Tc-helicon Perform-ve User Manual

PERFORM-VE

Revolutionary Vocal Manipulator with MIDI-Pitch-Controlled Sampling,
Vocal Synth and One-Button Drum Looper

User Manual

Rev. 1.2

A50-XXXXX-XXXXX

2 PERFORM-VE User Manual

Table of Contents

Important Safety Instructions ...................................... 3

Legal Disclaimer ............................................................. 3

Limited warranty ............................................................ 3

1. Introduction ............................................................... 4

2. Update your Device! .................................................. 4

3. Connection Diagram ................................................. 5

4. Front Panel ................................................................. 6

4.1 The Set Button ..................................................................... 6

4.2 The Headphone Button ................................................... 8

5. Eects ......................................................................... 9

5.1 Double ................................................................................... 9

5.2 Morph ..................................................................................... 9

5.3 HardTune ............................................................................ 12

5.4 XFX ......................................................................................... 13

5.5 Echo ...................................................................................... 16

5.6 Filter ....................................................................................... 17

5.7 Tap (Tempo) ........................................................................ 18

6. Looper ...................................................................... 19

7. Sample ......................................................................22

8. Presets ...................................................................... 23

9. I/O Section ................................................................ 24

9.1 AUX Input .............................................................................24

9.2 Switch3/Switch6 (Pedal) In ............................................ 24

9.3 USB Audio ............................................................................ 24

9.4 RoomSense ......................................................................... 25

Appendix A: Eect Quick Reference Chart ................ 26

Appendix B: MIDI Implementation .............................27

Appendix C: General ....................................................28

3 PERFORM-VE User Manual

9. Do not defeat the safety purpose of the polarized

20. Please keep the environmental aspects of battery

are trademarks or registered trademarks of MUSIC Group

Important Safety Instructions

Terminals marked with this symbol carry
electrical current of sucient magnitude

to constitute risk of electric shock.
Use only high-quality professional speaker cables with
¼" TS or twist-locking plugs pre-installed. Allother
installation or modication should be performed only
by qualiedpersonnel.

This symbol, wherever it appears,

alertsyou to the presence of uninsulated

dangerous voltage inside the
enclosure-voltage that may be sucient to constitute a
risk ofshock.

This symbol, wherever it appears,

alertsyou to important operating and

maintenance instructions in the
accompanying literature. Please read the manual.

Caution

To reduce the risk of electric shock, donot

remove the top cover (or the rear section).
No user serviceable parts inside. Refer servicing to
qualied personnel.

Caution

To reduce the risk of re or electric shock,

do not expose this appliance to rain and
moisture. The apparatus shall not be exposed to dripping
or splashing liquids and no objects lled with liquids,
suchas vases, shall be placed on the apparatus.

Caution

These service instructions are for use

by qualied service personnel only.
Toreduce the risk of electric shock do not perform any
servicing other than that contained in the operation
instructions. Repairs have to be performed by qualied
servicepersonnel.

1. Read these instructions.

2. Keep these instructions.

3. Heed all warnings.

4. Follow all instructions.

5. Do not use this apparatus near water.

6. Clean only with dry cloth.

7. Do not block any ventilation openings. Install in

accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions.

8. Do not install near any heat sources such as
radiators, heat registers, stoves, or other apparatus
(including ampliers) that produce heat.

or grounding-type plug. A polarized plug has two blades
with one wider than the other. A grounding-type plug
has two blades and a third grounding prong. The wide
blade or the third prong are provided for your safety. Ifthe
provided plug does not t into your outlet, consult an
electrician for replacement of the obsolete outlet.

10. Protect the power cord from being walked on or
pinched particularly at plugs, convenience receptacles,
and the point where they exit from the apparatus.

11. Use only attachments/accessories specied by
themanufacturer.

12. Use only with the
cart, stand, tripod, bracket,
or table specied by the
manufacturer, orsold with
the apparatus. When a cart
is used, use caution when
moving the cart/apparatus
combination to avoid

injury from tip-over.

