8 for its ease of use and the harmonies are "workable". I picked up a Play Acoustic used and it was a bit of a challenge at first to learn how to use it, but IMHO the harmonies were a little more natural. The key is keeping the harmonies down to about 50% or less. I used the original harmony singer for years and it worked fine as long as the harmonies were just present and not over powering.
The VE8 is typical of BOSS pedals - easy to use and a working player's tool.
Good luck!
davidc

David,

Thanks for the feedback. Yes, I want to get my hands on the Play Acoustic. I am thinking the TC Helicon Perform VG "might" be one direction to go. I will have to order it and try it out as no one seems to carry it. It's a lot more simple than the Play Acoustic, but I will get it figured out. I do want voice harmonies and the guitar toning.

The Boss doesn't seem over the top as far as a learning curve. I have never used a Loop but dubbing I imagine can be fun.

[GibbyPrague]

Try the Play Acoustic, i would argue the harmonies are a notch better on the PA than the VE-8, I own both and lean to the PA.

Ah, i just noticed somebody already mentioned it. Also, for me i keep the harmonies at around 17%, mainly because what Im looking for is a higher end 'shimmer' that fills out my voice rather than a clear and distinct harmony. Sort of like a reverb, delay effect, but based on a harmony, usually Octave up. The audience usually does not notice there is harmony in the mix. I found personally at 50% to be far too strong and not sounding natural.