New Vocalist VR From DigiTech

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October 2, 1999 -- Designed for both the studio and the stage, the new Vocalist VR from DigiTech enables singers to quickly and easily add up to four natural-sounding harmony vocals to their voice.

The Vocalist VR’s harmonies maintain all the characteristics of the singer’s voice for very realistic-sounding backup vocals. The processor also allows users to choose between Chordal or Scalic harmonies, select the key and scale, determine whether the harmonies are below or above their voice, assign individual mix levels for their voice and the harmonies, add warm reverbs and much more.

Six lighted Voicing switches (Bass, Lower, Low, Double, High and Higher) on the left side of the Vocalist VR’s front panel provide a visual indication of whether harmonies are above, below or in unison with the input voice. A simple press of any Voicing button adds or removes that particular harmony.

Chordal harmonies follow the chord progression from a keyboard. Using this mode, singers can be assured that their harmonies will always fit over the accompaniment. The Vocalist VR will decipher every chord, and all inversions of chords, and produce harmonies that fit over each chord as it is played.

Scalic harmonies follow a singer’s voice, producing harmonies based on the selected scale, the selected interval and the position of the scale that is being sung. As the singer changes notes, the Vocalist VR identifies the note that is being sung, determines the position of that note in the scale and produces the appropriate harmony for the chosen interval.

The VR enables musicians to select the key, scale type or chord from the front panel, or from incoming MIDI notes. Singers can also switch between two assignable keys and scales using DigiTech’s optional FS300 footswitch.

Nine reverb types are offered for each of the unit’s 50 presets. These reverbs can add ambience to the input voice or to all harmonies. An auxiliary input on the rear panel provides access to the reverb algorithms ala Carte.

The Vocalist VR provides full MIDI implementation, making it a breeze to control from a MIDI computer, sequencer, computer or MIDI foot controller. The rear panel includes separate MIDI In, Out and Thru. A MIDI split point allows singers to select the range of MIDI notes that the VR will pay attention to. This provides the freedom to decide whether the VR will follow a bass line or the right hand chords.

The ‘Scale Smooth’ option enables singers to choose the way that the VR changes harmonies. As vocalists move from one note to another, the VR can bend between harmony notes, or wait until the singer hits the next scale tone before changing the harmony structure.

A single knob permits users to quickly set individual levels for the harmony voices, reverb and dry vocal. Simply pressing in on the knob will advance to the next selection of these three levels. An LED indicates the selected level, and rotating the knob will change values for the selected level.

In addition to including a balanced, low impedance XLR mic input on the front panel, the 1U Vocalist VR also provides an unbalanced 1/4-inch line level input on the rear panel, an auxiliary input for a direct feed to the reverb, separate left/mono and right outputs with switchable -10dB/+4dB output levels, MIDI In, Out and Thru, and the FS300 footswitch jack (for harmony bypass, reverb bypass and alternate key/scale switching).

The Vocalist VR utilizes 16-bit A/D conversion at 44.1kHz to provide a full 20Hz to 20kHz frequency response. Signal-to-Noise is greater than 92dB (A weighted) with a Total Harmonic Distortion of less than 0.04 percent.

For more information, visit DigiTech at www.digitech.com.