BIG SHOUT OUT TO JP I struggled to get my set up using this tc helicon pedal felt at a loss to get everything running in sync and so refrained from going live for months that’s until JP set my gear up YAY thank you so much .. your the man who knows what’s what …appreciated !!!!
Thanks for this helpful video. I have had the Play Acoustic for several years, but never had the time to learn to use more than just several presets until now.
Thank you for this video. I bought the TC Helicon about 3 years ago but have seldom used it because I couldn't figure it out. Your video made it far more clear that their instructions. I think I will try it again with my mixer. Thanks so much for your clarity!
Ahh! I got this for my birthday, and the manual that came with it didn't come close to explaining things untill I cane across this video!! Thank you sooo much! I had this for about 3 years and things I didn't know how to use, I know now because of this video!! Thank you!!! 😊😊😊
I bought this 6 months ago. I plugged it in once and packed it away. I was overwhelmed by the options. I just watched your top 10 video and decided to have another go with this unit. Thanks.
Awesome 👏 you won’t regret it. It’s been with me for over a decade and I gone through 2 different power adapters (cut the wire on one by mistake 😂) and it’s so hard if I decide to let it go. Love the harmonies. My comfort blanket. Haha
I love TC Helicon. Have this pedal and a VoiceLive3 and nothing is anywhere near them for me. Will be heartbroken if they die on me. Wish they would keep making them and maybe bring out a new version with Midi capability and Bluetooth for tracks. Great work JP, keep it up mate.
Since the takeover from Music Tribe (who own ALOT of other companies) they started bringing out things like audio interfaces and streaming effects under the TC-Helicon name 🤷♂️ Hope someone gets back to their roots. 🤞🏻
Had this Helicon over a year or so and didn’t use it because I couldn’t figure out how to operate it. The manual is worthless and the manufacturer does not provide any worthwhile online support. So these videos have been very, very helpful and I now have a clue. Thanks for helping us out.
Thanks for this video, the manual is very basic and doesn't cover most of the topics I was looking for (effect trails, preset management and HIT button functionality).
Selling my Boss VE-8. Sounded great but just couldn’t understand how to use it. I hear great things about this but I fear it may be way to complicated as well. Also had a Boss VE-2 which was simpler and awesome but could get really weird if you didn’t dial in the key etc for each song which gets cumbersome. Would love to see you do a basic tutorial to set up an acoustic guitar and have some harmony options prior to getting extremely complicated. In any case- thanks for putting these out.
If you can’t get hold of or don’t want to get a Voicelive Play Acoustic and you are only looking for harmonies with a bit of sweetening of your voice, checkout the TC-Helicon Harmony Singer 2. Much easier and smaller. 👍🏻
Hey John, as always, great videos. How did you import the sounds into the play acoustic. Yes i did look at all official and other videos trying to explain it but for some reason in the software on the import selection it takes you to folders but won't let you select files to import. It won't also allow you to drag and drop file into it. What formats did you import into it? Mp3, Wav Syx? Tried customer support but no response. Again, i can get to the import section just seems like it the files are not compatible? Thanks in advance
Hey 👋 I think you might not realise this that the TC-Helicon Voicelive play acoustic doesn’t take sounds. There is no way you can import sounds unless you use the built in looper where you have to record in live and there is only one slot as it’s a simple looper. The Voicelive 3 extreme can let you bring in backing tracks as well as program effects changes with it.
Im starting up an acoustic duo with a mate. Hes a lot more confident than me with his vocals in the acoustic realm, so im looking at a few units to give me a leg up and i found your videos. Great stuff, might've sold me on 1 of these 😊 Can you explain the Hit button options a bit more? Thats the only adpect im not understanding. Thanks again.
Certainly. So imagine every preset has a 2 step option. When you get to a preset, harmony for example, it has the normal setting (with hit off) with hall and reverb and then when you press hit on it adds the harmony. This is just an example and you can customise the presets to do anything with or without the hit button. For example my bass preset won’t turn into a bass until I press hit button. Hope that makes sense.
@JohnPaulMusicUK hello. Thanks for the reply. I originally thought it was just an FX bypass, but when I could hear reverb etc before you pressed the hit button then that confused me 😆
Best thing is spend some time getting it wrong. 😉 then mess with it. If you don’t store it, it will go back to the preset it was or duplicate the preset and tweak the duplicate so you have the original. 👍🏻
@@JohnPaulMusicUK I have one question that is very important for me. The stereo output setting gives a stereo signal for two amplifiers for guitar and vocals?
Great tutorial, thank you. One thing I would like to know is the difference between low/lower and high/higher ibn terms of intervals, and how it's different than, say, +/-7 or +/-5.
