TC-Helicon VoiceLive Play GTX User Manual

USER’S MANUAL

v2.0

Table of Contents

CONNECTION GUIDE	3
BASICS	4
SOFT BUTTONS	8
GENRE	8
FAVORITE	8
SETUP - INPUT	9
SETUP - OUTPUT	12
SETUP - SYSTEM	14
SETUP - LOOP	16
SETUP - MIDI	17
EFFECTS	19
EFFECTS - UMOD (MICRO MOD)	20
EFFECTS - DELAY	21
EFFECTS - REVERB	23
EFFECTS - HARMONY	24
EFFECTS - DOUBLE	26
EFFECTS - HARDTUNE	27
EFFECTS - TRANSDUCER	28
EFFECTS - GUITAR	29
MIX	33
PRACTICE	34
TROUBLESHOOTING	35

Connection Guide

MIDI In

Inst In/Thru

USB

Phones

Switch3 In

Power In Out to P.A.

Aux In

Mic In

or DAW

Power In - Connect the included power supply (ALWAYS USE A TC-HELICON POWER SUPPLY. USING ANY OTHER POWER SUPPLY MAY DAMAGE THE UNIT AND WILL VOID YOUR WARRANTY.)

USB - Connect to your computer with the included cable. Use VoiceSupport to manage presets and update Firmware. www.tc-helicon.com/products/voicesupport

Phones - Headphone output.

Left+Right - Main XLR outputs connect to your P.A. system or audio interface. Always use balanced cables to avoid HUMMMMMMM.

Switch3 In - Use a TRS cable to connect a Switch 3, which can control looping. If you use the S3, you have access to looping without pressing the Up and Down footswitches.

Aux In - Use a 1/8” cable to connect any music source you like, espcially the 8-Track from your 1974 Comet. When an input is detected here, Play will use the music to figure out Key/Scale info.

MIDI In - Connect a MIDI cable to your keyboard or computer to send Notes information for Harmony/Hardtune. Some CC’s are also available. (see Setup - MIDI for more info)

Inst IN/THRU - Connect a guitar or keyboard (audio not MIDI) to IN. To pass guitar signals to an amplifier and bypass internal guitar processing, connect a 1/4” cable to your guitar rig from the THRU jack.

Mic In - This is where the magic happens. Plug your dynamic, condenser or MP-75 Mic in here. Remember to set the mic type and level, as described in the QuickStart Guide.

Basics

Mic Gain Knob

Once you’ve connected your microphone and selected the Mic Type (pg. 9 Dynamic, Condenser, MP75), use the Mic Gain Knob to set the input level for your microphone.

As you increase the level, pay close attention to the LED on the top of the VoiceLive Play GTX. You want the 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 the input is overloading.You’ve got powerful lungs!

Basics

LCD Display

1.Patch Name (Geddit Started)

2.Patch Number (27)

3.FAV – Shown if the current preset is tagged as a Favorite

4.NP – Shown when NaturalPlay key/scale information is being processed by the system

5.LOOP – Shown when a loop is playing in the background

6.GENRE – Displays the name of the genre selected in the genre screen. Not shown when the genre is set to ALL.

*What is NaturalPlay?

NaturalPlay is the voodoo we do inside theVoiceLive Play GTX to figure out which key your music is in.If you plug in a Guitar or Keyboard to the INST In,NaturalPlay will look there first for key/scale info. Next, it will look at the MIDI input. Finally, it will look at the Aux input and RoomSense mics.

Once the GTX “hears” Key/Scale information from one of the inputs, it will set the Key/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.

Basics

Switches and Operation

1.The UP and DOWN switches allow you to navigate through presets. Press once for a single preset change. Press and HOLD to quickly move through presets.

2.HIT/TALK – In normal operation, this button acts as a HIT button.When activated, a new effect or effects will be added to the current patch.This feature is perfect for adding effects like Harmony to a chorus section of a song, or even to a single line or word.

3.When you press and HOLD the HIT/TALK button, the VoiceLive Play GTX enters TALK mode. All effect output is muted and the mic input is passed directly to the output.

If you have a guitar plugged into the INST IN, you will enter TALK/TUNER mode, activating the guitar tuner. 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.

