Hi all

Has anyone heard anything about the Voiceprism vocal processor made by helcion (I think) ?

As you prob remember I was asking a week or so ago about the Digitech Vocalist workstation. I mentioned this also to a pal who said "you want to wait for the voice prism". This was all well and good but he could not tell me why I should wait

As far as I was aware Digitech were / are the masters with this sort of equipment. If this is the next big thing then I would love to know about it as my voice needs all the help it can get

Tony
(Stretching his vocal chords in eager anticipation )

Did you check out their website? I do not have the URL in front of me. But there was an AD for the Voice Prism in a recent Keyboard Magazine and it had the URL. The features and the module itself are attractive. The cost is over US$1k. I could not tell from the site what the advantages were over the Digitech Vocalist Studio, but it is in that class.

Thanks for that Cliff,

I managed to find the web site and yes it does look attractive. Very neat. As it is not yet released tho I think I will stick to what I know if only because waiting for anything is not in my nature.

Thanks again
Tony

Hi Clif and Tony,

Can you please provide the Keyboard Magazine (both issue and page number)where the Voice Prism AD appeared? Also, please provide the web site URL address of the (Helcion?)company.

Thanks,

Scott


[This message has been edited by Scottyee (edited 10-21-2000).]

Hi Scott

Try the most recent issue of Keyboard Magazine and look up TC Electronics or something like that for the advertisement page. It will have the URL. In the meantime, here is some info I came across.

"Helicon Vocal Technologies Inc. has unveiled the first product in its line of voice processing tools - the Helicon VoicePrism Voice Formant and Pitch Processor. The VoicePrism is a full solution vocal processor for both the stage and studio. Unlike simple harmony processors, the VoicePrism has a full range of lead and backing channel vocal processing under preset control. The VoicePrism provides the ability to go directly from a phantom powered mic into its high quality 48V mic preamp to access any of the on-board processes. Some of the on-board processing includes compression, gating, dual fully parametric EQ, 4-voice harmony (with individually adjustable gender controls and humanizing parameters) and a 5th lead-doubling voice for automatic double tracking. They have 2 separate post-effects blocks (including chorus/flange, delay and reverb with predelay), effects and harmony libraries, preset browser with context sensitive help menus, and you can even audition sampled human voices for preset previewing. Outputs include analog and S/PDIF digital I/O. The VoicePrism also supports an upcoming VoicePrism Expansion Card (available 2001) which will offer the world’s first implementation of Human Voice Physical Modeling as well as both AES/EBU and S/PDIF I/O. Retail price of the VoicePrism is announced at $1299."

Thanks Clif,

For those interested in finding out more about the Helicon "VoicePrism Voice Formant and Pitch Processor", here is the direct URL link to the Helicon "VoicePrism" webpage:
http://194.239.18.101/

Scott

Hi Scott

Sorry I did not post any info here when you asked but with the time lag between Uk and USA info is usually forthcoming from the good peeps on here before I have read the question

However, after seeing the voice prism website...are you tempted? I think I remember you said you used the digitech workstation, which is my other option, would you make the change??

TTFN
Tony

DigiTech’s Vocalist series are made with chips and algorithms from IVL Technologies. So is the Voice Prism. For all intents and purposes, TC Helicon is the new high-end arm of IVL, while DigiTech is the midrange and low-end. (IVL also makes the technology behind Yamaha’s vocal harmonizers, whether built-into a PSR-8000, 9000, 9000 Pro, Clavinova CVP-107, MU-100R, etc., or plugged in via a PLG100-VH card. They may make some of the others as well.)

TC Helicon is a new partnership between TC Electronics (known for very high-end outboard effects gear), and IVL Technologies.

The Digitech Studio Vocalist EX was discontinued months ago. Consider the Voice Prism as its replacement. The Vocalist Workstation is now the top of the DigiTech line, and anything higher than that will be coming out from TC Helicon.

The Voice Prism has more modern DSPs than the older DigiTech stuff, so it has more raw power. This power is put to good use, for things such as more effects (Phasers, Flangers, EQ, etc., instead of just the basic harmonizing, Gender [Studio and Workstation only], Vibrato, and [Workstation only] Digital Reverb and [Studio only] Timing/Delay of the DigiTech line), and more importantly, 24-bit I/O and processing. The flanging-type artifacts noticeable in most harmonizers including the DigiTech line are caused by integer round-off errors in the DSP math, and having 24 bits instead of 16 bits reduces the audible results of these errors by 256-fold!