So as far as I understood it (and this is where someone will tell me I’m wrong) but they fluctuate because of the chord you might be playing. So depends if it’s a minor, a major, augmented etc etc. Here are the options when it comes to the harmonies - > High ► Higher ► Low ► Lower ► Octave Up ► Octave Down ► High & Low ► High & Higher ► High & Lower ► Higher & Lower ► Higher & Low ► Lower & Low ► Oct Down & Up ► Oct Down & Higher ► Oct Down & High ► Oct Down & Low ► Oct Down & Lower ► Oct Up & Higher ► Oct Up & High ► Oct Up & Low ► Oct Up & Lower ► +7 Semitones ► -5 Semitones ► +7 & -5 Semitones ► +12 & +7 Semitones ► +12 & -5 Semitones ► -12 & +7 Semitones ► -12 & -5 semitones
@@JohnPaulMusicUK @JohnPaul Music UK thanks, I assumed it would be something like that, but only the 3rd changes in a minor. Maybe we can assume that's the high/low, while the higher/lower is fifth -- which would be the same as +7 or -5 semitones. In that case it's confusing that they have multiple options for the same thing?
Great video JP! I'm thinking of getting a VL play as a smaller option compared to my VL3 and pairing it with my looper. Does the VL play have most of the same guitar fx? I'm hoping to recreate my acoustic to bass sound preset in the smaller unit!
This is awesome! I've gigged with this unit for probably 6 years at this point and haven't really messed with it that much. That Favorite feature is game changing haha. Curious - I've heard there are special features for mitigating feedback, is this true? Maybe I should read the manual one of these days :D
Hey Jp , what’s up pal .. I started using my play acoustic again and for some reason for my guitar it’s giving my Low E string a really high bass hum whenever I play it .. i have my guitar Eq set midway bc if I turn the bass down too much then the guitar sounds like a tin can .. I’m using an epiphone Masterbilt guitar and it has 2 pickups in it which I truly can’t stand and I’m just using the main jack pickup on the guitar .. I’m just switching back and fourth between the body rez’s and they all have the same Low E bass hum.. it’s only if I play that string .. I have no other guitar Effects on and I have the gain set at about 25% on the PA… after the PA I have the boss RC -500 and I run dual mono into a mixer and then out into a single PA.. on the mixer i have the low and mid bass all the way down on guitar channel just trying to figure out what’s going on .. can you think of any settings in the PLay accoustic to try to fix this without setting the body rez to flat or turning it off .. thanks pal ..
First of all, you’ve been doing an amazing job for music community JP! Thanks a loooooot! As an expert to teach loopy pro functionalities, live looper musician and TC Play Acoustic user, I believe you could help me. I’m hard user of Loopy Pro and thinking if is there any possibility to change my Scarlett solo to TC helicon play acoustic as an interface? Now the Scarlett is connected to usb hub with Softstep 2 midi controller, and then to an IPad Pro. Wondering if could get the vocal harmonies + acoustic guitar sounds from TC and process them independently on LP, and finally sending final mix from TC to phones monitoring and PA speakers. God bless you!
Hey 👋 So you are right and that is a possibility. The VLPA has a micro usb which can send and receive audio and double up as an interface. So in the unit, go to the mix page and take note of the USB in and USB out and adjust accordingly. Only thing you will have to be aware of is feedback loop but should be find with it going into LP, as long as LP understands what it is. There is no midi on VLPA so soft step “shouldn’t” interfere. 😬 (will have to play and experiment to be sure. 👍🏻 Refer to page 58/59 of the tc-helicon VLPA manual. (Which is brief).
Thank you so much for answering! All the advices were very helpful ! Probably it will work flawlessly with TC voice fx quality. I’ll try it and will return with the experience.
Hi JohnPaul, I have just bought a used TC helicon play Acoustic pedal and have a look at this super tutorial video. Thank for it! I would like to ask you something as I understand you are really into the features of this pedal. I found that when I am using a vocal preset, even just with some reverb on the voice I have a noticeable latency on the signal while singing ( something like a slap back delay) is it normal or are there some parameters that I should check to avoid this latency?
Hey 👋 Glad you got hold of one. To answer your question - oooh no! There shouldn’t be a slap back delay feel to it. Obviously there will be milliseconds whilst it figures out the tuning but nothing like that. Maybe factory reset it as you have just got it. Dive into the vocal chain and see if anything like a reverb turns on when the hit button is pressed. But personally I would do a factory reset.
@@JohnPaulMusicUK just to give you an update, before going with the factory reset today I read the instructions in details again and in the end I found out that the problem was that the lead delay parameter in the system menu was set to voice sync so the pedal was shifting the voice to compensate the possibile latency due to the effects. Putting the parameter to auto or none the slap delay effect dissappear!
Great Video John Paul - Just purchased ! Do you know if it is possible for my Guitar to not be muted when I press and hold the Hit Button ? (In other words when I go into Talk mode with the Tuner on) I would like to hear my guitar while I am talking to the crowd in between songs ... Thanks in advance and keep up the good work !
Hi Adrian. So I’ve looked into this and no, it’s designed that way to tune up the guitar whilst muted. There’s no way round it on the pedal. The only ways round that would be an ABY splitter before your guitar reaches the pedal.. but then you don’t want a duplicate of the guitar.
Hey man, lovely video! Could you answer a couple questions? Do you know what is the fx block chain order? I am considering adding this to my chain, but I have to consider the hole board... (If I were to use a separete reverb on the guitar beforehand, would it have a negative impact on the key detection, for instance) The second doubt is if it completely substitutes my Voicetone 1, which I believe it does
Hey 👋 So signal chain wise, it does have its own master as well as the individual effects.. so you might want to consider the reverbs for example. You can set the vocal and guitar differently and also have it as a separate DI vocal/DI Guitar out to help with mixing. Regarding the VoiceTone, absolutely.. it certainly could replace it.
