Vocal Harmonizer pedals

KevKahuna

Anybody got any advice or experience with these? Up until recently I have been one of two band members willing and able to provide backing vocals/harmonies however with the exit of our bass player it's down to just me. I'm considering the option of getting a harmonizer pedal, but bearing in mind that I will be singing a harmony (ususally up a third) will this work? I guess if nothing else, I could just use an 'octave below' me to fatten things up. Any thoughts or recommendations?  Thanks

BenSirAmos

I've use a tc vocelive and it has worked for me. I chose this model as the simplest one - I don't need reverb or other effects available on other pedals because they can add that at the desk. I always plugged my guitar in so it always harmonised to the particular chord I was playing. I did use bluetac to make sure the knobs didn't move as they seemed to develop a life of their own. 

RocknRollDave

I sometimes play in a band with a guy who uses one and, personally, I’m not a fan. Or, I should say: I am not a fan of how HE uses it.

If you set them correctly and use them sparingly at a reasonable volume within the overall mix, they can sound very good.


But, insist on musicians providing at least some sort of background vocals.

vasselmeyer

I've used the Boss VE-20 for about 10 years now. I can hit a note but have a terrible habit of latching onto the singer's note so we're in unison.

I gave up and got the harmoniser. Tell it what key you're in, whether you want 2 or three parts and what intervals and just sing along. It can add compression, reverb, delay and pitch correction if needed, all in the patch.

Plenty of YouTube videos around if you want demos.

BillDL

For simplicity I have the Boss VE-2 Vocal Harmonist pedal.  It can do some, but not all, of the things that the VE-20 can do but it has a much simpler knob, switch and LED interface rather than a screen menu one. I really just use it for me and an acoustic guitar, but will be using it for recording in due course.  It has a guitar input and output and an optional function where it will track the guitar and adapt the harmonies around it, but that can be a bit hit and miss unless you are strumming fairly "blocky" chords.  That feature can also be used in a "hybrid" mode.  I find that it tracks pretty accurately but you have to be accurate with your vocals to start with or it will do what it thinks it needs to do with the input and you will get little glitches of strange harmony.  It does have an "enhance" function with pitch correction though.

VE-2 Vocal Harmonist:

https://www.boss.info/uk/products/ve-2/

vs

VE-20 Vocal Performer:

https://www.boss.info/uk/products/ve-20/

Musicwolf

I've got a couple kicking around.  My first was a TC Helicon Harmony G-XT, which could add one or two harmonies but was limited by a lack of control / ability to store pre-sets.  The controls were also ridiculously easy to knock so I too resorted to using Blu Tack to hold settings.

Next came the TC Helicon VoiceLive 2, which I snapped up on offer.  This is capable of some truely remarkable effects but, as other have said, easy to over use it.  In order to get the best out of them you need to spend a lot of time practicing, as well as  recording and listening back, playing around with keys, intervals and scales.  It's just as important to know when not to use it.

I actually think that they're better suited to lead vocalists than to backing vocals.  With backing vocals especially you need to be careful with it picking up the rest of the band when you are off-mic (pitch shifted cymbals are not something that you want going to the FoH).

KevKahuna

Thanks all. I’ve won on EBay a TC Harony singer pedal, which is about a simple as it gets and seems  to have some good reviews. I’ll give it a try and see how it goes I think. If nothing else, I’ll set it to an octave below and sing the harmony lines. Hopefully it’ll fill the missing vocal. 

RocknRollDave

If you watch VCQs on That Pedal Show from tonight's live stream, you'll see Mick Here and Dan Here really are NOT keen!

mrkb

RocknRollDave said:

If you watch VCQs on That Pedal Show from tonight's live stream, you'll see Mick Here and Dan Here really are NOT keen on anything modern!

FTFY