DigiTech Vocalist Live 4 - First Impressions
01/10/2007
About three months ago I was looking into buying a DigiTech Whammy for my guitar rig and whilst on their site I decided to
look around at their other products. I was captivated by the vocal harmonies on the video of the smaller Vocalist Live 2.
This gave me some ideas for my own live sound and so I started looking at other vocal processing units, with its main rival
being the TC-Helicon VoiceWorks range.
Yesterday I was fortunate enough to get my hands on a Vocalist Live 4 for a couple of hours. After a quick flick through
the manual and some of my usual "play with it until it works" bravado, I had four piece harmonies singing along with me. At first
this was a bit strange but I soon got used to it and it actually boosted my confidence. I felt that if I were to turn around then
I'd have had four guys standing at microphones, moving side to side and clicking their fingers!
Unfortunately my time with the unit was short, but there was just enough to have a quick play with its other features. There are
some great live effects on the unit: Preamp, Compressor/Gate, EQ, Lead Effects, Harmony,
Reverb, Echo Delay as well as Guitar effects which come in handy for the acoustic musician. There is also a fantastic
onboard guitar tuner, reminiscent of the one on the larger Line6 FBV foot controllers.
As a standalone unit, I am very impressed and I believe that most singers would be pleased by how it helps to enhance their voice
without it sounding synthetic. There are some pretty cheesey effects that make you sound like anything from Prince to Barry White
and even changing the sex of your voice. I can't see any practical use for these in any of my bands but I'm sure others would.
Expect a full review of the Vocalist very soon as well as a feature on getting a strong vocal sound at any venue. In my experience,
there aren't many sound guys that do vocals justice at small/medium sized gigs, but I believe with a small investment in
equipment, such as the Vocalist 4, you'd have all the control you need, right at your feet.