Tc-helicon Play Acoustic User Manual

Name: Tc-helicon Play Acoustic
Brand: Tc-helicon
SKU: 2567709
Rating: 5 (1 reviews)

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English Manual

Acoustic Play

Important safety instructions	1	Setup button/section	28	Mix button/section			57
		Input page (1/7)	29	Mix page (1/2)			58
Before you begin	4	Output page (2/7)	31	Mix page (2/2)			59
About this manual	5	System page (3/7)	32
Getting support	5	System page 2 (4/7)	33	The Looper			60
VoiceSupport	5	Loop page (5/7)	34	What is looping?			61
Please register your Play Acoustic	5	Switch-3 page (6/7)	35	Using the Play Acoustic looper			61
		Product Info page (7/7)	36	Looping tips			62
Introduction	6			Using a Switch-3 for looping			63
Diagram legend	7	Vocal FX button/section	37
Diagrams	8	Harmony page (1/7)	39	Troubleshooting			64
		Harmony Advanced page	40	General troubleshooting			65
Basics	9	Double page (2/7)	41
Inputs and outputs	10	Delay page (3/7)	42	Appendix			66
Gain settings	12	Delay Advanced page	43	TC-Helicon scales reference chart			67
Switches and operation	14	Reverb page (4/7)	44
Control knob and arrow buttons	16	HardTune page (5/7)	45	Links			68
Soft buttons	18	Transducer page (6/7)	46
		Transducer Advanced page	47	Technical specifications			70
Connection diagrams	20	µMod page (7/7)	48
Mixer setup	21
Play Acoustic back panel inputs		Guitar FX button/section	49
and outputs	21	Guitar Reverb page (1/7)	51
Stereo (or mono) vocals and guitar	22	Guitar µMod page (2/7)	52
Mono vocals and guitar amp	23	BodyRez EQ page (3/7)	53
Mono vocal and guitar with a		BodyRez Shelf EQ page (4/7)	54
TC-Helicon FX150	24	BodyRez Parametric EQ page (5/7)	54

Mono vocals via FX150 and a guitar amp	25	BodyRez Compressor page (6/7)	54
Guitar and vocals via FX150 and stereo out		Guitar Anti-Feedback page (7/7)	56
to a PA	26	Notch Filter section	56
Stereo PA and TC-Helicon		Simple steps for feedback reduction	56
Guitar & Headphone cable	27

					Product	Play Acoustic
					Product (firmware) version	1.0
					Document	Reference manual

					Document version / date	2014-07-16
Play Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16)							a

Important safety instructions

Play Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16)

Important safety instructions

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 a 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 amplifiers) that produce heat.

9.Do not defeat the safety purpose of the polarized 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 is provided for your safety. If the provided plug does not fit 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.Only use attachments/accessories specified by the manufacturer.

12.Use only with a cart, stand, tripod,

bracket, or table specified 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.

Play Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16)

14.Refer all servicing to qualified 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.

Caution

You are cautioned that any change or modifications not expressly approved in this manual could void your authority to operate this equipment.

Service

►► All service must be performed by qualified personnel.

►► There are no user-serviceable parts inside.

Warning

►► To reduce the risk of fire or electric shock, do not expose this apparatus to rain or moisture and objects filled with liquids, such as vases, should not be placed on this apparatus.

►► This apparatus must be earthed.

►► Use a three wire grounding type line cord like the one supplied with the product.

►► Be advised that different operating voltages require the use of different types of line cord and attachment plugs.

►► Check the voltage in your area and use the correct type.

Voltage	Line plug according to standard

110 to 125 V	UL817 and CSA C22.2 no 42.
220 to 230 V	CEE 7 page VII, SR section 107-
	2-D1 / IEC 83 page C4.

►► This equipment should be installed near the socket outlet and disconnection of the device should be easily accessible.

►► To completely disconnect from AC mains, disconnect the power supply cord from the AC receptacle.

►► The mains plug of the power supply shall remain readily operable.

►► Do not install this device in a confined space. ►► For use at an altitude of 2000 m or lower.

►► Do not open the unit – risk of electric shock inside.

Important safety instructions

EMC / EMI

Electromagnetic compatibility /

Electromagnetic interference

This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class B digital device, pursuant to part 15 of the FCC rules.

These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference in residential installations. This equipment generates, uses and can radiate radio frequency energy and, if not installed and used in accordance with the instructions, may cause harmful interference to radio communications. However, there is no guarantee that interference will not occur in a particular installation.

