vocal harmonizer

[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.

[EZYPIKINS]

After singing in a harmony band for many years.

Now that I am the last one left. I have searched for a machine that will do what I hear in my head.

It must not exist. At least not in my budget.

Once you've become accustomed to real harmonies. It's tough to do without.

I'd be happy, at this point to find one person who can sing, to accompany me.

But then again, I have become quite opinionated in my old age.

Good luck in your search.

[rokdog49]

Originally Posted by EZYPIKINS

After singing in a harmony band for many years.

Now that I am the last one left. I have searched for a machine that will do what I hear in my head.

It must not exist. At least not in my budget.

Once you've become accustomed to real harmonies. It's tough to do without.

I'd be happy, at this point to find one person who can sing, to accompany me.

But then again, I have become quite opinionated in my old age.

Good luck in your search.

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)

[bobbyg67]

well, had a partner i sang with since high school and that was a very long time ago. He has no interest anymore. had another guy from high school that sang with us now and then and that 3 part harmony is just magic. hard to fnd committed people for anything anymore. have to settle for a machine but is there one? i prefer a human being but oh well.

[Chriscom]

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 don't know if there's any difference between the TC Helicon 1 and 2, but I use the latter a bit. Back when I first joined this forum maybe six years ago and there was more talk of harmonizers (and more expectation of continued improvement), I'd say the average opinion was that the TC Helicon 2 was somewhat better than the Boss VE-8, which is what I was using at the time. I'm not sure there was much of a difference, and the main reason I stopped using the latter was I find the buttons much harder to press.

You no doubt know this but the key with these things is to just use a touch--because the artificiality is way obvious. There's no harmonizer I'm aware of that does a good full job of mimicking the human voice. Yet.

[mike o]

We use a TC VoiceLive 2. It’s gotta be 12 years old and would have expected some major improvements since then. I do not know of another unit that would get us to upgrade today though. Expecting a vocalizer to sound and react like a human will not happen. Think of it as a reverb or delay pedal. It will add to the performance by keeping the main vocal up front and harmony vocals much lower than main vocal. Just as you would not over do reverb or delay where it’s so noticeable on a guitar. Make sense? Also, the VL2 has pitch correction (if you need it) and great fx’s plus 100 presets that can be modified in so many ways it will make you head spin.

BTW we lived in Sebastian for 10 years. Close to being neighbors :.

[Nymuso]

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.

And therein lies the challenge.

Vocal harmonizers are fun, I’ve played around with one or two. Never heard one that sounded convincing. I love singing harmony, especially three part and beyond. It’s what can set your act apart from many others.

However I also work as a solo and must adapt these same songs to one voice yet make it interesting for the audience. I employ various strategies to do this, most prominent among them is a dynamic presentation. A friend of mine takes a different approach. He sets his harmonizer to full Eagles. Audiences accept his approach as well as mine.

[Chriscom]

Originally Posted by Nymuso

A friend of mine takes a different approach. He sets his harmonizer to full Eagles. Audiences accept his approach as well as mine.

A very good, very popular gigger local to me does the same thing from time to time--if there's an 11 setting he'll dial it up. But he's super talented and just does it for variety when he feels like it. He's well-loved and no riots have broken out yet.

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).

[Cuki79]

Originally Posted by Chriscom

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).

I wonder why they can not implement those kind of things in a pedal.

Things like IRCAM Trax plugin. Check this video at 0:49 where they change a male voice to a female voice.

[bobbyg67]

Not interested in becoming a woman LOL. Would just like a simple harmonizer that would double my voice that sounds better than the one I have

[aschroeder]

I use a TC Helicon Play Acoustic pedal to add harmonies to my solo shows. It works great for me as it uses the guitar to figure out what key to harmonize with my voice. It sounds very natural, but bear in mind it is only as good as what goes into it. If you're someone that sings a bit out of key, the harmonies could sound pretty terrible.

My only complaint is it was difficult to use the tiny pedal buttons while singing live. I didn't want to have to look down to turn it on/off while singing. So after doing some research I found a simple on/off switch pedal that is large and easy to use without looking down.

Only certain on/off switch pedals will connect to the Play Acoustic correctly. The one I use that works perfectly is the Bespeco VM20. It requires no batteries and will switch the harmonies on/off during songs. There is a Boss version that looks very similar that will not work due to how the jack is wired.

[Brent Nelson]

I have both the Boss VE-2 and TC Helicon Harmony Singer. They are both pretty good with comparable results. That said, I prefer the Harmony Singer.

[JakeStone]

I’ve tried numerous units -
Settled a while back on the
Boss VE-2 vocal harmonist -

Easy to use - smallish footprint - takes AA batteries if need be -

Sound is very good as an always on pedal —
Reverb and enhance are nice
Harmony works as it should -
I’m not a big user of harmonies -but it’s works well as a doubler.

[Chriscom]

Originally Posted by aschroeder

I use a TC Helicon Play Acoustic pedal to add harmonies to my solo shows. It works great for me as it uses the guitar to figure out what key to harmonize with my voice. It sounds very natural, but bear in mind it is only as good as what goes into it. If you're someone that sings a bit out of key, the harmonies could sound pretty terrible.

I sing in key fwiw, rather good at it most of the time, and my harmonizers are rock-solid in pitch. They just sound like rock-solid robots. TC Helicon Harmony Singer 2, Boss VE-8.

[Lost Sheep]

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 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.