Band in a Box ... What Band in a Box?
Array | Soundeffects | What's it all mean?
Array as of November 2008
Evolution from the further changes from the set up time and problems experienced at the Sick Kids benefit show and December Variety Nights:
Most notable is the purchase of the VL Pro unit and then getting rid of it 3 months later (I just couldn't get it to match the success of the VL 4 which returns to the Band in a Box). I abandoned the wireless units and TC Helicon vocalist unit some time ago now. The Helicon proved too cumbersome and unreliable on the road ... the Samson AP1 wireless is just not sophisticated enough to work trouble free - especially in downtown Toronto.
KEITH's Band in a Box in concert set upFor my main acoustic, the J160-E, I now go with two lead wires coming from my guitar (two outputs at the guitar).
Getting to the inside the case:
An under saddle mic for clean signal goes to a Korg rack tuner to Fishman DI - all inside the actual case or Band in a Box. I droped the use of compresion just before the DI. Didn't really need it I felt at this time. May go back to it at some point.
The tuner output of this DI goes to a DigiTech Vocalist Live VL 4 harmonizer - guitar in. I do not run the guitar thru from the DigiTech to anything else but, rather, take the tweaked feed from the Fishman DI to an MXR smart gate and then to an ALTO mixer also inside the case. I can also run thissignal to our Whiner board (Mackie 1642 VLZ 3) for full band use and control over everyything. It depends on who is doing sound - us or "them".
This basically provides a real pure (tuner output) signal to the VL and an augmented dry signal to the mixer. Augmented in the sense that I can add some bass and deal with feedback rejection tools on the Fishman DI for the mixer feed.
I abandoned the BOSS CE 2 Chorus and Behringer Acoustic DI, BBE Sonic Stomp altogether. I may return to the Chorus at a later date if I can find space for it!
I also have a Behringer EFX Virtualizer Pro unit for Reverb that I send to my ALTO mixer (or directly to the larger Mackie mixer I have when playing with the full band) - this runs as a separate EFX feed into whatever pot needs reverb (often the whole band's mics use this feed).
VL4 atop the Behringer EFX and atop the Korg tuner -
all rack mount units except for the VL4 - nice fit for all!NOTES:
- I got rid of the BBE Sonic Stomp (sonic maximizer units as superfluous and adding noise). The BBE folks suggested putting this at the end of the chain but I found both worked better where I placed them. I decided to simplify however and dropped using these units. The sound is really good enough without them and they tended to make the overall sound "boxy". I think they have a place when you use less other pedals to colour your sounds.
Second feed and the pedal board:
I now go from the J 160 P 100 feed to a Radial Tonebone pick up "dragster" (load corrects the pick up) inside the case and then out to the second (and separate from the suitcase) pedal board (down to just this second piece now instead of original three piece set up). Here's the order:
MXR Micro Amp Boost to BOSS Tremolo T2, MXR original script Phase 90, MXR auto Q, Tech 21 Classic Sans Amp, BOSS legend Bassman unit, (I've removed, for now, the classic 65 reverb BOSS pedal).
KEITH's pedal board attached to the Band in a Box now includes
a three switch pedal just under the Auto Q to the left
and controls harmony settings at the VL ProThe signal then goes back from this board to inside the suitcase again to a Dan Electro Dan Echo unit and then ...
... to an Electro Harmonix hum debugger to an MXR Smart Gate noise reduction out to the mixer.
The hum debugger (shown inside the Band in a Box) does colour the sound a tad but I can't stand the hum off the P 100 and it does get rid of it. The Electro people recommend putting this at the start of the chain but it doesn't nail all of the hum that way. I now have a quiet signal.
There are also two expression pedals at the right side - one for echo control and the other for harmony control of the VL 4 Harmonizer.
A BOSS RC-2 Loop Station completes the set up - control over this is with a BOSS A&B foot controller.
All of the feeds for these three items are attached with the guitar feed to the Band in a Box case and carefully wound together inside a plastic shielding so there is only one "wire", in effect, between the case and the pedal board.
