TC VoicePrism

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mastahnke

mastahnke

Linux Man...
Can I get opinions on this thing? I saw it at NAMM and then I went to guitar center to check it out more in depth. I think it sounds pretty cool, I mean, I would like it if i had people who could sing harmony to work with....(I keep thinking of that perfect pitch course that is sold in every guitar mag) but the TC product seems pretty cool. Anyway have opinions? Does anyone make a better one, or similar? I don't know a whole lot about harmonziers. I mean, I guess digitech and eventide also make them, but I have never used them. Or if anyone has tried out that perfect pitch thing, let me know also.
Thanks.,
MIKE
 
Mike,

I have one of the TCE Voice Prisms and it is an incredible tool. I have spent hours working on the possible combinations and have found that it does produce very "human sounding" background vocals. However... (and a big however it is)... don't expect it to anticipate what is needed. It is a processor and cannot make the decisions that a good singer with good pitch can do. It sings straight harmonies in one to four voices, nothing more.

I tried some other harmonizers before I bought this one and so far, it has outperformed the others on voice. If you want something to use with instruments, then I would suggest Eventide might be the better solution. I did not like the Digitech processor and felt that the voices sounded very mechanical.

Also, the first one I bought bit the dust soon after I got it. When I sent it back to TCE, they replaced the whole unit and had it shipped back to me in about three weeks. They also sent some free gifts to make up for the inconvenience. I also like their support people if you have any questions.
 
What kind of free gifts did you get? :p I am just curious. Well, I don't expect it to sound better than real singers, I was just hoping maybe it could help. I might be able to pick out that harmony or just have fun with the thing. I am not concerned about instruments, just vocals. Anyway, thanks for the reply.
MIKE
 
The free gifts were a TC Electronics watch and sunglasses. Not big quality, but fun stuff.

If you are focusing on vocals, you will be able to do some things pretty close to real people. I would send you a sample, unfortunately, the best stuff in the studio is either, not mine to share, or under obligations.

If I get a chance, I will put something together and send you a link so that you can hear how it actually sounds.
 
I would love to hear some clips of any usage of it. I also thought it would be fun to use some settings to do movies and clips for stupid internet projects.
MIKE
 
I bought the voiceprism for my studio, and tried it on myself. Now you have to know I really really can't sing , but the 'doowiedoowhaap.....piedoowiedhaap' sounded like i really could sing. Now this was fun but after singing the above sentence for bout 495 times my girlfriend stuffed my mouth with a towel.

I had no other use for it than the doowiedap thing. When I tried to power up some tracked vocals it made absolutely no sense. So I guess it's cool if you try it on your own voice, eg if you can sing yourself, or track a singing line with the purpose of going to use the voiceprism. If you randomly try it on tracked vocals you might just miss the bus.

I returned it.

I am going to buy the intonator though......doowiedoowhaap.....piedoowiedhaap
 
Hey Sonic Misfit, you mention you tried other vocal processors - in particular you mention Digitech. Which Digitech?

I had the original table top "Vocalist", got rid of it after a while (voices not "real enough". About a year ago I bought the rack Vocalist and again I have been less than pleased.

Oohs & aahs are OK but complete lyrics lines tend to reveal the weakness of the unit.

So my question is, what units have you "compared" the Voice Prism to and for comparitive price how do you rate the various units (say on a 1-10 scale)??
 
mikeh,

I compared the TCE VP to the Digitech Vocalist VR and the Vocalist performer. I was most interested in the VR since it is a rack mounted unit and it was obtainable for around $350. I did not try out the Vocal 300 since it appeared to be more for live performance.

The big problem is that all of them are just so much fun to play with. Anyway, I selected to TCE because it was able to reproduce words "exactly" as spoken or sung. The Digitech units would produce a sound that was in pitch, but in most cases, it lost the quality of the words. If you are doing backgrounds where you simply want vocal Ohhs and Ahhs, or something close to the words, then the Digitech on a price performance basis is going to win.

For the applications I needed, (high quality demos and voice overs), I had to spend the extra cash to get the TCE.

As far as the effects, the Digitech and the TCE both have decent reverbs. I don't typically use the built-in reverb or compression in the TCE, unless I'm just fooling around and don't feel like moving a patch cord.

Of course, none of the processors can beat real live background singers who know what they are doing. But you don't have to feed them, they won't hit on your wife/girlfriend, they won't drink your beer, and they won't join a union. (Also a good argument for drum machines?)

Overall, on a scale of 1 to 10. The Vocalist VR would be around a five, the Performer would be a four, and the TCE would be around a seven. If I could find something at a nine or ten that was around the price of the TCE, I would definitely try to buy one.
 
Digitech did make one machine using IVL's engine that was up to snuff: the discontinued Studio Vocalist (and Studio Vocalist EX.) I paid $750 for a new one in 1996,I've seen used ones for around $450.
 
Digitech Studio Vocalist EX, purchased one sometime back on v-ray's recommendation............. an excellent chip @ the price point, if you can find one. Look around they surface from time to time. Good luck.
 
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