• Registered: 2012-02-08
  • Posts: 13

Topic: Midi Harmony and me...

My new VL2 is hooked up temporarily and I thought I would give it a whirl. I played around with the setup a little and decided I wanted to try controlling the harmonies with the keyboard. No I admit I haven't really jumped into the manual, as I was using my experience with my Voice Prism Plus to guide me along.

I connected my keyboard MIDI out to the VL2 MIDI in and turned USB off. I get the MIDI indicator on the display and NP to pop up when I sing (ahem, if that's what you can call it..)

The issue is if I stop playing MIDI notes on the keyboard, shouldn't the harmonies stop as well.If play no notes and "sing", I still get whatever harmony preset I am currently on and not just my voice. I suppose I expected that the harmonies would only appear if MIDI data was present to control them.

Please educate me on this as I must be missing something...

Thanks

  • Registered: 2011-02-19
  • Posts: 25

Re: Midi Harmony and me...

camtah

The harmonies will continue to be there even though you are not playing the keyboard.   But the will sound off as you sing. The keyboard is used to control the harmony key progression.  ie go from C to Am you will notice the harmonies change as your chord progression changes.  C - Am -F - G  etc.  If you want the harmonies to stop then you must press the Harmony button on the VL 2 then only your voice will come through.  (no Harmony unless the Harmony button it lit.  Understand?  The manual that came with the unit is junk.  go to tc-helicon.com.  go to their support page .. search for Voice live 2 manual. the online pdf manual is much better. I recommend downloading it. There are also firmware updates that you can download and update your VL 2.  Be sure to follow the instructions to a "T" My best advice read before doing.  Good luck.

Best regards and happy harmonies.  Keep in touch

  • Registered: 2012-02-08
  • Posts: 13

Re: Midi Harmony and me...

Thanks..I did download the manual and I guess I should RTFM, huh...

My Voice Prism Plus does play the harmonies like I described above which is why I asked about this function on the VL2. On the Prism, I can set it up for Harmony Mode Chordal or Notes, the harmony will play as long as I hold the keys down. But if I just sing, with out the keys pressed, I get no harmonies, but I do get my lead voice. This is with the harmony control (switch) on.

Most of my playing is thru the keyboard and I understand the key change harmonies. I want to try the guitar driven harmonies next. I have the VL2 mounted on the desk above my keyboards, but I am finding this location to be a tad unsatisfactory. I wish there was a true editor so I can place VL2 on the floor and still editor/change parameters at my eye level without crawling on the floor. I may re-think this and return it for the rack. but I still want an editor, not the Voice Support App.  I find very little worth for this application with the exception of updating the firmware, which I did by BTW.

I am still exploring this thing, so I will reserve judgement for the time being

Thanks for your input

Last edited by camtah (2012-02-19 11:37:28)

  • From: Victoria, BC
  • Registered: 2011-07-25
  • Posts: 739

Re: Midi Harmony and me...

Heya camtah,

You may be expecting "Notes Mode" behavior. Any preset that's labeled "Notes" in the title will do what you were expecting and only produce harmonies from your singing when you are playing notes via MIDI.

Any other preset will use the notes it's getting via MIDI to interpolate the key/scale. In other words, "Notes Mode" requires you to tell the VL2 exactly what notes to use in its harmony and when. "Natural Play" allows you to play the song as you normally would, without paying special attention to which notes you send for harmony, and will figure out key scale on its own.

Think of it like "Notes Mode" is "I only use the actual MIDI notes I recieve." and "Natural Play" is "I hear guitar, keyboard, Aux and I think the song is in XYZ key."

Does that help clarify?

Cheers,
Craig

Craig @ TC-Helicon's Website

  • Registered: 2012-02-08
  • Posts: 13

Re: Midi Harmony and me...

Ah, that explains it. The Prism allowed me to do that to each preset. I haven't got to the Notes presets yet and I guess I expected the other presets to follow suite.

BTW, I returned the VL2 today to order a VLRack instead. I found that the form factor (desk mount) didn't work for me, even though the unit performed quite well.

Thanks Craig fore the clarification

  • From: Victoria, BC
  • Registered: 2011-07-25
  • Posts: 739

Re: Midi Harmony and me...

Hi camtah,

Good call on the swap if the form factor wasn't working for you. You'll find that Rack and VL2 are extremely similar, with a couple of operational exceptions.

You can make any preset a "Notes Mode" preset. I can't recall offhand where it's explained in the manual, but it's definitely in there.

www.tc-helicon.com/products/voicelive-rack/support

Have fun!

-Craig

Craig @ TC-Helicon's Website