If this equipment does cause harmful interference to radio or television reception, which can be determined by turning the equipment off and on, the user is encouraged to try to correct the interference by one or more of the following measures:

►► Reorient or relocate the receiving antenna.

►► Increase the separation between the equipment and receiver.

►► Connect the equipment into an outlet on a circuit different from that to which the receiver is connected.

►► Consult the dealer or an experienced radio / TV technician for help.

For customers in Canada

This Class B digital apparatus complies with Canadian ICES-003.

Cet appareil numérique de la classe B est conforme à la norme NMB-003 du Canada.

Explanation of graphic symbols

The lightning bolt triangle is used to alert the user to the presence of uninsulated “dangerous voltages” within the unit’s chassis that may be of sufficient magnitude to constitute a risk of electric shock to humans.

The exclamation point triangle is used to alert the user to presence of important operating and service instructions in the literature accompanying the product.

Play Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16)

Before you begin

Play Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16)

Before you begin

About this manual

This manual will help you understand and operate your Play Acoustic.

You can download the most current version of this reference manual from tc-helicon.com/products/play-acoustic/support/

To get the most from this reference manual, please read it from start to finish, or you may miss important information.

Getting support

If you still have questions after reading this reference manual, please read the FAQs, visit the user forums and get in touch with support at: support.tc-helicon.com/

VoiceSupport

VoiceSupport is the application that allows you to fully unlock the potential of your TC-Helicon product and stay in touch with the latest news, tips and tricks.

VoiceSupport key features include:

►► Professionally authored preset libraries ►► Direct access to product manuals

►► Update messaging – helping you stay up to date with the latest software

►► Drag & drop preset management

►► Customizable content about your products ►► VoiceCouncil feeds for the latest advice for

singers

►► Firmware upgrading ►► Account management ►► Access to support

You can download VoiceSupport for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X from tc-helicon.com/products/voicesupport/

Please register your Play Acoustic

To register your Play Acoustic using the VoiceSupport software, launch VoiceSupport and click on the ACCOUNT button.

Please note that registration of your product is not required to use VoiceSupport, download presets, update firmware or contact support.

Play Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16)

Introduction

Play Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16)

Introduction

Welcome to the Play Acoustic manual!

First, thank you so much for purchasing Play Acoustic. We at TC-Helicon are confident that your vocal and acoustic guitar performances will be positively impacted with this great effects processor.

As you discovered in the Quick Start Guide (the short manual that came in the box), Play Acoustic is easy to use at the top level, but there is more under the hood of this compact device than you might think. We recommend you treat your Play Acoustic like any other new instrument and dedicate some time to learning how to use it.

Yes, that means RTFM!

Read the… full manual.

And if you ever find yourself without this manual: On the bottom of your Play Acoustic , you will find a “cheat sheet” explaining the most important functions.

Play Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16)

Diagram legend

The following icons are used in the diagrams in this manual.

P.A.

Microphone

Guitar amp

Acoustic Guitar

XLR cables

¼“ / 6.5 mm TRS (Tip / Ring / Sleeve )

and TS (Tip / Sleeve) guitar cables

Monitor Mix

⅛” / 3.5 mm cable

Mixing Board

Diagrams

On the following pages, you will see some connection diagrams. We have set things up to give you clear and concise representations of what goes where.

There are a few things we would like you to keep in mind as you look at the diagrams:

1. Inputs to Play Acoustic will be to the left of the back panel image.

2. Outputs from Play Acoustic will be to the right of the back panel image.

3.There are two boxes on the bottom of each diagram.

►► The Play Acoustic box shows “what you hear” from your Play Acoustic headphone output.

►► The P.A. box shows “what you hear” from the P.A. speakers.

4.We don’t account for other inputs/instruments when showing “what you hear” from the P.A.,

5. In a lot of cases, “what you hear” will be the	PLAY ACOUSTIC
so you won’t see pictures of drums etc.
same for both Play Acoustic headphone out-
put and P.A. – but it can also be different.

Play Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16)

Introduction

Play Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16)

Basics

Play Acoustic – rear panel

Inputs and outputs

Connectors are described from right to left. For setup examples, see “Connection diagrams”.

MIC connector

This is where the magic happens!

Plug your dynamic, condenser, MP-75, or e835 fx microphone in here. Remember to set the microphone type and level correctly, as described in the Play Acoustic Quick Start Guide.

