USER’S MANUAL
THE LIGHTNING FLASH WITH ARROWHEAD SYMBOL, WITHIN AN EQUILATERAL TRIANGLE, IS INTENDED TO ALERT THE USER TO THE PRESENCE OF UNINSULATED ‘DANGEROUS VOLTAGE’ WITHIN THE PRODUCT’S ENCLOSURE THAT MAY BE OF SUFFICIENT MAGNITUDE TO CONSTITUTE A RISK OF ELECTRIC SHOCK TO PERSONS. THE EXCLAMATION POINT WITHIN AN EQUILATERAL TRIANGLE IS INTENDED TO ALERT THE USER TO THE PRESENCE OF IMPORTANT OPERATING AND MAINTENANCE (SERVICING) INSTRUCTIONS IN THE LITERATURE ACCOMPANYING THE PRODUCT.
VoicePrism User Manual Introduction INTRODUCTION Thank you for choosing VoicePrism! This complete voice channel system has a great selection of the traditional voice processing tools plus some new features our gurus dreamed up, such as: •configurable compression and EQ effects block. •four voice harmony which lets you tweak the human characteristics of each individual voice. •lead voice doubling over and above the four voice harmony.
Table of Contents VoicePrism User Manual TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 TABLE OF CONTENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 USER INTERFACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6 FRONT PANEL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
VoicePrism User Manual Table of Contents UTILITY BUTTON . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26 MIDI CONFIGURATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26 PREFERENCES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26 AUDIO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Front Panel VoicePrism User Manual USER INTERFACE FRONT PANEL 1 Power Switch: this turns VoicePrism On/Off as indicated by front panel illumination. When turned Off, the VoicePrism is not completely disconnected from the mains. VoicePrism starts up with your last settings and preset. 2 Tab Arrows: these scroll forward or back one menu page or preset. You’ll find them especially useful for navigating the multi-page menus.
VoicePrism User Manual Front Panel COMP/EQ: accesses the compressor, EQ and gate editing screens. MIX: accesses the editing screens to set mix levels within that particular preset. The LEVEL knobs located on the front panel are for altering the levels globally (for all presets). STEP: allows you to create an ordered group of presets that you can step through either manually or by footswitch. 9 Data Wheel: at the highest level this scrolls through the available presets.
Back Panel VoicePrism User Manual BACK PANEL 1 Line Input: TRS balanced audio input connects your line level audio input to VoicePrism through a 1/4” jack. Line Input is the default audio input; the front panel microphone is the audio input when the MIC ON button is illuminated. 2 Aux In: a TRS balanced auxiliary input for audio signals passing through VoicePrism’s effects processors.
VoicePrism User Manual Preset Screen PRESET SCREEN This is the top level display, showing important information about the current preset. Preset Name: to rename and save a preset use STORE. Comp/EQ: Modify the compressor, EQ blocks and their inputs with COMP/EQ, page 23 Effects: Set effects and inputs to each effects block using EFFECTS, page 19 Lead: shows audio path for lead voice. Harmony: shows audio path for harmony voices. Harmony Heads: Indicate number of harmony voices and their gender.
Preset Screen VoicePrism User Manual Your potential softknob parameters are: NONE: renders your softknob useless to stop anyone from accidentally changing parameters. The LCD is blank where the softknob name would be. KEY/ROOT: modifies the preset key in Scale harmony mode or the root in Chordal mode. SCALE/CHORD: changes the preset scale in Scalic harmony mode or the chord in Chordal mode. PORTA: alters the Portamento setting. THICKEN: controls Thickening loudness (the level of the doubled lead voice).
VoicePrism User Manual Vocals: Lead & Harmony VOCALS BUTTON Key Point: your modifications will be lost if you change the current preset, or power off the machine before saving This is the heart of VoicePrism, where you can fatten up your voice and create gorgeous harmonies without having to placate a backup group or multitrack your voice. We have already programmed a sizable quantity of presets, available at the spin of the data wheel. You can use these as they are, or edit them to suit yourself.
Vocals: Style & Setup VoicePrism User Manual STYLE The STYLE menu lets you tweak the “humanizing” characteristics of your harmony voices to give them individuality. Pressing any of the softknobs accesses the STYLE parameter lists, where you can select the parameter you want to alter. (1 - 40ms): turn the softknobs to change the delay timing for each harmony voice. This allows you to stagger when the harmony voices join the lead voice, the same way real voices are not perfectly synchronized.
