i'm confused on what unit I can use for harmonys and pitch crrection doing mostly older gospel song's? I play a acoustic guitar and would like clean harmony with two or 3 back up singers in harmony with my song. with out costing a lot. Idea's please thanks pete
instead of using a guitar can you use a laptop with backing tracks to get the 2 part harmonies instead of the guitar source to get the harmony effect... just curious
Now that this review is more than two years old, do you still feel the same about it, or is there another product I should be looking at? (I can get one for about $100, used)
@tlj362 All in all - still give it a thumbs up. I've used it every weekend for a band gig for the last year and a half. It's held up pretty well for being knocked around and stored in the band trailer (I live in IL and just keep the thing in the trailer during the freezing winter and blazing hot summer). I keep it in its original box (which has been reinforced with packing tape)
@tlj362 I ran a strip of gaffers tape along the knobs as they tend to get kicked out of place and I had to mod the effects on/off footswitch by slipping a long, thin lego piece under it so it would stay in one position as it is real touchy. I never use the effects and use the harmony on about 20% of the songs I sing lead on and about 80% of my backup parts.
@redlightrecords Thanks! I did pick one up used for $115, but I still haven't played with it yet. I think I'll finally get a chance tomorrow, and I'll watch your review again to help me get a quick start.
I am very happy with the unit, I use it the single acoustic setting that is mentioned and it makes me sound awesome! I can do " Seven Bridges Road " alone and it sounds like a full backup
if you paid 350... for the live 2 you got screwed mf has for 200.00 local shops 250.00 i'm not as critical as you are but it has couple flaws no on off switch harmonys can flauter on a long note but it is still pretty sweet
Thanks man. It's to your credit that you would pass that on. I love gear, but I love stuff only as far as it will make me sound and look "cool" in the most traditional sense. Like Jimmy Page. but different.
Hey man, I just wanted to commend you on your delightful personality. Its refreshing to see that musicians out there that are up with technology are not all boring 'uber geeks' Rock on brother! I think a lot of guys out there forget why they started playing in the first place and it wasn't to sit around with other guys and talk about gear. Thanks for your help with this unit. i just bought one and I'm eager to get into it on the gig....
hi, cool! we're playing here in dubai, and people here are really begging us to play bohemian rhapsody, wil it generate the harmonies on that song? and will it work for keyboards? thanks for your help if you don't mind? thanks and more power...
Hi redlightrecords, by "works well with keyboards" are you referring to the TC-Helicon mauibuilt75 was talking about, or to the Digitech Vocalist shown in this vid ?..
I play in a midi augmented duo and use to use the older version of the vocalist that needed to be triggered by a midi signal. Been using this new version triggered by my guitar and I love it. One thing to be aware of is that if you are in a band that uses a lot of volume or have loud monitors, the vocalist can pick up the harmony that it created and may try to harmonize the harmony (if you know what I mean.) I had to learn to live with a little less monitor volume. A great box and sounds clean.
I am looking for something to use in our band as well but I am playing alot of riffy electric guitar as we are doing covers. Will it work with that. Will is affect my guitar tone in the bypass position? 1 more- Do you have any comparison comments with the TC-Helicon? Thanks-
As you would expect, big, clean chords work best, but I've gotten away with some pretty riffy/sloppy playing and it tracks pretty well:) It has a clean "signal through" so don't worry about tone loss. Haven't tried the TC. Anyone else?
Thanks for the info. Is it possible to sing the verses with unison engaged and hit the harmonizer for the chorus? If not, how would you suggest I accomplish that?
You're welcome. The harmonies (one and/or two) are globally controlled with the footswitch. You can't toggle just the second harmony. I think you can do that via MIDI on the Live 4...
So this Unit has no Pitch Correction but the 4 does, correct. Can you explain why you wouldn't use this for a solo act? Is it the fact that it is to obvious?
