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TC-Helicon PLAY ACOUSTIC

1. OUTPUTS OND EVAR BER Play Acoustic rear panel Inputs and outputs Connectors are described from right to left For setup examples see Connection diagrams MIC connector This is where the magic happens Plug your dynamic condenser MP 75 or e835 fx microphone in here Remember to set the mi crophone type and level correctly as described in the Play Acoustic Quick Start Guide Play Acoustic Reference manual 2014 07 16 o VOED TCHELICON GUITAR IN connector Connect your guitar to this input AUX connector Use a 1 8 cable to connect any music source you want to use to your Play Acoustic especially that 8 Track from your 1974 Comet When an in put is detected here and no guitar is plugged in Play Acoustic will use the music signal to figure out key and scale information GUITAR DI R and VOICE L output connectors These are the main output connectors of your Play Acoustic By default mono vocals are sent INPUTS a i GUITAR IN via the Voice L connector and a mono guitar signal is sent via the Guitar DI R jack This con figuration can be changed in the Setup Output menu GND switch This is a ground lift switch If you experience hum while using Play Acoustic try pressing the GND switch to reduce or remove the hum Headphones connector Connect your headphones to the Phones con nector TCHELICON PEDAL connector Use a TRS cable to connect
2. Acoustic Reference manual 2014 07 16 BodyRez Parametric EQ page 5 7 This page is hidden by default To access it en ter the Setup menu and change the BodyRez Editing parameter from Basic to Advanced The BodyRez Parametric EQ page provides a two band parametric EQ with controls for Fre quency Freq Bandwidth Width and Gain Guitar FX button section BodyRez Compressor page 6 7 This page is hidden by default To access it en ter the Setup menu and change the BodyRez Editing parameter from Basic to Advanced Use the Compressor effect block to control the dynamic range of your guitar signal enhancing attack sustain or both Threshold parameter Use the Threshold parameter to define the signal level at the guitar input where the Compressor should kick in The lower the Threshold 30 dB is lower than 20 dB the sooner the Compres sor will engage Attack parameter Use the Attack parameter to define how fast the signals level should be reduced as defined by the Ratio parameter once the signal at the guitar input exceeds the Threshold value Makeup Gain parameter Depending on the settings of the other Com pressor parameters you may need to make up reduced gain to maintain your output signal level Makeup gain allows you keep your signal levels consistent from the input of the Compressor to the output 54 TCHELICON Ratio parameter Use
3. Frequency Response Headphone Out Control USB Pedal Details Power External Power Supply Mains Voltage Input Power Consumption Safety EMC Complies with Safety certified to Operating Requirements Operating Temperature Storage Temperature Humidity Play Acoustic Reference manual 2014 07 16 Technical specifications 24 bit 128 x oversampling bitstream 110 dB SNR A weighted 24 bit 128 x oversampling bitstream 115 dB SNR A weighted XLR 300 150 Ohm 2 dBu gt 109 dB 20 Hz to 20 kHz 0 30 0 dB 20 Hz to 20 kHz 1 8 Mini stereo jack USB B Firmware Updates Preset Management audio I O Y TRS phone jack 100 to 240 VAC 50 to 60 Hz auto select 12 V DC 0 4 A max output lt 14 W EN 55103 1 and EN 55103 2 FCC part 15 Class B CISPR 22 Class B IEC 65 EN 60065 UL6500 and CSA IEC 65 EN 60065 UL6500 and CSA 32 F to 122 F 0 C to 50 C 22 F to 167 F 30 C to 70 Max 90 non condensing 72 TC HELICON
4. Gate function re moved NG No Gate WARMTH NG setting The WARMTH NG setting is the same as NORM WARMTH but with the Gate function removed MORE COMP NG setting The MORE COMP NG is the same as MORE COMP but with the Gate function removed Setup button section Pitch Correction Pitch Cor Amt parameter Use the Pitch Correction parameter to control the amount of auto chromatic pitch correction Play Acoustic applies to all incoming signals from the microphone For a natural sound we find that 50 or less is a good starting point If you are having a hard time hitting notes accurately or want an auto tuned sound on all of your vocals experiment with amounts closer to 100 or use the Hard Tune effect block Pitch Cor Amt settings are temporarily overrid den when the HardTune block is active Pitch correction and perceived phasing If you are new to auto chromatic pitch correc tion you may find that the sound you hear with Correction engaged sounds doubled This is due to you hearing both the corrected signal from Play Acoustic and your own voice via bone conduction in your noggin The two sounds have small variances which can be interpreted as doubling This is perfectly normal but will take a bit of getting used to The audience will not hear the doubling that you hear For more information about pitch correction phasing check out this Craig s Corner video youtube com watch
