Just for the heck of it this morning before my gig I took another attempt to adjust the VH2 setting in the S950 of which up to this time 1 yr+ was useless to me for so many reasons.
On the suggestion of a friend I tried to follow all the settings given in this You Tube Video explained by Robbiedoes.nl ... just stop the video make changes & continue till your done then save and name file. Then assign to whatever registrations needed.
It will also work on T4, etc,..I followed ALL his recommendations exactly, ....EXCEPT I changed his Chordal selection 3Abv.Jazz.....to 3Abv.Chordal....
and his Vocal Effect Type 80sPOP Rev to R&R Delay..w/ 16 rev.
This made a BIG difference in chord/vocal tracking your voice.

I might even use the VH again when I'm performing with just the keyboard on small gigs......it's no TC Helicon,..
But now tracking is possibly acceptable for light duty gigs.

check it out let us know what you think?.

I was pretty pleased with the harmony on the S950 after I tweaked it a little. It is easy to work with, but adjusting and saving things are different from previous Yamahas.

Amazing how much tweaking you have to KNOW How to do before you can get a decent tracking VH on the S950 as the default types really are less then stellar for sure for a pro singer.
KORG made a great choice in including a TC Helicon unit in their arrangers......Yamaha should take note ASAP

Here are two versions of Feels So Right I just recorded on the S-950, one of which using the TC Helicon Harmony-M vocal harmonizer and the other using the onboard harmonizer. You guess which one is which and post your answers.

https://app.box.com/s/stbmvbp7u23y0vxjqsfz

https://app.box.com/s/rawbwkdmumwcj1tlh1dm

Personally, I don't think there's a hill of beans difference between the two of them, but what the Hell, I'm old and deaf so that's why your opinions count here.

Now, I would like to hear the same song, done by owners of other arranger keyboards with onboard vocal processors as well, Korg, Roland, etc...

Cheers,

Gary

I'm saying first version is T.C. Helicon and second is 950.
I think the vocal sounds better on the second and the harmony on first seems clearer.
Both are very good.

I say it's the other way around, s950 first and TC-M second. I thought I heard a little bit of synthesis on #1. #2 seemed smoother. Hurry and tell us, Gary. I have both units and don't use either, but have been thinking of giving one a spin.

I have a TC Helicon Harmony M for sale. I ordered it when I trying the BK9, which has no harmonizer. I hooked it up and tried it once at home, then decided against keeping the BK9, so it's "new".
I'll take $100. plus shipping.

My ears say.

#1 S-950
#2 TC Helicon

I seem to detect the computerized sound in #1.

Regards,

Jerryghr

Me too. Interesting comparison. Thanks Gary!

The second harmony is so buried in the mix, it's not easy to compare, but if I had to guess based on response - I'd go TC first then 950 second. Both pale to the upgraded brain that the 800/900/3x have, but, as always - nice job Gary.

Gary

First let me say you have a very pleasing vibrato in your singing.

Don't know which was which but the second one sounded better. One thought that came to mind especially in the first version is that since you have such a low voice that perhaps harmony an octave higher, maybe female voices would have made that sound good compared to sounding pretty muddy. You may want to have less harmony parts. I'd be curious to hear it as a duet and certainly no more than a trio. Often, less is more.

ScottL

The first was the S-950 set on the stage Quartet harmony, but I forgot to lower the percentage to 30 percent, which is where I would normally set it. The factory default is 50 percent, so that's what it was. The second was the TC Helicon Harmony-M set at one below and one above.

To me the TC vocal processor is a lot cleaner sounding when not using the harmony, but with the harmony, not a whole lot of difference to me.

Donny was the one I was hoping to hear from because he was the one requesting the A/B of the two. Like I said, I would like to hear some other onboard harmonizers using the same some so we can get a valid comparison. Would be nice to hear them in action.

Gary

Hi Gary. I'd say the TC was first and the 950 second. The 950 works well for me.

Joe

Im gonna have to agree with what Scott is saying....
that said, I don't think the harmony selection for this song was inappropriate to render a constructive comparison to my ears.
But for me in general most the TC units blow away the VH2 on the Yamaha......
I gave up on the Hm due to very bad chord recognition.

Donny

I found using the Voice Live Touch that sending the accompaniment/backing track to the VLT via the Aux input works very well no problems with tracking. When I had the Pa600 I used to send the Pa600 headphone output to the VLT aux input because I found the tracking was far better than using a MIDI cable.

Regards

Col

besides a sub par VH sound...having to carry and setup extra gear when there is already a H built in is whet urks most players...

DNJ try to avoid working in chordal mode with any harmonizer.The best way it works is in scale mode.Too bad Yamaha doesn't let us create our own scales.It would be much much better.

what are the differences between the two types

It is a big difference DNJ.Harmonies are much smoother and more natural sounding.In chordal mode sometimes it doesn't know what to follow, and it sounds pretty bad.I also avoid to change gander of a harmony voice.That way it sounds the best to me, when it's your own voice.Like I said I wish Yamaha would give us a user scale.But, I believe for Western music it's not a big deal anyway.

mirza thanx for the explanation ....I pretty much use my EARS to figure out what sounds best for my needs....as I said up to this point with these "new settings" the VH2 was useless as in previous Psr & Tyros models,......but for the few songs that I like to use the VH when I'm using a light setup for 1 hr shows, on my backing tracks if needed I'll record my own multi-track harmonies...otherwise I'll use a stand alone TC unit for shows
and /or recording.......

dp