TC-Helicon Harmony-M

The M harmonizer pedal gives you great effects to use if you sing and/or play a MIDI keyboard. I love the effects that are on this pedal, and the effects are not even the main function of this pedal but to me the effects are why I am so happy that I purchased it. There are 6 effects like reverb and modulation that you can use to put to your vocals. These effects are one of a kind and I have not heard another pedal that has effects like these.

UTILIZATION

This pedal can do some amazing things to your sound (vocals). We have not used it with a MIDI keyboard yet just because I don’t have the time right and now and a MIDI keyboard live act is not part of our current gig set up. But I plan on trying it out in the future, but just using it for the effects makes me more than happy. The last 6 live gigs/shows that we have had we have used this pedal the most.

SOUND QUALITY

You can set up your presets on this pedal so you can access them at any time and quickly. There are a few buttons on this unit and 4 knobs. I do suggest reading the manual just to know how everything works properly because it is unlike any other effects pedal that I have used or seen in the past. You can truly do just about anything with this pedal.

OVERALL OPINION

There is a Mic input, footswitch, and MIDI in Balanced XLR audio connections. There are two pedals on this unit and it is built for the stage! It is very durable and has rubber on the bottom to prevent it from sliding on the stage. This pedal will be used for many years to come, my only regret is that I wish I would have got this sooner like when it first came out but I was about a year and half late on purchasing it. But this now!

The TC Helicon Harmony-M is an interesting product if you happen to sing and play keyboards. It allows you to add vocal harmonies to your voice, depending on what chords you play with the keyboard, and what mode/preset you currently have selected. It features a midi input, mic input, footswitch port, and a stereo output. It has a mic input gain control with clip indicator, which is essential for setting the gain correct, in order for the harmonies to properly process. It has 20 total preset slots (10 banks, 2 a/b presets per bank), and master tone, humanize, fx, and harmony controls.

UTILIZATION

One of my biggest problems with this unit, is simply the cable format of the output. The input is an unbalanced, low-z microphone input via xlr, but the output is stereo trs, higher z, line level. This makes it nearly inpossible to simply intercept a xlr microphone cable with the device. Instead, I had to also use this pedal with a direct box, in order to convert the signal properly back to microphone level; even though the output of the device is technically balanced, the volume is way too loud to be used as a mic signal. I don't think the other TC Helicon products have this problem. Notably, the Harmony G has xlr inputs and outputs. Perhaps they simply ran out of room.

SOUND QUALITY

The harmonies sound amazingly realistic, but they aren't fine-controllable like they are on the Voicelive 2. I tend to sing in a brighter, higher voice, and the harmonies that are high, higher, and octave up, tend to sound pretty good for me. The harmonies that are low, lower, and octave down, sound too bassy, too male, for my genre, but they woulds sound good in more classic rock genres. In the Voicelive 2, the timbre of the voice is more customizable, and I was able to produce low harmonies on that device that sounded better for my purposes.

OVERALL OPINION

Overall, the TC Helicon Harmony-M is a useful product for a very specific audience. I personally can't imagine how many keyboardists/vocalists are out there that could use this, compared to their more popular products that work with guitar inputs. But it is a great product nonetheless, especially if you are in a band full of non-singers. Enjoy!

This is a very solid little box with just enough above, nothing complicated.
An XLR input for mic and stereo output jack in one afternoon.

UTILIZATION

It is very easy to use, the manual is clear and the edition is very simple.

SOUND QUALITY

The harmony effects are great. I use it with my midi keyboard roland E 50.

OVERALL OPINION

I use it for 15 days and it is really exellent. I'm going to use for the small group I play with some sent to harmony on the chorus. The price / quality ratio is exellent because for € 129 we have a harmonizer that makes sense.

I threw myself into buying this pedal, with some fears of a ct has seemed a worthy hrsie the worst singer in the 80s to add channels artificial.

But ... I am a keyboard in a small group (it is 3: drums / keyboard / vocals), and many songs, we wanted the chorus to add some punch. A 3 is a bit limited especially when singing in choir, playing the drums ...

So the Harmony-M is like the G version for guitar, but with some notable diffrence. It is a very compact box (10cm x 10cm has little prs) Designed well, solid, heavy ... of good quality.

Basically, three main functions:
- Adds a little compression and EQ voice with the "tone"
- Adds the reverb / echo with the FX
- Adds voice supplmentaires of 3 DIFFERENT fawns available:
* 1: dual voice unison
* 2: add 1 or 2 voices in harmony interval chosen by the user
* 3: Add up to 4 vote by following the notes on the keyboard cheeks

So you plug the keyboard in MIDI (grrr: no output), XLR microphone (the pedal therefore acts prampli), and its fate in TRS STREO.
You can add a pdalier if we want to keep the pedal is ready: this is what I did: I had a 2-button pdalier Behringer has nothing shmilblick do with, and it allows me to engage the effect and to switch between presets. Practice! Especially as pedal has a pretty, sad to let her down!

UTILIZATION

Manual very clear, in French, but it is very simple to use: to branch, and sounds directly. Very pleasant to use.

there are 5 banks of presets, and each bank can easily switch between two configurations with the left button. The right button calls the effect of harmony, but leaves the tone and rverb assets. If we support long reverb is disabled and only the tone is (to speak in public, for example).

For the harmonies: in fact, we choose between third and fifth. For those unfamiliar with the music, call it high, higher, but corresponds third and fifth. Same for the bottom. This is the pedal which, in the tonality DTECT plays synth determines if the third is major or minor. There mode "low" after the basic agreement, and that the user simply follows octave voice, without taking account of the notes cheeks.

button "manual" can "play" with the synth harmonies directly to up to 4 vote. Consider for example the introduction of Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen, or the songs of rebirth!

button "double" double voice. Note that these options are unique harmonies.

SOUND QUALITY

So here, the sinews of war:

- The function tone: it allows the voice out of the mix. It sounds more "sharp", less shepherd. With a Shure beta58 is a bit too much, because it is a microphone that has a lot of "nose" the base. on the other hand, with a 58 for short, has more catches. So not bad.

- The function rverb: if you do not use reverb elsewhere in your config, a disservice, but very dispensable. I'm not very difficult in reverb, so has me. However, I do not use it because I have another rverb on my mixer that can be applied to all pickups.

- The "double" to sing in unison: this is not really terrible. It sounds like a chorus bte. It adds to the dough, of course, but nothing in the high tech. The "humanize" does not seem to play it.

- The "manual": it works well, but hard to use!

- The harmony function: it is the purpose of the pedal, and it is stunning. Sounds good, and always surprises! Nevertheless have means when the same kinds of "bubbles" in the headphones, you know, like a badly encoded mp3 o you feel there is a little on the high medium rather flanger ? But hey, that headphone has no agreement, and if you push the volume too much harmony. Moral: do not put the harmonies stronger than the main voice.

OVERALL OPINION

Well, it's a pedal that does its job, but beware, this is not a pedal that works wonders:
- If you sing wrong, the harmonies are also false

- The harmonies follow you with always the same interval, which is not "natural" for a real choir, where each partition Independent Appraisal his voice. We must therefore think about using this just to launch some harmonies at just the right time, for 1 or 2 to maximum effect if not careful Country! To harmonies on longer passages, it is using only a way of harmony

- The galR pedal a bit on some inversions and hesitating in major and minor. It is very rare, but has little annoying.

In short, my advice is that it is an effect of good quality but used sparingly, and it is better to have it on someone who made a second voice as the lead singer, or else watch the weight. Also, it can be used to express and make it more original!