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[Donny Mann]

Some younger kids made some "changes" to the unit and the mixer at a party last night  --  now it doesn't track my vocal as accurately as before.  

Do other owners of this great unit have any ideas as to what may have been modified and how to make it right ?

[Stephen Payne]

Are your saved presets till the same? If not you'll have to start over.

[Donny Mann]

 
It's not the presets .... Preset 1 for example (3rd above) is not tracking exactly right .. it's a bit flat.

Donny

[Chris Diener]

Did you double check that the musIQ is on?  If it's off it will be creating harmonies based on the chosen key, and not tracking the guitar input.  I don't think you can change the tempered tuning, so you it shouldn't ever create a "flat" harmony.  You can set it so the harmonies are a perfect interval from the vocal input OR perfectly in tune (I think).  In the first case the harmony follows the vocal, and it you're singing slightly out of tune, the harmony will be out.  The other case the harmony will be in tune with the onboard reference, so may or may not be exactly in tune with you.  I'd have have to check the manual to see what the actual options are for applying "pitch correction" to the harmonies, but maybe it's been changed from what you were used to.  (it took me a couple minutes to start conscious tuning my vocal so the harmonies were tight and in tune - it's possibly your harmonies were set to "pitch corrected"?)

Also if the vocal input is coming from the mixer, make sure nothing else is being sent to the vocal input as that would cause some mis-triggering.

[Donny Mann]

Chris,

 Thanks for your thoughts ... MusicIQ was on but I shut it off and turned it on again.
I also tried it with another guitar (& pickup) : J200 with Baggs M1A
All is well now.

Oddly enough, it seems to track more accurately with the Baggs active p/u than the Martin's K&K passive p/u

BTW - I tried running the VLP as an insert (1st click only) on the mic channel (plugging mic direct to Mackie) ... ran the tip side to the line input on the back of the VLP and changed the input to line .. then ran the ring to an open channel on the mackie ... it worked but it produced much more  "ringing/pinging" tones into the monitor (I've been using my main EV SXA100 as a monitor at rehearsal - with an eye to replacing the VoiceSolo with another EV) .... the experiment was unsuccessful in my view so I'm back to running the mic direct into the VLP ... have you tried splitting the Lead and harmony to seperate channels? If so how did you do it?  

[Chris Diener]

Donny,

I use a Baggs Para DI, whch has a hot output and it seems to work great: your active pickup may track better just because the VLP is seeing a hotter signal.

If you are using a dynamc mic you could try using a "Y" cable to split your mic output.  Or try a splitter box (Radial JS2/3, Rapco, Rolls, ART all make versions)  I'm not sure how well these work when using phantom run condensers though.  Then you could return the VLP into a channel.

I have the VLP 4, which only has a L and R out.  It has 3 "mix" knobs: main vocal, harmony, and guitar.  When it use an external mixer I just turn main and guitar all the way down and only output the harmony into a mixer channel.  I also turn off the VLP's effects.  You might be able to pan the guitar and vocals inside the VLP, then you could take one main out for main, one for harmony, (or guitar).  Doesn't the PRO have separate outs for the harmony?

[Donny Mann]

Chris,

  According to the manual there is a way to get the harmonies seperate but a setting needs to be edited in the menu for routing ... and 4 channels utilized .. probably too much trouble since the only 4 part I do is Surfer Girl. Mostly I use presets 1  & 2 and a few others.

I'm using dynamic mics for vocals these days (Beyer M88 TG) ... I know about the splitter box but wasn't aware of a Y cord for xlr ??

There is a mic thru on the VLP as well which I never noticed before on the back panel.

BTW - I have the Para DI too, but putting the Martin/K&K thru it causes too much "pinginess" in the mains/monitors even with the gain down at 10 o clock or so.

Donny

[Chris Diener]

I forgot about the mic thru output: you should be able to set the VLP main output so that it is only harmony (it looks live via the mix knobs on the front).  The mic thru functions as a splitter would and can be used to feed your mixer vocal channel (at mic level?).  The VLP output than becomes your harmony output into another mixer channel (at line level?)  Digitech claims a Soundcraft mic pre (not sure what pedigree)so it may sound better/different (than the Mackie)if you send the vocal out via the panning option (at line level)  I'm curious what sounds best after you experiment.  

[Donny Mann]

Chris,

 The pass thru works fine ...  just talked to digitech cs and it is a straight pass-thru ... I do hear a slight difference when going straight into the mixer as opposed to the pass thru (in favor of straight in) but don't know if I can justify the cost of a mic splitter for getting that extra bit of "Juice" ... I understand they're from $130-$200 ??

What about a XLR "Y" cord ?? Never heard of this myself .. May cause humming issues?

Donny