DigiTech Vocalist Live 4 Harmony-Effects Processor

by DigiTech

Product Features

• 3- or 4-part vocal harmony with no programming or learning curve - just sing, play and let Vocalist Live 4's groundbreaking MusIQ(TM) technology do the rest
• Selectable voicing: unison, 3rd, 5th-above or below your lead vocal
• Pitch correction 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
• 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 18" AUX input for CD or MP3 players, 18" headphone jack
• 3- or 4-part vocal harmony with no programming or learning curve- just sing, play and let Vocalist Live 4's groundbreaking MusIQ technology
• Vocal enhancement effects matrix lets you adjust up to five parameters of Preamp, Compressor/Gate, EQ, Lead Effects, Harmony, Reverb
• XLR mic /line input with level adjustment, low-noise high-headroom preamp and 48V phantom power, 1/4" guitar input
• 3- or 4-part vocal harmony with no programming or learning curve just sing, play and let Vocalist Live 4s groundbreaking

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 19.2 x 4.8 x 11 inches ; 5.8 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 5.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B000NJY60S
• Item model number: Vocalist Live 4
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #24,725 in Musical Instruments (See Top 100 in Musical Instruments)
  • #36 in Musical Instruments > Recording Equipment > Signal Processors > Effects Processors > Vocal Effects Processors

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

World’s first processors that automatically generate live multi-part vocal harmony by ­analyzing guitar chord progressions.
Accurate vocal ­harmonies even with complicated songs…because only Vocalist Live tracks guitar chords, not your voice.

A surprising number of songs “fool” other harmonizers because these songs just don’t work with a single key/scale setting. In fact, any song that has the same note sung over two different chords (for example, a C sung in the melody over a C maj / F maj chord sequence) is going to confound conventional harmonizers.

Vocalist Live uses breakthrough musIQ™ technology to directly analyze the output of any electric or pre-amplified acoustic guitar (no special MIDI guitars or hex-outputs needed). Then it generates the correct vocal harmony. For example, if you’re singing an A over the chords that are generally found in the key of G, Vocalist will harmonize with a C. But, if you then play an A major, Vocalist will shift to the C#...because like any good harmony singer, it listens to the guitar! With musIQ, forget about the technology – just sing and play! Skip complicated programming and having to analyze each song chord-by-chord; just…
1. Plug in your microphone and guitar;
2. Pick a 3rd or 5th-above or below­ ­harmony preset;
3. Sing and play — when you want harmony, just step on the footswitch!

Patent-pending musIQ™ technology combines new Note Detection algorithms with state-of-the-art Harmony Generation. The Note Detection section analyzes complex guitar waveforms and determines which notes in each chord are critical to accurate harmony. This information is then fed to an advanced harmony engine that creates harmonies consistent with both the singer’s melody and the underlying guitar accompaniment. This totally new, musically-intelligent hybrid of traditional chordal and scalic harmony modes means that Vocalist Live musIQ harmonies stay true to not only the overall key and song scale, but also localized variations due to chords that aren’t part of the global key. You’ve never heard anything like it!

Features 3- or 4-part vocal harmony with no programming or learning curve — just sing, play and let Vocalist Live 4’s 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

Major/Minor and Key Change Up/Down buttons with LED display On-board guitar tuner XLR mic /line input with level adjustment, low-noise high-headroom preamp and 48V phantom power ¼" guitar input, ¼" guitar pass-through and Guitar Ground Lift switch ¼" line input and 1⁄8" AUX input for CD or MP3 players 1⁄8" headphone jack Stereo ¼" line out and balanced stereo XLR line outs Stereo/mono output selector Road-rugged, all-metal chassis Power supply included

Product Description

Digitech Vocalist Live 4 is a three- or four-part vocal harmony generating floor pedal, that uses musIQ Harmony Technology for both note detection and harmony generation. The unit analyzes guitar chord progressions in real-time an. Buy DigiTech Vocalist Live 4 Harmonizer Vocal Processor now!... Buy DigiTech Vocalist Live 4 Harmonizer Vocal Processor now!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great with only minor faults, October 14, 2007

By 

Jerry So.Cal. (San Pedro, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: DigiTech Vocalist Live 4 Harmony-Effects Processor (Electronics)

The VL4 is a lot of fun! I've had mine for about 3 weeks now, so i've had time to really use all the features. First, i'll talk about the highlights. This product really makes your voice stand out. The compression works great and really brings your voice out of the mix. Even has a de-esser to remove the sibilant "s" sounds. The EQ is important for removing muddy mid frequency from your vocals which also helps to bring your voice out of the mix. The harmony works wonderfully and you can change the parameters in many ways. For example, let's say you're playing an A minor chord on your guitar, and singing an "E". You can choose your harmony note to be either an A or a G, depending on whether you want a true 3rd above, or the note closest to a 3rd above which is also a note in the chord. You can also choose the VL4 to choose a harmony note in a predefined scale, rather than based on what you're playing on the guitar. If you're playing a song in the key of D Major, and there are no key changes in the song, and no chords that do not fit in the scale, then you can simply choose all your harmony notes to be in the key of D Major. The strength of the Music IQ feauture(harmony based on what you're playing with the guitar) is when a song has key changes or chords which do not fit in the original scale. The reverb works great and you can change the predelay, decay, intensity, type(hall, studio, stage) and tone. The features which are not so great for vocals are the following:

1. pitch correction--it doesn't sound natural because the VL4 outputs both your original off-pitch voice and the pitch-corrected note, so it sounds like a doubling effect. Maybe if you really play around with the pitch correction parameters you'll be able to get a more natural sound, but i have yet to achieve that.

