TC-Helicon VoiceLive 2 Vocal Harmony and Effects Processor

[j3yps]

I got it working flawlessly under Windows 7(64bit), but unfortunately not with my MacPro under the same OS as my laptop (10.6.4) so now i'm guesing that this is a software problem, well TC-Helicon should fix this ASAP, i already posted my concern in their support section but i am still not getting any response from them yet...

[fustercluk]

Helicon has added a looper now to the VoiceLive 2. Also they have made improvments and fixes. Check it out.

I have updated mine and the looping is way to cool!!

http://www.tc-helicon.com/

Enjoy!!

[abzurd]

 

Originally Posted by fustercluk

Helicon has added a looper now to the VoiceLive 2. Also they have made improvments and fixes. Check it out.

I have updated mine and the looping is way to cool!!

http://www.tc-helicon.com/

Enjoy!!

 

WOW! Thanks for the tip -

Unfortunately, it looks like they pulled it from the site as there is no 1.3 firmware option when you plug in your VL2 via USB and run the VoiceSupport app. Guessing they found a bug, will fix and repost.

[j3yps]

The 1.3 FW is buggy as hell according to other VL2 users that updated to this FW, thank god i'm not anywhere near my unit when i found out that the 1.3FW has been released, if not I'm sure i'll update it right away

[steve350]

 

Originally Posted by abzurd

Whew ..... I just read (most of) the 7 pages so I'd not double dip with my comments. I didn't see anything that would overlap so thought I'd post a few tidbits.

I had one of the first units and so have been using the VL2 since June of 09'. I've owned a half dozen harmonizers over the years including 3 from TC-Helicon and have performed over 500 shows with them. I have roughly 70 shows under my belt with the VL2. It's easily the best I've used from a sound and practical standpoint. That said I have 2 fairly major gripes about it. Luckily both can be taken care of with a couple of 3rd party devices.

My biggest complaint is the location of the "harmony" button. Obviously this is going to be the most used of all the buttons. IMO that would necessitate that it be on the outside bottom edge. Instead it's located between other buttons making it pretty much impossible to operate without looking down to see where it is. I suggested they add the ability to reassign the buttons in future firmware, but it fell on deaf ears. This wasn't something I thought of when I looked over the unit, but in practice it really is a significant flaw.

To fix the problem I use an external pedal (just a Yamaha sustain pedal for a keyboard). It's set so the harmonies work when I depress the pedal only. Advantages are numerous.

1 - no more having to look for the button on the harmonizer

2 - I can keep the harmonizer further from me and not "under foot".

3 - I'm not wearing out the button on the harmonizer

4 - I harmonizer can essentially be hidden behind the monitor wedge. Only the pedal is "out" and it's black and much less noticeable.

5 - The pedal can be moved quickly if needed. For instance, I have a few "sit on a stool by the guitar player" songs. I can flip the pedal over closer to him for those.

The second gripe is that there's no ability to stage the next preset. Scrolling is nice, but it's not good enough for seamless shows where one song is starting immediately after the last. I don't want to be staring down at the unit between tunes. I'd rather do it during solos or other "when I choose" times prior to the next song.

Have no fear.... Midi-Mouse is here. I've been using this thing for darn near 10 years. I wore out one and am on my second actually. It's dead simple to use and does what it does perfectly. In a nutshell, it's a scroller for midi patches. It has 3 functions - up, down, and search. The search feature is what makes the product so great. It allows you to stage the next preset by pressing once on the "active/search" button. The display will flash and you can then use the up/down to scroll to the next patch. You can do this by pressing once for each preset or just hold it down and it will go quickly. Once you reach the number you want you stop. It's in memory waiting for you to push the search button (once or twice I forget). It immediately goes to that number. So you can be doing a song that's preset #3 and, at any time during the song, you can pre-stage preset 40. When you're ready for 40 you tap the search button again and you're there instantly. It also runs on one 9V battery for a year or more of regular use. To hook it up you just connect a midi cable from the one connection on the midi-mouse to the Midi IN on the VL2. That's it.

 

I find that external pedal a must. There is no way I can keep looking down to hit that little button in the middle. I rest my foot over a pedal switch and just hold it down when I need harmony and release when I don't. I think its a must for gigs.

[abzurd]

Here's an example of the harmonizer in action. Notice I don't have to look down to activate the harmonies. If I were using the built in harmony button I'd never be able to do that.