4.To enter LOOP mode, press and hold the UP and DOWN switches simultaneously. Once in LOOP mode, the DOWN footswitch controls REC/PLAY/OVERDUB functions, the UP footswitch controls the STOP/CLEAR functions and the HIT button exits LOOP mode.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. Press and hold the DOWN footswitch after performing an OVERDUB to UNDO.

*LOOP mode is the default action when pressing the UP and DOWN buttons simultaneously.The alternative mode, set on SYSTEM page 5 under UP/DN Function is KEY/SCALE mode, described below.

5.To access TAP TEMPO, press and hold the UP and HIT switches simultaneously. Once you see the tempo on the LCD screen, tap the HIT button in time with your music.When you’re finished,stop tapping and the screen will“time out” back to the preset screen.Voila!

6.To enter KEY/SCALE mode and select the KEY/SCALE to be used with Harmony and Hard tune effects, press and hold the UP and DOWN switches simultaneously.To save your selected KEY/SCALE, press EXIT.

*If you don’t know the KEY/SCALE that 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.

Basics

Control Knob and Arrow Buttons

The control knob is used to move through presets and to move through various settings when in Edit, System or other menu areas.The Arrow Buttons act similarly, moving through presets, styles, Genres etc..

Back

Exits the current screen or mode.

Store

When you have made a change to a preset,simply press STORE.The first press will bring up the name/ location window, allowing you to re-name and/or relocate the preset. Pressing STORE again will save the preset, along with its new name or location.

To change the NAME of a preset, press the STORE button once, then press the Left Blue Soft Button to modify the letters/numbers. Press STORE again to complete the process.

To save the current preset in a different 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.

*Soft Buttons and their operation are described in more detail on the next page.

Soft Buttons

There are six (6) “soft” buttons, three (3) on each side of the LCD Display. Each button is context specific,meaning that when its function is available,you’ll see it lit up with aWHITE 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 beside the button. Not every menu uses all six (6) buttons.

Genre

Sorts presets by category, ranging from musical style to effect type.When in the GENRE menu, use the Control Knob to navigate through the available options. Press BACK to return to the main window, where you will see just the presets contained within the GENRE that you have selected. Presets can be associated with multiple genres.

Favorite

The “Favorite” button toggles the current preset as a “FAV”.When on, FAV will be seen in the top right corner of the LCD, as shown above.

If you set one or more presets as a “FAV”, you can see a list of only those presets by choosing FAV from the GENRE screen. If there are no “FAV” presets tagged, FAV will not appear in the GENRE options.

*Using Fav’s is a great way to make set-lists or group all of your custom presets together, so you can find them easily.

Setup - Input

When pressed, the VoiceLive Play GTX enters the SETUP menu, which is comprised of 6 pages and controls the general functions of the device:

MicType – Selects the type of microphone.

There are 4 settings:

1.DYNAMIC MIC– for dynamic mics (like an SM-58 or OM5)

2.CONDENSER MIC – for condenser mics (like a Beta 87A)

3.MP-75 MIC - for use with our MP-75 microphone, which has an onboard switch to control various functions of your VoiceLive Play GTX, such as the HIT or LOOP functions.

*Mic Control defaults to HIT when MP-75 is selected.

4.USB – Digital audio can be passed to the VoiceLive Play GTX via the USB port. allowing you to send vocals from a DAW to the unit for processing.

Room Sense – Controls the way the two onboard RoomSense microphones function. There are 3 settings:

1.AMBIENT – RoomSense uses the onboard mics and passes that signal via the headphone out put. Control for RoomSense level can be found in the MIX section.To avoid feedback, the RoomSense output is only passed to the headphone output and not the XLR output.

*Try using the AMBIENT setting alongside a vocal mic to pick up an instrument, like an acoustic guitar or piano, and mix it in with your vocals.You can also mix some of the AMBIENT signal into an in-ear monitor mix to give you room sounds with your direct mic feeds.

2.AMBIENT/AUTO – In addition to the ability to output RoomSense sounds via the headphone mix, the onboard RoomSense mics will also listen to musical information from the surrounding environment (a single instrument or even your whole band will work!) to determine the KEY/ SCALE for harmony/hardtune.