VoicePrism User Manual Vocals: Smooth Shift, Stepped Shift, Chordal MODE The MODE Menu tab allows you to change the harmony modes in a particular preset. Harmony and harmony modes are described in greater and more educational detail in Appendix A: Harmony. In this menu you can scroll through your possible harmony modes by turning any of the softknobs or the data wheel. Your harmony mode selections are: No Vocals Just what it says. COMP/EQ, MIX and FX controls are valid, but you have no harmony voices.
Vocals: Smooth Scale, Step Scale, Notes, Notes 4CH VoicePrism User Manual Smooth Scale Key Point: if you don’t find that the scales we have created fit your needs, you can create your own custom scales on the vocal setup page. Scalic harmonies require key and scale information to be input at the beginning of the song in order to create harmonies. Western songs are usually crafted around a single scale, which is completely described by its key ( “A”) and the scale (“minor”).
VoicePrism User Manual Effects: Chorus, Flanger, Delay EFFECTS BUTTON As with the VOCALS button, the EFFECTS button allows you to modify two posteffects blocks (FX for short). You can select effects and adjust their parameters in the menu tabs for FX1 and FX2. The input menu tabs allow you to set lead, harmony or auxiliary inputs to different effects or send FX1 as an input to FX2. The effects path and effects are displayed on the LCD as part of the preset information.
Effects: Delay VoicePrism User Manual Stereo Delay The stereo delay effect creates two separate delays; one in the left channel and one in the right. Stereo delay allows for greater delay control in each channel of the stereo mix. LEFT DELAY (0 - 199ms): sets the delay time of the left channel. LEFT REGEN (0 - 99%): adjusts the feedback of the left channel. RIGHT DELAY (0 - 199ms): sets the delay time of the right channel. RIGHT REGEN (0 - 99%): adjusts the feedback of the right channel.
VoicePrism User Manual Effects: Reverb Studio Reverb Key Point: reverb effects are only available in FX2. Gives your sound the feel of a small, bright room where the higher frequencies are highlighted, useful for increasing clarity in live spaces where those high frequencies get lost. Small, bright room, best used with a short delay. PRE-DELAY (0 - 199ms): sets the length of time before the reverb begins. (0.1 - 1sec): sets the decay (audible echo) duration.
Effects: FX1 and FX2 Inputs VoicePrism User Manual FX1 AND FX2 INPUTS This menu allows you to choose which input is routed to each of the two FX blocks. Use the tab keys to go back and forth between the two menus and the softknobs to set the input voices and levels to FX1 and FX2. The FX2 INPUTS menu has an additional level which allows you to set the output of FX1 as an input to FX2.
VoicePrism User Manual Compressor/EQ: Assign, EQ1/EQ2 COMPRESSOR/EQ BUTTON Key Point: when working with both EQ’s in series use complimentary settings to avoid boosting a frequency you’re cutting somewhere else. The COMP/EQ button accesses the menus related to the compressor/gate, equalizers, and the input assignments thereof. These dynamics processors help clean up your audio signal by smoothing volume levels, cutting unwanted frequencies and removing background noise.
Compressor/EQ: EQ1/EQ2, Compressor VoicePrism User Manual High Shelf Opposite to low shelf, the EQ response begins to rise or fall from the cutoff frequency until reaching the shelf frequency, at which point the curve becomes flat. Nice for adding that high frequency “sheen”. (80Hz - 16.3kHz): sets the cutoff frequency (-12dB - 12dB): sets the gain or the cut of the shelf FREQUENCY GAIN/CUT Low Pass Also known as high-cut, this filter kills everything above your selected frequency.
VoicePrism User Manual Compressor/EQ: Noise Gate NOISE GATE The noise gate works by cutting any sound below your set threshold level, an example would be the removal of hiss from high compressor settings. Like the compressor, this effect is not instantaneous and the duration needed to ramp up or ramp down is set using the attack and release controls.
Mix: Main Mix, Voice Mix VoicePrism User Manual MIX BUTTON The menus under the mix button set the mix levels for the current preset. So if there is a particular preset where you want to have the lead voice up close while the harmonies sing in the background, you can set it here and save it in that preset. This is a great way to set your levels if you intend to use the preset in STEP mode.
VoicePrism User Manual Step Button STEP BUTTON Key Point: configure your footswitch buttons in the menu under the utility button. Key Point: a delta dot appears in the bottom right corner of the numerical display to indicate if you’ve modified but not saved the step sequence. The step feature allows you to control your VoicePrism with a footswitch. This is helpful if you do not use a MIDI sequencer during performances.
