New Toys

DigiTech Vocalist Live 2 Harmonizer

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DigiTech Vocalist Live 2 DigiTech's Vocalist® Live 2 automatically generates up to two harmony notes from a single note sung into it. If that were the gist of it, then it would be not much different from about a dozen other boxes and software plug-ins already available. What's new is that this unit analyzes the guitar chord being played to determine harmony notes that fit. Simply connect a guitar and play any chord while singing any note and the Vocalist® Live 2 outputs your choice of a unison note, a note of the 3rd or 5th interval above the sung note or a note at the 3rd or 5th below to create up to two-part harmonies.

For example, if you sing a C note and play a C Major chord on the guitar, Vocalist Live 2 will generate any two notes of the following choices: an E (third above), a G (fifth above), one or two Unison notes (a pitch corrected C), an A (a third below), or an F (a fifth below). Change the guitar chord to a C Minor while still singing a C note, all notes stay the same except the E (third above) changes to an E flat.

Connecting to this stomp pedal unit is simple. There are two 1/4-inch jacks for your electric guitar--an input jack for the chord analyzer/recognition system and a thru jack that pass the guitar's signal to your amp. This unit does nothing to your guitar sound. There is a professional XLR mic input jack with gain control and phantom powering--you can connect any mic from a cheap dynamic to a multi-thousand dollar studio condenser. There are also a Line In and both XLR and 1/4-inch Out jacks to allow for any interconnection to a live PA system or professional recording studio.

Once you're tuned up using the built-in chromatic digital guitar tuner, you're ready to add harmony notes to whatever you sing into the mic. There are buttons for choosing two new notes at a time from a total of six. The Harmony Mix control sets the relationship between your original vocal and the two harmony notes. The unit also has a great little compressor that levels out your vocal level; a reverb with three sounds; and an enhancer, a kind of EQ.

I found the Vocalist Live 2 a great tool for songwriting and of course the rugged all-metal construction and solid-feeling foot pedal switches make it the ultimate sideman for one-man casual gigs. The wedding singer's friend! The 24-bit/44.1kHz processing means it is noise-free and the sound of the harmonies is good--considering the $499MSRP price tag! I tried it with several different microphones and also with an already recorded vocal. I fed the recorded vocal and the guitar track into it and quickly changed harmony notes "on the fly" through out the song. A winner all around and for more information, visit: www.digitech.com/products/Vocalist_Live2



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