3.VOICE – The RoomSense mics are used as the primary vocal input.This action is only available via headphones.

Setup - Input cont.

Guitar – Adjusts the guitar input gain.

Different guitars have different output levels, based on their pickups and electronics. Use this setting to ensure that your guitar input isn’t too low or too high. (Strat’s tend to be less “hot” than a Les Paul)

Without singing into your mic, play your guitar as hard as you would at your most intense. Really rock it out. (make sure the volume on your guitar is maxed)

Turn up the Guitar level until the RED “IN” LED lights while you play, then back the level down by 3-4dB. Doing this will ensure you have enough signal to properly feed the amp simulation processors.

Mic Control – Sets the action associated with the Mic-Button.

There are 4 settings:

1.HIT – The mic button controls HIT in any patch that has a HIT function assigned.

2.HIT + TALK - Pressing the mic button engages the HIT function. Pressing and HOLDING the mic button engages TALK mode, bypassing all effects. Press again to exit TALK mode.

3.PRESET UP – Cycles through the presets, moving forward through the menu.

4.LOOP – Activates or De-Activates RECORD/PLAY/O-DUB for Looping. For Looping.

Tone Style – Applies varying amounts of Adaptive EQ, Compression and Gate. There are 9 styles to choose from:

1.OFF – No Tone Style is applied.

2.NORMAL – Some “bottom”,“mid” and “air” EQ , light compression and minor gating (when

the input level gets low enough, the input is muted) is applied to the signal.

3.LESS BRIGHT – Similar to Normal, but with less emphasis on high frequency EQ.

4.NORM+WARMTH – Similar to Normal, with a small “mid bump” to add some warmth to the voice.

5.MORE COMP – Utilizes the Normal EQ and Gating settings, but with more aggressive compression settings.This is a good setting to try if you have a large dynamic range when singing and want to keep your levels under control.

6.NORM NO GATE – Removes the Gate function from the normal setting.This means that even at very low input levels, the mic is still active or “hot”.

7.LESS BRIGHT NG – The same as Less Bright, but with the Gate function removed.

8.WARMTH NG – The same as NORM+WARMTH, but with the Gate function removed.

9.MORE COMP NG – The same as MORE COMP, but with the Gate function removed.

Setup - Input cont.

Pitch Cor Amt

Pitch Correction Amount allows you to control the amount of Auto-Chromatic Pitch Correction the

VoiceLive Play GTX applies to all incoming signals from the microphone.For a natural sound,we find that 50% or less is a good place to start. If you’re having a hard time hitting notes accurately, or want an Auto-Tuned sound on all of your vocals, experiment with amounts closer to 100%.

*If you’re new toAuto-Chromatic Pitch Correction,you may find that the sound you hear with Correction engaged sounds “doubled”.This is due to you hearing both the corrected signal from the VoiceLive Play GTX and your own voice via bone conduction in your noggin.The two sounds have small variances which can be interpreted as “doubling”. It’s perfectly normal, but will take a bit of getting used to.The Audience won’t hear the “doubling”.

Setup - Output

Output – Sets the way VoiceLive Play GTX outputs sound via the XLR outputs.

There are 3 settings:

1.STEREO – XLR outputs receive a stereo mix of all voices, guitar and other inputs.

2.MONO – A MONO full-mix signal is on the LEFT and a DRY vocal is on the RIGHT.Any Tone and Pitch Cor Amt settings from the Setup menu are included on the RIGHT DRY channel.

3.DUAL MONO – All lead and effected vocals are sent via the LEFT output and all guitar, aux/ digital signals are sent via the RIGHT output. Loops are passed in Stereo.

Vocal Cancel – Attempts to remove the vocals from a piece of music. There are two settings:

1.OFF – No processing is performed on the aux input.

2.ON – Processing occurs to attempt to remove lead vocals from a piece of music.This process can create “Karaoke” style music for you to sing along to, including key information for harmony generation.The processing capability can vary quite a bit from song to song, depending on the way the song was originally mixed.

Lead Mute – Mutes the Lead vocal and only outputs processed signals. There are two settings:

1.OFF – Lead vocals are routed to the main mix.

2.ON – Lead vocals are removed from the main mix.

+ 25 hidden pages