Don, when set up properly, the VH2 sounds very, very good. However, you must set it up as described in the lessons section at PSR Tutorial, where big741 provided the exact details required for doing this. VH Primer Granted, it's not as good as the TC Helicon stand alone devices, but it's pretty darned good. And, if I didn't own a pair of TC Helicon Harmon-ms I would be using it exclusively. Take a look at Dan's setup and follow his instructions to the letter and you will be amazed at the results.

One of the problems with all harmonizers is the mic used. The mic MUST be very short ranged and extremely high quality. Anything less and you will not get stellar results. Mics that can pick up outside sounds will loop those harmonies and sound awful. A good example is the difference between the SM58 and the Sennheiser E855 - the difference in quality is incredible.

All the best,

Gary

Trust me Gary, I want to be able to appreciate VH2 but my initial experience with it while testing it in the store tempers my thoughts. Most users, yourself not included, have that same tinny robotic sound that I rejected when I bought the 750 instead of the 950. You and a few others seem to have a handle on it but if you listen to some of the PSR Tutorial posts where VH2 is used you will hear the sound I refer to. I don't notice it in your work but on some it totally destroys the vocal. It seems to garble the lead voice along with the harmony. This fellow, Paul Brooks from across the ocean has got it sounding the best I've ever heard.

https://app.box.com/s/jrxp4c9xrd133pxm0aap

By the way, this is a virtual duet where Steve played his Tyros 5 and sent the file to Paul, who played back the file on his Tyros 5 and added the vocal. I guess the keyboard reads Paul's vocal input and adds the harmonies based on the chords in the midi file. All Paul has to do is engage the switch when he wants to add VH2.
Is that a correct appraisal of the situation?
God Bless,
Don

Hey Gary,

Speaking of mikes. Long before I figured out how to use my Digitech with my keyboard I used it quite a bit with guitar. At church we sing through AKG condenser mikes which give a wonderful tone in the lower register. I used to bring my church mike home for the week in hopes of getting some great recordings. The mike was so sensitive that my Digitech would not only harmonize my voice but also the strings on my acoustic guitar. My condenser mike experiment ended when my digital recorder recorded a toilet flush from 2 floors away in 3 part harmony. So yeah, the right microphone is very important.

God Bless,
Don

Mirza,

Good job on the song. Harmonies come across well but are accompanied by that "phasey" sound that signals TC Helicon harmony has just kicked in.

Originally when I got started on this journey I aspired to own a Voice Live 2 from TC Helicon. Long and McQuade didn't have one yet as they were pretty new. So I rented the Digitech Vocalist 4 for a month and was pretty impressed by its capabilities. When the TC unit came in, the store let me borrow it overnight. I still had a few days left on the Digitech so I had them side by side. I was prepared for Voice Live 2 to blow the doors off the Digitech but it turned out the other way round. I bought the Digitech and saved many hundred dollars and have never looked back. The thing that turned me away from TC was that Whoosh/Phasey sound that comes with TC.

Listen closely as the girl with the green hair in Donny's posted video sings............

"And I wanna sing."
"And I wanna shout."

The phasey sound on the I wanna's is quite pronounced. I heard the same sound on the Korg PA 900 when I checked it out at L&M under headphones. Maybe it's my ears. TC is supposed to be the best. Perhaps Uncle Dave has conquered this on his TC devices.

God Bless,
Don

What you hear is probably me trying to sing in English.

I am constantly switching between harmonies, and turning them On and Off..

Hey you did a decent job with your English!

God Bless,
Don

Sounded good to me Mirza.

I've just tried a different approach a backing track with harmony included(Cheating)

https://app.box.com/s/r9dshcq2lc0mgejv2dbhd2rojlprwjck

Col

Montunoman, when you work in scale mode you have to set the scale to each song.
Depends on what you use, with voiceworks it takes me 3sec to set it up.About how if song changes scales or key. You can do that to with voiceworks pretty easy in song mode you can set it up. I try not to over use harmonies because they start to sound too dull and boring after a while.
The way I do it is, I have 4 or 5 presets. On each preset I have set up the scale for upper 3rd, or lower or upper 5th, or lower octave from my voice. With voiceworks I can choose instantly which voice is going to do harmonies. It's pretty easy with voicelive 2-3 with steps to do the same..I do have to have in my harmonizer ability to do custom scale. That way you can choose which harmony sound when. Lets say you sing in C major and set it to 3rd up which is pretty easy, but also you want to add 5th only when you sing lets say G note. That is why I like custom scales.

The harmonizer on the Roland g-70 is about as good as it gets. It's too bad they don't make a harmonizer module.

http://www.rolandus.com/products/vp-7/