Play Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16)

GUITAR IN connector	via the Voice (L) connector, and a mono guitar
Connect your guitar to this input.	signal is sent via the Guitar DI (R) jack. This con-
	figuration can be changed in the Setup/Output
	menu.

AUX connector

Use a 1/8” cable to connect any music source you want to use to your Play Acoustic (especially that 8-Track from your 1974 Comet). When an input is detected here and no guitar is plugged in, Play Acoustic will use the music signal to figure out key and scale information.

GUITAR DI (R) and VOICE

(L) output connectors

These are the main output connectors of your Play Acoustic. By default, mono vocals are sent

GND switch

This is a ground lift switch. If you experience hum while using Play Acoustic, try pressing the GND switch to reduce or remove the hum.

Headphones connector

Connect your headphones to the Phones connector.

Basics

PEDAL connector

Use a TRS cable to connect a Switch-3 (optional) to the PEDAL connector. If you use the Switch-3, you have direct access to looping and other effect control. See the Switch-3 menu section for details on assigning controls to each Switch-3 button.

USB connector

Connect to your computer with the included cable. Use the VoiceSupport software to manage presets and update the product’s internal software (firmware).

You can download VoiceSupport here: tc-helicon.com/products/voicesupport/

Stereo audio input and output via USB is also supported at 16 bit resolution with 44.1 or 48 kHz sample rate.

Incoming USB audio signals are NOT passed to the USB output, allowing you to sing/play along with tracks from your DAW while recording back “just the vocals and guitar”.

Power socket

Connect the included power supply. Your Play Acoustic will power up immediately. Always use a TC-Helicon power supply (12 V, 400 mA).

Using any other power supply may damage the unit and will void your warranty.

Play Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16)

Basics

Gain settings

How the Input LED

Level Meter Works

The LED on the top of your Play Acoustic is used for both vocal and guitar level metering.

When setting the level for your microphone or guitar, make sure that you sing or play separately. If you are setting your vocal level, don’t play your guitar – and vice versa.

The meter will show a combined level for both guitar and vocals when you sing and play.

If you see the LED light red – indicating clipping –, it is helpful to play/sing individually to see which input may be getting too much level.

Keep in mind that the combined level of two inputs can clip, even when the individual inputs do not. If this happens for you, it’s best to simply turn down each input slightly until the LED no longer lights red when you sing and play simultaneously.

Setting Microphone Gain

Once you have connected your microphone and selected the microphone type (Dynamic, Condenser, MP-75, e835 FX), use the Mic Gain knob on the side of your Play Acoustic to set the input level for your microphone.

As you increase the level, pay close attention to the LED on top of Play Acoustic. You want the

Play Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16)

input to light the LED green. It’s OK if the LED sometimes lights yellow – but it should never turn red. If it does turn red, reduce the level. Red means that a) the input is overloading and b) you’ve got powerful lungs!

Setting the guitar level

The control for your guitar input is on Page 1 of the Setup menu. You can access the Setup menu by pressing the SETUP button and then use the < or > buttons to move to Page 1. Press the “soft” button next to the “Guitar IN” box and use the Control knob to adjust your level.

Reading the LCD Display

The Play Acoustic display

The LCD display of your Play Acoustic displays the following information:

Preset Name

The name of the currently selected preset. In the screen shot above, it is “High Harmony“. The Presets concept is explained in “What are presets?”.

Preset Number

The unique preset number – i.e., the number of the slot where the preset is stored. In the screen shot above, it is 1.

“FAV” indicator

The “FAV” indicator is shown in the upper right corner of the display if the current preset has been tagged as a Favorite.

“NP” indicator

The “NP” indicator is shown in the lower right corner of the display when chord information changes have been detected by Play Acoustic.

You may see the “NP” indicator switch on and off somewhat erratically as it processes incoming musical information. This is normal.

What is NaturalPlay?

NaturalPlay is the voodoo we do inside Play Acoustic to figure out which key your music is in. If you plug your guitar into the GUITAR IN connector, NaturalPlay will look there first for key/ scale info. Next, it will look at the Aux input and listen to the RoomSense microphones.

Once Play Acoustic “hears” key/scale information from one of these inputs, it will set the key/

Basics

scale on the fly. “NP” is only shown when a change in key/scale is detected – so don’t panic if you don’t see it all the time.

“LOOP” indicator

The “LOOP” indicator is shown in the lower right corner of the display when a loop is running, but you are currently not on the Loop mode screen.

GB (Guitar Boost) indicator

The GB (“Guitar Boost”) indicator is shown in the lower left corner of the display when guitar boost is active.

