DIGITECH VOCALIST 5316 VU}D

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Will your guitarand this tabletopbox put backingvocalists of ajob? out Wefind outbg TrevorCurwen
ack in issue 292 we reviewed apedalthat did nothingto the guitar sound: the reason being that the unit, the DigiTechVocalist Live 2, was purely for processing vocalsand addingtwo-part harmonies, triggered by guitar and intelligently followi ng the chords played. DigiTech has now come up withthe Vocalist VL3D, a desktop processor with an expanded feature set. TheVL3D's wedge shape gives easyaccessto the controls and clearvisibility to the illuminated info panel. All the connections are neatly tucked away at the rear, as is the knob to set the input level, although it's still easilyaccessed from the front. The control panel is split into switchable sections that process the vocal signal. The first section offers four knobs to tweak the sound of the voice before any pitch correction or harmonies are added. There's a noisegate,de-esser, compressor and a'warmth'knob to add simulated valve distortion. The next sectionappliespitch correction to the voice tweaking any out oftune notes to fit into a 12-note chromatic scale. choiceofstudio, room A and hall reverb can also be addedto the overall sound. Addingharmonies to the voice is possiblecourtesyof DigiTech's MusIQ Technology, which analysesthe singer's voice to generate the most musical correctharmonies. ly Two harmonies canbe generated by playing guitar chords or, inthe caseofan unaccompaniedsinger,by using the unit's front panel buttons to set the key and scale for a particular song.For each harmonyyou have an easily understandable choice of bass, lower. low, double,high, higher or octave. Each can take on the natural character ofthe sinser's voiceor haveits genderalteied! In addition a'humanize' knob adjusts the perceived naturalness of the harmony voices. A'harmony mix' knob setsthe mix of lead voice and harmonies from leadvoice only through to harmonies only. The VL3D contains five programmable memories for storingyour settings and each ofthese can contain two independent settings - Part A and Part B - selectedusing a front panel switch or an optional footswitch. If twc harmonies isn't enough, up to four harmonies can be created in MIDI mode by inputting MIDI notesinto theVL3D.

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Sounds
Pluga mic into theback for singing,pluginyour guitar and connect a lead from the guitar thru socket to your amp, tune the guitar usingthe onboard tuner then choosethe vocal sound and harmonyvoices that you want - settingup is that simple.All that's leftto do is sing while playing rhythm guitar into the VL3D andyou,ll find yourself musically valid harmonies that sympathetically follow the song'sstructure for an instantly bigger sound. Soundwise,all ofthe effects that can be appliedto the main voice workwell - the compressor in particular givingit real presenceto aid cuttingthrough amix. As for the generated voices,the various combinations of thirds. fifths, upper and lower octaves,and unison for a doubling effect, offer a pretty versatile range. As is generally common with this type of unit, the generated voices can sound a tad unnatural ifthey're too prominent, but ifyou sitthem in the mix at a sensiblelevel so that they complement the main vocal the effect can be quite stunning.

TheBirnls

TC Helicon'sVoiceTone Harmony-G (t2811is the closest the rangeto the in DigiTech. hasa harmonv lt arrangement algorithm that listens guitarto createthe to correctharmonyparts giving you two harmonies. DigiTech alsooffersthe stompbox-style Vocalist Live 2 (S,310) with two harmonies and the Vocalist Live 4 (,523) wrththree- or four-part harmonies.

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DigiTech Vocalist VL3D
PRICE: 5316 TYPE: Guitar-driven harmony vocal 0r0cessor 0RlGlN: USA SAMPtING FREQUENCY: 44.1kHz A/D C0NVERSION: resotution 24-bit SIMULTANEOUS HARMONIES: (four MlDl Two via input) CONNEGTI0NS: Micinput, XLR jack in, 6.4mm line guitar guitar in, thru, line and outs(L&R); stereo minijackheadphone socket, in,MlDl MIDI thru, USB MlDl, footswitch socker DIMENSIONS:162 257.5(w) (l)x x 69.7mm(h) (kg,rlb): wEIGHT 1.5/3.3 PHANTOM POWER:Yes POWER REQUIREMENTS: 9VAC (supplied) adaptor OPTI0NS: DigiTech (S46) FS3X three-button footswitch RANGE OPTI0NS: Rivals See SoundTechnology UK 01462480000 wwwdigitech.com

Verdict

Ifyou're a musician who sings and plays guitar and you want to bolster your sound with someextravoices,the VL3D will do the job nicely. For recordingit will happily sit on a tabletop, the inputs handling both live vocals and guitar playing, aswell asthe recorded equivalent if you want to add harmonies to already recorded material. Onstage?Just sit it on top ofyour amp for easyaccess to the front panel and add a remote footswitch. You may not have to rely on the 'pitchchallenged' bassist and drummer ever again. lE

The Bottom Line

We like: Simple use:voice to processing; chordtracking We dislike:Swimmysounds at extremesettings Guitarist says: The VL3D is a no-hassle to thicken way up vocals add harmonies or that followyour playing

Testresults

Buildquality Features Sound Valuefor money

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1()6 Guitarist October 2OO9