The Live 2 has no PROGRAMMABLE pitch correction. So it's slightly less flexible. Live2 has auto pitch correction and is fine for 80% of any songs you throw at it (provided you understand a little harmony theory). My personal opinion is that it is way easy to overuse in any situation, especially a solo act where everyone can tell you're using "singers in a box". I use the Live2 on about 20% of my band's live songs and it's a beautiful thing.
where do u conncect the mic and guitar? is it all hooked up to 1 amp? or are u connecting them to 2 seperate amps..thats what ive very confused about.
Both mic and guitar(or keyboard) are plugged into the vocalist's mic/line inputs. from there you have a mono mic out, or stereo line outs that you can send wherever you wish
oooh very awesome..thank you.also..if u were to record u would have to play an insturment for this to work huh..lets say u juss wanted to record the vocals while a karaoke track plays or something..can that be possible?
Yes BUT only with the unison voices. With nothing to track to, the unit (LIve2) won't know whats what and will track harmonies to the last chord you played into the unit! If you need a set scale to sing to, you want the Live4 with programmable scale settings.
For this unit to work it needs some type of intervalic input,(guitar,keys,and probably anything that plays chords)It will not function with harmony, with just a mic pluged in.
Hey Jordan - I've owned the Vocalist 4 for about seven (7) months and am having a problem with the harmony clicking on and off erratically almost all the time now. Have you experienced this at all?
Yikes. Is your "engage" button dirty? Maybe get some DeOxit and take the unit apart and spray and pray. The unit has a 1 year limited warranty so I'd get it back to the factory quick like.
Great question. With the limited space available to me I'd say "It depends" Mostly on where you're singing relative to the chord. If you're intending a minor chord but playing a 5 chord, the unit won't "know" whether you want a minor or major third. Unless of course you're actually singing the minor third. If you're using it on a demo, you'll hopefully have the time to hear what works and doesn't, and set the unit accordingly.
@jegler I'm just getting used to mine now, but I'm experimenting with playing chords through the VL2 that aren't necessarily the chords that are played and recorded for the song. (Obviously, this wouldn't work live). So even if the chords recorded are power chords, I play a full open chord into the VL2 so that it can inflect with major or minor tonality.
Hi Jegler. Thanks for a helpful review. I noticed that you gave a big thumbs up to the unison 2 patch. Will this unit give a good guitarist with a reasonable sense of pitch (+/- 20c) a decent auto-tune (vocal) function in real time?
Yeah, just remember that the "auto-tune" function on the unison 2 setting SEEMS to be chromatic, and will behave as such regardless of the guitar input.
Hi Again - Sorry I never checked back to see your response earlier, but I see I didn't make my point very clearly last time. What I meant to say is that the XLR Mic out is line level. So you need to get an XLR to 1/4 cable and plug the MONO out into a line level input on your mixer. In this way you can raise your input level on the Vocalist Live 2 and eliminate most of your noise issues. Cheers Q.
Its true, I tried this & the noise gate "chop-off" is greatly reduced. The thing that sucks is that the unit internally pans the harmonies to the L/R line outs (slightly) so if you use only 1 of the outs, you get a little less of the harmony thats panned over to the other out, & if you use both the line outs, ya gotta eat up 2 channels on yer mixer. Also, I still say the XLR out is a mic level signal that you can "convert" to line level with the adapter you mentioned. A minor quibble. Thanks!!!
Thanks for this! I was just wondering if you knew...what would be the advantage of a Live 4 over the 2? I was under the impression that the Live 2 only added one harmony but I can hear 2 additional ones. Does the 4 allow you to change more easily from say 2 to 3 part harmony in a song? Or from a 3rd above to a 5th below? Thanks.
The live4 gives you the same 4 harmony intervals as the 2 with the option to have them ALL engaged. Also it gives you presets so you can say step through your song list or add/subtract harmonies within a song as opposed to bending down and finger pushing with the 2. It also has pitch correction parameter editing and alot more mixing/effects options.
The outputs on this unit are line level- not mic level. You should be plugging this into a line level input on your mixer - NOT a mic level input. Then you will be able to bring the mic gain up on the unit to where it is supposed to be, which will radically reduce the noise and your issues with the noise gate.
