TC-Helicon PERFORM-VE, Reference Manual

Page 1: ...1 PERFORM VE Preliminary Reference Manual ...

Page 2: ...and you can have up to nine of these MIDI voices singing along with your Lead You also get XFX for stutter rhythmic ring mod and flanger effects Echo for spacious reverbs and beat synced delays and Filter for a selection of transducer and sweepable filters With all this at your command you ll quickly generate striking vocal effects and exciting fresh sounds that will take your music to new levels ...

Page 3: ...mplifier providing the much loved MIDAS soft clipping characteristic sound when pushed hard For learning purposes we recommend that you connect a MIDI keyboard to your Perform VE while you track along with this reference manual Your MIDI keyboard will ideally be connected directly to Perform VE s 5 Pin MIDI port as shown above Alternatively your MIDI keyboard can be connected via USB cable to a la...

Page 4: ...ctivate the Auto Gain procedure and vocalize into the microphone at your typical loudest volume After several seconds the SET button will flash red indicating that the procedure is complete You will see that the LED to the right of the SET button changes color when you vocalize into the microphone This LED is a VU Meter with the following color codes Green 23dB 13 5dB Good Level Yellow 13 5dB 7 5d...

Page 5: ...ill flash red whenever MIDI note events are received on the configured MIDI channel Even more SET button powers You can also configure Perform VE to ignore MIDI notes above or below a user defined note value This is called a Split Point A split point is useful when you want to control an instrument other than Perform VE with one part of your keyboard but still want Perform VE to respond to keys pr...

Page 6: ... the blue MIDI level by turning the knob counter clockwise or dial down the green LEAD level by turning the knob clockwise Whichever level you turn down the other one will stay at max volume Effects Perform VE makes some of the wildest and most complex sounds that TC Helicon has ever made possible There s a lot to discover by simply pushing buttons and combining sounds but we ll give you an overvi...

Page 7: ...n and off At this point you won t need to keep holding it down to continue editing To exit a parameter edit simply tap the active FX button again or tap a different FX button This will either return the Control Knob to MIDI LEAD Mix editing or switch the Control Knob to editing the corner parameter closest to where you actually pressed the new FX button Styles and Mods In addition to parameters li...

Page 8: ... all genres Double Style selections can include Octave Up and Octave Down voices for an even thicker effect Double Style Double Level Double Level changes the amount of doubled voice relative your lead vocal On the ring Level is indicated by one up to all LEDs lit in the color of the current style Range Off 10 to 0 dB ...

Page 9: ...Notes Notes harmony voices are created from either your own voice or a VSS Sample that you create with Perform VE s innovative new Vocal Sampling Synthesis technology covered later in this manual Formants are the unique resonant frequencies that give your voice its characteristic sound When set to Natural operation the Notes harmony voices will retain the formant characteristics of your lead vocal...

Page 10: ...e graphic above assumes a sample hasn t been recorded In this case your Lead vocal gets a dedicated synth voice and also acts as the modulator shaping signal for the Vocoder Enabling the SAMPLE button changes the way the Vocoder operates We ll cover the SAMPLE features in detail later on For now it s enough to know that when the SAMPLE button is green the recorded sample acts as the modulator of u...

Page 11: ...ions set the MIDI voices to Poly mode and adjust their release time how long voices will take to fade out after you release their controlling key Bear in mind you will need to keep singing play a long enough sample after the note release to hear the fade out Red LED selections set the MIDI Voices to Mono mode and adjust the portamento time from 0 to long Portamento time is how long it takes to gli...

Page 12: ...If you control Morph Shift via MIDI Continuous Controller CC messages the range is 36 to 36 semitones for even more extreme effects and automated sweeps Morph Gender Morph Gender expands and compresses the formant signature of your voice to make it sound more male negative values or female positive values ...

Page 13: ...key of C you d likely get more musically pleasing results by selecting the C Pop Major scale This scale is the C Major scale all white keys with an added dominant 7th for the blues influenced variations common in pop music When transposed to other keys the Pop Major scale can definitely look unusual Here it is in the key of C just one semitone up from C When using the Pop Major Scale Perform VE sh...

Page 14: ...aturalPlay Pop Major Scale Pop Major Scale in all 12 keys or Chromatic scale HardTune Amount HardTune Amount changes the amount of pitch correction applied to your lead vocal Higher amounts mean more T Pain for you Range Natural to Slammed ...

