USER’S MANUAL v2.
Table of Contents HOW DO I USE THIS THING? . . . . . . . . 3 CONNECTION GUIDE . . . . . . . . . . . .6 BASICS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 SOFT BUTTONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 GENRE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 FAVORITE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 SETUP - INPUT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 SETUP - OUTPUT . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
How Do I Use This Thing? The following section gives some examples of how you might use the VoiceLive Play. Of course, every setup is different and you may find another way of doing things that works better for you! I’ve got nothing… just a VoiceLive Play and some headphones! 1. Press Setup and navigate to the INPUT page. 2. Choose VOICE from the ROOMSENSE menu. 3. Press BACK. 4. Plug in your headphones. 5.
How Do I Use This Thing? I’ve got a mic, PA system and play with a band. I’d like the harmonies to be in key automatically… 1. Follow steps 1-6 above. 2. With your PA output levels turned off or waaaay down, connect XLR cables from the OUTPUT of the VoiceLive Play to input(s) on your mixer. 3. Press MIX and turn the ROOMSENSE level all the way OFF. 4. Press BACK. 5. While singing, slowly raise the level of the PA system until it’s at a level that works well with the rest of the band. 6.
How Do I Use This Thing? 6. Press Back to exit. 7. Pick a preset you like. 8. Press play on your mp3 player or computer. 9. Sing your heart out! Looping Tips When it comes to looping, practice is the key.You might notice that your loops have a small gap between the end of the phrase and when the loop restarts. This happens when you mis-time pressing the PLAY/REC/O-DUB button. Pay careful attention to co-ordinating your button press to the down beat, so that the loop beginning and end is seamless.
Connection Guide USB Phones Power In Switch3 In Aux In Out to P.A. or DAW Mic In Power In - Connect the included power supply USB - Connect to your computer with the included cable. Use VoiceSupport to manage presets and update Firmware. www.tc-helicon.com/products/voicesupport Phones - Headphone output. Left+Right - Main XLR outputs connect to your P.A. system or audio interface. Always use balanced cables to avoid HUMMMMMMM.
Basics Mic Gain Knob Once you’ve connected your microphone and selected the Mic Type (pg. 12, Dynamic, Condenser, MP-75), use the Mic Gain Knob to set the input level for your microphone. As you increase the level, pay close attention to the LED on the top of the VoiceLive Play.You want the input to light Green. It’s OK if the LED sometimes lights Yellow, but it should never turn Red. If it does turn Red, reduce the level. Red means the input is overloading.
Basics LCD Display 1. Patch Name (Geddit Started) 2. Patch Number (27) 3. FAV – Shown if the current preset is tagged as a Favorite 4. NP – Shown when NaturalPlay key/scale information is being processed by the system 5. LOOP – Shown when a loop is playing in the background 6. GENRE – Displays the name of the genre selected in the genre screen. Not shown when the genre is set to ALL.
Basics Switches and Operation 1. The UP and DOWN switches allow you to navigate through presets. Press once for a single preset change. Press and HOLD to quickly move through presets. 2. HIT/TALK – In normal operation, this button acts as a HIT button. When activated, a new effect or effects will be added to the current patch. This feature is perfect for adding effects like Harmony to a chorus section of a song, or even to a single line or word. 3.
Basics Control Knob and Arrow Buttons The control knob is used to move through presets and to move through various settings when in Edit, System or other menu areas. The Arrow Buttons act similarly, moving through presets, styles, Genres etc.. Back Exits the current screen or mode. Store When you have made a change to a preset, simply press STORE. The first press will bring up the name/ location window, allowing you to re-name and/or relocate the preset.
Soft Buttons There are six (6) “soft” buttons, three (3) on each side of the LCD Display. Each button is context specific, meaning that when its function is available, you’ll see it lit up with a WHITE or BLUE LED. When there is no function available, the button will not be lit. In WHITE LED mode, the text on the button refers to its action. In BLUE LED mode, the button will select the segment of the LCD screen that is beside the button. Not every menu uses all six (6) buttons.
Setup - Input When pressed, the VoiceLive Play enters the SETUP menu, which is comprised of 6 pages and controls the general functions of the device: Mic Type – Selects the type of microphone. There are 4 settings: 1. DYNAMIC MIC– for dynamic mics (like an SM-58 or OM5) 2. CONDENSER MIC – for condenser mics (like a Beta 87A) 3. MP-75 MIC - for use with our MP-75 microphone, which has an onboard switch to control various functions of your VoiceLive Play, such as the HIT or LOOP functions.