Browser Buttons VoicePrism User Manual BROWSER BUTTONS The browser buttons allow you to isolate only those presets that fall within one harmony mode. This is very useful when you require only a scale preset, for example, and you don’t want to select all the intermediate manual, chordal, shift and effects presets during your search. The browser is activated when one of the harmony style LED’s in the browser row is lit.
VoicePrism User Manual Bypass, Harmony OTHER BUTTONS These buttons are located on the front panel of the VoicePrism: BYPASS, HARMONY, UTILITY, HELP, 48V, MIC ON, PREVIEW and STORE. BYPASS BUTTON Pressing BYPASS bypasses the unit so that your input signal goes around all VoicePrism’s processing stages to the outputs. HARMONY BUTTON This turns the harmonies Off/On without altering the lead voice or any dynamics (like pitch, compressor, equalizer and effects blocks).
Utility: Global, MIDI Configuration, Preferences VoicePrism User Manual UTILITY BUTTON The UTILITY button gives you access to menus relating to the different VoicePrism utilities. This is where you set your MIDI channels, configure your footswitch, adjust your LCD contrast, modify your audio parameters and much more. MIDI CONFIGURATION This menu tab is where you can set your basic MIDI preferences with the softknobs.
VoicePrism User Manual Utility: Audio, Footswitch AUDIO The AUDIO menu allows you to set the following overall audio processing parameters: (Min, 1-9, Max): this raises and lowers the frequency threshold at which an “ess” sound is passed dry or harmonized. At high settings, “ess” sounds will be pitch shifted, potentially causing a grainy “ess” sound but also yielding superior pitch tracking. At low settings, your “ess’es” will sound natural, but at the risk of tracking errors on some voices.
Utility: Global, MIDI Dump, Restore/Erase, Version, Upgrade VoicePrism User Manual GLOBAL mode allows you to retain a single set of dynamics, EQ and effect types while you load different vocal harmony presets. This is useful when you are satisfied with the effect processing in the current preset but you want to change harmony modes or humanizing styles that are saved with different presets.
VoicePrism User Manual Help, 48V, Mic On, Preview, HELP BUTTON Pressing this button displays context sensitive help on the LCD. Use the data wheel to scroll the text. Pressing HELP again will remove the help window. Pressing the left and right tab arrows will move you between help topics. 48V BUTTON Turns 48V, phantom power, On/Off. Phantom power provides electrical power to your condenser microphones through a standard microphone audio cable.
Store: Store, Parameters Copy VoicePrism User Manual STORE BUTTON Key Point: press the Store To softknob to store the preset. Pressing the STORE button gives you two menu tabs, STORE and PARAMETERS COPY. STORE This menu provides the controls needed to rename, select the storage location and to store presets, or songs if you’re in step mode. STORE TO: Click the softknob to store the preset, which automatically defaults to the current preset.
VoicePrism User Manual Wrap-Up WRAP-UP Thank you for purchasing VoicePrism, and we hope that this manual has been a useful tool in helping you get the most from our product. Our goal is to continue to provide you with revolutionary voice processing products. The TC-Helicon VoicePrism Plus Expansion Card will soon be available for assembly into your VoicePrism unit.
VoicePrism User Manual APPENDIX A: HARMONY Appendix A: Harmony Here's where we can go into a little more depth about harmonies, for those of you who would like to pick up a few extra tips on how to sound better or just impress people at cocktail parties. We've tried to keep it practical, with a bit more of a description of VoicePrism's harmony types. VoicePrism has eight different harmony modes, which simplify into five unique methods of creating harmony.
Appendix A: Harmony VoicePrism User Manual “SHIFT” HARMONY MODES Also known as “Fixed Interval”, this takes the pitch of your lead voice and creates harmonies a set number of semitones away, based on that pitch. The method of creating harmonies, using a fixed number of semitones relative to an input note or pitch, is called chromatic harmony, the theory of which we'll go into later. We consider shifting to be non-intelligent harmony because VoicePrism is not set to any particular key or scale.
VoicePrism User Manual Appendix A: Harmony “CHORDAL” (CHORD) HARMONY MODE Chordal harmonies take your chord information to create intelligent, diatonic harmonies based on your voice. To make “Chordal” harmonies, VoicePrism requires you to input different chord information via MIDI for every chord in the song.