13. Unplug this apparatus during lightning storms or
when unused for long periods of time.

14. Refer all servicing to qualied service personnel.
Servicing is required when the apparatus has been
damaged in any way, such as power supply cord or plug
is damaged, liquid has been spilled or objects have fallen
into the apparatus, the apparatus has been exposed
to rain or moisture, does not operate normally, or has
beendropped.

15. The apparatus shall be connected to a MAINS socket
outlet with a protective earthing connection.

16. Where the MAINS plug or an appliance coupler is
used as the disconnect device, the disconnect device shall
remain readily operable.

17. Correct disposal of this
product: This symbol indicates
that this product must not be
disposed of with household
waste, according to the WEEE
Directive (2012/19/EU) and

your national law. This product
should be taken to a collection center licensed for the
recycling of waste electrical and electronic equipment
(EEE). The mishandling of this type of waste could have
a possible negative impact on the environment and
human health due to potentially hazardous substances
that are generally associated with EEE. At the same time,
your cooperation in the correct disposal of this product
will contribute to the ecient use of natural resources.
For more information about where you can take your
waste equipment for recycling, please contact your local
city oce, or your household waste collection service.

18. Do not install in a conned space, such as a book
case or similar unit.

19. Do not place naked ame sources, such as lighted
candles, on the apparatus.

disposal in mind. Batteries must be disposed-of at a
battery collection point.

21. Use this apparatus in tropical and/or
moderate climates.

LEGAL DISCLAIMER

MUSIC Group accepts no liability for any loss which
may be suered by any person who relies either
wholly or in part upon any description, photograph,
or statement contained herein. Technical specications,
appearances and other information are subject to
change without notice. All trademarks are the property
of their respective owners. MIDAS, KLARK TEKNIK,
LAB GRUPPEN, LAKE, TANNOY, TURBOSOUND,
TC ELECTRONIC, TC HELICON, BEHRINGER and BUGERA

IP Ltd. © MUSIC Group IP Ltd. 2017 All rights reserved.

LIMITED WARRANTY

For the applicable warranty terms and conditions
and additional information regarding MUSIC Group’s
Limited Warranty, please see complete details online at
music-group.com/warranty.

4 PERFORM-VE User Manual

1. Introduction

Thank you for purchasing Perform-VE!

Your new mic stand-mounted vocal processor opens up a world of sound
creation and performance opportunities.

Starting with our Adaptive Tone (automatic EQ, De-Essing, Gating and
Compression), your voice will punch through the mix and sound great in
any environment.

Next up, an impressive assortment of transformations await your voice: HardTune
Pitch Correction, Doubling, Shift and Gender Morphing all work together to
create whatever modern lead vocal sound you can dream up.

Perform-VE also generates MIDI Voices to accompany your Lead. MIDI Voices can
be pitch-perfect vocal harmonies, virtual analog vocoder voices, or VS Synthesis
samples that you record on the y. Simply play notes on a connected MIDI
controller keyboard and you can have up to eight of these MIDI voices singing
along with your Lead.

You also get XFX for stutter, rhythmic, ring modulation and anger eects,
Echo for spacious reverbs + beat-synced delays, and Filter for a selection of
transducer and sweepable lters. With all this at your command, you’ll quickly
generate striking vocal eects and exciting, fresh sounds that will take your
music to new levels.

But wait, there’s more!

Perform-VE also includes a Drum and Audio Looper. With several dierent kick,
snare and hi-hat sounds available, you can easily build a beat and then record
a synchronized audio loop from Perform-VE’s internal signal path. Just tap
and vocalize.

2. Update your Device!

It is HIGHLY recommended that you update the rmware on your Perform-VE
before rst use.