5. all be removed with a single undo action they can also be brought back by repeating the undo action 62 TCHELICON Using a Switch 3 for looping Connecting a Switch 3 optional to your Play Acoustic will give you permanent access to loop ing without having to use the DOWN and UP footswitches It frees up those footswitches so you can assign them to key scale selection This will also allow you to change presets without having to go in and out of Loop mode The Switch 3 buttons are mapped as follows gt Rec Play Odub gt Stop Erase Hold for Erase gt Undo The benefit of having the Undo feature assigned to a separate footswitch is the ability to perfectly time your undo instead of waiting a moment for a hold to be registered Play Acoustic footswitch assignments when using a Switch 3 When a Switch 3 is plugged in and Switch 3 mode is set to Looping key scale selection is automatically assigned to the DOWN and UP footswitches of your Play Acoustic When the Switch 3 is unplugged the DOWN and UP footswitches revert to whatever the UP DN setting was prior to connecting the Switch 3 For more info on Switch 3 check out tc helicon com products switch 3 Play Acoustic Reference manual 2014 07 16 The Looper 63 S TCHELICON Troubleshooting Troubleshooting Play Acoustic Reference manual 2014 07 16 64 TCHELICON Sometimes things just aren t working the way you expect
6. for both Stereo and Mono PA applications If your Play Acoustic is set to Stereo you ll need to pan one channel left and the other channel right or use a single Stereo channel on your mixer Vocal Guitar level mix is achieved within Play Acoustic In Mono output mode you have control over the vocal and guitar sounds independently at the PA mixer In Mono mode do not pan the channels left and right The Aux input may be removed from the XLR outputs in the setup menu if you wish Setup Aux to Main Out Play Acoustic Reference manual 2014 07 16 ____ouTputs QS TC HELICON _ NPuts ee TT 5 m 1 EE Setup example Stereo or mono vocals and guitar es IN o IID bs lp cr Connection diagrams 22 TCHELICON Mono vocals and guitar amp This configuration works well when you want to pass your guitar signals to an amplifier and your vocal signals to a mixer or powered PA speaker OUTPUTS TCHELICON GND GUITAR DI R VOICE L 000000022 EEI EEI HEI 1e ee 070 ooo eee B 3 B m i _ a 19 m 1 11 PLAY ACOUSTIC Setup example Mono vocals and acoustic guitar amp Play Acoustic Reference manual 2014 07 16 oD b axa gt pr Connection diagrams 23 TCHELICON Connection diagrams Mono vocal and guitar with a TC Helicon FX150 This configuration gives you mic stand mount monitorin
7. limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference in resi dential installations This equipment generates uses and can radiate radio frequency energy and if not installed and used in accordance with the instructions may cause harmful interference to radio communications However there is no guarantee that interference will not occur in a particular installation If this equipment does cause harmful interfer ence to radio or television reception which can be determined by turning the equipment off and on the user is encouraged to try to correct the interference by one or more of the following measures gt Reorient or relocate the receiving antenna gt Increase the separation between the equip ment and receiver gt Connect the equipment into an outlet on a cir cuit different from that to which the receiver is connected gt Consult the dealer or an experienced ra dio TV technician for help Play Acoustic Reference manual 2014 07 16 For customers in Canada This Class B digital apparatus complies with Ca nadian ICES 003 Cet appareil num rique de la classe B est conforme a la norme NMB 003 du Canada Important safety instructions Explanation of graphic symbols A A The lightning bolt triangle is used to alert the user to the presence of unin sulated dangerous voltages within the unit s chassis that may be of suffi cient magnitude to constitute a ri
