TASCAM TA-1VP Reviews

4.0/5.0 based on 4 customer reviews

Sweetwater Advice

Daniel Fisher

As a live, multi-keyboard player and backup singer, I find that there's never a good place to set a mic stand that lets me play any keyboard and still be in front of the mic. So I have to use a headset mic even though they never sound quite as good as a handheld mic. This is where the TASCAM TA-1VP stepped in and became my most useful purchase of the year. It's a fully-packed toolbox designed to make my voice sound better in every way. The Mic Modeler can significantly change the "character" of your mic with only two parameters. Simply identify your source mic and then which model of mic you'd like to simulate. If you don't know what you want just try them all without reading them; rely totally on your ears. There are 19 sources and 11 models so it's very likely that one of the 209 combinations will work magic for you. Then, press the Tube button to warm it up. The AutoTune is very smooth and transparent if you want it to be, or you can totally go for the "T-Pain/Cher" effect by reducing the number of available scale notes (see TASCAM's FAQ page for sample settings). The compressor is very logical and musical. The gate is fantastic for blocking out my breathing when I'm not singing. And the de-esser and two-band parameteric EQ let me perfect the finished result. Now that I've stored my preset I just turn it on at the show and never think about it again. Oh yeah, it's also got a vocal doubler with a seperate audio out if you want it. (Processing the doubled part differently makes the illusion of a second voice even more convincing.)

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Customer Reviews

mike
from chicago
January 14, 2012 Music Background:
Recording Engineer

Fantastic for getting strong vocals

For the price, this is a very good option if you're trying to get great vocal sounds. The autotune is smooth and makes a big difference in the takes required to get it right. The mic modeler and compressor gets a thick, warm and HUGE lead vocal sound to tape. The de-esser and eq mean that you won't need anything but this box to get a strong vocal track happening. The vocal tracks coming out of this thing stand up to a vocal chain costing ten times this amount.

Ben
from KY
July 28, 2011 Music Background:
Singer/Songwriter, Worship Leader, Sound Eng./Producer.

Great Bang for the Buck

I'm a worship leader at a 2,000 member church. I also run a recording studio as my "day job". I use this on my vocals as well as some of our other singers vocals (live). The preamp & compressor are pretty clean and the EQ is good if you need to make a quick adjustment on the fly. I've not really messed with the mic modeling on the unit (don't need to). I mainly purchased this unit for the auto-tune feature which works GREAT for our application. We only use this on vocalists that already have great voices. It just adds the final "touch" to make them sound perfect. If your looking for the T-Pain effect, this isn't for you. This is meant to give you clean smooth vocals, and it does a great Job.

Soolex (Youtube)
from Brooklyn, NY
March 2, 2011 Music Background:
Producer, songwriter, singer

For the price the value stacks up

For the price this is a great buy the mic pre sounds really good and the mic modeling is great. Consider this a channel strip with Auto-Tune effect more then a pitch shifter. But after turnning some buttons I got the sound I wanted yes updates can only make it better. But I really enjoy this unit because I'm creating some great vocal sounds on the fly something that was taking me too long on the Eventide Eclipse and H7600. Two units that are loaded will effects but sometimes are tedious to program. For the price the value stacks up I'm getting great sounds from this unit on my first day but maybe that;s because I spend hours learning my gear I love it.

Chris White
from Raleigh, NC
February 23, 2011 Music Background:
Audio Instructor/ Radio Show Host/Producer

Not what you expect

The unit does not do the true T-Pain autotune. The unit lacks settings to provide the feature. This is also according to Tascam Tech Support. They hope to have an update out for the unit for a "midi dump file." There is no USB on the unit for a more user-friendly update. This unit is good for mic modeling and a preamp. The autotune feature, which I bought it for, does not provide the effect most people will be looking for. The new TC-Helicon C1 is great for what most people will want. It has a clean preamp and does not contain menus. It is nice enough to record with as well. Very clean and solid. Oh and it is a 1/4 of this price tag.

TASCAM TA-1VP

Vocal Processor with Auto-Tune Evo Pitch-correction, Microphone Modeling, Compression, and Equalization