TC voicelive

[Quatschmacher]

I’d never seen this before and it’s pretty cool, old as it is. I’ll check out this artist’s music too. 

 

[Cuzzie]

That is cool as is she cheers for that

[mcnach]

That's really cool, thank you!

[fretmeister]

TC voice stuff is great.

I have their little Harmony Singer pedal and the Mic Mechanic.

I use the MM all the time - it a magic button just called "Tone" and that engages an EQ, adaptive compression, and a De-esser. Then I can add some verb and if I want some pitch correction.

I don't use the pitch correction, and most of the time I don't use the verb either - I leave that for FOH. But the 3 effects under the Tone button are fantastic - just makes it sound like a well EQ'd and compressed sound with 1 push of a button.

 

Back in gigging days it saved loads of time in PA setup and sound check.

 

The Harmony Singer adds harmonies to the vocal depending on what guitar chord it hears. So it follows the maj / min structure without the need for programming. 

If I was playing bass and not guitar then I'd put it on the guitarists board but it would be my microphone feeding it. Worked best when the harmony effects were subtle and not overbearing.

 

Both of mine are the V1 - I imagine the newer models are even better.

[Cuzzie]

I just recently got the Boss VE20 to have a dabble at what it does, but this looks a whole leap better - if we get out and about again, could be a good one to get

[JohnDaBass]

When I started to do some backing vocals in one of my bands I got TC Voice live Play.

https://www.gak.co.uk/en/tc-helicon-voicelive-play/56640?msclkid=29bbeb00989510ef9a91b5e8181515cc&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=PX 

It's a great simple to use bit of kit. As @fretmeister explained there are simple setups which sound awesome. The pitch correction works really well either by selecting the key signature or the ambient Mic which cleverly listens to key the band is playing in. What is probably the best feature is the huge online library of studio vocal setups that you simply download and store in the pedal. You just search by Artist,  song or band and you get the exact studio quality vocal sound. So if you want to sound like Bowie or Barry White you just hit the footswitch. It's a bit expensive but great for a really poor vocalist like me😎

Edited June 16, 2020 by JohnDaBass
Spelling

[Woodinblack]

Both me and the singer use a voicelive play, which is a cheap enough thing. My wife (who technically owns my voicelive play) has a mic mechanic too, she prefered the simplicity of that.

[Happy Jack]

I use three of their Vocal FX pedals. As others have said, the Mic Mechanic is a genius piece of kit, a complete no-brainer.

https://www.thomann.de/gb/tc_helicon_mic_mechanic_2.htm?sid=ff967fac4f3e0d4153656bbc9f6d772d

When I'm mainly singing BVs in a 3-piece, I tend to use this instead:

https://www.thomann.de/gb/tc_helicon_duplicator.htm

Basically it's a Mic Mechanic with the Wet/Dry control replaced with ADT to thicken up my voice.

With my rockabilly band, where I frequently have to do the whole Jordanaires thing, I use this:

https://www.google.co.uk/shopping/product/10836893526893741269?lsf=seller:291943,store:17486815475102514008&prds=oid:9052323143970673685&q=tc+helicon+harmony+singer&hl=en&ei=UYfoXp2SMJKp1fAPyfCI0As&lsft=gclid:CjwKCAjw26H3BRB2EiwAy32zhT9lJ5x6XCQFak-py0xPN-cXmpT9Wki50qatAAYt2L_pvWfkF7kuNBoC2a4QAvD_BwE

Those big VoiceLive modules assume that you're happy to fiddle with the knobs or scroll through a tiny LCD menu between songs. I know that a lot of people are very happy to do just that, but I'm strictly Fire & Forget ... for me the pedal is either on or off.

The closest I get to knob twiddling is on the Harmony Singer, where I'd love to use the input from the bass to provide the key automatically but playing double bass live in rockabilly leans towards dodgy intonation, and dodgy intonation with one of these harmoniser pedals has to be heard to be believed. 

[Cuzzie]

Am I correct in thinking that it’s Midi so you should be able to one switch it if you set a controller up correctly?

[NickD]

I have their Critical Mass pedal. Kind of a rock biased variation of the others. It has doubling, octaves and gang vocal stuff, along with the same reverbs as the others. I was surprised how good it is, makes me sound much less stinky poo.

[Woodinblack]

2 minutes ago, NickD said:

I have their Critical Mass pedal. Kind of a rock biased variation of the others. It has doubling, octaves and gang vocal stuff, along with the same reverbs as the others. I was surprised how good it is, makes me sound much less stinky poo.