Setup - Input cont. Aux in Type – Performs magical calculations to help make harmonies more accurate. There are 2 settings: 1. LIVE – Use when you are playing live or processing a recorded vocal track from your DAW us ing the AUX in to provide guide tracks. 2. TRACKS – Use when you’re singing along with pre-recorded music, like an mp3 player. Mic Control – Sets the action associated with the Mic-Button. There are 4 settings: 1.
Setup - Input cont. Pitch Cor Amt Pitch Correction Amount allows you to control the amount of Auto-Chromatic Pitch Correction the VoiceLive Play applies to all incoming signals from the microphone. For a natural sound, we find that 50% or less is a good place to start. If you’re having a hard time hitting notes accurately, or want an Auto-Tuned sound on all of your vocals, experiment with amounts closer to 100%.
Setup - Output Output – Sets the way VoiceLive Play outputs sound via the XLR outputs. There are 3 settings: 1. STEREO – XLR outputs receive a stereo mix of all voices and other inputs. 2. MONO – A MONO full-mix signal is on the LEFT and a DRY vocal is on the RIGHT. Any Tone and Pitch Cor Amt settings from the Setup menu are included on the RIGHT DRY channel. 3. DUAL MONO - A MONO effected voice signal (all voices) is on the LEFT and AUX is on the RIGHT.
Setup - Global Global Key – Sets the key to be used with harmony generation and/or pitch correction. There are two settings: 1. OFF – Key can be set per individual preset, via direct key setting (C, D, F# etc.), Room Sense, or Auto. 2. ON – When a key is chosen within a preset, that key will remain when the preset is changed. Global Tempo – Sets globally applied tap tempo. There are two settings: 1. OFF – Tap tempo set within a preset changes from preset to preset. 2.
Setup - Loop Input – Determines the input source used for loop recording. There are three settings: 1. LEAD MIX – All voices and effects present via the Mic input are recorded to the loop. 2. AUX – Sound coming in via the Aux input is recorded to the loop. 3. LEAD MIX AND AUX – Both the Lead Mix and Aux input audio is recorded to the loop. Undo – Toggles the loop Undo function. There are two settings: 1. ON – Undo is active and may be used to undo the last change made to your loop.
Setup - System LCD Contrast – Controls the contrast of the LCD screen. Depending on the ambient light in the room, different settings may have more or less effect. UP/DN Function – Set the behavior of pressing the UP/DN footswitches simultaneously. 1. LOOPING – Enters LOOP mode 2. SET KEY – Enters KEY/SCALE mode Lead Dly – Delays the incoming vocal signal very slightly to compensate for the small amount of latency introduced when effects are processed by the system.
Effects There is one parameter common to all effects pages: Control – Turns the effect on and off. There are three settings: 1. 2. 3. OFF – The effect block is inactive. No processing is done. ON - The effect block is active and will process the signal according to the selected style. HIT – The affect is assigned to the HIT button, via the VoiceLive Play HIT button, or the button on an MP-75 microphone (See Section 1 – SETUP for instructions on how to activate Mic Control).
Effects - µMod (Micro Mod) The VoiceLive Play effects blocks are: ff µMod (Micro Mod) Contains effects that Flange, Phase, Pan, Rotate or otherwise modulate the signal. There are two parameters: Level – Controls the overall level of the µMod effect. Press the right-middle soft button to select this parameter and use the control knob to adjust the level. 0dB is the maximum volume for the effect. Style – Select the style menu by pressing the lower left soft button and use the control knob to change styles.
Effects - Delay ff Delay Contains Delay effects which repeat the input signal based on the style and the current tempo. There are two parameters: Feedback – Controls the amount of the delayed signal that is fed back into the effect. Higher levels of feedback will make the delay continue for a longer period of time. Style – Select the style menu by pressing the lower left soft button. It will be the only one lit on the left side of the LCD screen. There are 18 styles to choose from: 1. QUARTER 2. EIGHTH 3.