2. delay--if you can get the tempo of delay that you want, it works fine. The trouble is, the VL4 won't let you choose a fairly slow delay. So if you're singing a slow-tempo song, you won't be able to get a delay of a quarter note or even an 8th note. The delay works best for achieving a doubling effect.

3. lead effects--this effect lets you change the timbre of your voice, allowing it to sound deeper, more femminine, more Elvis-like, with vibrato, etc. Actually, this feature can be useful and fun. But like the pitch correction, it doesn't sound too natural. However, if used sparingly and in a song with complete backing music(bass, keyboards, etc) i think the audience wouldn't know any better.

Now for the guitar effects--reverb and chorus. I am very impressed with these! It uses the same reverb settings as your vocals, but you can adjust how much of the reverb is going to the guitar. The chorus sounds realistic and can be adjusted to be obvious or not-so-obvious. You can get a great guitar sound with these 2 effects, but i'd recommend running your guitar through a compressor and EQ to get a really clean sound.

I'd recommend the VL4 over the VL2 because of the extra vocal effects(they're really useful) and because you can store changes to any presets, and with the step of the pedal, you can get your stored preferred settings. I think having 4 harmonic voices is overkill, but for the features i just mentioned, the VL4 is recommended over the VL2.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars OK, but fragile., December 3, 2007

By 

Steve Grey "Steve Grey" (Bahamas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: DigiTech Vocalist Live 4 Harmony-Effects Processor (Electronics)

I've had mine about 8 weeks, and I use it with a Keyboard setup. I also use a TC Helicon unit which is far and away a better sounding product, but doesn't have the ease of operation that the Digitech does.

Buying it was a bit of a gamble. Nowhere could I find a legitimate review that told me that it WOULD work with my keyboard (Yamaha Motif 8).A call to Digitech got me a dismal response. I called twice, because I couldn't believe the response I got from the first 'expert'.

Anyway, I have it , and it does the job VERY well. I get great harmonies on Eagles stuff(I'm a solo act), and I like the ease of operation. basically it's a 'plug in and play' unit.

Now the bad.

The buttons are very fragile. I don't use this as a stomp box, but the buttons periodically stop working for no apparent reason. As I live in the Bahamas, there are no technicians that can work on the stuff, and so I do my own work. I called Tech support, then e-mailed cos the answering system kept cutting me off. I asked if there was a manual available .."NO' was the answer. Schematics? "NO". The only thing I got in addition to that was to do with the switches. The 'technical Support' person wrote "I'd recommend spraying contact cleaner on the switches",,,DUH!!! .

So what you have is this. A flimsy product, made in China, that has little or no tech support and precious little in terms of advice from the company.Having said that, I'm buying a second unit...you guessed it! I'll use IT while the other one is in the US being repaired. This is my 3rd Digitech unit- from a Vocalist II, then the 'unusable in a live situation' Studio vocalist, now this....A good product basically. If only the company would get people who are familiar with the product to man their phones/email. And put better-quality switches on the thing!

Addendum: It's 4 months old, I would like to replace the footswitches with better quality ones. Sometimes they work and sometimes they don't. The Tech support has gone from 'so-so' to abysmal. I asked if there was a service manual .."No". I asked if there was a schematic.."No". Now the thing is starting to make a crackling sound when hooked to the keyboard. I'll get it fixed, probably under warranty, which means shipping it out of the country, and then I'll sell it to someone. I like the ease, and the convenience, but I need something better made and with customer service people who don't reply in monosyllables.

Further Addendum... Two years on, and I've had the switches replaced twice. The first ones were under warranty, the second time (July 2009)it cost me $75. The GOOD NEWS!! The Customer service department has improved considerably, and they are very helpful. I'll take this over the TC helicon, purely on ease of use, and the difference in sound quality isn't noticed much by my audiences....It's well worth the money.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This thing ROCKS!!!, December 4, 2007

By 

I. M. Irish "Shawn "The Guitarist"" (NYC, NY area) - See all my reviews

This review is from: DigiTech Vocalist Live 4 Harmony-Effects Processor (Electronics)

This is my second Digitech as my first was the VL2 which was pretty amazing. I looked at TC Helicon's harmonizer but was put off by the manual,(and the price$) which required a lot of preprogramming. Digitech has not had a great reputation for quality constructed products. Plastic does not survive well on the road. HOWEVER, I've found the Vocalist Live 2 and 4 to be the exception. All metal chasis, the body is built like a tank.

I'm a solo act and only have one roadie to help set up. I am almost fanatical about keeping my gear and boxes clean and dust free. I also pack everything in padded flight cases for transport. So everything I have looks like I just brought it. The VL4's harmonies are very realistic and easy to select when you use the presets. Really all you need to do is plug in your guitar and send a mono or stereo lines out to your PA or mixer. That's it! Engage the effects pedal and when you want the harmonies, step on the harmony pedal. Wow! This thing is amazing and has really increased my enjoyment for singing and practicing.

I've never had a problem with any of my Digitech equipment, still, they could have done a little better with the knobs and thought to include an on and off switch. If something didn't work I would not hesitate to ship it back and get another. That hasn't happened so I'm hoping and praying I can keep playing for God's glory! Really, I am so thankful that this processor came along because after I started using it, I started getting more offers to play. The VL4 can add studio quality polish to your vocals and overall performance. This is a great harmonizer but make sure you buy from a reputable dealer,( don't bother with floor samples or B-stock on sensitive units like these), and pack it right for your gigs. You'll be very happy with this box.