To update your rmware, you'll need both a USB driver
(PC only) and our VoiceSupport 2 program. Both can be found at

tc-helicon.com/products/ perform-ve/support/

PC Users

1. Download both the USB driver and VoiceSupport 2

2. Install the USB driver (restart if prompted)

3. Install VoiceSupport 2 (restart if prompted)

4. Connect your Perform-VE to your computer with the supplied USB cable

5. Power up Perform-VE

6. Star t VoiceSupport 2

7. Follow the prompts to update your rmware

Mac Users

You will not need the USB driver. Download VoiceSupport 2 and follow
steps 3-7 above.

Read the Quick Start!

If you’ve read the Quick Start Guide that came in the box, hooked up a
microphone, and can hear your music and vocals coming through the outputs,
you are already skimming the top features of Perform-VE. If you want to get into
Perform-VE’s deeper capabilities with this reference manual, we’ll need to do a
little more set up. Don’t worry – it won’t take long!

5 PERFORM-VE User Manual

3. Connection Diagram

Perform-VE has a lot of connectivity:

• MIDI data is received via the mini-USB port or the 5-Pin MIDI socket.

• MIDI data is transmitted via the mini-USB port.

• The PEDAL input allows you to connect a Switch-3 or Switch-6 (sold separately) to change presets, toggle eects and control the LOOPER and SAMPLE features.

• The AUX input lets you mix stereo audio tracks with Perform-VE’s output.

• The balanced stereo outputs allow connection to any ¼" input equipped mixer or powered speaker system.

• The XLR input is MIDAS microphone preamplier equipped, providing the much-loved MIDAS soft-clipping characteristic sound when pushed hard.

For learning purposes, we recommend that you connect a MIDI keyboard to your Perform-VE while you track along with this reference manual. Your MIDI keyboard will
ideally be connected directly to Perform-VE’s 5-Pin MIDI port as shown above.

Alternatively, your MIDI keyboard can be connec ted via USB cable to a laptop running music software that features a MIDI soft THRU capability. You would then
connect Perform-VE to the laptop via a second USB cable and congure your DAW to take incoming MIDI from the USB MIDI keyboard and pass it on to Perform-VE’s
USB port. See your respective software manual for details on how to set up your particular system.

6 PERFORM-VE User Manual

4. Front Panel

Now that your Perform-VE is set up and connected to the devices of your
choosing, we’re going to take a quick tour of the front panel, explaining
what each of the buttons do without getting too deep in any details just yet.
Don’t worry – we’ll go feature diving soon enough!

One Knob To Rule Them All

By default, Perform-VE’s Control Knob edits the mix between the MIDI Voices and
your Lead Voice. It applies to all three presets and is not stored when Perform-VE
is turned o.

LEAD Voice: Your voice. Enhanced
and extremely altered, just how you
want it!

MIDI Voices: Up to 8 MIDI Note
controlled voices
generated by Perform-VE to
accompany your LEAD Voice.

MIDI Voices are Harmony, Vocoder or
VS Synthesis Voices.

The graphic above shows equal levels of MIDI and LEAD as displayed on the
LED Ring. From here you can dial down the blue MIDI level by turning the knob
counter-clockwise, or dial down the green LEAD level by turning the knob
clockwise. Whichever level you turn down, the other one will stay at max volume.

Eects

Perform-VE makes some of the wildest and most complex sounds that TC-Helicon
has ever made possible. There’s a lot to discover by simply pushing buttons and
combining sounds, but we’ll give you an overview of the basics here, starting
with the six eec ts buttons, as shown below:

doubling. Alternatively, if you hold Style in the bottom right corner of the Double
button, once that button pulses, you’ll be able to change the doubling style when
you turn the Control Knob.

When a parameter edit is underway…

• The LED ring will display the currently selected parameter value,

• The Control Knob will edit this parameter, ranging (clockwise) from min to

max, and

• The pressed FX button will pulse on and o. At this point you won’t need to

keep holding it down to continue editing.