Hey 👋 Make sure you are tuning your guitar to the built in tuner if the Play Acousitc by holding down the HIT button. Also make sure the ‘room sense’ mic is switched off so it’s not picking up anything else from band members. Hope that’s helps.
Thanks for the great video man. A big question I have is do you run in stereo and pan the mixer? It seems when I do this sometimes I get too much effects Out the mic so obviously sometimes I run it and mono. Just wondering how you set it up. Thanks for all the help
I actually have it in a dual mono mode to separate the mic and guitar for dual mono looping . Have a look at this: ruclips.net/video/tErt9uASsPs/видео.html
I wonder why there has not been more development in this tech in recent years? Seems strange that this unit was so good and they did no hardware refresh.
The company was bought by Behringer and joined their group and as soon as that happened, things changed. If you have a look at the products they are bringing out now, it’s just different. Feel like they just swallowed the company up as it was a small crew under the umbrella of TC-Electronics. Shame.
@@CFMRocksFishing-Music from an end user perspective that would make sense. From an engineering perspective that is a nightmare. That components in that unit are at least 12 years old. Electronic components do not age that well. Every component in that unit has a replacement that would yield improvements. Better noise floor, 64bit floating point computations for the harmony algorithm, faster tracking. Everything. They don't have to change how it works for the end user. Just upgrade the tech behind it. Could you imagine buying a 12 year old TV.?
@@bryantwalley Picture quality has no comparison to sound. 12 year old reading glasses still work today. And this pedal still stands to be one of the most sought after vocal/guitar processor pedals . TubeScreamer updated pedals through out the years too but people still want the original meat and potatoes. This pedal really is just that. the best meat and potatoes a plate can serve in a live application. with A side of sparkling reverb and delay and for dessert, a looping feature for songwriters. I think It's a great pedal to have in the arsenal just as it is. Thanks for the chat. Cheers
@@CFMRocksFishing-Music Electronics are electronics. You are looking at it from an end user standpoint. That is fine. No one here will fault you for that. Your reading glasses do not have any electronic components in them. This machine does and they are very limited. These things are well understood by people that design electronic devices. That is why they do not use 12 year old chips in their designs today.
Hi tanks for the video. Im underling about someting u told in this video, that you manage the play acoustic to no affect your guitar with its effects. Is there a way to use the play acoust just as a by pass ?
What are your guitar settings for this pedal out of interest ? Your videos are great and I do know how to tweak some parts etc , but I find that the sound is really unauthentic and the TC helicon makes my guitar sound quite high . I’d be interested to know if you’ve used the dynamic EQ setting for your guitar or, if you just use a preset. Do you have an email address at all ? Thanks in advance
Hi JP - great video thanks -- I find my mic goes louder by 3-5 DBs when going into talk mode, it can cause problems on stage... any idea if I've set it up wrong - thanks in Advance
Dive into the settings of that preset and have a look at the settings that are NOT on the hit button. Could also be main output settings. Have you got anything boosted anywhere?
Is it a bad idea to stack the reverbs if I also apply a reverb to the entire RC looper? I also have this TC Helicon but I've been hesitant to use the vocal pedal reverb settings since the looper provides a reverb that glues everything together (I use reverb esp for the pre-built rhythms to give them some life). However, sometimes I want that ambient vocal wash sound (a type of reverb that usually doesn't try to act like "glue" but creates it's own sound).. I'm thinking for my TC, my main preset (which I use for harmony) can be dry, and then I can have another preset for the ambient vocal sound. Does a setup like this make sense..?
That does make sense. When I use the reverb in the PB&J Youngsters preset. The Tc-Helicon has some reverb on it from the main but this is a HUGE reverb and is it’s own thing. But you are right and it’s worth experimenting with it to see if there is too much ‘glue’ from both the VLPA and the looper. Might be worth switching it off.
Is there a trick to getting harmonies and other vocal effects as clear as your getting yours here? Like the AM radio sound and megaphone, Barry white and other sounds. I didn't hear your voice at all and they sounded really good. I don't get that when I do it. Is there some mic technique, microphone or setting that will help get clearer sounds like what you get? What's the trick here, lol. This is probably the most helpful Tutorial on this unit I've found, so thank you for your work and effort in putting it together. Good job. :)
There’s no ‘smoke and mirrors’ here. What you are seeing on this video is it. The only element that’s missing is making sure the level on the side of the VLPA is at a good level that the little light is going green. I have a huge voice and can push and throw it out with a lot of power when I need to. There are certain vowel sounds I make with Barry White sound and others too. My advice is experiment with your own lips and throat and voice techniques.
I have been using a voice live 3 for years. There is a speaker out port on the back. I do not see how the TC-Helicon Voicelive Play Acoustic pedal connects to a speaker/PA system. Could you please advise me on how to connect to a speaker? Thank you
XLR. My PA has XLR combo jacks so just goes XLR straight out to the PA. Alternatively if you only have jack you will need XLR to Jack cables which you can get pretty easily on places like Amazon etc.