I did look at that one, their demo is a bit poor on that so I couldn't really tell how good it would be

[NickD]

2 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

I did look at that one, their demo is a bit poor on that so I couldn't really tell how good it would be

I bought it on spec off a mate who was having a clearout, without seeing any reviews. I was pleasantly surprised. Tracking is good, and while in isolation the effects themselves could sound a little 'effecty' (if that makes any sense?), in a room, with a band, they sit really well.

[fretmeister]

3 minutes ago, NickD said:

I bought it on spec off a mate who was having a clearout, without seeing any reviews. I was pleasantly surprised. Tracking is good, and while in isolation the effects themselves could sound a little 'effecty' (if that makes any sense?), in a room, with a band, they sit really well.

I think that is the secret with all of them. Needs to be in a mix to see how it works.

Otherwise they can sound a bit fake purely because it is processing just 1 voice rather than having different singers with their slightly different tones and timings. 

[Woodinblack]

12 minutes ago, NickD said:

Tracking is good, and while in isolation the effects themselves could sound a little 'effecty' (if that makes any sense?), in a room, with a band, they sit really well.

Yes, that is how the voice live is, I have a multi-gang vocal patch that i use in 'brick in the wall', and a couple of other things, and on its own it can sound a bit metalic, but in a mix it blends nicely.

[NickD]

2 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

Yes, that is how the voice live is, I have a multi-gang vocal patch that i use in 'brick in the wall', and a couple of other things, and on its own it can sound a bit metalic, but in a mix it blends nicely.

Metallic..... That was the word I was looking for.... 'Effecty'.... 🤣

[JohnDaBass]

3 hours ago, Cuzzie said:

Am I correct in thinking that it’s Midi so you should be able to one switch it if you set a controller up correctly?

@CuzzieThe Voicelive Play is NOT Midi.

I only use four presets so I simply use the Up/Down F/switches to toggle between those presets. It's very simple and easy to use live. I also have a TC Voice Tone H1, which is a harmony pedal with switched key  selection or guitar sensing. The H1 is ideal for backing vocals but the Voicelive Play has far more options from the online library.

I use the Voicelive Play straight into my DAW ( Cakewalk) just using the effects from the pedal. It's faster to get the right vocal effect as somebody else has already spent time tweaking the levels and posted to the online library. I see no point tweaking my DAW channel settings to get a particular vocal effect ( echo, reverb, De-esser, compression etc.) when I can just download it and record direct from the pedal. ( call me lazy😃)  

[BigRedX]

7 minutes ago, JohnDaBass said:

@CuzzieThe Voicelive Play is NOT Midi.

What sort of company makes a digital effects unit with presets and not include MIDI? A stupid one.

[Cuzzie]

8 minutes ago, JohnDaBass said:

@CuzzieThe Voicelive Play is NOT Midi.

I only use four presets so I simply use the Up/Down F/switches to toggle between those presets. It's very simple and easy to use live. I also have a TC Voice Tone H1, which is a harmony pedal with switched key  selection or guitar sensing. The H1 is ideal for backing vocals but the Voicelive Play has far more options from the online library.

I use the Voicelive Play straight into my DAW ( Cakewalk) just using the effects from the pedal. It's faster to get the right vocal effect as somebody else has already spent time tweaking the levels and posted to the online library. I see no point tweaking my DAW channel settings to get a particular vocal effect ( echo, reverb, De-esser, compression etc.) when I can just download it and record direct from the pedal. ( call me lazy😃)  

I was thinking of the voice live 3, I thought that might have been

[Cuzzie]

2 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

What sort of company makes a digital effects unit with presets and not include MIDI? A stupid one.

Posted at the same time - I think 3 is, play if it’s entry level may not, as the Boss VE 20 doesnt

Edited June 16, 2020 by Cuzzie

[JohnDaBass]

4 minutes ago, Cuzzie said:

I was thinking of the voice live 3, I thought that might have been

@Cuzzie & @BigRedXThe Voice Live 3 & Voice Live 3 Extreme DO have Midi control.

Sorry about the confusion.

https://www.tc-helicon.com/Categories/Tchelicon/Vocal/Multi-Effects/VOICELIVE-3/p/P0CDY#googtrans(en|en)

[Cuzzie]

No worries, I didn’t make myself clear in my post

[Cuzzie]

If you put Someone who sounds like Barry White, through the Barry White filter - will it be subsonic?

[JohnDaBass]

19 hours ago, Cuzzie said:

If you put Someone who sounds like Barry White, through the Barry White filter - will it be subsonic?

Bassy White😂