Effects - Delay cont. 3. Analog 4. Radio 5. Megaphone 6. Cell Phone 7. Lo-Fi 8. Hi Cut 1 9. Hi Cut 2 10. Hi Cut 3 11. Low Cut 1 12. Low Cut 2 13. Low Cut 3 *Some of the styles are consistent, meaning that the sound is effected (like Megaphone) and all subsequent Delay “taps” sound the same. Some are cumulative, like “Analog” where processing is applied throughout the feedback loop, which changes the sound of the Delay over time. Experiment with the styles to find what works for your particular sound.
Effects - Reverb ff Reverb Creates “room” around your voice. Essentially, it puts your dry vocal into a simulated space, small or large, to give a sense of depth and distance. There are 3 parameters: Level - Controls the overall level of the Reverb. Press the right-middle soft button to select this parameter and use the control knob to adjust the level. 0dB is the maximum volume for the effect. Decay – Determines how long it takes for the reverb to fade away.
Effects - Harmony ff Harmony Creates harmonies to accompany your lead vocal, using one or more voices. There are three parameters: Level – Controls the overall level of the Harmonies. Press the right-upper soft button to select this parameter and use the control knob to adjust the level. 0dB is the maximum volume for the effect. Key – The most important setting for any harmony generation is the key. Get it right and things sound amazing… get it wrong and they sound, well, bad. There are two Key modes: 1.
Effects - Harmony cont. Advanced - To enter the advanced menu, press and hold any of the lit BLUE LED soft buttons. To exit the advanced menu, press BACK. Scale - If the Key is set manually (not AUTO), the advanced menu will allow you set the Scale associated with the Key. There are 6 settings to choose from: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
Effects - Double ff Double Creates a sense that one or more vocalists are singing in unison, with small differences in the timing and timbre of each voice. Some refer to doubling as “thickening”. There are two parameters: Level - Controls the overall level of the Doubling. Press the right-middle soft button to select this parameter and use the control knob to adjust the level. 0dB is the maximum volume for the effect. Style – Determines the number of voices and the timing of the Double.
Effects - HardTune ff Hardtune Ah Hardtune… some call it the Cher effect and others refer to it as Auto-Tune. Whatever you name it, if you’re looking for that radio-pop tuned sound, this is your effect. It has 3 parameters: Shift – Takes the input note you are singing and shifts it up or down by a semi-tone.You can shift up or down 12 semi-tones, which is equal to an octave in each direction. Gender – Manipulates the timbre of your voice to sound more male or more female in nature.
Effects - Transducer ff Transducer Contains effects that modify the sound by adding various filters and overdrive components. There are three parameters: Drive – Controls the amount of overdrive applied to the signal. More drive will distort the signal and create megaphone style effects. Filter – Employs a filter that changes the sound of the Transducer to be “thinner” or more “muddy” depending on the preset. Thinner filter settings sound more like a radio or walkie-talkie.
Mix Enters the Mix window, where various levels within the VoiceLive Play can be adjusted. The mix controls affect the main output. There are 6 parameters: Voices – Controls the overall level of all voice generated effects like Harmony and Double. USB Level - Adjusts the level of the incoming USB signal. Out Level - Controls the overall output level of the VoiceLive Play. Delay/Reverb - Changes the level of any Delay and Reverb effects simultaneously. RoomSense - Controls the level of the RoomSense mics.
Practice The practice screen gives you valuable feedback about your pitch while you sing. In fact, the stats monitor runs continuously as you use the VoiceLive Play and will give you an up to the minute record of how accurately you’ve been singing. After using the practice tool for some time, you can use the information it gathers to help you focus on improving specific areas of your vocal performances.
Troubleshooting Sometimes, things just aren’t working the way you expect them to. Here are a few things to keep an eye on. I’m singing, but I can’t hear anything! - Make sure you’ve turned up the input gain, so that the INPUT LED is lighting green. - Have you plugged in your headphones or connected to a P.A.? - Is the P.A. turned on, connected to its speakers and recieving signal? If not, check your P.A. manual to make sure everything is set up correctly.
Troubleshooting cont. VoiceSupport is a bit confusing, where can I learn more about it? - Go to: http://www.tc-helicon.com/products/voicesupport/support/ I’ve been using this thing for a while now, but I’m not famous! - You will become famous for your singing... tomorrow. For any other issues, check our FAQ at: http://tcsupport.custhelp.com/ If you still haven’t found what you’re looking for: http://www.tc-helicon.
