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I've heard of software for a computer that can take the output of an instrument and turn it into 4 other instruments playing along with you. 2 instruments playing harmony below you and 2 playing above you. Has anyone heard or has experience with this software? Can you use it on gigs? Thank you for any help you can provide.
 

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Thank you Matt. Do you have one? There are a lot of Harmonizers out there. If anyone has used one on a gig, which one do you recommend? I am just looking to use it for songs like: I Got You(I Feel Good), Knock On Wood, Sea Cruise, Superstition. Please let me know which one you recommend.
 

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This is what I got for him:

http://www.bananas.com/productdetail.asp/pid_4400/productname_BOSS-PS5-Super-Shifter-Pedal

It's not as versatile as one of the rack mount units. I'll ask around and see what I can find out for you. In the meantime you might read some stuff on harmony central and see what they say about some of the units. Let me know what you find out, I'll be looking to put together a live rig within the next few months (for horn, that is).
 

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A lot of the guys around here like the Digitech VX400. It's designed to be a vocal processor, but works well for saxophone too, apparently. It's a multi effects unit, so you get chorus, flange, phaser, tremolo, vibrato, whammy, delay, reverb, pitch shift, mic modeling, a bunch of presets, spaces for your own preset, and an expression pedal. Unfortunately, It does not have a harmonizer.

The thing about using guitar pedals for saxophone, is that you need a mic for the saxophone, which uses a balanced, low impedance XLR output. 99.97% of all guitar pedals use a 1/4" unbalanced hi impedance input. So you either don't get the right kind of signal into the pedal, or you have to go through an extra converter box.

The Digitech unit has balanced XLR in and out, so you get the proper signal level going in from your mic, and also the proper signal level going out to the sound console.

Pretty much the only other game in town is the TC-Helicon VoiceLive, at more than three times the cost. But, it does have a harmonizer, though it doesn't really have many other effects (it does have a reverb, vibrato, and delay).

For what you want to do, the VoiceLive would probably be a better choice, but it's expensive, and probably has a steep learning curve to get it to sound just the way you want.
 

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JCBigler said:
A lot of the guys around here like the Digitech VX400. It's designed to be a vocal processor, but works well for saxophone too, apparently. It's a multi effects unit, so you get chorus, flange, phaser, tremolo, vibrato, whammy, delay, reverb, pitch shift, mic modeling, a bunch of presets, spaces for your own preset, and an expression pedal. Unfortunately, It does not have a harmonizer.
Are you sure that it does not have a harmonizer? I have a Digitech Vocal 300 which is identical to the VX400 except for the fact that the previous is not MIDI capable. If the two pedals have been programmed the same as I have been led to believe, you should have a perfect 5th (above the root) harmonizer as effect 12. It should read (5th) on the display.

Programming the pedal takes some trial and error (the directions do not help you that much), but it is possible to essentially copy and paste this effect to another effect bank. Let's say that I would never use effect 11 on any gig, I can overwrite the bank so that 11 is now the 5th effect. I can now alter the interval to any half step above or below the sounded root (the pedal allows you to adjust at least 2 octaves up or down). You can then rename the effect to whatever harmony you have programmed.

I tend to keep my harmonies close together and have programmed a variety of different intervals depending on what the music calls for. The only downside that this pedal has to a rack mount unit, such as the eventide, is that you can only sound two pitches at once. This means you are only going to hear what you are playing and the corresponding interval you have programmed. All in all, the Digitech should give an experimental saxophonist almost everything that they need.
 

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SuperAction80 said:
Are you sure that it does not have a harmonizer?
According to the manual, it does not contain a harmony effect of even a 5th. It has a chorus, which is a slight delay, and a couple of pitch shift options. There is a whammy effect, which can be programed for one of a couple of different intervals with or without the original dry signal added. But I don't really consider this to be harmony--especially, when the OP said he wanted to replicate the sound of a whole horn section.

The VoiceLive, is mainly a harmonizer, and will reproduce three and four part harmony, and you can program it to change with the scale that you are playing.

I don't own either, just going by what the manuals say.
 

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JCBigler said:
. . . The thing about using guitar pedals for saxophone, is that you need a mic for the saxophone, which uses a balanced, low impedance XLR output. 99.97% of all guitar pedals use a 1/4" unbalanced hi impedance input. So you either don't get the right kind of signal into the pedal, or you have to go through an extra converter box. . . .
JC,
I got a cheap converter from Radio Shack a few years ago. It has an XLR female for the mike and a 1/4" male with some impedance circuitry in between. I run it from a Shure SM57 into a BOSS GT6 and it seems to work fine.

EDIT: You may find that some of the voices don't work with a horn, but impedance won't be the problem.
 

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LampLight said:
NBD, but the connector costs $15.99 and may be viewed here.
It's not box shaped, but when a sound guy says box, he usually means circuitry. Therefore, your adaptor is a box.:D
 

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I have a Digitech 300, and it definately has a harmonizer feature.
You can set it at any pitch, 2nd through Octave going above or below. I created presets for 5ths, Octaves, 3rd below. But its only 1 extra pitch, you can't put more than 1 extra "voice" on your sound... so no "section" sound.
 

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hakukani said:
It's not box shaped, but when a sound guy says box, he usually means circuitry. Therefore, your adaptor is a box.:D
Who wudda' thunk it?
You're a good teacher, and you taught me something new today. Thanks.:)
 

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Digitech have just brought out the Vocalist live 2 and vocalist live 4 harmonisers. Has anyone tried either of these units for sax. If they are half as good as the ads say then they should work well with sax. You need to put your rythm guitarist through the unit to define the chords/key and it will construct the harmony parts for you from your mic input apparently.
See the following links:
http://www.digitech.com/products/Vocalist_Live2/
http://www.digitech.com/products/Vocalist_Live4/
If anyone has tried it I'd love to know how well it works as it might just fit in our band!

Selmerdude.
 

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Difference

Anyone yet tried digitech voicelive 2 or 4 whats the difference.Does it work with sax ,flute or clarinet .How real is the sound and do you always need a chord input to use it or can it be used with only a horn by itself?
 

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Also, any of these devices will have a slight delayed attack on your added harmonies. This is because the device must analyze which note you are playing before it can add the extra notes to the chord. That takes time. So if you're playing something really tight and syncopated, the 'section' will be dragging.
 

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Why is it that no one ever develops a unit like the vocalive 4 that is tailored to the instrumentalist. Chord recognition technology looks great on this unit, but as an instrumentalist you don't want to sound like a 4 saxes section in constant parallel harmonies. If you could set one voice to be a trumpet ... one to bone .... one to Bari, etc .... now you have something. I'm sure with enough equipment and sampling synths you could do it, but to have it in one box with INSTRUMENTALIST effects just SEEMS RIGHT! I've never seen it.
 

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Brian said:
Why is it that no one ever develops a unit like the vocalive 4 that is tailored to the instrumentalist. Chord recognition technology looks great on this unit, but as an instrumentalist you don't want to sound like a 4 saxes section in constant parallel harmonies. If you could set one voice to be a trumpet ... one to bone .... one to Bari, etc .... now you have something. I'm sure with enough equipment and sampling synths you could do it, but to have it in one box with INSTRUMENTALIST effects just SEEMS RIGHT! I've never seen it.
Problem is that harmonizers in simple words just take the tone input and do some calculations with it. They just shift the tone you input. You just end up having your input n times.
What you seem to want is also possible. Just take an audio-to-midi converter and let it play some synth.
The next step is take a EWI or WX and just play any synth you like. Adding chords is not far away.

But it´s way more fun to just invite some friends to play and have a drink later. ;)
 
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