Page 15: ...he audio as rhythmic repeats while at the smallest time divisions the audio cycles so quickly that it produces a different pitched tone or buzz for each division Stutter will armed for sampling your Lead Vocal as soon as you select the Style Just vocalize and stuttering will begin Stutter Mod 1 Division Stutter Mod 1 controls the size of the stutter division in real time The Quarter Note division ...

Page 16: ...Chopper There are two Chopper styles Mono Chopper and Stereo Chopper At full depth Mono will gate the level of the audio while Stereo will alternate ping pong the audio between Perform VE s left and right stereo outputs Both Chopper styles are beat synchronized of course Chopper Mod 1 Division Chopper Mod 1 controls the size of the Chopper s rhythmic division in real time Chopper Mod 2 Depth Chopp...

Page 17: ...eep the frequency fixed while singing a melody to hear that 1950 s UFO Raygun sound Range 30 to 1000 Hz Ring Mod Mod 2 Level Ring Mod Mod 2 controls the level of the ring modulated signal relative to the input audio signal Range 0 to 100 XFX Style Flange Flanging is an audio effect produced by mixing two identical signals together with one signal delayed by a small and gradually changing amount Pa...

Page 18: ...essor Threshold The SideChain Compressor reduces the level of the non drums audio signal if the drum mix level exceeds a certain trigger threshold value SideChain Pumping Mod 1 controls this compressor threshold Lower threshold values mean a larger portion of the non drums audio signal is compressed Range 60dB to 0dB SideChain Pumping Mod 2 Compressor Release Time SideChain Pumping Mod 2 controls ...

Page 19: ...verb combined as you like them Echo Style Echo Style changes the Reverb settings The LEDs indicators are colored by type there are two natural reverbs Hall Arena and two electromechanical reverbs Spring Plate to choose from Echo Reverb Echo Reverb is a master parameter that simultaneously edits the reverb s decay time and output level Greater amounts will expand the perceived size of your reverber...

Page 20: ...ed LED selection is a short single repeat echo called a Slapback delay useful for dialing in a retro 50 s pop song vibe NOTE As with other effect division parameters a White LED indicates a straight quarter note division Echo Delay Echo Delay is a master parameter that simultaneously edits the delay s feedback and output level Greater amounts will expand the volume and increase the number of delay...

Page 21: ...LPF HPF The first filter style is different from the rest LPF HPF is a LowPass HighPass filter combination designed for shaping and sweeping musical audio It also sounds great on rhythm tracks and noise Applies to LEAD Vocal MIDI Voices LOOPER Drums Audio Filter Mod LPF HPF When the LPF HPF Style is active Filter Mod controls the cutoff frequency of either the LowPass or HighPass filter LPF and HP...

Page 22: ...ects change between Preset 1 and Preset 2 in the image above Presets can be configured however you like The state on off style level and other editable parameters for each effect in a preset can also be different from preset to preset Saving Changes To save your current settings as one of the three presets press and hold preset button 1 2 or 3 for one second The preset button will flash briefly wh...

Page 23: ...and live De Ess gets rid of harsh S sounds and makes them sound more pleasing De Ess goes hand in hand with Compression since Compression can make S sounds a bit more pronounced in the mix Gate shuts off an audio input when it falls below a certain volume This works great on things like drums where you want the drum hit to come through but then have the mic silent in between hits For vocals we don...

Page 24: ...e corresponding button on Perform VE that you d like to control For example if you hold the Mic Control then press the Reverb button the MP 75 will now toggle Reverb on and off YELLOW MP 76 Mode In MP 76 mode the Mic Control button cycles the preset selection as it does in MP 75 mode The remaining three buttons default to toggle the following effects on your Perform VE Left toggles ECHO Right togg...

Page 25: ...n this manual explains how you can record and erase drum and audio loops RoomSense Did you notice that little hole on the front of the unit It s a microphone It s there for two reasons 1 If you activate HardTune effects and you re not using MIDI keyboard audio or an Aux music source to guide key scale the mic will listen for chords in the room like a nearby guitar and try to figure out key and sca...