You're right that the noise gate misbehaves less on the line outs. But your assertion that I can't use the mic out is absurd. I bet most people will use this as an insert on their mic signal and use the mono/mic out. Why eat up two channels on your board, deal with gain staging and also the unit's panning issues. I'd rather boost with my Mackie pres. Thanks tho-peace
i'm confused on what unit I can use for harmonys and pitch crrection doing mostly older gospel song's? I play a acoustic guitar and would like clean harmony with two or 3 back up singers in harmony with my song. with out costing a lot. Idea's please thanks pete
galaxieflyman1 1 year ago
instead of using a guitar can you use a laptop with backing tracks to get the 2 part harmonies instead of the guitar source to get the harmony effect... just curious
kahaman247 1 year ago
How is the quality of the compression? Is it useful or should the knob be entirely avoided?
Lavizzle 1 year ago
Now that this review is more than two years old, do you still feel the same about it, or is there another product I should be looking at? (I can get one for about $100, used)
tlj362 1 year ago
@tlj362 All in all - still give it a thumbs up. I've used it every weekend for a band gig for the last year and a half. It's held up pretty well for being knocked around and stored in the band trailer (I live in IL and just keep the thing in the trailer during the freezing winter and blazing hot summer). I keep it in its original box (which has been reinforced with packing tape)
redlightrecords 1 year ago
@tlj362 I ran a strip of gaffers tape along the knobs as they tend to get kicked out of place and I had to mod the effects on/off footswitch by slipping a long, thin lego piece under it so it would stay in one position as it is real touchy. I never use the effects and use the harmony on about 20% of the songs I sing lead on and about 80% of my backup parts.
redlightrecords 1 year ago
@redlightrecords Thanks! I did pick one up used for $115, but I still haven't played with it yet. I think I'll finally get a chance tomorrow, and I'll watch your review again to help me get a quick start.
tlj362 1 year ago
I am very happy with the unit, I use it the single acoustic setting that is mentioned and it makes me sound awesome! I can do " Seven Bridges Road " alone and it sounds like a full backup
cowbiker 2 years ago
if you paid 350... for the live 2 you got screwed mf has for 200.00 local shops 250.00 i'm not as critical as you are but it has couple flaws no on off switch harmonys can flauter on a long note but it is still pretty sweet
happytobehim 2 years ago
@happytobehim Note this video was made 2 years ago, so it was probably way more expensive than it is now.
pisaniforprez 2 years ago
@happytobehim yeah, as with any gear that you buy right when it's "hot", you get screwed. I see it regularly in the gear catalogs for $250
jegler 2 years ago
Great Review...thanks kindly! Dig that you go into bad and good and back up with examples. Pretty sweet and your keeping it real!
spacecavy 2 years ago
Thanks man. It's to your credit that you would pass that on. I love gear, but I love stuff only as far as it will make me sound and look "cool" in the most traditional sense. Like Jimmy Page. but different.
jegler 2 years ago
Hey man, I just wanted to commend you on your delightful personality. Its refreshing to see that musicians out there that are up with technology are not all boring 'uber geeks' Rock on brother! I think a lot of guys out there forget why they started playing in the first place and it wasn't to sit around with other guys and talk about gear. Thanks for your help with this unit. i just bought one and I'm eager to get into it on the gig....
philster65 2 years ago
hi, cool! we're playing here in dubai, and people here are really begging us to play bohemian rhapsody, wil it generate the harmonies on that song? and will it work for keyboards? thanks for your help if you don't mind? thanks and more power...
norlymercado70 2 years ago
Seriously? Of course it won't generate the harmonies on Bohemian Rhapsody. But it does work on keyboards.
redlightrecords 2 years ago
Hi all, does this nice thing work with keyboards too? In case it doesn't: any solutions for players who are NOT necessarely guitarists?
Thanx!
mirzamarco 3 years ago
if you want one that will work with keyboards, the TC-Helicon has one just for guitar, and one just for keyboards. Go check it out. TC-Electronics
mauibuilt75 2 years ago
Thanx !
mirzamarco 2 years ago
works well with keyboards. I STILL haven't gotten around to trying it out with a bass guitar. Anyone else?
redlightrecords 2 years ago
Hi redlightrecords, by "works well with keyboards" are you referring to the TC-Helicon mauibuilt75 was talking about, or to the Digitech Vocalist shown in this vid ?..
