REVIEW: Digitech VHM 5 The vocalist. Thanks a lot to HAMAR MUSIKKSENTER, HAMAR, NORWAY, for supplying the VHM 5. What's this, then? Looks like my old ZX spectrum.! Let's try it. What's this? A manual! I wanna read! (I must be mad!). Wow! It looks great! (The manual... ) The box is a vocal processor for voice. Connect a microphone, and preferably a MIDI keyboard of some sort, and the processor will add between one to five voices to Your own. Not bad, eh ? I can see what you think: bahh, a harmonizer !! Nothing new... But this thingy is very good. The features includes Scalic harmony, Chordal harmony, Chord recognition, Song list memory, (Record the chords an step through them with a foot switch), Vibrato, Pitch correction, Chorus, and Vocoder effects. It has even got a small synth for You to find the right note to start singing on. It has 256 different programs, of Patches. 128 are factory presets, and You can add 128 of Your own choice. According to the nice manual the technical specs goes like this: Signal/noise ratio: > 88 dB Sampling: 16-bit at 31.25 kHz Bandwidth: 30 Hz to 12 kHz Connections: Mic in, Line in, Line out, Harmony out l/r, Headphone, Footswitch in, MIDI in/out/thru. Should be good enough for most people, I think. There is one small snag: The price. In Norway, the numbers on the price tag looks like this: NOK 11700! (That's approx. 1060 pounds..) [Ed: Nope, because the pound is so low these days, it's actually about 1200 pounds!] The MIDI inplementation is very good, to be short, everything that should be there, is there. How does it sound ? This is the first effect I have ever tried that manages to put some "human" feel on the generated voices. It follows You like a shadow, and the computer makes the voices breathy or thin when the human voice is. The volume of Your voice is imitated with astonishing accuracy. In a bad mood ?? Turn on a VHM 5 and sing !!!!! There is nothing like hearing Yourself through this unit, the first time You try it Your grin will be so wide that You can eat a whole banana at once- sideways ! The sound quality is good enough for most uses, and there is virtually no noise from it. After all, the main use will be together with other instruments, and the missing treble won't be noticed. If You can afford this processor You can afford an EQ as well. Apart from the mic input there two main ways to control the VHM 5: 1. Use the rubber keys on the VHM 5 itself. Have You ever owned a speccy? These keys are just as bad as on the first spectrums, and they are useless if you are going to use the VHM 5 for longer periods. 2. The second way of controlling the VHM 5 is from a MIDI keyboard. Any old synth with MIDI will do, no fancy stuff with touch- sensitive keys or aftertouch is needed, as those parts of the sound is controlled with the input from the mic. Now, there are several ways to generate chords. First you have the modes where the VHM 5 decides what chords to use on its own, using the info from the MIDI- keyboard or the rubber keys. Not my favorite dish, I must say. Sometimes the VHM is right, sometimes wrong. This has something to do with taste, among other things. The VHM 5 also had problems with certain chords. Maybe this problem can be eliminated with careful tuning of the MIDI- settings- I don't know. I liked the vocoder- programs much better. Forget everything you know about normal vocoder-sound. Play the chords You want on the keyboard, and sing. Perfect harmonies matching Your chords !! What about negatives- there has to be some, except for the price? First of all, The Vocalist makes everything sound like a cross between gospel and soft jazz. I don't know if it is the output from the vocalist that makes me sing like that, or if there are other reasons for this. Even if You try to sing rougher and more up-beat stuff the result sounds like "Manhattan Transfer meets Gun's Roses", if You see what I mean.. The next problem is the price. No competition, high price. Fair enough. I have had the Vocalist for 4 working days, and I'm sure there are a lot of things to find out about it. A couple of ideas I hadn't the time to try: Feed the Vocalist the MIDI output from one synth to control the audio output from another synth, or to use it with a guitar and use a MIDI keyboard to decide when the guitar should play, like a sort of manual noise-gate. Before HAMAR MUSIKKSENTER get their vocalist back I'm going to sample some breaks and effects I have been looking for, the "Monster" and "Push note'n Talk" programs are great for effects. Verdict: Despite the "speccy" looks, a brilliant vocal computer. If You can't afford it don't try it. GWK