Does it make sense to get an external tc helicon hardware? I'm not having much luck getting good sounding harmonies with the tc helicon built in software. Thanks!
If you're working with recorded vocals, a software package might work. But, as noted above, it takes lots of learning, experience and time. If you're looking for live vocal harmonies, Dan, above, is right. The TC products are probably the best there is. I've used them for years and found nothing better, just pull up one of the hundreds of programs and instant harmony! Doubling, two part, three part, full choirs, reverbs, delays; the TC units, at least for me, can do it all.
Does it make sense to get an external tc helicon hardware? I'm not having much luck getting good sounding harmonies with the tc helicon built in software. Thanks!
I've been using the Voice Prism, the VoiceWorks, and VoiceWorks Plus for a number of years. I only fooled around with the TC-Helicon software included with the PG Music software once and couldn't come anywhere near what I was already used to getting from the hardware I used. To be honest, I didn't give the software much of a chance, but I really hate to invest a lot of time in something new when I'm already getting good to great results from processes I already know.
I've only used Helicon's rack mounted gear and can't speak to how good their pedals are.
I don't think TC-Helicon is currently making any of the rack mounted units that I use. If my house burned down and I had to reconstruct my studio, I'd go on eBay and find a used VoiceWorks.
I have never used this program, even though I have it (I think) with BB/RB.
I'm not a fan of trying to create harmonies from existing vocal tracks. The primary reason is that any time you move a note from it's original position by very much, you introduce artifacts of the process into the resultant note. It generally sounds very artificial. I've listened to the results of what others have posted using TC Helicon and decided that was not the sound I wanted in any of my songs.
Even Melodyne, which is, IMHO, the best tool on the market for doing this, unless used carefully, and with great diligence, can easily ruin the attempt.
BB/RB does this as well with the instruments, but the process they use moves the notes only a few semi-tones at most. So in many cases, artifacts are kept to a minimum, and if you are in the same key the original tracks are in, there's no transposing needed.
So here's my recommendation to getting good sounding harmony notes. Use TC Helicon if you must, to create the harmony lines you want. Move them to a DAW or to Real Band where you can SOLO that one harmony track and then learn the melody of the harmony one vocal phrase at a time. Sing that harmony line live into a new track. You can sing along with the TC track.
With a DAW that lets you do punch recording easily, simply take the harmony vocal track one or two vocal phrases at a time. There are always plenty of spaces in a vocal track to punch in and out easily. If it takes you 30 minutes or more to learn the part phrase by phrase and record it, hey, it doesn't matter.... the thing is that you have a decent sounding harmony track. Now, if you have Melodyne in your tool kit, you can go back and fine tune the harmony and the lead vocals and you can use this method to build another 2nd or 3rd harmony track if you wish.
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.com Add nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both.
The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
A few excerpts:
"The Tracks view is possibly the single most powerful addition in 2024 and opens up a new way to edit and generate accompaniments. Combined with the new MultiPicker Library Window, it makes BIAB nearly perfect as an 'intelligent' composer/arranger program."
"MIDI SuperTracks partial generation showing six variations – each time the section is generated it can be instantly auditioned, re-generated or backed out to a previous generation – and you can do this with any track type. This is MAJOR! This takes musical experimentation and honing an arrangement to a new level, and faster than ever."
"Band in a Box continues to be an expansive musical tool-set for both novice and experienced musicians to experiment, compose, arrange and mix songs, as well as an extensive educational resource. It is huge, with hundreds of functions, more than any one person is likely to ever use. Yet, so is any DAW that I have used. BIAB can do some things that no DAW does, and this year BIAB has more DAW-like functions than ever."
Convenient Ways to Listen to Band-in-a-Box® Songs Created by Program Users!
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Video: Enhanced Melodists in Band-in-a-Box® 2024 for Windows®!
We've enhanced the Melodists feature included in Band-in-a-Box® 2024 for Windows!
Access the Melodist feature by pressing F7 in the program to open the new MultiPicker Library and locate the [Melodist] tab.
You can now generate a melody on any track in the program - very handy! Plus, you select how much of the melody you want generated - specify a range, or apply it to the whole track.
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