Appendix A: Harmony VoicePrism User Manual “SCALIC” (SCALE) HARMONY MODES “Scalic” harmonies use key and scale information to create musically correct, diatonic harmonies. Most popular music uses a single scale, so you only have to input the information at the beginning of your song. “Scalic” harmonies are more dynamic than the chordal harmonies because there are unique harmony notes for each input note.
VoicePrism User Manual Appendix A: Harmony The following table illustrates the third and fifth above for a given input note to illustrate the differences between the six different scales. “nc” means no change, in that the harmony voice will simply keep on its previous pitch until the lead voice pitch changes to a non “nc” note. For complete voicing information see our website at www.tc-helicon.
Diatonic and Chromatic VoicePrism User Manual DIATONIC AND CHROMATIC: EXPLAINED We've described scalic and chordal harmonies as diatonic, and shift harmonies as chromatic; but what do those words mean? Look at a piano keyboard. Between middle "C" and the next "C" there are twelve keys - 7 white keys and 5 black keys. Each of those keys are pitched one semitone apart for a total of, you guessed it, 12 semitones. The chromatic scale uses all twelve semitone notes opposed to the diatonic scales.
VoicePrism User Manual Appendix B: MIDI APPENDIX B: MIDI VOICEPRISM MIDI SPECIFICATIONS Name Default Value MIDI Message(Default*) Vibrato Depth parameter setting CC# 1 Detune parameter setting CC# 3 Harmony Voice Level Lead Voice Level Effect 1 Level Effect 2 Level Scale Select Song Step Forward Song Step Backward Thickener Depth parameter setting parameter setting parameter setting parameter setting parameter setting none none parameter setting CC# 12 CC# 13 CC# 14 CC# 15 CC# 16 CC# 17 CC# 18
Appendix B: MIDI VoicePrism User Manual MIDI IMPLEMENTATION Function Basic Channel Mode Note Number Velocity After Touch Pitch Bender Control Change Program Change System Exclusive System Common System Real Time Aux Messages Notes: Transmitted Recognized Default Changed Default Messages Altered true Voice 1 1-16 X X ******** X 1 1-16 Mode 3 X memorized memorized Chord Root and type,Key and Scale Notes mode Note ON Note Off Polyphonic (Key's) Monophonic(Channel) X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X
VoicePrism User Manual Appendix C: Index APPENDIX C: INDEX 48V 7, 29 A Arena Reverb Assign 17 19 B Band Boost/Cut Bypass Button Bypass Mode 19 7, 25 26 C Chamber Reverb Chordal Chords Chorus Chromatic Club Reverb Compressor Compressor/EQ Copy Parameters Custom Harmony 17 13, A-3 7, 26 15 A-6 17 20 7, 9, 19 30 12, A-4 D Delay Detune Diatonic 15, 16 12 A-6 E Effects EQ1/EQ2 6, 7, 9, 15 19 F Flanger 15 Footswitch FX1/FX2 27 15, 18 G Gender 11 H Hall Reverb Harmony Help High Pass High Shelf
Appendix C: Index VoicePrism User Manual U Upgrade Utility 28 7, 26 V Version Vibrato Vocals Voice Mix 28 12 6, 11 22 C-2
VoicePrism User Manual APPENDIX D: GLOSSARY Appendix D: Glossary Attenuate: to decrease the loudness of a signal, or parts of a signal Cents: one one-hundredth (1/100) of a semitone Chromatic: a scale that uses all 12 semitones Compressor: an audio utility that attenuates any sound over a specified threshold level Condenser Mic.: a type of microphone that requires electrical power.
Appendix D: Glossary VoicePrism User Manual Momentary: a toggle switch which is only on while pressed Ovf (Overflow): a condition that introduces distortion into an audio signal Pan: relative loudness in stereo left and right channels that provides the spatial location of the sound.
VoicePrism User Manual Technical Specifications APPENDIX E: TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS Digital Output Connector: Format: Sample Rates: Frequency Response @ Digital Out: RCA Phono (S/PDIF) 24 bit 44.1kHz 20Hz - 20kHz Analog Inputs Connectors: Impedance (Bal/Unbalanced - Line): Max. Input Level Line: A to D Conversion: Dynamic Range: THD: Frequency Response: Crosstalk: XLR Balanced (pin 2 hot), TRS 1/4” 28 kOhms +21dBu 24 bits, 100dB dynamic range (A-weighted), 44.1kHz sampling rate. -100dB (A-weighted) 0.
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