Hi everyone,
I know a lot of you have been waiting for the X1 Vocalist and are anxiously awaiting a review of this new product. Well here is my first impression.
I got them in today (Monday Dec.6) and installed it into my X1 at the store within minutes. No sweat at all! The documentation was great (can you believe it!) and the owners manual in great detail although some of the English was mispelled. Software version 3.0a European works great (no need to loose the jump feature with 3.0a USA). By the way, inside the box are the disks for 3.0a USA operating system. That was nice of Solton to do in case you can't download the software.
Well, I plugged in my mic, turned on the vocalist, and the sound was fantastic. Reverb, harmony, loud volume, female or male voices, robot or rap voices, dozens of different harmonies included duets and trios with different spacings. I really enjoyed using it. I could play chords with my left hand, my right hand, full keyboard or use my tune 1000 midi files by turning on the vocalist on GM voice part #5. I didn't expect this much at a mere $175.00, but I'm thrilled and I'm sure you all will be. It is in my opinion a neccessity if you sing and own an X1. Contact your local dealers, or you can contact me.
Thanks for the gracious comments from Paul and Les. They are very much appreciated and I will continue to support you all as much as I can.
George Kaye
Kaye's Music Scene
Reseda, Cal.
818-881-5566

On the X1, does the harmonizer automatically change harmony styles when you change autoaccompaniment styles? For example, if you select a blues style after playing a country styles, does the vocal harmony automatically change from a country harmony to a blues harmony?

How many voices does the X1 vocal harmonizer add to the input? The one on the PSR-8000 adds 2 (to provide 3-voice harmony). The one in the high-end digitechs adds 4. The one in my MU100R adds 3 or 4, I am not sure.

you can set it up so that not only does the harmony change when you change styles(actually arrangements) but you can have a different harmony for every variation of the style........ There are up to three harmony voices plus you for a total of 4. Get it, it's fantastic.
George

You are all make me feel sorry that I need to amortize my PSR-8000 a little longer. I think when I bought it, it was the only vocalist arranger--so I shouldn't feel too stupid. But it is more trouble than its worth to swap custom styles in and out. In some cases, it will play styles from floppy disks, but there are several limitations. You cannot do it from the HD. Also, my favorite style is an import from an earlier Solton. If I were to buy today, it would be the X1. I will wait and take a closer look at the PSR-9000. I think these keyboards together may open competitor's eyes. (I assume there's really more than a dozen of us interested in these things.)

Only three generated voices? Darn. I pretty much need all four in the DigiTech Vocalist Workstation for some of the songs and effects I do (using my VWS and PSR-7000, I can single-handedly perform, live, such songs as “Elvira,” “High Hopes,” “Swing on a Star,” “Monster Mash,” “Along Came Jones,” etc., complete with all vocal effects!).


How much control do you have over the voices, e.g. such things as vibrato, detune, scoop, delay/timing, stereo panning, etc.? Can you change Gender formant shifting on a per-voice basis (in other words, having three separate Gender settings, one for each voice of a three-generated-voice harmonizer style)?


Can it do true, real-time Just Intonation? Can it do microtuning using any sort of standardized (proposed MIDI Tuning spec, which I believe is part of General MIDI 2) or pseudo-standardized (Roland GS, Yamaha XG, etc.) SysExes or CCs/NRPNs so that Just Intonation can be done externally (using Justonic Pitch Palette, for instance) if it can’t do it internally?



[This message has been edited by COMALite J (edited 01-03-2000).]

Well, the Harmonizer has vast capabilities, but I for one am having a devil of a time getting it set up. Seems like I'll get it right and then when I try to change settings, I get horrible feedback and have to edit everything again. I planned to spend some more time the past few days working with it, but got sick instead.
I feel better today so will dive back in there.
Mostly I just want it to do a third above part, but would like to be able to switch quickly to other settings. I'm playing live with the arranger, not sequences. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Don

Dang it, I'm still not seeing my own posts much of the time.
The front page says the last post was 12-29, but the last one I can read is 12-08.
I reset cookies but must be doing something wrong.
Help.
Don

Thanks, Dave,
I was able to work tonight, but played more instrumentals than usual. We had a BIG crowd of Oklahoma and Mississippi football fans in town for the Independence Bowl tomorrow. Part entertainer, part referee.
I've always used the harmonizers with the left hand. I'll have to give the right a try. It sounded pretty good tonight, but I used Duet Above exclusively. Once I got it balanced I didn't try to change anything. Really didn't feel like messing with it.
Time for some rest--the BIG PARTY is tomorrow.
Don

Other than the "we have a better team than you do" mentality, they are both good "ol" country music fans. Give'em bluegrass. ))