TC Helicon Harmony Singer Pedal?

[jaycat]

Maybe a long shot, but does anyone have any experience with one of these?

Here is a demo video.

Seems pretty cool. However, most demos I am seeing feature live performances. My intended use would be for home recording, using Audacity and an interface box.

I typically put down a guitar track, then a separate vocal track. I am a bit confused as to whether I would have to play another guitar accompaniment with the vocal, as that seems to be how the contraption figures out the harmonies to sing.

However, I would not want to record the guitar accompaniment to the vocals, and I am trying to figure out if that would work. In the demo, I am not hearing ukulele harmonies, is that just because it's further from the mic?

I wonder if I could plug in the Audacity guitar track, instead of a guitar, and it could figure out the harmonies from that?

Hopefully that makes sense. There are also other seemingly similar products out there, if anyone has a recommendation.

Thanks!

[Chipotle]

jaycat, you are understanding how the pedal works. It requires the chord accompaniment in real time to determine what harmonies to apply to the vocals. It will actually add the effect to anything picked up by the mic, but as you surmised the mic in the video isn't picking up enough uke to matter.

The reason you only see it used live is that most people will sing and record a separate harmony track when they are in the studio. You'll get a much more pleasing result than the synthesized effect from the pedal. That's what I'd recommend--record the guitar part, record the separate vocal track, then record a separate harmony vocal track.

If for some reason you can't or don't want to sing the harmonies separately, then you would either need to a) play the guitar along with your vocal track that is running through the TC Harmony pedal (and try to minimize the amount of guitar picked up by the mic), or b) figure out a way to run the previously-recorded guitar track out from your interface and into the pedal while you record the vocals.

[jaycat]

Thanks Jeff. If I could sing harmony, this would be a non-issue. Actually I figured out how to get a harmony track with Audacity (using the change pitch effect). It doesn't sound 100% natural but I can live with it.

[zeeway]

I have the Harmony Singer pedal for messing around at home, and it continues to astound me. Yes, it needs to ‘hear’ a chord and a voice, to construct the harmony track. It has various harmony settings and a wee bit of pitch correction available which can make you sound like the Everly Brothers or the Eagles or others. As others have noted, it is better to avoid using it for a whole song.

[Shaneh]

Just run the guitar recording back through it and sign along.

[The Bard Rocks]

Originally Posted by jaycat

Maybe a long shot, but does anyone have any experience with one of these?

[URL="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJLciCrKFks"]...

I typically put down a guitar track, then a separate vocal track. I am a bit confused as to whether I would have to play another guitar accompaniment with the vocal, as that seems to be how the contraption figures out the harmonies to sing.

However, I would not want to record the guitar accompaniment to the vocals, and I am trying to figure out if that would work. In the demo, I am not hearing ukulele harmonies, is that just because it's further from the mic?

I wonder if I could plug in the Audacity guitar track, instead of a guitar, and it could figure out the harmonies from that?

Hopefully that makes sense. There are also other seemingly similar products out there, if anyone has a recommendation.

Thanks!

In my latest Cd, there are 3 cuts where I used this to good advantage. On two of them I got effects that sounded like a group singing along with me. the other was just close harmony. Mostly (all the rest), I did the harmonies the old-fashioned way and overdubbed them, singing live.

You can set it for the key; it doesn't have to pick it up off the guitar. I don't trust my a capella work, so I use the guitar and do it in one or two takes. Some songs I find easier to use hands for the pedal; those would be the 2 take tracts.

I find it likes a strong sound to harmonize with. The uke might not provide that. Or maybe it will.

[aschroeder]

I purchased a TC Helicon Play Acoustic last year that I use for solo acoustic gigs. It works great for me. It is a more feature packed version of the Harmony Singer, but I assume it works the same way for harmonies.

The pedal listens to the instrument playing to figure out what key the song is in and then harmonizes with your voice based off that key. It works surprisingly well. Based on the harmony pedals I demoed, the TC Helicon pedals gave the most realistic harmonies.

It works great with my acoustic guitar, but I don't know if it would work with a guitar track. My guess is that it would work if you ran the guitar track through the instrument input on the pedal.

[pinweasel]

I’ve had for a year or so now, I like it a lot , works well for me.

[fiveoneseven]

So this is what I've been using for the past 2 years. I don't use any of the harmonizer settings, just the Tone button and the reverb. In my opinion, the Tone button is what gives this it's value.

On the TC-Helicon, level set to the second mark, and the reverb set just to the right of the "Rm"

I go into the into the Fishman ToneDEQ with my guitar signal (which is basically a Loudbox headend) and take this setup everywhere I go to play. If using their soundboard, I have them leave the channels at a flat EQ for both voice and guitar, as I think the sound works perfectly like this...as I've already formed my sound prior to the board.

On the Fishman, I set the reverb delay knob to Delay 2 and set both the time and level to about 10 o'clock.

Again...this is the sound I like....tweak to whatever you think sounds good.

Going into it I have two Taylors I play, my old 314ce which is usually in open C6 or D for my Mumford songs, and my 517e in standard tuning. I will say I did change my saddle to a Bone saddle which improved the sound tremendously on my 517e (long story).

Also, I think it's worth saying, that I only have my acoustic signal run to the subwoofer....and then my acoustic and vocal run to the the main PA speakers. It is 100% worth it to have a sub.

On my Soundcraft soundboard I accomplish this by plugging the sub into the AUX 3, and only pushing the acoustic to it. The main PA speakers and sub aren't connected or daisy chained.

Hope this helps someone....it took more time than I should admit to finally find something I liked and also sounded great.

Picture of ToneDEQ and TC Helicon attached (hopefully picture works):

[RogerPease]

There is a mode setting you can make on the Harmony Singer to have the harmonies on only while you hold the switch down. (The alternate mode is click-on click-off.) This makes the pedal more useful. So you can be much more sparing with the harmonies. Like this (Caps to indicate harmonies on.): "know you rider gonna MISS ME WHEN I'M GONE." Or maybe "me and my uncle, we rode on down from COLORADO west texas bound."

Keep the level of the harmonies to where they're just a little past barely audible and it will give fullness and sweetness to your vocals. Yes, the tone button is awesome.

Maybe all harmony pedals do the momentary contact thing, dunno, but they should.

Hope this helps, _Roger