TC Helicon's Tone button

[ptkbass]

Ladies and Gentlemen;

One of my gigs is a solo singer/songwriter act. Quick setup and tear down, almost no soundcheck, and I usually provide my own sound. So no sound guy or gal. What's your opinion of the "tone" button that's on a slew of the TC Helicon gear. It's on the Play Acoustic, Play Electric, VoiceSolo FX150, Harmony Singer, Mic Mechanic, etc. According to the site, it "automatically adjusts EQ, Compression, De-Essing and Gating – ". It interests me, but it's hard to get a real idea of the function before I take one home from the store. So,what's your thoughts?

Peace

Paul K

[OneEng]

It does a good job of making a good eq on your voice (to my ear); however, the siblence and compression it adds (which sound really nice) tends to increase your chance for feedback.

 

A good soundman can get the same result or better, but then again, that is the rub isn't it? Not every performer has a good sound guy at his disposal .... or all the equipment needed to get these results.

 

I use it without problems for solo/duo gigs. It sounds nice. The TC Helicon verbs are really good as well.

[abzurd]

Depending on the model, the parameters are adjustable. For instance, the VoiceLive Play has different presets (less bright, no compression, etc) while the VoiceLive 2 and 3 have individual adjustment of the amount of de-essing, compresison, EQ, as well as a parametric EQ. It works pretty well, especially the de-essing, which works effectively while still keeping the vocal tone bright.

[OneEng]

Depending on the model' date=' the parameters are adjustable. For instance, the VoiceLive Play has different presets (less bright, no compression, etc) while the VoiceLive 2 and 3 have individual adjustment of the amount of de-essing, compresison, EQ, as well as a parametric EQ. It works pretty well, especially the de-essing, which works effectively while still keeping the vocal tone bright.[/quote']

Wow. Didn't know that. Thanks. I have been thinking about getting rid of my little pedal and moving up to a VL2 so I can see what patch I am on ... or maybe the GTX?

[abzurd]

VL2 is pretty cheap as the the VL3 is out now. I just sold my VL2 for $300 and see them going for even less occasionally on ebay. I have a VL3 and also a VoiceLivePlay as a backup. The Play /GTX is pretty good and might be all you need. The best thing about the VL2 & VL3 is that you can connect to a midi patch changer, I use a midi-mouse, and stage your next patch during the current song. This way instead of scrolling after the song is over you just stomp once and the patch changes to the one you staged. This means you can run song together without interruption.

[ptkbass]

The Harmony G-XT caught my eye as being a bit easier to program than the Play Electric or Play Acoustic. I'll check them out at G.C. and see if the harmony thing would work. I've heard people use them, but IMHO, they mix the harmonies too loud; less is more in that situation. If the harmonies don't do it for me I'll likely end up with the FX150 since it'll double up with other uses in my setup.

 

Re: the Play GTX. Word on the street is that the newer Play electric and Play acoustic are noticeable improvements over the older GTX. (Yes, the G-XT is a different unit than the GTX. I guess they were running out of letters)

 

Thanks for the opinion on the "tone" button.

[wesg]

The VoiceCorrect XT has recently been discontinued as such may be available to you at a discount.

 

It does everything the Mic Mechanic does, but also has a feedback eliminator, chromatic pitch correction, and built-in active DI. I am currently using one as a voice training aid. There is nothing like hearing yourself in tune and out of tune at the same time to show you where your pitch problems are. I also think the tone correction sounds really good on it. Like the Mic Mechanic, it does auto EQ (including de-essing) compression, gating, and so on.

 

The feedback eliminator works well to pull out room modes without taking a big bite out of your sound. If you are familiar with rack mount units, it will pick up 9 frequencies and never let go. If there is feedback again after the 9th frequency, it will knock 3dB off your mic and make fun of you. It's not as fast as the Sabine units but it's about as sensitive. It's comparable to the AFS in the DriveRack PX, if you configured the DRPX for 9 live filters that never let go.

 

If you also have a Lexicon of some kind you might also try putting some slap on your vocals. Better than reverb in my (limited) experience.

 

And I know you didn't ask about this functionality, but be VERY careful if you think you can use pitch correction functions on a gig. In my private rehearsals, I am discovering that stage bleed, pitch correction, and out-of-tune vocals combine for some impressively effed up sound. "Hey! I don't recall putting chorus on my piano!"

 

Wes

[abzurd]

I agree that more times than not when I hear these processors in a live setting they are way overmixed as far as harmonies go . Done correctly they work great though. Also, if you're going to use any of the harmony and correction functions it's VERY important to use a microphone with a tight pickup pattern. Most condensers and even the average cardioid microphone (like an SM58) just won't give you great results, especially if you have any stage volume to speak of. Audix OM7 is a fantastic choice as is the TC-Helicon MP-70 or MP-75. There will be an adjustment period though if you aren't the "lips touching the microphone" kind of singer as these types pretty much require it.

[abzurd]

FWIW, the songs on the player on my band website (in signature below) are all with the tone functionality (compression, EQ, deessing) as well as harmonies. They are either the VoiceLive2 or VoiceLivePlay as I've used both over the last few years.

[ptkbass]

Ha....I'm busy going down a rabbit hole. "For just a few dollars more I can get (fill in the blank)." The VoiceLive Touch 2 will also deal with my guitar effects, quantized looper, and get the damn thing off the floor so I can reach the buttons.....

 

Interesting about how a hyper cardiod being more suited to this tool if I'm using the harmony or pitch functions. But it makes sense. Perhaps my headset mic will make it out of the parts bin if I go that route. Thx.

[wesg]

An update to my own comment -- turning the level way down on the TC Helicon unit helps to keep the gate from tripping. I am running mine at 9 O'clock now (on a beta 58) because it sounds SO BAD when it clips. It goes from sounding great to sounding like a jet airplane in about 1dB of input. Way worse over-level behaviour than I have seen on any other product, including junk-name mixers.

 

Also, running the level low like this makes the feedback eliminator basically ineffective for anything other than bad bad bad feedback. But you can nail the room modes up by turning up until it's set 3 filters or so and then setting it back at performance levels.

 

Wes

[ptkbass]

Update on the Tone button. Unsolicited, I had a friend ask me after last night's gig if I had bought a new piece of gear or something; she said my sound was more articulate, easier to understand the words, crisp, different-good. She's an artist, but not a musician. Very welcome feedback, as I have a hard enough time getting my musician friends to say even simple things like "guitar too loud/not loud enough", etc.

 

So there you have it. The Tone button works.