Genre indicator

If you have set the Genre selector to any other value than “All”, the currently selected genre is shown in the upper left corner of the display. In the screen shot above, it is “Harmony“.

Play Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16)

Basics

Switches and operation

The three Play Acoustic footswitches

DOWN and UP footswitches

Form here on, we will refer…

►► to the footswitch with the down-pointing triangle as the DOWN footswitch and

►► to the footswitch with the up-pointing triangle as the UP footswitch.

The DOWN and UP footswitches allow you to navigate through presets.

►► Press a footswitch once to switch to the previous or next preset slot.

►► Press and hold a footswitch to quickly move through presets.

Play Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16)

HIT / Hold for TALK footswitch

During normal operation, this footswitch acts as a HIT button. What does this mean?

When you activate HIT by tapping the footswitch, a new effect (or several effects) will be added to the current sound. This feature is perfect for spicing up a section of a song with a particular effect, e.g. Harmony.

TALK mode

When you press and hold the HIT / Hold for TALK footswitch, Play Acoustic enters TALK mode.

In TALK mode, all vocal effects are bypassed, and the microphone input is passed directly to the output.

TALK/Tuner mode

If you have a guitar plugged into the GUITAR IN, you will enter TALK/Tuner mode, activating the guitar tuner built into Play Acoustic. The guitar

output is muted to allow tuning, but the dry voice is still passed to the output, allowing you to tune your instrument and still entertain the crowd with witty banter.

Activating Loop mode

To enter Loop mode, press and hold the DOWN and UP footswitches simultaneously.

For more information on the Looper, see “The Looper”.

Loop mode screen

In Loop mode, the DOWN footswitch controls the following functions:

►► PLAY

►► REC (Record) ►► Overdub

Holding the DOWN footswitch will undo your most recently recorded Overdub.

In Loop mode, the UP footswitch controls the following functions:

►► STOP

►► ERA (HOLD to erase)

Basics

To exit Loop mode, tap the HIT footswitch.

You may exit Loop mode while a loop is still playing. That means you can choose a new vocal sound – and then re-enter Loop mode to add a new overdub to the loop.

Loop Undo/Redo

To undo a loop overdub, press and hold the DOWN footswitch.

To restore the overdub (Redo), press and hold the DOWN footswitch again. Restoring a loop overdub this way is only possible if you have not recorded another overdub after using Undo.

Looping with a Switch-3

If you connect a TC-Helicon Switch-3 (optional) to the PEDAL connector of your Play Acoustic, you can use it to control all Loop features.

The benefit of using a Switch-3 is the addition of the dedicated Undo button.

When a Switch-3 is connected, Play Acoustic’s UP and DOWN footswitches are assigned to Set Key/Scale.

For more information, see “Switch-3 page (6/7)”.

where pressing the DOWN and UP footswitches simultaneously will allow you to set key/scale. You can set this mode on System page 5 under “UP/DN Function”.

When you have activated this alternative mode, pressing the UP and DOWN footswitches simultaneously will allow you to set Key and Scale using these two footswitches.

If you don’t know which Key and Scale a particular song is in, try using the last chord of the song for the Key and Major 2 for the Scale. It’s often correct, especially in popular music.

For more information, see “TC-Helicon scales reference chart”. You can also find this chart on the TC-Helicon website: support.tc-helicon.com/entries/ 21051886-scale-chart-for-TC-helicon-products/

To use your newly selected Key and Scale, simply press EXIT.

To save the current preset with your chosen Key and Scale, press STORE twice. Storing presets is covered in more detail later in this manual.

Tap tempo

To access Tap Tempo, press and hold the UP and HIT footswitches simultaneously.

Tap tempo screen

Once you see the current tempo displayed on the LCD screen, tap the HIT button in time with your music.

When you are finished, stop tapping, and the screen will “time out” back to the preset screen.

Using DOWN and UP for setting key and scale

Activating Loop mode by pressing the DOWN and UP footswitches simultaneously is the default mode. There is also an alternative mode

Play Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16)

Basics

Control knob and arrow buttons

BACK, STORE, arrow buttons and the control knob

Use the control knob to scroll through presets and to move through various settings in the Edit, System or other menus.

The arrow buttons act similarly, allowing you to move through presets, effect/setup pages, styles, Genres etc.

Quick Tip: You can press and hold the arrow buttons to “jump” to the first or last page in a menu. For example, in the Vocal FX menu, you can move from Harmony (page 1) to Transducer (page 7) directly by pressing and holding the > button.