Hi! So i just recently purchased this i was using boss ve-8 before this and im struggling to use tc helicon 😔 the harmony sounds like not close to real voice and i’m trying to do looping but i struggle i need help huhuhu 💔
out of interest, do you find the headphone volume bearly loud enough to be heard over the guitar? I can hardly hear the guitar let along singing over the room bleed.
Yes but the talk mode also gets rid of any vocal fx as well.. so it’s completely dry for vocals and muted for guitar in one switch.. which is also a tuner. 👍🏻
I do have a question in the Input for choosing your mic, there's Dynamic, condenser, MP-75mic, E835fx mic, I have a cordless Shure Mics, so which input would be best???
Most cordless Shure mics are dynamic. I would start there. The receiver is going to do the work. You just need to get the level out of the receiver to match good with the input of the TC.
I would echo what Bryant said and also it depends on your style and location. I wouldn’t be using a condenser mic on stage for example but perfect in a studio. The TC-helicon mics are dynamics (mp-75) with the added bonus of control buttons to control the unit. I have had one when singing for a while and was really handy img an instrument at the same time, I just use my feet. But ultimately it’s down to what use case you need. 👍🏼
*Using google translate* - Você está perguntando como atualizar o firmware? Acesse aqui: www.tc-helicon.com/downloads.html e selecione o produto correto. então vá para software como o tipo e você pode baixar VOICESUPPORT 2 para Windows ou Mac - Aqui é onde você pode atualizar o firmware. Eu espero que isso ajude? English - You are asking how to update the firmware? Go to here: www.tc-helicon.com/downloads.html and select the correct product. then go to software as the type and you can download VOICESUPPORT 2 for windows or Mac - This is where you can update the firmware. I Hope this helps?
Why wouldn’t you demo it with an acoustic guitar so we can hear is the harmonies track the guitar? Isn’t that the main feature ? Plus when you engage the harmony all I hear are distorted vocals
That’s fair comment Steve if you are just finding this video and I take that on board. This specific video was a bit of a deeper dive into my settings based on a few people asking me my settings on my performances on my channel over the years. Have a look at this video as well: ruclips.net/video/bls1U2KL-dM/видео.html
Has anyone come up with a simulated vocoder on this unit? I do “Mr. Blue Sky” and although I know the Play Acoustic does not have a vocoder built-in, I’m looking for a way to come close to that vocoder sound. If anyone has ideas about this, please let me know what you think.
Go onto the voice support 2 software and download the new patches. There are 3 presets someone has created for ‘get lucky’ and sound pretty good. Obviously pretty promoting more than vocoder style but you could use that as a base and tweak it.
YOU ARE JUST SHOW CASING ALL THE EFFECTS NOT THE REAL TONE OF STUDIO VOCAL QUALITY IN PERFORMANCE OR FOR STUDIO RECORDING FOR REAL SINGING, COMPRESSOR, EQ, ETC... WORTHLESS VIDEO
BIG SHOUT OUT TO JP I struggled to get my set up using this tc helicon pedal felt at a loss to get everything running in sync and so refrained from going live for months that’s until JP set my gear up YAY thank you so much .. your the man who knows what’s what …appreciated !!!!
You are more than welcome 🙏
If anyone wants to book me, go here: www.johnpaulmusic.co.uk/coaching-options
This video is a gem. We must protect it at all costs. Should be registered as an International Treasure! THANK YOU!! 🙌🏻🔥
Haha wow! Thank you so very much!
That’s very kind.
Protect it by sending a Super Thanks (just under the video! #cheekyJP) 😂
Always find JP’s videos clear to understand and very useful. Bought some of my most valuable gear after watching 😊
Awww Graeme that’s so kind of you to say.
Thank you 🙏
Thanks for this helpful video. I have had the Play Acoustic for several years, but never had the time to learn to use more than just several presets until now.
Thank you for this video. I bought the TC Helicon about 3 years ago but have seldom used it because I couldn't figure it out. Your video made it far more clear that their instructions. I think I will try it again with my mixer. Thanks so much for your clarity!
You are welcome! hope you get more out of it.
Ahh! I got this for my birthday, and the manual that came with it didn't come close to explaining things untill I cane across this video!! Thank you sooo much! I had this for about 3 years and things I didn't know how to use, I know now because of this video!! Thank you!!! 😊😊😊
Awesome 👏
I bought this 6 months ago. I plugged it in once and packed it away. I was overwhelmed by the options. I just watched your top 10 video and decided to have another go with this unit. Thanks.
Awesome 👏 you won’t regret it. It’s been with me for over a decade and I gone through 2 different power adapters (cut the wire on one by mistake 😂) and it’s so hard if I decide to let it go. Love the harmonies. My comfort blanket. Haha
How did it go?
@@nomandad2000 it's great
Awesome explanation of how the unit implements presets!
Glad it was helpful!
@@JohnPaulMusicUK Do you have any idea whether or not the manufacturer has discontinued these models?
They appear to be out-of-stock everywhere…
I love TC Helicon. Have this pedal and a VoiceLive3 and nothing is anywhere near them for me. Will be heartbroken if they die on me. Wish they would keep making them and maybe bring out a new version with Midi capability and Bluetooth for tracks. Great work JP, keep it up mate.