Stereo mix:
If I want a stereo mix of signals, I can adjust this at the small mixer or by going into what I call my main mixer, the (upgraded in January) Mackie mixer. The Alesis Fire wire job proved to be bad for distortion so out it went.
The "small" ALTO mixer is inside the box itself and I can, if I want to, separate the guitar signal from here and go to my Mackie or another smaller mixer for a better control of the actual mix while playing live. Dah, I've only mentioned this a few times already - sorry about that - did I say I can use either mixer?
The ALTO mixer is a smaller unit that is housed inside the Band in a Box case - this used to have working effects but they blew out on me and no longer work without noise unfortunately. There are seven available inputs on this and the feed from the echo and RC-2 Loop station go into this mixer.Given that most clubs and venues do not run stereo it is easier to control everything in mono and by myself. This worked really well at my November 8 Cafe Taste outing and, really for the first time, the whole thing was totally problem free in every sense! Also the February 9 set used the small (a Behringer 4 input job) mixer to great advantage. I was able to control my feed right atop the Band in a Box - similar to when we go out as the band using the Mackie - but not quite as "gangly" looking at the top of the actual case.
I use the Mackie or, sometimes, a small 4 channel Behringer unit really as my own "house board". In all cases they represent my control when I play out live - I can feed the sound guy one out and have control over everything myself. But, by now, you must know this eh?
The Microphone and harmonizer
My microphone signal now goes through a DigiTech VL 4 for harmonies (replacing the TC Helicon vocalizer and DigiTech VL 4). These units negated the need for my old pitch shifter that created pseudo harmony.
I now also take a vocal feed from the line outs of the DigiTech VL 4 to a BOSS volume pedal on the second pedal board - this goes through to a separate BOSS D2 echo unit and to an MXR 7 band EQ to an MXR smart gate and, finally, to a BOSS noise gate to a pot on the ALTO mixer for my echo (this is new and goes further than using the aux out on the vocal mix to feed the echo - I used to split the mic signal at the mic ... there was too much hum from the split).
More on the volume pedal:
With the volume pedal controlling the echo on vocals, I can sing over an echo, for example, without the sing over being echoed. The TC Helicon vocalizer and DigiTech VL 4 and Pro (not the DigiTech VL 2) do allow you to bring on/off the harmony with a pedal. Both the Helicon and the VL 4 have the ability to add delay as well but I can't change settings on the fly, so I'm keeping an "echo on" volume pedal for those songs that need it (Comfortably Numb for one).
I had to pad the volume pedal for the VL 4 because the DigiTech folks chose to make it a separate-and-over-ride volume control for their unit. That means, if I toe down full, I get way too much harmony level. The pad prevents the over-level. This isn't an issue with the Pro unit and one of the reasons I decided to buy it but the rest of the settings weren't good by my view. In this sense it was similar to some of the issues on the TC Helicon unit - too much processing - really with the VL 4 it's less is more (though, truthfully they could fix a few issues such as the toe down as full volume and add a midi). I digress ....
The basic difference between the Helicon unit and the DigiTechs is that the DigiTech tracks your guitar chords for harmony. There is an add-on for the Helicon unit that will do the same (not available in Canada as yet at time of update) that will track chords but the whole package ... original unit and new add on ... is quite cumbersome in comparison.
The DigiTech VL sits atop my power conditioner in the Box itself. There is no midi available for the VL 4 and the only thing I worry about is upgrades to the unit won't be assignable as with the Helicon. The VL Pro does have midi so solves that issue for this model but it ain't perfect either. So we hold with the VL 4..
I don't want to have to purchase a new VL 4 every year or so as advances are made. A lot of people reviewing the unit are noting the absence of a midi in/out. Though I don't feel the need for live performance, I am concerned about upgrades to the programming. I don't see how a user could do it without taking it to a shop and paying for the process.
There may be a way to do so that is just not known yet since it has only came onto the market in Fall 2007.
You can read about the VL4 and Pro at the Harmony Central Forum Reviews pages.
Array | Soundeffects | What's it all mean?