[TuMadre]

MF Stupid Deal of the Day for 10/14/2010

TC Helicon Harmony G: $119 USD. That's cheaper than used on eBay.

edited to add that this is no longer the SDotD, but priced very well at $129 USD for clearance

http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com...sts?sku=180235

[steve350]

I am not sure how that device works. I get the fact that it follows your guitar chords. How does it turn on and off the harmony without having to step on something?

[fustercluk]

Just to get everyone caught up to speed, Helicon will be putting out the new firmware with the fixes in place, for the VL2 next week. This is according to the forum it was posted on. Should be awesome when done, has a looper and some more software improvements. Better Vocal correction, and the like.

Enjoy!!

[knerr]

 

 

 

 

 

The second gripe is that there's no ability to stage the next preset. Scrolling is nice, but it's not good enough for seamless shows where one song is starting immediately after the last. I don't want to be staring down at the unit between tunes. I'd rather do it during solos or other "when I choose" times prior to the next song.

 

 

 

 

You could also accomplish this by copying the presets you want for your set in sequence to an unused portion of your preset bank, between 205-400. This would be very (Drag and Drop) easy with the latest version of the VoiceSupport utility. Simple to do on the unit as well, but would take longer. Just find the preset you want, hit "Save", and scroll to the slot in which you want to save, then hit "Save" again. Lather, Rinse, Repeat.

--

Matthew

[abzurd]

 

Originally Posted by knerr

You could also accomplish this by copying the presets you want for your set in sequence to an unused portion of your preset bank, between 205-400. This would be very (Drag and Drop) easy with the latest version of the VoiceSupport utility. Simple to do on the unit as well, but would take longer. Just find the preset you want, hit "Save", and scroll to the slot in which you want to save, then hit "Save" again. Lather, Rinse, Repeat.

--

Matthew

 

In theory sure, but in practice, not so much. We know 2X the songs we do on a normal night. No show is the same and we get requests, skip songs, etc. Plus with everything I do for the band the last thing I want to do is add scripting each show to the list. If you play the same show every night over and over then sure, it would work.

[soulvillemusic]

Hey all. I'm brand new to this forum and this is my first post. I've probably read every post on this thread on the VL2 over the past year or so. I'm interested in getting one but in all my research I've seen very few reviews from people using it in rock band scenarios with relatively loud stages. While the VL2 seems aimed more at the acoustic / singer songwriter crowd it also has appeal to someone like myself who plays in cover band. Looks like a couple of you who posted in this thread use the VL2 in rock bands so maybe you have some comments on this question: How does the VL2 perform when playing a loud stage? My concerns are how well it tracks the lead vocal for harmony purposes with all the other stage wash going on? Feedback is a huge concern also. Even with a loud stage I experience very little feedback with my current monitor setup. I'm worried that all the auto compression / makeup gain could cause feedback issues.

For the record, I won't be relying on the unit heavily for harmony purposes as I already have a bass player who sings great harmonies, but I like the idea of adding a bit more layering in some songs. I'm probably MORE interested in all of the available effects since I run our sound and have to do a set it and forget template for effects. Also, since I run an 01v mixer I can't mute effects when talking to the crowd so being able to do it from a pedal would be nice.

Any feeback would be greatly anticipated (no pun intended). I've love the idea of the VL2 but it isn't cheap and if it causes more issues than benefits in this type of band I don't want to deal with it. I have enough work to do owning and running the PA

Thanks in advance!

[abzurd]

You're doing what I do - run PA and front a rock band. Tap tempo and effect toggling are very nice to have at your feet. I will say the unit is not a fan of loud stages. There are 3 things that contribute to problems of stage bleed mistriggering the harmonizer.

1 - Overall stage volume

2 - The volume of the monitor of the singer using the harmonizer. If it's hot the harmonized voice is going right back into the harmonizer. This makes crazy harmonies. I call it harmonic feedback and it doesn't sound good

3 - Don't discount the microphone. You want to A) Be right on top of the mic so you can lower the overall gain and 2) use a mic with a very tight pickup pattern such as an Audix OM5 or OM7.

[knerr]

 

Originally Posted by abzurd

In theory sure, but in practice, not so much. We know 2X the songs we do on a normal night. No show is the same and we get requests, skip songs, etc. Plus with everything I do for the band the last thing I want to do is add scripting each show to the list. If you play the same show every night over and over then sure, it would work.

 

Yeah, in your situation it wouldn't be very practical. I guess I interpreted your term, "staging the next preset" to mean it would be planned ahead of time.

