I am guitar/vocalist and I use L1 1S and sometimes S1 Pro. My Mic is KMS 105 with the T1 tonematch. In addition I use Backing Tracks via iPad in Stage Traxx app plus Fender Stratocaster with Zoom multi effects.
I would like to throw some harmony in with some of my tracks, for example say I wanted to perform 'Lyin' Eyes by the Eagles....rather than use backing vocals from the backing track I would like to use a Harmoniser for the chorus with my own voice.
Can anyone recommend a simple good quality harmoniser unit to switch in on the fly that won't degrade my original vocal signal.
I’m on my second vocal harmonizer and love the one I use now. TC Helicon harmony G-XT. Even has a guitar tuner in it. Pardon me while I do a little dusting! Lol
Hi Tony, I have been using a TC Helicon PlayAcoustic for several years now. I run my mic and my guitar through it and into either my T1 or my S1 and have been VERY happy with the results. Best of luck!
I use a TC Helicon original VoiceWorks. For live applications it’s good as all TC products are. However, this one is kind of overlooked; it’s an older unit that for some reason didn’t get a lot of traction. It’s probably a steal on eBay or Reverb.
it has four buttons on the front panel for selecting which harmonies you want. You can quickly turn on just one harmony voice to sing along with you at any moment. The overall sound is good and it has lots of functionality including S/PDIF output and input. This is really helpful when you want to send tracks you recorded in your DAW to it. This way you avoid analog / digital and digital / analog conversion. I wouldn’t say the converters in this particular unit are stellar but for live work it’s perfect and you can route your vocal in a way that it only harmonizes without passing your main vocal through it if that makes sense.
Hi Tony, I've used a Digitech Vocalist Live 3 for a few years and I am very pleased and impressed with it. It's very easy to use and gives great results. There are later versions which provide a greater range of effects, but I am perfectly happy with the model I have. Checkout YouTube for demos.
TONY, I am currently using a TC Helicon Harmony G-XT for secondary voices. I highly recommend this pedal but it takes a bit to get used to the settings. Once dialed in, it's two thumbs up.
I have a similar set up to you and use a TC Helicon Voiceplay Live GTX. I think it may be superseded now. It combines vocal harmonies with guitar fx. Because your guitar is plugged into it it picks up chords and root notes so that your harmonies will work perfectly. It has 3 foot buttons which are programmable I believe but I use the first 2 for scrolling up or down the presets and the third one kicks in the harmonies which remain until you push it again. You can use any of the many presets or create your own custom ones. I chose the ones I liked and modified the vocal fx for different song styles such as rock, ballad, country etc. Unless it breaks down, I have no intention of ever buying anything else. I love it
I also use a TC Helicon PlayAcoustic, which works particularly well with a T1 since it has individual Aux outs on each channel. I like the Tonematch settings for my guitars, or turn them off and use my pedalboard for the guitars. I don’t particularly care for the guitar Efx on the PlayAcoustic, so I completely mute them. Here’s my setup: Vocal mic into T1 channel 1, Guitar into channel 2, PlayAcoustic’s mic out into channel 3. I send the channel 1 Aux out to the Mic in on the PlayAcoustic. I send the channel 2 Aux out to the Guitar in on the PlayAcoustic to use as the chord reference signal to keep the harmonies in key. I don’t use the Guitar out on the PlayAcoustic, and I set it to mute the lead vocal - so only the generated harmony is fed to the T1 channel 3. You use the Hit foot switch on the PlayAcoustic, or a separate extension foot switch to turn the harmony on and off. So your lead vocal is on channel 1 of the T1 and the harmony-only vocal is on channel 3. It’s easy to use the gain knobs on the T1 to adjust the dry vocal/harmony levels. I also have a Boss VE-8 Acoustic Singer and a TC Helicon H1 Harmonizer, but I find the PlayAcoustic is more accurate and more forgiving in keeping the harmony in key. I also tried a TC Helicon Voicelive3 Extreme. It sounded great, but was far too complex - and far too big - for my use.
Thanks to everyone for your responses. There's quite a few recommendations here so I will look at each one on Youtube and other reviews and see which one would be best for me.
RYCowan - can you post a pic of your setup with the T1? I also have the T1 and use the same channels as you for vocals (1) guitar (2) but I am winning my guitar then my harmonized ans use the “guitar thru” from harmonizer to channel two. Are you going direct into Tonematch with your guitar? I’m not grasping what you are doing with using the aux on the channels. Thanks.
He is connecting his mic and guitar to Channels 1 & 2, and using the "Preamp Out" 1 & 2 to send the mic and guitar signals on to the harmonizer. (I think he referred to them as "aux outs" in his post.) The preamp out jacks on the T1 are just sending the unaltered mic and guitar signals directly from the channel preamps in the T1. This provides the mic and guitar signals to the harmonizer so it can do its thing.
He is then taking only the harmonized voice (lead vocal muted in the harmonizer) back to T1 channel 3. The lead vocal and guitar inputs are not passed back to the T1.
So, he's mixing three signals in the T1 to send to the Master Output -- the lead vocal mic in Channel 1, the guitar in Channel 2, and the harmonies in Channel 3.
