Hi again! I'm trying to help a friend who's an amateur lead vocalist, with a little recording and occasional live performance.

I'm not necessarily interested in generating a "barbershop quartet" harmony, or making her voice sound like a robot. I'm assuming the most useful functions for lead vocals would be subtle pitch correction, dynamic compression, de-esser, etc. I'm not a vocalist myself so I don't even know what the most common issues are.

Which of the following setups would be the most helpful:
(1) Korg Pa1XPro with optional voice modelling board
(2) Korg Pa3X with its built-in tools
(3) TC Helicon Voice Live 2 with chords coming from an arranger or MIDI file*
(4) Other arrangers & solutions??

*Regarding an external vocal processor like the VoiceLive: In your experience do they work as well as an integrated solution such as what's built into the Pa3X? I'm assuming these devices are connected via MIDI. Can it detect notes & chords in real time, does it have issues with feedback, etc.?

Really counting on your experience here. Thanks, sincerely,
Ted

I am not really sure what do you need.You are comparing arrangers with voice processors.Totally two different things.

If you only need something for vocal than I would tell you to get voicelive2.It is much better than the one on pa3x.
I had it for years and it's a great unit.I think every singer should have one and learn how to use it.
It's pretty easy to use,but you do have to know some things how everything works.It has great effects plus compression.

Voicelive touch 1 or two is good to,but you can't edit many things.It all depends how deep you want to go into editing.

VL2 I was using chordal mode,but also scale mode too..I think it works best in scale mode.I prefer it to chordal mode.

There is also voicelive rack which is the same as VL2 but in rack.

If you don't want to do any editing then voiceplay is your best choice.

Hi Ted,
I'm a bit of a vocal addict, so I have some expertise on your questions. First - all of the TC products are amazing. The ones built into the Korgs are terrific, and rival the stand-alone counterparts, like the Voice Live2 and such ... there are tons of editable parameters, and loads of presets to get you started.

I'm confused by your gear reference - do you OWN the PA1X Pro and the PA3x? If not ... buying a keyboard just to get a vocal processor is a bit of overkill. If you already own them - then, great! The PA3x is the most advanced harmonizer in any keyboard to date and I've had most of them. (calm down, Fran ... don't even start in with the Roland stuff - the G70 is wonderful in many ways, but the TC harmonizer is a better product)

The biggest trick to sounding great with a harmonizer is to sound great WITHOUT one ... and to THINK, and sing like the counterparts you are emulating. The Lettermen were very bland, average sounding singers individually, but as a unit - they were fantastic. You need to breathe as one, articulate less often and only sing where the harmonies really ought to be. Simply turning it on and singing lead will get boring and robotic very quickly. To start, I'd recommend a basic third above your pitch - that's an easy harmony to make believable ... even on substandard gear. The more voices you add, the better they BETTER sound! lol

Tell me your "go to" gear setup, and I'll get more specific with my advice.
Here's an early example I recorded with a Digitech VR about 10 years ago. It's more of a "Four Aces" sound ... lots of singers n the room! Enjoy.

Like Dave, I live and die by my vocals. Therefore, my advice is not to worry too much about the keyboard, but the vocal processor instead. The Voice Live 2 is a great option, but I found the TC Helicon Harmony-M did an outstanding job, and at a much lower cost.

Just sayin,

Gary

Dave, that was awesome!

One of Dave's 'old chestnuts' ... harmonies driven by right hand chord changes, correct, Dave? ...

A 'chestnut' it may be, but not too shabby a chestnut, eh? Still very enjoyable.

Very nicely done. I am very happy with the Digitech VL3D- their most recent tabletop unit I believe..

Digitech VL3D

Ah Caught you Dave.
You have put a picture of your father in your avatar because you are actually 30 and famous.
baz

Sigh ... yup - that's my Dad, all right! (lol)I'm just biding time with that picture till I get back to my fightin' weight - I started eating right 3 weeks ago and I lost 20 lbs, and almost SEVEN inches all over! I feel great, and my newly repaired Knee feels better than ever.
Thanx for the kind words - that piece was my attempt to sound like Manhattan Transfer, and yes ... all right hand chord triggers. Manual bass, drum machne - no arranger. It was recorded on my old Yamaha 9000PRO.

30, and famous? naw ... 58 (in a week) and happy, though!