Hi Ian.Good to hear you here.
Actually, Yamaha's harmonizer is not that bad, well it is worse than competition. I don't think that Yamaha will ever go together with Digitech, because Digitech is part of a different company.
I would like for Yamaha to go together with Eventide, because are the best when it comes to harmonies.
Hi Mirza,
Yes, I understand that Yamaha's is worse than the competition, but is it more than usable for my needs? Certainly.
Probably because of my synthesizer background, I'm an inveterate tweaker, both with sounds and styles, so it wasn't a big effort to spend some time with the VH2 and get it to where I was satisfied with the results...again, I'm using it very sparingly, and mostly in duet mode. I also believe my trusty old Electro-Voice RE-15 is responsible for a lot of the great results...it was often a favorite of some pretty capable singers such as Presley and Sinatra.
I've heard some of our local performers using harmonizers (Helicon, Digitech) "live", and do, what they think, is an
impersonation of Manhattan Transfer or the Beach Boys, but, to a reasonably trained ear (i.e. another musician) it gets tiring real quick, due to harmonies being based on the singer's phrasing and inflections. It might work as a
novelty, and only for a small portion of a show, but it doesn't work for much more than that, at least for my tastes.
And, sometimes, unless the correct settings and proper microphone are being employed, the harmony voices often sound phasey or chorusy which can make them be perceived as slightly out of tune. I often wonder if some performers record and actually listen to themselves as they incorporate the harmonizer into their tunes.
Surely by now, Yamaha is well aware of the flack they are getting about the VH2, but they stubbornly stick with it, much to the chagrin of the users...for me, rather than add an outside harmonizer unit, I just dug in and got it to work for
my needs...I suppose if I was really picky, I'd get a TC-Helicon or whatever, but, in every case, the harmonies still sound phony due to the issues stated above.
Maybe Yamaha will work something out with another manufacturer (hopefully Eventide) and do the right thing, but for now, and although I'm probably in a minority, I'll continue to work with the VH2 as long as it meets my needs.
Ian