8. loop overdub this way is only possible if you have not recorded another overdub after using Undo Looping with a Switch 3 If you connect a TC Helicon Switch 3 optional to the PEDAL connector of your Play Acoustic you can use it to control all Loop features The benefit of using a Switch 3 is the addition of the dedicated Undo button When a Switch 3 is connected Play Acoustic s UP and DOWN footswitches are assigned to Set Key Scale For more information see Switch 3 page 6 7 Using DOWN and UP for setting key and scale Activating Loop mode by pressing the DOWN and UP footswitches simultaneously is the de fault mode There is also an alternative mode Play Acoustic Reference manual 2014 07 16 where pressing the DOWN and UP footswitches simultaneously will allow you to set key scale You can set this mode on System page 5 under UP DN Function When you have activated this alternative mode pressing the UP and DOWN footswitches simul taneously will allow you to set Key and Scale us ing these two footswitches If you don t Know which Key and Scale a particu lar song is in try using the last chord of the song for the Key and Major 2 for the Scale It s often correct especially in popular music For more information see TC Helicon scales reference chart You can also find this chart on the TC Helicon website support tc helicon com entries 21051886 scale chart for TC helicon produ
9. note A for example The frequency parameter can be ad justed in 25 Cent increments from note to note Often you can determine the note that s feed ing back by simply playing a chord and feeling which string vibrates unusually under your finger After you have selected that particular string note using the Freq parameter you can use the Gain parameter to reduce feedback for that note Guitar FX button section Simple steps for feedback reduction gt Set the Phase Invert parameter to On If this doesn t eliminate the feedback try the follow ing steps gt Change the Gain parameter to a high positive setting such as 8 or more gt Use the Freq parameter to sweep through frequencies until the feedback gets a lot worse as you move past it with the Freq con trol gt Once you have found the troublesome fre quency change the Gain parameter to a nega tive setting until the feedback disappears gt Lastly if you still get feedback turn your guitar level down in the Mix section described next 56 S TCHELICON Mix button section Mix button section Play Acoustic Reference manual 2014 07 16 57 TCHELICON Press the MIX button to enter the Mix menu where various audio signal levels within your Play Acoustic can be adjusted Play Acoustic Reference manual 2014 07 16 Mix page 1 2 Harmony parameter Use the Harmony parameter to control the over all level of a
10. soft button to select this parameter and use the control knob to adjust the level 0 dB is the maxi mum volume for the effect Feedback parameter Use the Feedback parameter to control the amount of the delayed signal that is fed back into the effect Higher levels of feedback will make the delay continue for a longer period of time Vocal FX button section 42 TCHELICON Delay Advanced page To enter the Delay Advanced page press and hold any of the lit blue LED soft buttons To exit the Delay Advanced page press the BACK but ton Dly Filter Style parameter Use the Dly Filter Style parameter to add filters to the delay signal that will simulate different types of delay hardware or sound Choose from the following styles Digital Tape Analog Radio Megaphone Cell Phone Lo Fi Hi Cut 1 Hi Cut 2 Hi Cut 3 Low Cut 1 Low Cut 2 Low Cut 3 Yy Y VY Y VY VY VY VY YV YV VY W Yy Some of the delay filter styles are consistent meaning that the sound is affected like mega phone and all subsequent delay taps sound the same Some delay filter are cumulative e g analog where processing is applied throughout the feedback loop which changes the sound of the delay over time Play Acoustic Reference manual 2014 07 16 Experiment with the styles to find what works for your particular sound Tempo parameter Use the Tempo parameter to manually set the delay tempo Settings are saved per pre