Pressing any button (including the button that is pulsing) will quit the edit mode.

Styles and Mods

In addition to parameters like Level, Shift, Gender, Mode, Key, Div, Delay and
Reverb, you’ll see that four of the eects have a Style parameter. Styles are
essentially mini-presets for the eect in question. Changing any style will
instantly update a number of deeper eect parameters that are not available
for direct Control Knob editing. Style selections appear on the LED Ring as single
color-coded LEDs.

Mods are related to the currently selected Style. They appear as levels on the LED
Ring, colored to match the Style. You can think of each mod as custom ‘Tweak’
parameter matched to the Style in question.

4.1 The Set Button

Congures: Microphone Input Level,
MIDI Channel Select,
MIDI Split Point Select,
& More…

Once a microphone and a MIDI keyboard are connected to your Perform-VE,
it’s time to ensure that the audio and MIDI settings are correct. You achieve this
with the SET button.

Toggling the Eects

Quickly pressing and releasing any one of the FX buttons will toggle the
associated eect on and o. The LED ring will switch to an alternate display mode
while the button is down. There’s a reason for this momentary ash, and we’ll
explain it now.

Real-time Control of Eect Parameters

Perform-VE was designed to allow instant access to 21 dierent eect
parameters without navigating through menus.

Each eect button is labeled with light gray text in one or more corners of the
button. For example, if you press “Level” in the top lef t corner of the Double
button, and turn the Control Knob while it’s pressed, you’ll adjust the amount of

The SET button performs many functions in your Perform-VE. By itself, the SET
button congures the mic input level and sets the MIDI channel and split-point
used to control the notes, vocoder and sample features of your unit.

Mic Gain Setting

The actual signal level coming from your microphone can vary depending on
what type of microphone you have connected and how loudly you vocalize
(speak/sing/shout/shriek) into it. The Auto-Gain procedure is the easiest way
to ensure the microphone preamplier level set within your Per form-VE is
calibrated to match your mic and vocal technique, but you have the freedom to
set the Mic Gain level manually if you prefer.

Auto-Gain

Press and Hold the SET button to activate the Auto-Gain procedure and vocalize
into the microphone at your typical loudest volume. After several seconds the SET
button will ash red, indicating that the procedure is complete.

You will see that the LED to the right of the SET button changes color when you
vocalize into the microphone.

7 PERFORM-VE User Manual

This LED is a VU Meter, with the following color codes:

Green

-23 dB … -13.5 dB

Good Level

Yellow

-13.5 dB…-7.5 dB

Hot level, but still okay.

Orange

-4 dB … 0 dB

Soft-clipping:
Midas Tone.

Red

0 dB

Hard-clipping!

If you nd the Auto-Gain procedure set the input trim too low or high for your liking, you can always run Auto-Gain again or you can set the gain manually.

Manual Gain

Press and Release the SET button to edit the Manual Gain with the Control Knob.

The red LED segments indicate gain provided by Perform-VE’s analog microphone
preamplier circuit. When the mic pre is at maximum gain, further gain is
possible via digital amplication (the remaining 4 magenta LED segments).

Once you stop editing with the Control Knob, the LED ring will return to the MIDI/
LEAD mix display after two seconds. You can then vocalize into your microphone
and conrm the gain settings are correct for your application.

HINT: Red in VU meter LED is not a good thing as it means hard clipping and
digital distortion! Reduce the microphone gain and try again if you see the
VU LED turning red when you are vocalizing.

EQ helps to shape the tone of your voice to t into a musical mix. We remove
some of the low “mud” frequencies and boost the highs for “sparkle” or “air”.
Every recording you hear has some manner of EQ on the lead vocal (and pretty
much everything else too).

Compression reduces the dierence in volume between the loudest and quietest
notes. This gives you a more even sound that helps your vocal sit better in the
local mix. It’s almost unheard of for vocals to go uncompressed in modern music,
both recorded and live.