How long have you been using the StudioLive? Our band bought one a few months ago and have been blown away. Where do you do your primary dynamics and EQ'ing with your vocal channel? Do you mostly rely on your VL2 and run the basically flat, with little compression, or do you have another approach? Do you do much with the onboard effects?

Sorry to bombard you!

--

Matthew

[abzurd]

 

Originally Posted by knerr

How long have you been using the StudioLive? Our band bought one a few months ago and have been blown away. Where do you do your primary dynamics and EQ'ing with your vocal channel? Do you mostly rely on your VL2 and run the basically flat, with little compression, or do you have another approach? Do you do much with the onboard effects?

Sorry to bombard you!

--

Matthew

 

I used to use the VL2 for dynamics and EQ, but I don't do that anymore. "Adaptive EQ and compression means it changes and I want predictability. The only thing I use is some de-essing, the rest I get from the StudioLive. If you're at all prone to feedback you don't want to be compressing right off the bat as you're increasing the chances for feedback in the monitor.

Vocal effects are entirely done on the VL2. I make a lot of use of tap tempo. Doing all the effects on the VL2 also allows you to toggle them off between songs. There's a global effect control which is nice for different venues. In cave like venues I go dry. Outdoors I'll boost the effects.

[soulvillemusic]

Thanks Abzurd. That's what I wanted to know. I DO monitor pretty loudly. Wouldn't have to but the drummer, bass, and guitar player are loud and I've never had luck getting the stage much quieter. Been singing 20 years as a semi pro and have pretty much only used sm58's. I do eat the mic but not sure I want to change mic brands just to satisfy the VL2.

This may be a crazy question since the whole purpose of the VL2 is to harmonize, but do you think the unit is worth buying just for effects and the singer's ability to control them? I know vocal effects can sound great when it's just an acoustic guitar and voice but from my experience all those cool effects are kind lost in a rock mix. Has anybody heard these effects FOH in a rock setting?

Thanks.

[abzurd]

The effects are as good as you're going to get from anything else and better than most. The ability to control the ON/OFF, and tap tempo make it very valuable. If you don't really need the harmonies then I'd suggest the Create XT. It's essentially the effects part of the VL2 in a stompbox and 1/4 the price.

[knerr]

 

Originally Posted by soulvillemusic

This may be a crazy question since the whole purpose of the VL2 is to harmonize, but do you think the unit is worth buying just for effects and the singer's ability to control them? I know vocal effects can sound great when it's just an acoustic guitar and voice but from my experience all those cool effects are kind lost in a rock mix. Has anybody heard these effects FOH in a rock setting?

Thanks.

 

The effects you use will always depend on the style music you're playing. For rock, you'll be looking at the slap and tap tempo delays, the doubling, the megaphone, maybe the modulation occasionally. The reverb will still be useful if you're doing a ballad. They key is to use everything in moderation, mix it up, and to use it to accentuate certain lines or phrases. Otherwise, it will get lost, like you said. The dynamic delay is great for this, as it basically mutes or attenuates the delay output until you stop singing, then brings it back in. I feel I'm doing it right when people don't notice the effects, or notice them, but can't really put their finger on what they were hearing.

I agree with Abzurd, though, in that if you don't need the harmonies, the Create XT is a great value.

[clund]

 

Originally Posted by soulvillemusic

Hey all. I'm brand new to this forum and this is my first post. I've probably read every post on this thread on the VL2 over the past year or so. I'm interested in getting one but in all my research I've seen very few reviews from people using it in rock band scenarios with relatively loud stages. While the VL2 seems aimed more at the acoustic / singer songwriter crowd it also has appeal to someone like myself who plays in cover band. Looks like a couple of you who posted in this thread use the VL2 in rock bands so maybe you have some comments on this question: How does the VL2 perform when playing a loud stage? My concerns are how well it tracks the lead vocal for harmony purposes with all the other stage wash going on? Feedback is a huge concern also. Even with a loud stage I experience very little feedback with my current monitor setup. I'm worried that all the auto compression / makeup gain could cause feedback issues.

For the record, I won't be relying on the unit heavily for harmony purposes as I already have a bass player who sings great harmonies, but I like the idea of adding a bit more layering in some songs. I'm probably MORE interested in all of the available effects since I run our sound and have to do a set it and forget template for effects. Also, since I run an 01v mixer I can't mute effects when talking to the crowd so being able to do it from a pedal would be nice.