Since the takeover from Music Tribe (who own ALOT of other companies) they started bringing out things like audio interfaces and streaming effects under the TC-Helicon name 🤷♂️
Hope someone gets back to their roots. 🤞🏻
Had this Helicon over a year or so and didn’t use it because I couldn’t figure out how to operate it. The manual is worthless and the manufacturer does not provide any worthwhile online support. So these videos have been very, very helpful and I now have a clue. Thanks for helping us out.
Glad I could help!
Thanks for this video, the manual is very basic and doesn't cover most of the topics I was looking for (effect trails, preset management and HIT button functionality).
Hope it helps. 👍🏻
Great video, very useful.Can you share your guitar settings
I just got it yesterday.Thanks and very appreciated
More than welcome 🙏
Selling my Boss VE-8. Sounded great but just couldn’t understand how to use it. I hear great things about this but I fear it may be way to complicated as well. Also had a Boss VE-2 which was simpler and awesome but could get really weird if you didn’t dial in the key etc for each song which gets cumbersome. Would love to see you do a basic tutorial to set up an acoustic guitar and have some harmony options prior to getting extremely complicated. In any case- thanks for putting these out.
If you can’t get hold of or don’t want to get a Voicelive Play Acoustic and you are only looking for harmonies with a bit of sweetening of your voice, checkout the TC-Helicon Harmony Singer 2. Much easier and smaller. 👍🏻
Hey John, as always, great videos. How did you import the sounds into the play acoustic. Yes i did look at all official and other videos trying to explain it but for some reason in the software on the import selection it takes you to folders but won't let you select files to import. It won't also allow you to drag and drop file into it.
What formats did you import into it? Mp3, Wav Syx? Tried customer support but no response. Again, i can get to the import section just seems like it the files are not compatible? Thanks in advance
Hey 👋
I think you might not realise this that the TC-Helicon Voicelive play acoustic doesn’t take sounds. There is no way you can import sounds unless you use the built in looper where you have to record in live and there is only one slot as it’s a simple looper. The Voicelive 3 extreme can let you bring in backing tracks as well as program effects changes with it.
Goodness, this is such a complicated machine. Thanks for trying to make it understandable but I am still bamboozled by all the sett8ngs in this box.
Im starting up an acoustic duo with a mate. Hes a lot more confident than me with his vocals in the acoustic realm, so im looking at a few units to give me a leg up and i found your videos.
Great stuff, might've sold me on 1 of these 😊
Can you explain the Hit button options a bit more? Thats the only adpect im not understanding.
Thanks again.
Certainly.
So imagine every preset has a 2 step option.
When you get to a preset, harmony for example, it has the normal setting (with hit off) with hall and reverb and then when you press hit on it adds the harmony.
This is just an example and you can customise the presets to do anything with or without the hit button. For example my bass preset won’t turn into a bass until I press hit button.
Hope that makes sense.
@JohnPaulMusicUK hello. Thanks for the reply. I originally thought it was just an FX bypass, but when I could hear reverb etc before you pressed the hit button then that confused me 😆
very useful.... I need to get a bit more confident in using mine 👍🏻
Best thing is spend some time getting it wrong. 😉 then mess with it. If you don’t store it, it will go back to the preset it was or duplicate the preset and tweak the duplicate so you have the original. 👍🏻
Thnx :) more & more & more about TCHPA :) - keep going :)
Will do. 👍🏻
@@JohnPaulMusicUK I have one question that is very important for me. The stereo output setting gives a stereo signal for two amplifiers for guitar and vocals?
Great tutorial, thank you. One thing I would like to know is the difference between low/lower and high/higher ibn terms of intervals, and how it's different than, say, +/-7 or +/-5.
So as far as I understood it (and this is where someone will tell me I’m wrong) but they fluctuate because of the chord you might be playing. So depends if it’s a minor, a major, augmented etc etc.
Here are the options when it comes to the harmonies -
> High
► Higher
► Low
► Lower
► Octave Up
► Octave Down
► High & Low
► High & Higher
► High & Lower
► Higher & Lower
► Higher & Low
► Lower & Low
► Oct Down & Up
► Oct Down & Higher
► Oct Down & High
► Oct Down & Low
► Oct Down & Lower
► Oct Up & Higher
► Oct Up & High
► Oct Up & Low
► Oct Up & Lower
► +7 Semitones
► -5 Semitones
► +7 & -5 Semitones
► +12 & +7 Semitones
► +12 & -5 Semitones
► -12 & +7 Semitones
► -12 & -5 semitones
@@JohnPaulMusicUK @JohnPaul Music UK thanks, I assumed it would be something like that, but only the 3rd changes in a minor. Maybe we can assume that's the high/low, while the higher/lower is fifth -- which would be the same as +7 or -5 semitones. In that case it's confusing that they have multiple options for the same thing?
Thanks mate. A great help for me. 😃👍🏽
Glad it was helpful 👍🏼
Great video JP! I'm thinking of getting a VL play as a smaller option compared to my VL3 and pairing it with my looper. Does the VL play have most of the same guitar fx? I'm hoping to recreate my acoustic to bass sound preset in the smaller unit!
How come I can only hear my vocal in headphones when hold for talk button pushed in??