Also, the Gender of the two Gender-capable DigiTech products is limited to two separate Gender settings at a time. If you have four voices, you can assign two to Gender #1 and the other two to Gender #2, or three to one Gender and one to the other, etc., but you can’t have three or four distinct Gender effects at the same time (well, three if you count the unprocessed Lead voice as a null Gender setting distinct from the up-to-four generated harmony voices).

The Voice Prism, on the other hand, has four distinct Gender settings per program, so each of the four generated voices can have its own vocal tonality setting. This helps them sound more like four distinct singers instead of copies of the same singer.

I personally own a Vocalist Workstation (pre-EX), and am considered something of an expert on both the Workstation and Studio series on the Vocalist mailing list. I get into the nitty-gritty of programming, having made my own User Programs and Songs.

Note: the Song Feature of the DigiTech units is woefully underused in the factory demos in ROM. My Workstation only has two demo Songs, and both merely use the Song Mode as a chord sequencer. It’s far more than that! It lets you sequence program changes as well! Because of this, I can (and have) easily perform, live, with all vocal effects intact and switched instantly via footswitch, songs as vocally complex as “Along Came Jones” using nothing but my Yamaha PSR-7000 and DigiTech Vocalist Workstation, a headset microphone, and my normal voice!

Great info, COMALite J. Do you know anything about the vocal physical modeling card coming out next year (or so they say)?

On another topic of interest, I read about a program that converts PC inputs to midi controller data. The post said the program was "JoyMIDI", but I have not found anything more about it. I wonder if this would enable your 6D MIDI controller.

Clif

Hi Tony and all,

Finally able to get a chance to check in here after a hectic work weekend which included doing a high energy retro 40's big band swing party which included approx 150 guests, most(including myself) who weren't born till many years after that era. They dressed up 1940's attire and danced and girated to the current retro swing craze.WILD! I covered tunes from retro bands Cherry Poppin' Daddies, Royal Crown Revue, Brian Setzer, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy and also performed traditional swing/jump tunes (Louis Prima, Duke Ellington, Count Basie). It was hi energy fun, but I was pretty exhausted by the end of the evening.

Yes Tony, I am particularly impressed by one specific feature included on the VoicePrism but missing on my Digitech Vocalist Workstation EX. The VoicePrism includes an all important vocal "EQ adjustment". I cannot understand why Digitech left out such an important feature on their unit. This feature alone will give me good reason to consider the VoicePrism over the Vocalist Workstation EX from Digitech.

A critisism I have about the VoicePrism is that it does not include an XLR mic input jack. The VoicePrism only includes a 1/4" unbalanced mic input jack. Considering the VoicePrism is marketed as a pro level vocal processor and is priced relatively high (quite a bit higher than the Digitech Vocalist Workstation EX, which does includes an XLR mic input), you would think the VoicePrism would have included this, rather than making us pay for an expensive add on card to gain the XLR input feature.

The feature I like about the Digitech Vocalist Workstation EX is that it is a table top style unit vs a rack mount. The advantage of the Vocalist Workstation EX (for me personally) is that I get to sit it right on top of my Technics KN5000 which allows very easy access to the slider controls (on top) for easy tweaking during live performance. I believe the VoicePrism can be used both as a table top unit (though the knobs may be less convenient than sliders) or rack mount unit.

I talked to the VoicePrism Sales Rep at TC Helicon Technology and he told me about an exciting new feature included on the VoicePrism which will allow you to sing and then have the vocal processor "answer" you (call and response style) with a delayed response based on the chord you trigger on the keyboard. This will certainly add a dimension of vocal "interaction" and "live realism" not currently available. I am particularly excited to check this out. According to the sales rep, the VoicePrism (produced in Denmark) will be released in the USA in mid November. Anyone out there in Europe had a chance to audition one yet?

Interested to hear comments from others.



Scott

PS: COMAlite, Thanks for your great post. As a Digitech Vocalist Workstaion EX owner, I found your post very informative.

[This message has been edited by Scottyee (edited 10-23-2000).]