Way too much Reverb even with it off.

funciona muy bien me da mas seguridad al cantar ..la voz ya no es tan seca tiene mas color y le da otro color al interpretar cada cancion..muchas gracias estoy muy contento con este pedal...

I bought this for the harmonizing effects. Unfortunately there don't seem to be any. It has 8 modes and they all sound the same to me. Pretty much non existent. To be fair, the mic pre-amp and reverb seemed good but they are not what I bought this unit for I'm afraid. I will be returning it accordingly.

This pedal doesn't deserve the negative reviews. People are buying it and thinking it's something it's not. If you can sing in key and need to sound like more than one person in the mix, this is a fantastic tool. No it will not auto-tune your voice. It won't add subtle, sweet harmonies for the solo acoustic singer songwriter. But, when necessary, it will make it sound like the whole band joined in for the chorus. It definitely has its place. In the right application, it works perfectly. I've used it live. I've recorded tracks with it. It's awesome.

I purchasing this hoping it would add fullness through multiple voices. What I got was excessive reverb. Do yourself a favor, spend more for a pedal that takes an instrument feed. This thing is basically useless. Subtle reverb from my mixer is much preferred.

After reading the reviews & looking for something not over the top price wise, I bought one. I looked at the videos and tried to do the update but going on their site is a nightmare maze of confusion & outdated info. I gave up and thought well, it is working now so I will just use it. The unit does boost your mic output and playing with it can provide interesting results. Then it just quit! No output. I went back to the website to find a solution...what a freaking joke. I ended up talking with the folks at Sweetwater & was told that I did everything to troubleshoot. (I used to fix TVs and radar on aircraft, so I know something about electronics) Sweetwater replaced the unit & did a software update before shipping it to me. I also bought the AC adapter. So far it is working and I have used it in band rehearsals. I hope this one stays healthy. Appreciate the support from Sweetwater, without them I would have had an expensive paper weight!

I returned this because it does not harmonize, or at least I couldn't detect any harmony. It gives your voice effects like reverb and chorus but it claims to be a "vocal harmony effects pedal."

1st, all TCH vocal products have RICH high quality vocal effects. Mostly what I use the TCH Critical Mass pedal is for the doubling effect to thicken up my vocal. Also a bit of its reverb, cause it is awesome. NOTE: my setup is Shure 87A into BAOSS VE-2 to the TCH Critical Mass to the board. I like it because I wanted the doubler effect in a single "always on' unit, that is why it sits on the top row of my board. Many bugger units such as the TC Play Acoustic or BOSS VE-8 have the doubler, but you can use it AND a harmony effect at the same time.

Start Score: (1-5, 5 best)
Price: 5
Dependableness/Ruggedness: 4.5 (See cons)
Sound: 5
Ease of use: 5
Versatility: 5 (See Pros)

Pros:
*So easy to use and set, 3 easy nobs, pedal switch and an enhance button, pretty simple
*Versatility in that it can run off power supply OR 4 AA battereies and yes, rechargeable batteries work!!!!! Manny of the pedals that can be powered by battery will not work properly with rechargeable batteries, this one does!
*Sound quality is TC standard of excellence, and the pedal causes no noise!
*The Gang/Group vocal effect is really cool to play around with, especially when you combine with a harmonizer!
*The quality and smoothness of the footswitch, and the knobs is exceptional. NO "POP" when you hit the footswitch.

Cons: NOTE: NONE OF THESE ARE DEAL BREAKERS.
*Often "out of stock"!! (cause it's awesome)
*The casing consist of 3 parts, the top and the battery plate are metal, the the base is type of plastic. Probably a cost cutting feature. Of no consequence to me because mine is in a pedalboard, but some "throwline" it in a bag or on the floor might damage it, but not a deal breaker it seems sturdy enough.
*The batter cover plate has a screw that secures it nicely, but a pain if ya don't have a screwdriver handy! This is so NOT a real issue but listing it so you can have what ya need when ya ne3ed it.

This piece, as well as any of the TCH vocal effects pedals are fun to have a play with, cool creative tools until you find a reason to take it on stage.

I sing BGVs in a cover band that plays a lot of 80' Rock songs (Kickstart My Heart, Youth Gone Wild, Pour Some Sugar on Me). This pedal is perfect for getting that classic gang vocal sound.

This is good for recording if you don't have any Reverb do not use the white button, I would have gave it five stars but when I use the white button pushed in I thought I had blown speakers I thought my new microphone was bad sounded like the speakers or the microphone was busted, critical mass needs to do away with that button.

hated it out the box. Have attempted to use it on numerous occasions over near a year: acoustic solo, and full band. The only not cringe setting is to have the mix so low you can't even hear it.(as in above demo videos) The reverb sounds horrible. Again, the minimal setting is ALMOST tolerable. If your vocals just suck, this might at least make them interesting. If you are looking to improve challenged vocals, this won't help. Maybe some metal or scream uses. I also purchased the TC D-1 vocal doubler. That too, is very limited in usability, but considerably better than this. Purchased both during microchip shortages and could not test them. my fault. Keeping the D-1, hate to even sell this Critcal mass on the used market, as I found it unusable.

This is easy to use. The effects are good quality, clarity is barely ok with tone feature switched on and chorus switched off. If you are looking to bulk up background vocals this works very well using all features IF you are not also looking for clarity. Barely distinguishable whispy sounding background vocals is what I got out of this using all effects at about 50% level but that is OK...Boosted my mic output signal big time also. Overall I am pleased with this box.

Our little church is like many, with people moving to town and then moving on. At one time we had a large worship band,but with job and military transfers we're down to a couple of musicians and one vocalist. I ordered the Critical Mass to give our vocalist some punch and depth. It is working well and she is learning how to manage the settings on her own. The reverb on the pedal by itself was worth the investment. People in a small church congregation are often afraid to let their voices be heard, so the more voices they hear from the speakers the more confident they sing. I'd also recommend this for any solo artist doing clubs gigs.

I don't really recognize what is the difference between melodic and gang mode. Doesn't really changes something. I do like the pitch shifting effects and reverb, but if your mixer already provides reverb you don't really need to add another reverb because it may cause feedback.

Instead, I've been using this pedal to make the lead singer sound like it's doubled. Just set the knob to unison, without any reverb, kick the pedal on and it sounds pretty good.

Depending on your purpose, this may be great, or just an added texture.
It's by no means a replacement for real gang vocals.
And it's not a replacement for a good Harmony processor.
When working with music that has a lot of sound, like Punk or Rock, it gets easily buried in the mix.
For recording, it's really just a "thickener" that adds texture to a vocal.
Perhaps it's more appropriate for live use, where you may not have the choices you have in a studio.
That's probably why it only has a "mic" input on XLR, and no line level input.
It has it's niche, but maybe that's enough.

Great for adding multiple voices when necessary to thicken things.
Very trebly, has a lot of high end...voices sound kinda synth like.
Requires a lot of EQ to get it to sound full. On board reverb is heavy even at lowest settings.
Perhaps a firmware update will address some of these minor annoyances.
Still a great pedal for what its supposed to do!

I used the TC Helicon Critical Mass this Sunday during worship.
It still remains to be seen over the next few weeks as I continue to test but I did notice more folks singing!
I had to dial the mix back so it was balanced for the room but it was amazing how it helped our church of 80 sound fuller.We tried micing the crowd in the past to do the same thing but it just didn't do the trick. It really did make the room sound amazing.