BACK button

Press the BACK button to exit the current screen or mode.

Play Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16)

STORE button

What are presets?

To use Play Acoustic effectively, you need to understand the concept of Presets.

Essentially, a Preset is a record of all the settings for a group of effects that you can recall quickly and easily.

The Preset concept is extremely flexible. A Preset can be general purpose – like a simple Reverb or Harmony sound. But a Preset can also represent a specific song or portion of a song via multiple effects and settings.

A good modern analogy for a Preset is a user account on a computer. Even though each user has access to the same hardware (CPU, RAM etc.) each user can change their desktop wallpaper,

icons on the desktop, program behaviors and much more. When each user logs in, the computer recalls all of their custom settings.

Depending on how you like you to work with effects, you may find that you like to use a few general purpose Presets. Or you might be the kind of guy or girl who likes to spend a bit more time in advance of the performance to create Presets for all sorts of things.

Once you have fine-tuned all settings in the Vocal section, you should store them as a Preset, so you can later recall them.

Keep in mind that you never have to save Guitar effects settings. They are global and retain their values across all of your vocal presets.

Storing presets

When you have made a change to a preset, simply press the STORE button.

Pressing the STORE button once will bring up the name/location display, allowing you to rename and/or relocate the preset.

Pressing the STORE button again will save the preset, along with its new name or location.

Basics

Changing preset names

To change the name of a preset, press the STORE button once, then press the left blue soft button and use the control knob to modify the letters/numbers. Press the STORE button again to complete the process.

Storing a preset to another location

To save the current preset to a different preset slot (location), press the store button once, then press the right Blue soft Button and use the control knob to select the destination number for the preset. Press store again to complete the process.

If you change your mind and don’t want to save the changes, simply press BACK.

Play Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16)

Basics

Soft buttons

There are six “soft” buttons on the Play Acoustic

– three on each side of the LC display.

Each button is context-specific – meaning that when its function is available, you’ll see it lit up with a WHITE or BLUE LED.

When there is no function available, the button will not be lit.

►► In white LED mode, the text on the button refers to its action.

►► In blue LED mode, the button will select the segment of the LCD screen that is directly beside that button.

Not every menu uses all six buttons.

Play Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16)

Vocal FX button

Press the Vocal FX button to open the Vocal FX menu, which controls the settings of the vocal effects. This button is described in its own chapter: “Vocal FX button/section”.

Guitar FX button

Press the Guitar FX button to open the Guitar FX menu, which controls the settings of the guitar effects. This button is described in its own chapter: “Guitar FX button/section”

Mix button

Press the Mix button to open the Mix menu, which allows you to adjust the levels of the signals. This button is described in its own chapter: “Mix button/section”

Favorite button

You can tag a preset as a “Favorite”. This allows you to e.g. mark all presets you want to use in a show and filter out all others. This means that you can use Favorites to create a set list or simply group all the presets you like, regardless of their Genre.

►► To add the current preset to your Favorites, press the FAVORITE button. “FAV” will be shown in the top right corner of the display.

►► To remove the current preset from your Favorites, press the FAVORITE button.

►► To only browse your Favorite presets, press the GENRE button and select FAV as the Genre. Press the BACK button to return to the Home screen.

If there are no presets tagged as Favorites, the FAV option will not appear in the Genre menu.

GENRE button

Genres allow you to filter your presets by categories, such as musical styles and effect types.

Press the GENRE button to open the Genre menu.

Basics

In the Genre menu, use the control knob to navigate through the available options. Select a Genre.

Press the BACK button to return to the main window, where you will see only the presets contained within the Genre that you have selected.

Presets can be associated with multiple genres.

Setup button

Press the SETUP button to open the Setup menu, which controls the general functions of the device. This button is described in its own chapter: “Setup button/section”

Play Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16)

Connection diagrams

Play Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16)

Connection diagrams

The following connection diagrams show you some common ways to hook up Play Acoustic. For basic information about audio inputs and outputs, see “Inputs and outputs”.

Play Acoustic back panel inputs and outputs

Mixer setup

For connection to your mixer or PA, check out this Craig’s Corner video:

youtube.com/watch?v=qq0AOtafIjs

It’s very important to follow gain-staging instructions in order to get the best signal to noise ratio (SNR) from your device and prevent distortion in the signal chain.

SWITCH-3

Play Acoustic back panel

Play Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16)

+ 52 hidden pages