Page 26: ...with the kick snare and HEADPHONE works as hi hat buttons Then you ll record the audio loop on top of the beat Alternatively you can record the audio loop first and record the beat on top of it the choice is up to you Looper Workflow As shown above pressing the loop corner button drives the LOOPER through its paces with the kick snare HEADPHONE and TAP buttons making guest appearances The LOOPER s...

Page 27: ... or 8 bar pattern at a valid tempo between 80 and 160 BPM Beats Per Minute The clock tempo of Perform VE will be updated to match the loop and the LOOPER button will turn green to indicate play mode Now that your loop has a defined length you can press loop again turning LOOPER red to overdub additional audio and drum events These overdubs will not have an effect on the tempo or on the drum or aud...

Page 28: ...antized disabling quantize will not restore their original timing If you find that the drum patterns you wish to record do not play back as intended try erasing and re recording them with the quantize set to the opposite value Syncopated drum beats work best with quantize disabled while robotic beats and quantization go great together Looper Drums Level To adjust the drum loop level hold the loop ...

Page 29: ...e loop When you are not recording or overdubbing the Headphone button returns to setting the headphone level This means the Hi Hat sample won t be available for manual triggering on top of your loop when the LOOPER button is green Looper Erase When building up drum and audio loops there are going to be parts you want to erase and optionally replace Once again Perform VE s super powered SET button ...

Page 30: ...ess the drum trigger keys Press the loop corner again to stop recording and add the additional content to the playback audio loop can be multiples of the drum loop Multiple overdubs method Press the loop corner to begin overdub Add drums or audio to the loop Press the Tap button to add the new content to the loop and immediately begin record another layer Repeat until you have added all the parts ...

Page 31: ...ed in many different exciting ways as you ll soon hear Sample Mode The four sample modes control how the sample is played back in response to MIDI notes The four sample modes are combinations of staccato legato and looped playback characteristics Staccato Each new note triggers the sample from the start Legato Each new note synchronizes its playback to samples that are already playing Loop When MI...

Page 32: ...to create the appropriate mix with your vocals Aux to Main Out Sometimes you d like to have a signal from the Aux input guide key scale but you don t want that Aux signal mixed into your main outputs If you d like to remove audio from Aux to the main out simply press hold the Headphone button while connecting your Aux 1 8 cable This parameter resets each time you unplug and re plug the Aux cable a...

Page 33: ...ducts Perform VE support USB IN CH 1 Backing Track L CH 2 Backing Track R CH 3 Dry vocal in CH 4 Sample IN CH 5 NaturalPlay IN If no signal is transmitted to the product on USB audio channel 3 the product will use the Microphone IN for the voice input So you could use channels 1 2 to input stereo tracks from your DAW but sing into the product via your mic Note that channel 1 2 input is NOT passed ...

Page 34: ...here the two filter passbands overlap shown in white is the passband of the LPF HPF combination all frequencies in this band make it through while the rest are filtered out by either the LowPass filter or the HighPass filter You can see how the white band gets progressively wider allowing increasingly high frequency content to pass as you rotate the knob up to the middle LED position At center LED...

Page 35: ...EAD Level 0 127 Lead is set independent of MIDI via CC 42 Top Mix MIDI Level 0 127 MIDI is set independent of LEAD via CC 43 MORPH Shift 0 36 72 maps to 36 0 36 semitones 44 Morph Gender 0 127 45 DOUBLE Level 0 127 46 Delay 0 127 47 Reverb 0 127 48 Filter Mod 0 127 51 DOUBLE Enable 0 63 OFF 64 127 ON 52 MORPH Enable 0 63 OFF 64 127 ON 53 HARDTUNE Enable 0 63 OFF 64 127 ON 54 XFX Enable 0 63 OFF 64...

Page 36: ...MIDI notes you will choose a different note in place of the ABOVE BELOW notes mentioned above It will seem a bit confusing but does allow you to make both a split above below point AND transpose either up or down So here s a chart and some explanation Second Note Split Transpose X To X 6 Above X5 Above X 2 Above X1 X 1 Above X no transpose X 0 X 1 Below X no transpose X 2 Below X6 Below X 6 Below ...

Page 37: ...k to factory settings press and hold the DOUBLE and HARDTUNE buttons while powering up Support If you ve read through this manual and still need a little help you can contact us via our support portal and forums http support tc helicon com ...