Ultravoice VX2000

[smilestoned]

I was may be a bit stupid coz I bought that piece of crap.

There is something about that machine...for me nothing. I can't handle it anymore. My voice sounds worse since i've used it.

Can somebody tell me how to use it? (or should I sell it immediately).

[christiaan]

Originally posted by smilestoned
My voice sounds worse since i've used it.

Worse compared to what?

[smilestoned]

Aha a dutch guy. Goeiedag.

My voice is not the finest one. Before I plugged it directly into the soundcard and used a plug-in compressor. It sounded not to bad. But now with the ultravoice I can't tweak it the way I want to sound it.
This afternoon I gonna spend some more time on it to get something good out of it.

Do you know the piece?

[christiaan]

Goeiemiddag,

I never used the VX2000.

It looks like you are seeking a particular sound. That doesn't make the VX2000 necessarily a piece of crap to put it in your words. You can't expect to find one specific (coloured) sound in just any piece of equipment. That's why there are so many flavours on the market.

(Personally I expect the VX2000 to be a better pre than any pre on any consumer soundcard. In general those just suck)

I'm definately not a mic or pre expert but I'm curious. Do you have sound samples to show us what you (dis)like?

[smilestoned]

Hi again,

The thing is that the voice must be uncolored (I don't believe that something like uncolored exist).

I experimented a bit this afternoon and it's getting better. It is working better for me when I don't use the tube emulator and the "voice optimized eq" .

It is just still too harsh. (may be it's my voice )

[tonmacaron]

I owned one for 1 hour and returned it. I'm not sure about how good the other features were but .... whenever there was a signal present and input LEDs lit up, it made a clicking noise that carried through the audio chain. I'm not sure if it was just one bad unit or a design flaw but I figured it was so cheap, and claimed to do some many things, that it just couldn't do them all very well. Also, I played around with the de-esser and didn't feel like it did anything. I have a stand alone DBX de-esser so I did have some expectations. I do own some other Behringer stuff (from before I knew about their business practices) and have had good luck with it.

Tonmacaron

[FURAX Eric]

Yeah, I was considering getting that unit, but I've just heard bad things about it. I hear it also makes a shitload of noise, so it's not practical at all for recording environment. So I just spent an extra 50 bux to get the Meek MQ3. The MQ3 doesn't have a de-esser or a gate, but both of those things aren't really that necessary in my situation. =)

[smilestoned]

Yes the noise gate has a click in it. but I don't use any noise gate on vocals.

Now after a whole day adjusting the machine I've got better results but still not the desired one.

I have noticed that my classical guitar sound pretty good. We should call it the "ULTRAClassicalGuitar2002".

[Rossi]

Well, if you want an uncolored sound, switch off everything and use just the micpre. You probably did too much processing, which is always tempting. The micpre itself can't be worse than the one on your sound card. If it does sound worse, it's your microphone. Don't use the tube emulation; it's no more than an unnecessary gimmick. The Ultravoice is basically a copy of the Focusrite Voicemaster, so you can download the manual from their website, maybe it's more useful to you than the Behringer manual. Although usually the Behringer manuals are pretty good.

[crawdad]

Some things to try. Turn the tube emulation off immediately. Set the mater fader at 0 and adjust your mic levels with the input gain, making sure to not overload going into your soundcard. If you use the expander/gate, try not using the gate setting--use the expander. Its much more gentle and might not do that click. Turn all the other stuff off and see how that works. Once you are getting a good clean signal with the right gain structure, then mess around with the optical comp and the EQ.

Maybe you've already done all these things, but I have good luck with mine. Hope this is of some help.

[mikeh]

I agree, turn off all the processing and just use the mic pre. If you are still having trouble either you have a defective unit or something else in the chain is bad.

I've got a VX2000 - I also have the Voicemaster, an MP20 and a couple of other low to mid priced mic pres. I have A/B'd the Behringer against my other pre's and as a stand alone pre it is not a bad unit - but using any of the processing to excess or incorrectly can certainly mess up the signal.

[smilestoned]

It's true it is tempting to use all the options. Tonight I continue my struggle and try all the things you guys told me. thx..ron..

[smilestoned]

Hey Rossi, thanks for that advise on the focusrite manual.
It's much better than the Behringer one.

[SiniS]

So smilestoned did you finally fixed your problem?

Does it sound good !? Because I'm considering buying the ultravoice!

[60's guy]

Hello Smile,
I have the Ultravoice VX2000 also. Bought it well over a year
ago. I used it twice and thought WTF. Left it alone for a long
time and forgot about it. It's still sitting there in the rack.
A couple of months ago, I actually read the manual. Should
have done that first. Been thinking about giving it a go again
and eliminating what I may not need from it. I did record with it
earlier and it came out quassy OK. Fortunately, the nasally
voice fit the song.
It sits in a 26 space rack of stuff. I hate taking stuff out!