make it stooooooooooooop ...

Yes, those are pretty bad demos for the VH2, in the Tyros 4 and Tyros 5. Okay, T C Helicon VH beats Yamaha here, but Yamaha gives you a lot of parameter settings to optimize what you want and what fits your voice the best.

Those demo singers were in desperate need of the following VH2 settings. One setting T C Helicon cannot beat.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0hgTkeP38do

Marcus

1O MINUTES OF ABSOLUTE TORTURE followed by 4 more minutes of barely acceptable. I have always found VH2 to be kinder to the female voice.

How can Yamaha continue to incorporate totally substandard vocal processing in such an expensive keyboard? I would have bought a PSR S950 until I heard VH2. Luckily the store had a 750 shipped to them by mistake. I bought it and continued to use my dedicated floor pedal Digitech. If I had saved for a Tyros I would be very upset when I started to sing through it. Where I live the music stores would never stock a Tyros as they don't want to get stuck with such a high dollar item. Consequently, you would have to order one without ever hearing it. Tyros sounds great as long as you just play it. If you're a one man act and sing forget it!

God Bless,
Don

Gary, don't shoot me! You seem to have made it work for you. Never heard Donny when he had his 950 but I'm guessing he used the harmony sparingly if at all.

In this Demo, Robby, a Yamaha rep explains that he creates User Harmonies because he finds the factory presets distort. In another of his demos he created a midi track to trigger the harmony. The other demos he has have the distorted phasey sound. These two where he has put in the time to improve the harmony yielded a reasonable result. However Digitech or Helicon give you good results without having to mess around. Robbie also says singing too close, having keyboard speaker volume to high and a less than perfect mike will also yield poor results. Sounds like way to much work for a singer who needs good harmony available at the touch of a footswitch.



God Bless,
Don

Robbie is right. Additionally, singing through any harmonizer requires an entirely different approach to your vocals - it's a completely different art than just belting out a song with a powerful voice through your hand held mic and using pull away techniques. Voice control is of paramount importance, yet it is often completely neglected by the singer when the vocal harmonizer comes into play. And, because every voice is different, it's just not a plug and play device - even the TC Helicon Harmony-M or the Digitech VR - I should know - I own a couple of both and I rely heavily upon my vocals. I can assure you that if you set up the VH2 properly, and utilize voice control, you can make it almost, but not as good as any outboard harmonizer. The difference is so insignificant that no audience would notice.

All the best,

Gary

I sing and play with my arranger but have never once used the vocal harmoniser . Never once in a live performance . I think it's the most over used and overrated function on any arranger . If you can sing and play then just do that . No vocal harmoniser sounds natural and it takes away from a performance far more than it contributes .

Perfect example how NOT to use a VH .....as dave says Please make it stop. Of course the Tyros 5 alone sounds incredibale.

Spalding, not everyone SHOULD use the VH systems. For some, their singing techniques do not lend well to this device, while for others, such as UD, it's a fantastic tool.

As I stated above, it's something that you must learn to use, and the learning curve is not easy and very steep. Some folks just never get the hang of it, but some, such as myself, and many others I know, love what can be achieved within a song that cries out for vocal harmony in some segments. When the Beach Boys sing Little Surfer it's the incredible harmony that brings this song to life. Same is true for many other songs, old and new. How about the Sons Of The Pioneers with Cool Water, a song of which only has a few segments in harmony, but that harmony adds so much to the song.

There's a lot more to singing in harmony, electronic or live, than just adding an extra voice or two to the primary or lead vocals. Learning how to utilize this asset to the fullest extent and making the music flow naturally is what it is all about. Unfortunately, there are those that do not understand this and consequently, give the harmonizer a bad reputation, one that is not deserved.

All the best,

Gary