Re: DigiTech Vocalist 2 vs.TC Harmony G quick review

["L.A. Angulo" <labaloops@yahoo.com>]

Hey Jeff,
Ive been working with the Digitech vocalist 2 for over a year and i just 
ordered the new TC harmony G and been testing both of them.In fact i just 
did a gigi yesterday with it.
here is my 2 cents:
The new tc harmony g has 5 presets with a convenient B alternative which 
is very useful if you are doing 2 different types of harmony in a song so 
you can switch back and forth by pressing one button,it also has effects 
with presets and there are also 2 outputs on it. 
The Digitech is a no brainer,plug it in and play,all manual no prests or 
programing involved choose manually a harmony and a reverb then enhance 
it,compress it and go.For more details you can read about them and watch 
videos,manuals etc.
But now as far as sound goes: with all the bells and whistles that the tc 
offers,the digitech beats it,it sounds more clear seems to have stonger 
output and the effect sounds crispier and it sounds more natural 
overall.The TC has a "tone" button to compress and enhance the overall 
sound with 3 different types of prests but to my ears it sucks,it either 
sounds to brittle or to muddy.
Tracking: both seem to track similar although the digitech seems to track 
the high harmonies better and the tc tracks the lower better.I did a heavy 
test singing some 3 part harmony stuff with both and the TC can handle it 
better than the digitech,however when using one harmony only they react 
differently,for instance when you play an Em chord and sing an A note on 
top to resolve to the Em,the digitech harmonises it with a C and the TC 
with a D.To me the digitech way is better because if i want to harmonise 
with a minor 7th i just fret it on the guitar which feels natural 
otherwise having to fret the c note on top of an e minor while singing is 
to me kind of ackward.
On the other hand the tc has cool presets with octaves and a bass voice 
preset which can be used as a drone.What i dislike is that the effects 
cannot be tweaked so you are stucked with choosing a preset and you can 
only increase the level.The digitech has however reverb only.
I dont know if i am going to keep the TC and get rid of the 
Digitech,another big advantage of the TC is its size,it fits nicely on a 
pedalboard.The price difference should be no object,here in germany is 
only about 50.-eur. difference.After testing them i suppose the decision 
should be based more on sound vs. versatility.
I should also tell you that i tested the digitech with my trumpet player 
last night at a gig,i hooked it up on the aux. of my mixer sending him my 
guitar signal so he could play 2 trumpet harmonies while i was playing and 
singig.I noticed that the harmoniser reacts better when singing,that is 
the harmonies can be heard better than when playing a reed instrument,even 
though he uses an akg clip microphone directly into his horn.No special IQ 
harmonisers for reed players yet,right?
cheers
Luis









www.myspace.com/luisangulocom


--- On Sun, 7/13/08, Jeff Shirkey <jcshirke@midway.uchicago.edu> wrote:

> From: Jeff Shirkey <jcshirke@midway.uchicago.edu>
> Subject: Re: DigiTech Harmonizer Vocalist 2 vs. 4?
> To: Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight.com
> Date: Sunday, July 13, 2008, 8:35 PM
> Has anyone compared the Digitech vocalist stuff to
> TC-Helicon's  
> offerings (Voiceworks, Voiceworks Plus, etc.)?
> 
> Just curious if the TC-Helicon is worth the extra $$ or
> not.
> 
> Jeff