Thanx !
mirzamarco 2 years ago
I was referring to the Live2. don't know nuthin bout the TC...
redlightrecords 2 years ago
Ok man, thank you.
mirzamarco 2 years ago
I play in a midi augmented duo and use to use the older version of the vocalist that needed to be triggered by a midi signal. Been using this new version triggered by my guitar and I love it. One thing to be aware of is that if you are in a band that uses a lot of volume or have loud monitors, the vocalist can pick up the harmony that it created and may try to harmonize the harmony (if you know what I mean.) I had to learn to live with a little less monitor volume. A great box and sounds clean.
georgebeven 3 years ago
I am looking for something to use in our band as well but I am playing alot of riffy electric guitar as we are doing covers. Will it work with that. Will is affect my guitar tone in the bypass position? 1 more- Do you have any comparison comments with the TC-Helicon? Thanks-
horhay122 3 years ago
As you would expect, big, clean chords work best, but I've gotten away with some pretty riffy/sloppy playing and it tracks pretty well:) It has a clean "signal through" so don't worry about tone loss. Haven't tried the TC. Anyone else?
redlightrecords 3 years ago
Thanks for the info. Is it possible to sing the verses with unison engaged and hit the harmonizer for the chorus? If not, how would you suggest I accomplish that?
rkronenwetter 3 years ago
You're welcome. The harmonies (one and/or two) are globally controlled with the footswitch. You can't toggle just the second harmony. I think you can do that via MIDI on the Live 4...
or you could buy two Live 2s :(
redlightrecords 3 years ago
So this Unit has no Pitch Correction but the 4 does, correct. Can you explain why you wouldn't use this for a solo act? Is it the fact that it is to obvious?
Roccerr 3 years ago
The Live 2 has no PROGRAMMABLE pitch correction. So it's slightly less flexible. Live2 has auto pitch correction and is fine for 80% of any songs you throw at it (provided you understand a little harmony theory). My personal opinion is that it is way easy to overuse in any situation, especially a solo act where everyone can tell you're using "singers in a box". I use the Live2 on about 20% of my band's live songs and it's a beautiful thing.
redlightrecords 3 years ago
PS
Some people actually LIKE the sound of a solo singer using a box for backup singers, so it's totally up to your personal preference...
redlightrecords 3 years ago
You answered all my questions. Thanks. Good job.
nashbitch 3 years ago
where do u conncect the mic and guitar? is it all hooked up to 1 amp? or are u connecting them to 2 seperate amps..thats what ive very confused about.
daryl152 3 years ago
Both mic and guitar(or keyboard) are plugged into the vocalist's mic/line inputs. from there you have a mono mic out, or stereo line outs that you can send wherever you wish
redlightrecords 3 years ago
oooh very awesome..thank you.also..if u were to record u would have to play an insturment for this to work huh..lets say u juss wanted to record the vocals while a karaoke track plays or something..can that be possible?
daryl152 3 years ago
Yes BUT only with the unison voices. With nothing to track to, the unit (LIve2) won't know whats what and will track harmonies to the last chord you played into the unit! If you need a set scale to sing to, you want the Live4 with programmable scale settings.
redlightrecords 3 years ago
For this unit to work it needs some type of intervalic input,(guitar,keys,and probably anything that plays chords)It will not function with harmony, with just a mic pluged in.
cast390 3 years ago
very helpful! thanks
ifilm1215 3 years ago
great review dude thanks!
vegetarianpunk 3 years ago
Hey Jordan - I've owned the Vocalist 4 for about seven (7) months and am having a problem with the harmony clicking on and off erratically almost all the time now. Have you experienced this at all?
dokumentary 3 years ago
Yikes. Is your "engage" button dirty? Maybe get some DeOxit and take the unit apart and spray and pray. The unit has a 1 year limited warranty so I'd get it back to the factory quick like.
redlightrecords 3 years ago
Very helpful, thanks for posting! Great stuff
danflit 3 years ago
Hello Jegler,
I'm working on a demo (pop/rock genre) would you suggest that I get this just to help out on my demo or would I be better off skipping it?
