Vocal harmony FX pedals. Any good?

Teetonetal

I have some solo acoustic type gigs coming up. there are a couple of songs where a little harmony would really lift the chorus. Was looking at the TC Helicon stuff (despite my hatred of that company), but do these things actually work? I don't recall ever seeing one used in a live environment.

ThePrettyDamned

Not tried one, but I've seen buskers using loop pedals with prerecorded vocals for harmony. 

Beexter

Our singer was using the red Boss one before we recruited another singer. It certainly helped to fill things out a bit and sounded OK in the mix.
I think it was best used sparingly though.

vasselmeyer

I use the BOSS VE-20  Vocal Performer in my band. It's for live work so doesn't do midi or anything like that. It seems very accurate for its harmonies (which are customisable for any interval you want) and pitch correction and has a bunch of other post vocal effects (delay, reverb, compressor) if your PA doesn't have them. In addition is also has some  weird  stuff like robots and distortion. It runs off mains or 6xAA batteries.

The only thing I find is missing is a dedicated bank up/down switch of presets but it really only  takes  a couple of seconds to do so.

Teetonetal

hmm, I hadn't considered boss... having looked at the site, maybe the VE8 would be a good shout... my PA is a LD Systems MAui 28 G2, and has no fx..

Roland

Our singer uses the Boss pedal too, with external footswitches for patch changing. I think his decision vs the Helicon was cost based. Used sparingly it compliments the sound.

smudge_lad

I've got the TC Helicon Harmony Singer 2 that my vocalist uses for a few tunes in our acoustic shows. I think it's great.

The vocal compressor and reverb on it alone are outstanding, and the harmonies do work really well.

Great piece of kit

hubobulous

We've used the Digitech Vocalist Live 4 for about 8 years now. Excellent piece of kit, really easy to use, adds a lot to the sound and works well with both the full band and our duet acoustic work.

MrMusic

I've been using a Digitech Vocalist live harmony for a while now and couldn't do without it. It really is a great piece of kit for the price

ESBlonde

I've seen a 3 Piece band where the singer guitarist had become quite adept at using one. Bass player did the odd harmony anyway but the little blue pedal the guitarist used would put reasonable fat harmonies in real time for choruses etc. They were doing classic pub songs and old 60s 70s type material.
It impressed me enough to consider getting one at the time only I don't do lead vocals anymore so it would be pointless.
 I think it might have been a TC Helicon but memory is not erm...thingmy.

hubobulous

Yeah, its the H1. I use one of those sparingly when required, but the Digitech does all the hard work with our lead vocalist

CarpeDiem

Our singer uses a TC Helicon Live, and makes use of a lot of the effects, including harmonies. It works well in an electric band context. I haven't heard it in an acoustic situation although I suspect it would work well. The singer also stores songs on it, which is helpful if we're trying a new song and want a recap, such as listening to where each of us comes in at the intro.

Flanging_Fred

The singer in my band uses a TC one.  As others have said, used sparingly it can pep things up a bit and lift an arrangement out of the ordinary.

Legionreturns

I have a voicelive play, which is excellent except the harmonies don't pickup low voices very well. I always have to make sure I sing quite high to get a good response from the box. It's worth pointing out that it has a multitude of other tricks in the box including a vocal looper. 

exocet

I have played in bands where the singer uses one of the Helicon units. Used sparingly, I think that they are very effective but they do have a tendency to be overused.

olafgarten

I saw NIkki Lane using a VE-8 to add reverb to vocals and guitar. It sounded very good but it was a very subtle reverb.

siraxeman

Do they do 'em that can make a good singerist out of a bad one yet?

Teetonetal

siraxeman said:

Do they do 'em that can make a good singerist out of a bad one yet? :lol;

Some have auto tune yes. Depends how bad...

Legionreturns

siraxeman said:

Do they do 'em that can make a good singerist out of a bad one yet?

More can turn you into a robot drone...so you can't tell how out of tune you are