The Digitech Vocalist Live 4 Harmony Processor from Digitech was designed to provide backing vocal solutions for live applications. 

Notice that the device is called the "Live" vocal processor.  If you are wondering why Digitech restricted the effect to live applications, just try to record some of the sounds.  Essentially, the backing vocals can often times sound pretty digital and less than human sounding. 

Keep in mind that this does not mean that the effect is less than useful.  I think that for live applications, if used properly, the Digitech Vocalist Live 4 Harmony Processor can actually make your vocals shine a bit brighter. 

What does this thing do? 

Essentially, based on the guitar chords you are playing (which run through the system), the correct pitch and key are established and depending on your vocal lines, 2-3 part harmonies are constructed on the fly.  Digitech claims that no programming is required but I found that in practice, if you are not a competent user of this device (there are plenty of dedicated forums online which help, See Harmony Central). 

Short of real back-up singers, this is the best harmonizer available for most users.

The Digitech Vocalist Live 4 also has pitch correction which is designed to fix minor sharp or flat notes in your singing.  The problem with this is that if you are a bad singer to begin with, this effect will make you sound no better.  Again, it offers minor corrections of your weak notes. 

Essentially, I strongly suggest buying this system if you are a Rhythm Guitar player who also sings lead vocals.  Why?  Basically, by using the guitar chords you play in order to discern the correct key and pitch of your song, you save countless hours of programming by letting the machine work on the fly in this manner.  If you are not a guitar player I don't really think that this device is in your best interest due to the amount of wasted time you will invest. 

Some Tips

You'll have to learn to adjust your singing to fit the unit. To get proper harmonies requires a strong and steady lead voice.  If you waiver on the lead, your harmonies will sound like retarded Chipmonks.  The VL4 works best with straight-ahead vocals. If you sing with tons of style, the device will not respond well.   That being said- the Vocalist Live 4 Harmony Processor is a good device for the right player/singer. 

Live Results:

DigiTech Vocalist Live 4 Harmony Processor Features:
3- or 4-part vocal harmony with no programming
Groundbreaking musIQ technology do the rest
Selectable voicing: unison, 3rd, 5th-above or below your lead vocal
Built-in mixer with Vocal, Harmony and Guitar level controls
Pitch correction with four adjustable parameters
Guitar Reverb and Chorus with four adjustable parameters
Vocal enhancement effects matrix lets you adjust up to five parameters of Preamp, Compressor/Gate, EQ, Lead Effects, Harmony, Reverb, Echo Delay and Guitar effects
Store and recall up to 50 User presets; and select from 50 Factory presets
2+10-character LED display
Major/Minor and Key Change Up/Down buttons with LED display
Harmony, Effects and Preset Up/Down pedals
On-board guitar tuner
XLR mic/line input with level adjustment, low-noise high-headroom preamp and 48V phantom power
1/4" guitar input, 1/4" guitar pass-through and Guitar Ground Lift switch
1/4" line input and 1 8" AUX input for CD or
MP3 players
1 8" headphone jack
Stereo 1/4" line out and balanced stereo XLR line outs
Stereo/mono output selector
Road-rugged, all-metal chassis
Power supply included

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 19th, 2008 at 12:00 am and is filed under Vocal Processors. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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