Members xmlguy Posted November 25, 2008 Members Share Posted November 25, 2008 I have the VoiceWorks Plus. It can do a wide variety of live distortion effects with its Transducer algorithm. It also has an excellent preamp, compression, and is versatile for sweet vocals, not just distortion. Since it has been out for a while, you can also find it used at value prices. I got mine for about $450. It's much more powerful than the VoiceTone, VoiceCorrect, and Digitech voice processors. If you use an IEMs for stage monitoring, you'll eliminate any issues with feedback. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tompkinzz Posted July 14, 2009 Members Share Posted July 14, 2009 Im relatively new to the engineering portion of live sound and have spent the last year building a pa from the ground up using pretty much loose change. It's been pretty pain staking talking to people and having them tell you, you made a bad decision by purchasing a certain brand, or your picking the wrong product. But it's all part of the learning experience. I'm a vocalist in a fresh band, and took on the task of being the one to purchase and operate our sound system. I purchased a Vocal 300 in an attempt to be able to control my own effects without a seasoned sound man. I was highly disappointed at first. Feedback was a constant struggle, until I learned how to use the unit effectively. First the output of the vocal300 is line level, so do not hook it in the main board using XLR. It will only piss you off. If your mixer has 1/4" Trs connections use that. Second it outputs super hot so you have to watch your gain input level. There is several different ways to hook it up but the most effective I found was to use it like it was an effects processor at the main board. I hooked my Mic to the mixing board into the XLR input then hooked my effects send into the V300, then back to my Return Channel. It works like a dream. I don't get feedback at all, and I have plenty of headroom. The distortion options are great, although I don't really use them except to mess with the band a little. The unit itself is not the best processor on the market. I've heard much better sound from other more expensive units, however the benefit of having everything in your control is amazing. The presets are garbage so you will have to tweak it with your own presets, but it is very user friendly and easy to figure out, even without the manual. It has decent reverb, and not so bad chorus. The doubler is something I use alot, but It is very limited to the type of doubling you get. I now use another lexicon effects processor running at the main board for my Reverb, and then tweak my sound using the vocal300. However I was pretty happy just using the V300 by itself. If I need a burst of delay I can just stomp down, and then I've got what I need. You can use the whammy style pedal on it to set different parameters(up to three), another words, I can set the pedal to control the amount of effect I have. Pulling the pedal back I can have a short amount of delay, pushing it forward I could have delay that goes on forever. Or you can use it to give your voice a more wavy effect using chorus or other effects. It really is a great tool. I bought mine on Ebay for $80.00 used. A big complaint with the unit is the amount of humming noise it will create. And it will hum like crazy if you have it plugged in direct to the board using XLR. The way I have it set up it doesn't make a sound. If I had 800 bucks laying around I would probably pick up a helicon voicelive 2, or another of their similar products. But for the money you really can't go wrong with the Vocal 300. Others have had good luck with this using a small seperate mixer with it, to limit the gains and bring down the wet signal. I've tried it like that but found that the way I have it hooked up sounds the same and is less to frig with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members agedhorse Posted July 14, 2009 Members Share Posted July 14, 2009 To think I've spent my entire career trying to avoid vocal distortion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members moody Posted July 14, 2009 Members Share Posted July 14, 2009 To think I've spent my entire career trying to avoid vocal distortion. You do realize that you have already posted this? it's an old old thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members agedhorse Posted July 14, 2009 Members Share Posted July 14, 2009 You do realize that you have already posted this? it's an old old thread. At least I'm consistant, if not forgetful. Didn't notice the date. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Consume Posted July 14, 2009 Members Share Posted July 14, 2009 okay ill give it a try. Just curious does anyone know how bands like tool, NIN, strokes would pull this effect off without feedback in a live situation? I know they have the best equipment, just curious. Bandpass the vocals between 300 and 3k, squash the heck out of that with a compressor, and distort that.This needs to be done on a second channel and is added in. That was how we did it.What you are doing is limiting the range of the voice to that of a telephone, and then compressing all life out of it with the compressor (I've seen it compressed twice as well - with a compressor on each side of the distortion at the same time.) Distort it, and then you add it in to the vocal channel until you have enough there to make it all sound distorted - once the level is set on the board, then you just mute the distorted channel until it is needed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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