Cause when you press the push to talk button, it turns off the guitar input so you can tune and connect/disconnect.
This is awesome! I've gigged with this unit for probably 6 years at this point and haven't really messed with it that much. That Favorite feature is game changing haha. Curious - I've heard there are special features for mitigating feedback, is this true? Maybe I should read the manual one of these days :D
Yes. The anti-feedback feature works beautifully. And it's easy to setup.
Hey Jp , what’s up pal .. I started using my play acoustic again and for some reason for my guitar it’s giving my Low E string a really high bass hum whenever I play it .. i have my guitar Eq set midway bc if I turn the bass down too much then the guitar sounds like a tin can .. I’m using an epiphone Masterbilt guitar and it has 2 pickups in it which I truly can’t stand and I’m just using the main jack pickup on the guitar .. I’m just switching back and fourth between the body rez’s and they all have the same Low E bass hum.. it’s only if I play that string .. I have no other guitar Effects on and I have the gain set at about 25% on the PA… after the PA I have the boss RC -500 and I run dual mono into a mixer and then out into a single PA.. on the mixer i have the low and mid bass all the way down on guitar channel just trying to figure out what’s going on .. can you think of any settings in the PLay accoustic to try to fix this without setting the body rez to flat or turning it off .. thanks pal ..
Have you made sure the tiny little ground button is switched off at the back?
First of all, you’ve been doing an amazing job for music community JP! Thanks a loooooot!
As an expert to teach loopy pro functionalities, live looper musician and TC Play Acoustic user, I believe you could help me.
I’m hard user of Loopy Pro and thinking if is there any possibility to change my Scarlett solo to TC helicon play acoustic as an interface?
Now the Scarlett is connected to usb hub with Softstep 2 midi controller, and then to an IPad Pro.
Wondering if could get the vocal harmonies + acoustic guitar sounds from TC and process them independently on LP, and finally sending final mix from TC to phones monitoring and PA speakers.
God bless you!
Hey 👋
So you are right and that is a possibility.
The VLPA has a micro usb which can send and receive audio and double up as an interface.
So in the unit, go to the mix page and take note of the USB in and USB out and adjust accordingly.
Only thing you will have to be aware of is feedback loop but should be find with it going into LP, as long as LP understands what it is.
There is no midi on VLPA so soft step “shouldn’t” interfere. 😬 (will have to play and experiment to be sure. 👍🏻
Refer to page 58/59 of the tc-helicon VLPA manual. (Which is brief).
Thank you so much for answering! All the advices were very helpful !
Probably it will work flawlessly with TC voice fx quality. I’ll try it and will return with the experience.
Hi JohnPaul, I have just bought a used TC helicon play Acoustic pedal and have a look at this super tutorial video. Thank for it! I would like to ask you something as I understand you are really into the features of this pedal. I found that when I am using a vocal preset, even just with some reverb on the voice I have a noticeable latency on the signal while singing ( something like a slap back delay) is it normal or are there some parameters that I should check to avoid this latency?
Hey 👋
Glad you got hold of one.
To answer your question - oooh no! There shouldn’t be a slap back delay feel to it. Obviously there will be milliseconds whilst it figures out the tuning but nothing like that.
Maybe factory reset it as you have just got it.
Dive into the vocal chain and see if anything like a reverb turns on when the hit button is pressed.
But personally I would do a factory reset.
@@JohnPaulMusicUK thanks a lot for the super fast feedback, I think I will try with the factory reset!
@@JohnPaulMusicUK just to give you an update, before going with the factory reset today I read the instructions in details again and in the end I found out that the problem was that the lead delay parameter in the system menu was set to voice sync so the pedal was shifting the voice to compensate the possibile latency due to the effects. Putting the parameter to auto or none the slap delay effect dissappear!
Thank you for putting in the work for this video
More than welcome 🙏
Great Video John Paul - Just purchased ! Do you know if it is possible for my Guitar to not be muted when I press and hold the Hit Button ? (In other words when I go into Talk mode with the Tuner on) I would like to hear my guitar while I am talking to the crowd in between songs ... Thanks in advance and keep up the good work !
Hi Adrian. So I’ve looked into this and no, it’s designed that way to tune up the guitar whilst muted.
There’s no way round it on the pedal. The only ways round that would be an ABY splitter before your guitar reaches the pedal.. but then you don’t want a duplicate of the guitar.
Hey man, lovely video!
Could you answer a couple questions?
Do you know what is the fx block chain order? I am considering adding this to my chain, but I have to consider the hole board... (If I were to use a separete reverb on the guitar beforehand, would it have a negative impact on the key detection, for instance)
The second doubt is if it completely substitutes my Voicetone 1, which I believe it does
Hey 👋
So signal chain wise, it does have its own master as well as the individual effects.. so you might want to consider the reverbs for example. You can set the vocal and guitar differently and also have it as a separate DI vocal/DI Guitar out to help with mixing.
Regarding the VoiceTone, absolutely.. it certainly could replace it.
@@JohnPaulMusicUK thx man :)
Heya John Paul I’m having issues trying to get the backing vocals in tune, maybe it’s my guitar , it kinda doesn’t sound right, any tips? Thanks.
