Musikmesse 2013: TC-Helicon launches Harmony Singer

Need someone to sing with? How about this little blue box...
Need someone to sing with? How about this little blue box...

Musikmesse 2013: TC Helicon has tolled out the Harmony Singer effects pedal, a vocal harmoniser designed for guitarists who sing as well as play.

The Harmony Singer includes a set of features that include a choice of eight harmony voices - basically, a set of backing singers in a small blue box - three reverb settings, a mic pre-amp with phantom power and plenty more besides. The pedal is priced at $199 (that's approx £130).

For more information, visit the official TC Helicon website, or read on for full specs.

TC Helicon press release

Surveys show that up to 75% of all guitarists also sing, and with Harmony Singer TC-Helicon has created a vocal stomp box that fits the needs of every singing guitarist out there looking for production-quality Harmony, Reverb and Tone in one easy-to-use pedal.

TC-Helicon is proud to announce Harmony Singer - the second pedal in a new series that started with last year´s hit product, Mic Mechanic. Harmony Singer is a professional multi-effects unit that operates with the simplicity of a guitar stomp box offering three key features: Guitar-controlled vocal harmony, Tone and Reverb. It is aimed at all guitarists wanting to add accurate backing vocals and pristine reverbs to their repertoire.

Vocal Harmony

With Harmony Singer, users get up to two harmony voices guided directly by the In/Thru guitar connection. In effect, Harmony Singer is the perfect vocal arranger. It instantly analyzes the incoming guitar chords making sure that the harmonies are always in tune and on time. This frees up the user to experiment using harmonies with all sorts of key and chord arrangements.

Tone

One of the mainstays of any TC-Helicon product is Adaptive Tone, the combined workings of high-end EQ, Compression, De-essing, and Gating that automatically adapts to the user´s voice and vocal range. The Tone button on Harmony Singer can be toggled on or off, but when it´s on it ensures smooth dynamics and clear presence for any singer using it. It´s like having a personal sound engineer controlling the mix.

Reverb

Harmony Singer comes with three studio-quality Reverb types - Room, Club and Hall - with adjustable level control. Harking directly from the renowned lineage of reverb algorithms from TC Electronic, a sister company of TC-Helicon, the sound quality of Harmony Singer´s reverbs is guaranteed to please the ears of both pro and amateur guitarists alike.

Easy hook-up

Mirroring the simplicity of its interface, Harmony Singer is as easy to connect to the PA as a mic - and it connects to the guitar signal chain the same way as any other stomp box. The focus for Harmony Singer is to limit the time fiddling with settings and maximize the joy of playing, singing and sounding great.

In short, Harmony Singer is the guitarist´s vocal backup group and sound tech in one simple stomp box.

Tom Lang, Product Manager for TC-Helicon, comments: “At TC-Helicon we´re excited about offering Harmony Singer´s essential elements and simple controls to the hard working guitarist-singers out there. These days it´s hard to command attention, and we see clear, captivating vocals as an important asset. Corralling Tone, 3 Reverb types, 2 voices of vocal harmony and effects mixing into such a small package can only benefit those who seek to lighten the load while losing none of their impact. Our dream is that Harmony Singer will become as much a piece of essential kit as mics and guitars are to singing guitarists.”

Main Features

• Choice of 8 arrangements of Harmony voices: above and below, close and far
• Room, Club and Hall reverb choices
• Separate mix level control of Harmony voices
• Transparent Thru connection to a guitar amp
• Ground Lift removes hum when needed
• Clean, clear, low-noise mic preamp with phantom power
• Reverb and Tone can remain on whether Harmony is on or off, so the singer always sounds great
• The ‘Talk´ function allows the singer to address the audience with the effects bypassed.
• Mic Control™ allows remote Harmony on/off using the switch on the Sennheiser e 835 fx or TC-Helicon MP-75 mic
• Compact, easy to use
• Rugged all-metal construction
• USB connection to free VoiceSupport application for easy firmware updates, product-specific news and more.