I bought this Vocal Performer on a whim last year because it seemed interesting upon trying it at the Sam Ash store in preparing for updating our act for George and Sons Restaurant in Ancala. I didn't realize at the time that it had a PITCH adjuster on it-- with 4 levels. I didn't even realize, at the time, that there was such a thing as pitch adjustment. Over the past several months of using it, I gradually learned to appreciate what that was. I've since watched pitch adjustment overused and abused by many demos and artists on Youtube... but it doesn't have to be abused to be effective. Here is the face of the unit.
There are 25 factory presets and I've gradually learned what the effects are. The picture above shows #16 with a 5th harmony automatically set up. I always add the pitch adjustment to the setting so that I can make riskier vocal moves. Proper pitch control of ones' voice takes a lot of practice-- more practice than I can afford or want to put into it so setting this auto pitch controller up is a real thrill because it steadies my voice anywhere in my range, and even helps extend my range with more confidence.
Voice has been very tricky for me to get decent at-- I didn't really train it early on like I should have, along with my piano work. I always encourage students to sing with some of their material now-- and to push themselves. This box can give any student as well as professional added incentive (via control) and fun-- not to mention a pleasing result for listeners. But then-- I guess you can be the judge of that now as I take 8 minutes to zip through three tunes, Let it Be, Satin Doll and Route 66. I'm using #1 Bright Echo, #17 Unison and #18 respectively. Sometimes, you can hear my voice pitch suddenly "burp" as it changes because I have the setting too high-- or I was sloppy with my voice. That's when you can here the electronic correction. I try to minimize that effect however, as should anyone.
Now to show you what some artists are doing with vocoders-- or pitch adjusters-- listen to this Cher song... in which she OVER USES THE PITCH ADJUSTER on PURPOSE... You hear it in the first 30 seconds... then in the second verse on "well I can't do that"... and following. It gets tiresome if you hear it too often. The best way to use it is on the lowest level possible.