Hey 👋
Make sure you are tuning your guitar to the built in tuner if the Play Acousitc by holding down the HIT button.
Also make sure the ‘room sense’ mic is switched off so it’s not picking up anything else from band members. Hope that’s helps.
Hi, i love my acoustic play pedal but the rotary knob is after breaking. Would anyone know of somewhere I could send it to get fixed? Thanks
Only place I can think of is contacting TC-Helicon themselves via Music Tribe.
Unsure of anyone specific also based on location.
@@JohnPaulMusicUK Thanks so much for your quick response. I'll look into this. Great videos
Thanks for the great video man. A big question I have is do you run in stereo and pan the mixer? It seems when I do this sometimes I get too much effects Out the mic so obviously sometimes I run it and mono. Just wondering how you set it up. Thanks for all the help
I actually have it in a dual mono mode to separate the mic and guitar for dual mono looping .
Have a look at this: ruclips.net/video/tErt9uASsPs/видео.html
I wonder why there has not been more development in this tech in recent years? Seems strange that this unit was so good and they did no hardware refresh.
The company was bought by Behringer and joined their group and as soon as that happened, things changed. If you have a look at the products they are bringing out now, it’s just different.
Feel like they just swallowed the company up as it was a small crew under the umbrella of TC-Electronics.
Shame.
Don't Fix What Isn't Broken I feel. Cheers
@@CFMRocksFishing-Music from an end user perspective that would make sense. From an engineering perspective that is a nightmare. That components in that unit are at least 12 years old. Electronic components do not age that well. Every component in that unit has a replacement that would yield improvements. Better noise floor, 64bit floating point computations for the harmony algorithm, faster tracking. Everything. They don't have to change how it works for the end user. Just upgrade the tech behind it. Could you imagine buying a 12 year old TV.?
@@bryantwalley Picture quality has no comparison to sound. 12 year old reading glasses still work today. And this pedal still stands to be one of the most sought after vocal/guitar processor pedals . TubeScreamer updated pedals through out the years too but people still want the original meat and potatoes. This pedal really is just that. the best meat and potatoes a plate can serve in a live application. with A side of sparkling reverb and delay and for dessert, a looping feature for songwriters. I think It's a great pedal to have in the arsenal just as it is. Thanks for the chat. Cheers
@@CFMRocksFishing-Music Electronics are electronics. You are looking at it from an end user standpoint. That is fine. No one here will fault you for that. Your reading glasses do not have any electronic components in them. This machine does and they are very limited. These things are well understood by people that design electronic devices. That is why they do not use 12 year old chips in their designs today.
Hi tanks for the video. Im underling about someting u told in this video, that you manage the play acoustic to no affect your guitar with its effects. Is there a way to use the play acoust just as a by pass ?
Hi Jonn. I have an play acoustic and on my roomsense setting it says unplug aux but I don't have anything plugged in. Have you ever sèn this issue.
Oh no! I haven’t had that issue.
Have you tried factory reset?
What are your guitar settings for this pedal out of interest ? Your videos are great and I do know how to tweak some parts etc
, but I find that the sound is really unauthentic and the TC helicon makes my guitar sound quite high
. I’d be interested to know if you’ve used the dynamic EQ setting for your guitar or, if you just use a preset. Do you have an email address at all ? Thanks in advance
Hi Mick. So I have one preset and also use the body Rez settings.
Email is on the contact page of the channel. 👍🏼
You got any beatbox preset? I'm looking for something that pushes low end for my kick drum (beatbox)
I use the High and Low one for beatboxing, giving a sub bass (-4 low) and a nice hi hat sound (+3 high).
Hi JP - great video thanks -- I find my mic goes louder by 3-5 DBs when going into talk mode, it can cause problems on stage... any idea if I've set it up wrong - thanks in Advance
Dive into the settings of that preset and have a look at the settings that are NOT on the hit button.
Could also be main output settings. Have you got anything boosted anywhere?
Is it a bad idea to stack the reverbs if I also apply a reverb to the entire RC looper? I also have this TC Helicon but I've been hesitant to use the vocal pedal reverb settings since the looper provides a reverb that glues everything together (I use reverb esp for the pre-built rhythms to give them some life).
However, sometimes I want that ambient vocal wash sound (a type of reverb that usually doesn't try to act like "glue" but creates it's own sound).. I'm thinking for my TC, my main preset (which I use for harmony) can be dry, and then I can have another preset for the ambient vocal sound.
Does a setup like this make sense..?
That does make sense.
When I use the reverb in the PB&J Youngsters preset. The Tc-Helicon has some reverb on it from the main but this is a HUGE reverb and is it’s own thing.
But you are right and it’s worth experimenting with it to see if there is too much ‘glue’ from both the VLPA and the looper. Might be worth switching it off.
Hi how are you we like your video we are buy one and can’t connect voice not if you can help
Voice is connected via XLR and the using the dial on the side to control the input volume.