Any feeback would be greatly anticipated (no pun intended). I've love the idea of the VL2 but it isn't cheap and if it causes more issues than benefits in this type of band I don't want to deal with it. I have enough work to do owning and running the PA

Thanks in advance!

 

We have the VL2 in our band... I purchased it about a year ago. We have a full 5 piece band and do have fairly loud stage volume. What I do is run it in Mono mode, put the Main XLR into one channel of my MixWiz16:2 and run that for FOH only... Then set the second output DRY into another channel in the mixer and run that for Monitors only. Takes up an extra channel on the board, but then you can run all the effects without worrying about feedback.

- Corey

[soulvillemusic]

That's makes sense Corey. So I can actually run the two 1/4" line outs to a stereo channel on my board and pan those hard right / left for true stereo and then run the dry output to another channel and just monitor off of that one. Cool. Do you hear harmonies when monitoring off the dry output or is it totally dry (no effects or harmonies). If not I guess I could could always mix some wet channel in the monitors if I wanted.

Think I'll get a used one off of ebay and try it out!

[zildjidan]

what about the voicelive touch? Any hands on experiences?

All I know is the VL2 was great - the sax player in my band was using one - but sadly the footswitch broke the first month

[Chris2007]

Hi, I am either not a native English speaker nor very competent in this field. I've seen that this thread concerned the VL2 and would like to find some help...

I have ordered a pedal board in which my VL2 will be included.

I am going to use a G-Lab GSC-3 to manage the pedals sounds with basically 3 settings: Jazz, Blues and ballads. I'd like to recall from the footswitches of the controller the associated vocals : I mean: when I press one => guitar jazz style + VL2 jazz style; 2 guitar Blues style + VL2 blues style for main vocal..

However, I do not know which parameters ( comp ?, delay, ...????) should I modify to create these 3 settings... such vocal settings do exist on the voice tone create.....but no way to have the settings to achieve these sounds...and I am not going to buy a voice tone while having the VL2 which is more complete...

Thanks a lot for those of yu who will take some time to give me some indications on where to search and what to modify

Chris .

[Chris2007]

I am probably stupid, but do not understand anything

[abzurd]

 

Originally Posted by Ajbbklyn

I'd be interested in hearing what settings you used. I checked the manual's details section under the Expression tab. The only info they show is for sweep style expression pedals - either keyboard or guitar types. It looks like harmony level can be controlled in a sweep manor after pedal calibration. This would simply be riding the parameter level (in this case, harmony) using values 0-127. How did you achieve a momentary "on/off" effect with a sustain pedal?

 

I just happened to have the pedal next to me so I booted up. I honestly don't remember what I did exactly, but I do remember calibrating the pedal which, yes is a simple all the way on and all the way off. I went here:

- Setup

- Expression (last tab)

- Global Expr-Pedal (Harm+Dbl Level)

From here you can calibrate the pedal

I then set each patch with a default of the harmony being on. When you first boot the VL2 up your patch will have harmonies even though you haven't pushed the sustain pedal down. I have to step on and off it 3-5 times before it behaves, but once it reacts properly it will do so as long as it's powered up.

There is one more thing where originally when I set it up I could hear harmonies in the reverb even when the harmonies were not active with the sustain pedal. The VL2 wasn't recognizing the momentary switch with the reverb and routing harmonies to it all the time. I can't for the life of me figure out what I did to stop this and don't want to mess up my patches by screwing around with it now. I'm wondering if it was the "early reflections" setting in the reverb tab as I seem to have them all set to "off".

[knerr]

 

Originally Posted by abzurd

There is one more thing where originally when I set it up I could hear harmonies in the reverb even when the harmonies were not active with the sustain pedal. The VL2 wasn't recognizing the momentary switch with the reverb and routing harmonies to it all the time. I can't for the life of me figure out what I did to stop this and don't want to mess up my patches by screwing around with it now. I'm wondering if it was the "early reflections" setting in the reverb tab as I seem to have them all set to "off".

 

I don't have the VL2 in front of me, but there should be a parameter in the Reverb tab called "Harmony to Reverb," or something like that, that controls the level of the harmonies being sent to the reverb. If it's not there, it could be in the Harmony tab.

That almost sounds like a bug, though. I would think that the desired behavior would be that the reverb of the harmonies would track with harmonies level. Maybe the reverb send is "pre fader," when it should be post, in this case? I don't think my brain is firing the way it should yet this morning, though, so I could be way off.

Matthew