De-Ess gets rid of harsh “S” sounds and makes them sound more pleasing. De-Ess
goes hand in hand with Compression, since Compression can make “S” sounds a

MIDI Channel

bit more pronounced in the mix.

The MIDI channel that Perform-VE responds to is set if a MIDI note event is received
while the SET button is held down.

To set the MIDI Channel (without a split point):

• Press and Hold the SET button,

• Play a single MIDI note on your controller,

• Release the SET button.

Don’t worry about having to repeat the Auto-Gain on the microphone – these
steps will not overwrite your previous microphone level settings while the SET
button is down, provided you a MIDI note is received while SET is held down.

When complete, you can verify Perform-VE is set to receive on the correct MIDI
channel for your keyboard by playing notes and monitoring the SET button;
the SET button will ash red whenever MIDI note events are received on the
congured MIDI channel.

SET + Preset 1: Adaptive Tone

Holding down the SET button and pressing
Preset 1 will toggle Adaptive Tone, with the VU
meter LED as an indicator.

RED: O

GREEN: On

Tone automatically adds EQ (equalization), Compression, De-Ess and Gate to your
overall vocal sound. Tone is enabled by default and we highly recommend leaving
it on.

Gate “shuts o” an audio input when it falls below a certain volume. This works
great on things like drums where you want the drum hit to come through, but
then have the mic silent in between hits.

For vocals, we don’t want to go as far as shutting your mic o but we do want to
reduce the volume (gain) of the mic when you’re not singing so that feedback
becomes less likely.

Since Perform-VE replaces EQ and eects that are often added by a live sound
technician, you’ll want to make sure that the mixer channel you plug Perform-VE
into has a at EQ (not altering any frequencies) and that any eects are
turned o.

SET + Preset 2: +48 V (Phantom Power)

Holding down the SET button and pressing
Preset 2 will toggle phantom power (+48 V),
with the VU meter LED as an indicator.

RED: O

GREEN: On

If you have a condenser mic, it’ll need power to function. Enable +48 V to use it
with your Perform-VE.

If you’re not sure what kind of mic you have, but you don’t hear any sound, it’s ok
to try +48 V - it won’t damage a dynamic microphone.

8 PERFORM-VE User Manual

SET + Preset 3: Mic Control

Holding down the SET button and pressing
Preset 3 repeatedly will cycle through Mic
Control settings, with the VU meter LED showing
which mode you’re in.

RED: Mic Control O

Use this when you have a condenser microphone. If you have another Mic Control
mode set, you may inadvertently activate buttons on the box as you sing.

GREEN: MP-75 Mode

On your TC-Helicon MP-75 Microphone, the single
Mic Control button cycles the preset selection. You
can reassign the Mic Control button by holding the
button and then pressing the corresponding button on
Perform-VE that you’d like to control.

For example, if you hold the Mic Control then press the
Reverb button, the MP-75 will now toggle Reverb on
and o.

YELLOW: M P-76 Mode

In MP-76 mode, the Mic Control button cycles the preset
selection as it does in MP-75 mode. The remaining three
buttons default to toggle the following eects on your
Perform-VE:

• Left toggles ECHO.

• Right toggles FILTER.

• Bottom toggles XFX.

SET + Double: MIDI SYSEX Dump Current Preset

Holding down the SET button and pressing the DOUBLE button outputs the sysex
of the current active preset parameters.

SET + Tap

Holding down the SET button and pressing the Tap button toggles drum
quantizing on and o.

SET + Kick: Erase Kick loop component

SET + Snare: Erase Snare loop component

SET + Headphone: Erase Hi-hat loop component

SET + Loop: Erase Audio loop component

4.2 The Headphone Button

When held down,
HEADPHONE Level
adjusts the volume of
the headphone jack.

Range: -60 to 0 dB

When the looper button is lit or pulsing, the headphone button plays the hi-hat.
The loop needs to be erased to be able to adjust the headphone level.