Is there a trick to getting harmonies and other vocal effects as clear as your getting yours here? Like the AM radio sound and megaphone, Barry white and other sounds. I didn't hear your voice at all and they sounded really good. I don't get that when I do it. Is there some mic technique, microphone or setting that will help get clearer sounds like what you get? What's the trick here, lol. This is probably the most helpful Tutorial on this unit I've found, so thank you for your work and effort in putting it together. Good job. :)
There’s no ‘smoke and mirrors’ here. What you are seeing on this video is it. The only element that’s missing is making sure the level on the side of the VLPA is at a good level that the little light is going green. I have a huge voice and can push and throw it out with a lot of power when I need to. There are certain vowel sounds I make with Barry White sound and others too. My advice is experiment with your own lips and throat and voice techniques.
I have been using a voice live 3 for years. There is a speaker out port on the back. I do not see how the TC-Helicon Voicelive Play Acoustic pedal connects to a speaker/PA system. Could you please advise me on how to connect to a speaker? Thank you
XLR. My PA has XLR combo jacks so just goes XLR straight out to the PA.
Alternatively if you only have jack you will need XLR to Jack cables which you can get pretty easily on places like Amazon etc.
Hi! So i just recently purchased this i was using boss ve-8 before this and im struggling to use tc helicon 😔 the harmony sounds like not close to real voice and i’m trying to do looping but i struggle i need help huhuhu 💔
I always have consultations if you want to work with me.
www.johnpaulmusic.co.uk/coaching-options
out of interest, do you find the headphone volume bearly loud enough to be heard over the guitar? I can hardly hear the guitar let along singing over the room bleed.
To be honest I haven’t used the phones on this device for over 10 years!! It’s ALWAYS plugged into some kind of PA or Amp.
If my acoustic guitar has a built in tuner that automatically mutes the pickup when it's turned on would that just do the same thing as the talk mode
Yes but the talk mode also gets rid of any vocal fx as well.. so it’s completely dry for vocals and muted for guitar in one switch.. which is also a tuner. 👍🏻
Hey man, i need help, whats is a NP light on a led monitor?
NP is Natural Play. It means it knows what chord you have just played into it to help with Harmonies. 👍🏻
Didn't hear a single sound that I liked. Does it not do female harmony without altering the singer's voice?
Yes it does. Maybe there are other videos out there that have that example.
I do have a question in the Input for choosing your mic, there's Dynamic, condenser, MP-75mic, E835fx mic, I have a cordless Shure Mics, so which input would be best???
Most cordless Shure mics are dynamic. I would start there. The receiver is going to do the work. You just need to get the level out of the receiver to match good with the input of the TC.
I would echo what Bryant said and also it depends on your style and location. I wouldn’t be using a condenser mic on stage for example but perfect in a studio.
The TC-helicon mics are dynamics (mp-75) with the added bonus of control buttons to control the unit. I have had one when singing for a while and was really handy img an instrument at the same time, I just use my feet. But ultimately it’s down to what use case you need. 👍🏼
anyone know how to hard reset play acoustic if the hold down store and back buttons doesn't work
Are you holding down the store and back button as you turn it on?
Como atualizo a firmware pois amanhã e de 2015 e já tentei de todas as formas e não consegui
*Using google translate* - Você está perguntando como atualizar o firmware?
Acesse aqui: www.tc-helicon.com/downloads.html e selecione o produto correto.
então vá para software como o tipo e você pode baixar VOICESUPPORT 2 para Windows ou Mac - Aqui é onde você pode atualizar o firmware.
Eu espero que isso ajude?
English - You are asking how to update the firmware?
Go to here: www.tc-helicon.com/downloads.html and select the correct product.
then go to software as the type and you can download VOICESUPPORT 2 for windows or Mac - This is where you can update the firmware.
I Hope this helps?
Why wouldn’t you demo it with an acoustic guitar so we can hear is the harmonies track the guitar? Isn’t that the main feature ?
Plus when you engage the harmony all I hear are distorted vocals
That’s fair comment Steve if you are just finding this video and I take that on board. This specific video was a bit of a deeper dive into my settings based on a few people asking me my settings on my performances on my channel over the years.
Have a look at this video as well: ruclips.net/video/bls1U2KL-dM/видео.html
Has anyone come up with a simulated vocoder on this unit? I do “Mr. Blue Sky” and although I know the Play Acoustic does not have a vocoder built-in, I’m looking for a way to come close to that vocoder sound. If anyone has ideas about this, please let me know what you think.
Go onto the voice support 2 software and download the new patches. There are 3 presets someone has created for ‘get lucky’ and sound pretty good. Obviously pretty promoting more than vocoder style but you could use that as a base and tweak it.
No sound is coming out of my speaker
Oh dear! Not good.
Here is the TC-Helicon Support page: community.musictribe.com/?signIn=true
Will it make me sound like Michael McDonald?
If you dial it in REAL HARD..
maybe 🤔 😂
THAT IS TC-HELICON PLAY ACOUSTIC - THAT IS NOT VOICELIVE ACOUSTIC COLOR BLUE
that is correct.. hence the name in the title 🤷🏻♂️
YOU ARE JUST SHOW CASING ALL THE EFFECTS NOT THE REAL TONE OF STUDIO VOCAL QUALITY IN PERFORMANCE OR FOR STUDIO RECORDING FOR REAL SINGING, COMPRESSOR, EQ, ETC... WORTHLESS VIDEO
NOPE. I'm showcasing the presets that I use for a live environment as I use the pedal for live gigs, not in a studio.