TC-Helicon Perform-VE

USE - I was looking at this and the Roland VT4 to do some vocals in the style of Aphex Twin - Funny Little Man and Mouse On Mars. So for this very specific use case the Perform-VE is PERFECT. There are a lot of features and it takes a little time to get used to the workflow. But once you do its surprisingly great quality.

FEATURES - I was torn between this and the VT4. I don't want to bash any product but I have a VT3 that does not behave as advertised (I have a youtube video demonstrating the VT3 'forgetting' its settings under youtube name mckenic) so I decided to get my first TC-Helicon hardware instead of going with the VT-4. I would HIGHLY recommend anyone considering one of these to watch the David Hilderman videos on Youtube. He gives a wonderful overview and a clear and concise explanation and demonstration of the Perform-VE that had me up and running as soon as my unit arrived.

PROS - It does the sounds I need exactly as I wished.
It covers all the bases I need covering.
There is a quality looper included.
Additionally, it does basic vocal synthesis and when pushed to the extremes either in pitch or polyphony it produces very interesting 'glitches' (for example if you record a vocal loop at a higher tempo and then lower the tempo for the 2nd pass, the synthesized voice kind of digitally 'breaks up' in a very interesting and pleasing way). Ive had more fun with nonsense phrases and vocalizations than I ever thought - I HATE the sound of my own voice so this is great :-)

CONS - I would LOVE to be able to change the included drum sounds but for basic timing of loops they are fine. Thats my biggest con, they are usable but 'meh', I usually turn them off straight away once a loop is captured.

All in all I imagine this is a very comprehensive unit for anyone wishing to add some flavour to their vocals and for very specific use cases its the only thing out there. It is a lot of fun and I have been recording 100% more vocals since getting it than I ever did before. I love this little guy. I can see it equally at home in pop productions, subtle pitch correction, vocal fx and totally out there stuff. Im eventually going to set it as an fx send for my modular stuff... and try guitar thru it.

Highly recommended for a little over E200!

As the word "Perform" suggests, this device is mainly for live situations. I however, use it in my home studio as a creative tool for voice recording.

The interface is very clean and I like the one-knob approach here. It suits me well since I'm not a fan of menu-diving.

Playing around with timbres, doubling and other effects is fun and creative. Want that Fever Ray voice? You got it. Also the auto tuner is nice. I can imagine this device being even more awesome if you're using it live.