Now that the basics are out of the way, let’s check out Perform-VE’s eects!

NOTE: If you have a TC-Helicon MP-76 connected but
choose MP-75 mode instead, the lower three buttons will
not operate.

The MP-75 and MP-76 buttons can be reassigned to control the following:

• DOUBLE

• MORPH

• HARDTUNE

• XFX

• ECHO

• FILTE R

• LOOPER Record/Play/Erase

• SAMPLE record

• SAMPLE play

• Preset 1

• Preset 2

• Preset 3

• Tap Temp o

9 PERFORM-VE User Manual

5. Eects

5.1 Double

Applies to: LEAD Voice

Double simulates the classic “double tracked” studio sound that’s common on
recordings of all genres. Double Style selections can include Octave Up and
Octave Down voices, for an even thicker eect. Hold style to edit.

Double Style

Double Level

Double Level changes the amount
of doubled voice, relative to your
lead vocal. Hold level to edit.

On the ring, Level is indicated by one
up to all LEDs lit, in the color of the
current style.

Range: O, -10 to 0 dB

5.2 Morph

Applies to: LEAD Voice
(Shift & Gender),
MIDI Voice (Mode & Style)

“Morphing is a special eect in motion pictures and animations that changes (or morphs) one image or shape into another through a seamless transition. Most often it
is used to depict one person turning into another through technological means or as part of a fantasy or surreal sequence.” (Wikipedia)

Perform-VE’s Morph eect does exactly this to your voice: you can morph your lead voice into a giant, a mouse, or a spaced out alien (and beyond) using the Shift and
Gender parameters, while also morphing your MIDI voices into choirs of angels, robots, zombies or whatever you dream up using the Mode and Style parameters.

Morph Style

Morph Style sets the MIDI Voices to be either Notes harmony voices or Synth Vocoder voices. There are two styles of Notes harmony (natural or warp), and eight
dierent Synth Vocoder styles to choose from.

Notes

Notes harmony voices are created from either your own voice, or a VS Synthesis sample (vocal sample synthesis) that you create with Perform-VE’s innovative new
VS Synthesis sampler technology (covered later in this manual).

Formants are the unique resonant frequencies that give your voice its charac teristic sound. When set to Natural operation, the Notes Harmony voices will retain the
formant characteristics of your lead vocal. When set to Warp, the voices will have their formant characteristics expanded or compressed depending on the actual
MIDI notes you play, making for tonal transformations that are striking, unexpected and possibly unreal sounding when compared to the original. Try it and hear for
yourself!

Notes Natural is the default mode for Perform-VE’s MIDI Voices. As long as MORPH and SAMPLE are turned o, you will hear natural shifted harmony voices whenever
you vocalize and send MIDI Notes to Perform-VE.

When MORPH is turned on, the MIDI Voice mode changes to reect the MORPH Style – you can keep the MIDI Voices Natural, make them Warped, or replace them with
Synth Vocoder voices as you see t.

10 PERFORM-VE User Manual

Synth Vocoder

Perform-VE has a dual oscillator synth vocoder hidden inside. When Synth Vocoder styles are chosen, the synthesizer will generate up to eight articulated synth voices
to render the MIDI notes you play, and will also generate a ninth Lead synth voice that follows the pitch of your voice.

The graphic above assumes a sample hasn’t been recorded. In this case, your Lead vocal gets a dedicated synth voice and also ac ts as the modulator (shaping signal) for
the vocoder.

Enabling the SAMPLE button changes the way the vocoder operates:

We’ll cover the SAMPLE features in detail later on. For now, it’s enough to know that when the SAMPLE button is green, the recorded sample acts as the modulator of
up to 8 synthesizer voices, and your lead Vocal passes through to the rest of the eects aboard Perform-VE.

Synth Vocoder

Each one of the Synth Vocoder styles is actually a synthesizer preset (or patch), named accordingly: