Loopers and Harmonizers

[msmooth]

I just got back from a relaxing trip to Virginia Beach. I heard a lot of acoustic solo acts while I was there. All of the ones I saw where using loopers and harmonizers at some point. I currently play in a trio (Guitar, upright bass, hand percussion w 2 vocalists) and don't use either. I am looking to maybe book some solo gigs - since I am looking to play more gigs than my wife wants to - and am considering using them.

 

I am sure some of you use one, or both, of them. I am curious to hear what you use and how easy/hard the loopers are to operate. I am also interested in a few of the "all in one" pedals I have seen such as the TC Helicon Play Acoustic or Boss VE-8.

 

Thanks,

 

MIke

[daddymack]

apres moi, le deluge....[Louis XIV]

 

msm, you've got a pretty good selection of options, and the Play Acoustic is an excellent [if pricey] choice. I personally have scaled my rig size down partially by getting the 3 key ingredients of the PA in single stompbox form: Ditto Looper, Body Rez and H1 harmonizer. I found after a few years using my Digitech Vocalist Live 4 and Boss RC-30 looper that I was using only about 10% of what was in them, and although I still have them [anyone interested, PM me], the simplicity of having less to deal with has made my 'tapdancing' easier.

 

I don't need autotune, or most of the other wacky vocal efx, none of the guitar efx, etc., so I turned back to finding only what I really needed...a simple looper and 2/3 part harmony [and the Body Rez was just irresistible....]. Well, those and the Beat Buddy...but I also found I was using the 'boxes' less and less while concentrating more on my vocal and instrumental performance, and it has been a back and forth process of refocusing my efforts in a continuous improvement process.

 

Looping is a very precise process; you really need to have the timing dead on or everything goes to the dogs immediately. I sometimes will just start by triggering the looper on the downbeat, record the verse and hold the loop, allowing me to sing and play fills and solo over the verse later, but again, you have to hit that downbeat exactly the same to bring it back when you stop it for the chorus, especially using the Beat Buddy [which has a visual beat indicator, but you can't always look down, can you?]. It took me a lot of practice at first to get the 'feel' of the switch [CRUCIAL! they all trigger just a bit differently!], and then to re-learn on the Ditto.

[STM86]

I love the Play acoustic. One limitation- the loop size is limited compared to a dedicated looper. So if you have a long chord progression, it may not all fit. I ran into this issue with Wish You Were Here. I use vocal looping, but I feel like I ran out in guitar only loop mode too. Otherwise the harmonies are great, the looper works great- particularly with the streamlined implementation using the Switch-3 accessory, but you can still do without it. I really like the adaptive tone as well.

 

Just keep in mind that they are both tools, not gimmicks to build an act around. Use them judiciously, and mixed in at reasonable volumes.

[steve mac]

Another vote for the TC helicon play acoustic, I have been a long time user of their voicelive GTX but have retired it a couple of months ago when I picked up the PA in Berlin because DaddyMac and others here where waxing so lyrical about the bodyrez feature. Previously I had used an acoustic modeler in front of the GTX. Vocals: even if you don't have it switched on there is still a low level auto correct which works just fine for me, especially at the end of the night when my voice is getting tired. I also use the doubling feature set tight and very low which really adds a polish to the sound when playing patio gigs and speaking of which they have some fab reverbs. Of course the most famous feature is the harmonies and my go to is a single third above mixed low, on the next preset I use two high whilst again low in the mix. The majority of the night is using either one or other of these. My next preset is my "Elvis " and I use lush reverb a dash of delay and high low harmony and loose double, I use this for anything 50s like Johnny Cash etc. (don't use this much maybe a couple of songs a night) next preset is an octave down which I only use for a novelty song like "Bear Necessities", next is my "Beach Boys/Doo Wop" which has a huge harmony hit (again not used much maybe a couple of songs like Silhouettes on the Shade or Kokomo) the other couple of presets I have are microphone off and one that has mute everything. Guitar: The PA has the ability to change guitar settings per preset, my standard setting is some spring verb, and body rez. Except for the preset with two high harmonies which I add a dash of chorus. Looper: as has been mentioned the loop is not that long but I use it without the undo feature which gives 60 seconds which is plenty for my needs. I have added the Switch 3 which although not necessary does make getting in and out of the looper easier. As has been mentioned timing is everything a bit of practice and seriously if I can do it anyone can. Having said that all I do is a simple chord progression and or a bit of percussion. A great feature is that either the guitar or the vocals or both can be recorded. Plus each loop is recorded slightly less loud so it doesn't go into a muddy mess and it's easy to creat them on the fly meaning no long awkward wait whilst you start building it up. My first loop ever live was "The Lion Sleeps" which went down a storm, I used the octave lower to start the vocal bass then used every combination of harmony and ended up sounding like a tribe of Masai warriors. The looper takes up 2 of the Switch 3 and I use the other button to boost the guitar volume by 6db for fingerpicking, I seriously would be lost without it now. The picture is of my standard solo gigging rig, but if I could just have one thing it would be the Play Acoustic.

[STM86]

I have the third switch 3 button set for momentary harmonies, which I like, and was considering switching to boost. I forgot the switch 3 cable for the last couple gigs and didn't miss that button nearly as much as I thought I would. So I might just switch it to boost myself. Good note on the undo feature cutting into the loop length too. I don't use Undo because I don't build anything elaborate. So getting rid of that would be to my advantage.