I mostly use power chords, how does the V2 work with those?
atticushero 3 years ago
Great question. With the limited space available to me I'd say "It depends" Mostly on where you're singing relative to the chord. If you're intending a minor chord but playing a 5 chord, the unit won't "know" whether you want a minor or major third. Unless of course you're actually singing the minor third. If you're using it on a demo, you'll hopefully have the time to hear what works and doesn't, and set the unit accordingly.
jegler 3 years ago
@jegler I'm just getting used to mine now, but I'm experimenting with playing chords through the VL2 that aren't necessarily the chords that are played and recorded for the song. (Obviously, this wouldn't work live). So even if the chords recorded are power chords, I play a full open chord into the VL2 so that it can inflect with major or minor tonality.
tlj362 1 year ago
Hi Jegler. Thanks for a helpful review. I noticed that you gave a big thumbs up to the unison 2 patch. Will this unit give a good guitarist with a reasonable sense of pitch (+/- 20c) a decent auto-tune (vocal) function in real time?
Great (anti) demo of the noise gate!
Ta.
Pete.
fenderbendersender 3 years ago
Yeah, just remember that the "auto-tune" function on the unison 2 setting SEEMS to be chromatic, and will behave as such regardless of the guitar input.
jegler 3 years ago
One more thing - if BOTH unison voices are engaged, niether voice tracks chromatically, they are both simply detuned a bit for "thickening"
jegler 3 years ago
Hi Jegler.
Thanks for the reply.
I'll try it and see.
Ta.
Pete.
fenderbendersender 3 years ago
Hi Again - Sorry I never checked back to see your response earlier, but I see I didn't make my point very clearly last time. What I meant to say is that the XLR Mic out is line level. So you need to get an XLR to 1/4 cable and plug the MONO out into a line level input on your mixer. In this way you can raise your input level on the Vocalist Live 2 and eliminate most of your noise issues. Cheers Q.
quecha1 3 years ago
Its true, I tried this & the noise gate "chop-off" is greatly reduced. The thing that sucks is that the unit internally pans the harmonies to the L/R line outs (slightly) so if you use only 1 of the outs, you get a little less of the harmony thats panned over to the other out, & if you use both the line outs, ya gotta eat up 2 channels on yer mixer. Also, I still say the XLR out is a mic level signal that you can "convert" to line level with the adapter you mentioned. A minor quibble. Thanks!!!
jegler 3 years ago
Thanks for this! I was just wondering if you knew...what would be the advantage of a Live 4 over the 2? I was under the impression that the Live 2 only added one harmony but I can hear 2 additional ones. Does the 4 allow you to change more easily from say 2 to 3 part harmony in a song? Or from a 3rd above to a 5th below? Thanks.
arcanequiver 4 years ago
The live4 gives you the same 4 harmony intervals as the 2 with the option to have them ALL engaged. Also it gives you presets so you can say step through your song list or add/subtract harmonies within a song as opposed to bending down and finger pushing with the 2. It also has pitch correction parameter editing and alot more mixing/effects options.
jegler 3 years ago
Thanks for your review Jordan! It was this video (and part 2) that got me to buy the product. Thanks for your honesty.
twenty6hundred 4 years ago
np bro. Try not to kick off the knobs during a show!
jegler 4 years ago
The outputs on this unit are line level- not mic level. You should be plugging this into a line level input on your mixer - NOT a mic level input. Then you will be able to bring the mic gain up on the unit to where it is supposed to be, which will radically reduce the noise and your issues with the noise gate.
quecha1 4 years ago
You're right that the noise gate misbehaves less on the line outs. But your assertion that I can't use the mic out is absurd. I bet most people will use this as an insert on their mic signal and use the mono/mic out. Why eat up two channels on your board, deal with gain staging and also the unit's panning issues. I'd rather boost with my Mackie pres. Thanks tho-peace
jegler 4 years ago