11. the main mix On setting Lead vocals are removed from the main mix Headphone Lim parameter There is a built in headphone limiter to provide protection from large volume increases spikes dropped microphones screaming fans etc Use the Headphone Lim parameter to set the maxi mum level of the headphone signal O dB is the default but you can set it lower if you want more protection Setup button section Ear damage can occur quickly at high volumes so be cautious when using headphones or in ear monitors 31 TCHELICON System page 3 7 LCD Contrast parameter Use the LCD Contrast parameter to set the con trast of the LCD screen Depending on the ambi ent light in the room different settings may have more or less effect UP DN Function Use the UP DN Function parameter to define what should happen when you press the DOWN and UP footswitches simultaneously Please note that when you connect a TC Hel icon Switch 3 to the PEDAL connector of your Play Acoustic the default behavior of the UP DN function changes from Loop to Set Key Looping setting Pressing the DOWN and UP footswitches simul taneously will enter and exit Loop mode allow ing you to play and record loops Set Key setting Pressing the DOWN and UP footswitches simul taneously will enter Set Key Scale mode allow ing you to manually set the key and scale for a song Lead Delay parameter Use the Lead Delay parameter to del
12. v KWrEluiDXsA 30 TCHELICON Output page 2 7 Output parameter Use the Output parameter to set how signals are sent over the XLR outputs of Play Acoustic Vocal Guitar DI setting With the Vocal Guitar Dl setting vocal and Aux signals are sent over one XLR connector and guitar signals over the other Stereo setting With the Stereo setting a stereo mix of Vocal Guitar and Aux signals is sent over both XLR outputs Mono setting gt All effected Vocal and Guitar sounds are sent via the left XLR output gt Dry vocals with Tone and pitch correction if you have set the Pitch Cor Amt parameter on the Input page to a value other than zero are sent via the right XLR output Vocal Cancel function The Vocal Cancel function attempts to remove the vocals from a piece of music Off setting With the Off setting no processing is performed on the Aux input signal Play Acoustic Reference manual 2014 07 16 On setting With the On setting Play Acoustic will attempt to remove lead vocals from a piece of music This process can create Karaoke style music for you to sing along to including key information for harmony generation The processing capability can vary quite a bit from song to song depending on the way the song was originally mixed Lead Mute parameter Use the Lead Mute parameter to mute the lead vocal and only output the processed signals Off setting Lead Vocals are routed to
13. with its new name or location TCHELICON Changing preset names To change the name of a preset press the STORE button once then press the left blue soft button and use the control knob to modify the letters numbers Press the STORE button again to complete the process Storing a preset to another location To save the current preset to a different preset slot location press the store button once then press the right Blue soft Button and use the control knob to select the destination number for the preset Press store again to complete the process If you change your mind and don t want to save the changes simply press BACK Play Acoustic Reference manual 2014 07 16 Basics TCHELICON Soft buttons nbn HARMONY Soft buttons There are six soft buttons on the Play Acoustic three on each side of the LC display Each button is context specific meaning that when its function is available you ll see it lit up with a WHITE or BLUE LED When there is no function available the button will not be lit gt In white LED mode the text on the button re fers to its action gt In blue LED mode the button will select the segment of the LCD screen that is directly be side that button Not every menu uses all six buttons Play Acoustic Reference manual 2014 07 16 Vocal FX button Press the Vocal FX button to open the Vocal FX menu which controls the settings of the vocal ef
14. you stop playing guitar RoomSense will try to deter mine key scale from what it hears in the room Setup button section Guitar parameter Use the Guitar parameter to adjust the guitar in put gain Different guitars have different output levels based on their pickups and electronics Use this setting to ensure that your guitar input isn t too low or too high Set your guitar input so the input LED lights Green Yellow most of the time but not RED Re fer to the How the Input LED Level Meter Works section for more info about the LED meter Mic Control parameter Use the Mic Control parameter to set the action you want to associate with the Mic Button This parameter can only be set if you are using an MP 75 or e835 fx microphone If you have set the Mic Type parameter to another microphone type this parameter will only show N A not available HIT setting With the HIT setting pressing the button mon you Mic Control enabled microphone will en gage the HIT function in any preset that has a HIT function assigned HIT TALK setting With the HIT TALK setting pressing the button on you Mic Control enabled microphone will en gage the HIT function 29 TCHELICON Pressing and holding the button on you Mic Control enabled microphone will engage TALK mode bypassing all effects To exit TALK mode press the microphone button again PRESET UP setting With the PRESET UP setting pressin
15. D display of your Play Acoustic displays the following information Preset Name The name of the currently selected preset In the screen shot above it is High Harmony The Presets concept is explained in What are pre sets Preset Number The unique preset number i e the number of the slot where the preset is stored In the screen shot above it is 1 FAV indicator The FAV indicator is shown in the upper right corner of the display if the current preset has been tagged as a Favorite NP indicator The NP indicator is shown in the lower right corner of the display when chord information changes have been detected by Play Acoustic You may see the NP indicator switch on and off somewhat erratically as it processes incoming musical information This is normal What is NaturalPlay NaturalPlay is the voodoo we do inside Play Acoustic to figure out which key your music is in If you plug your guitar into the GUITAR IN con nector NaturalPlay will look there first for key scale info Next it will look at the Aux input and listen to the RoomSense microphones Once Play Acoustic hears key scale informa tion from one of these inputs it will set the key 12 TCHELICON scale on the fly NP is only shown when a change in key scale is detected so don t panic if you don t see it all the time LOOP indicator The LOOP indicator is shown in the
16. ELICON Transducer page 6 7 The Transducer effect block modifies the sound by adding various filters and overdrive compo nents Style parameter Use the Style parameter to define the Transducer effect style Choose from the following styles Megaphone Radio On The Phone Overdrive Buzz Cut Stack Tweed Combo Yy VY VY VY V V V Yy Drive parameter Use the Drive parameter to control the amount of overdrive applied to the signal More drive will distort the signal and create megaphone style effects Filter parameter Use the Filter parameter to apply an EQ filter that will make the Transducer sound thinner or more muddy depending on the preset Thinner filter settings sound more like a radio or walkie talkie Play Acoustic Reference manual 2014 07 16 Vocal FX button section 46 TCHELICON Transducer Advanced page To enter the Advanced Transducer page press and hold any of the lit blue LED soft buttons Routing parameter Use the Routing parameter to define which signal components should be affected by the Transducer effect Output setting With the Output setting the effect is applied to the lead voice and any voices derived from it like Harmony or Doubling FX setting With the FX setting the effect is only applied to voices within an effect For example if you are using a delay no effect will be applied to the ini tial tap of the delay but subsequent taps
17. English Manual TCHELICON Mic in Guitar in Pedal TCHELICON RE Mg Aa Ses ate x DA g 4 SENEE AERA SEEE AE EEES EAE Ree tee ere HIT Hold for TALK v D lt gt O O T ct O TCHELICON Important safety instructions Before you begin About this manual Getting support VoiceSupport Please register your Play Acoustic Introduction Diagram legend Diagrams Basics Inputs and outputs Gain settings Switches and operation Control Knob and arrow buttons Soft buttons Connection diagrams Mixer setup Play Acoustic back panel inputs and outputs Stereo or mono vocals and guitar Mono vocals and guitar amp Mono vocal and guitar with a TC Helicon FX150 Mono vocals via FX150 and a guitar amp Guitar and vocals via FX150 and stereo out to a PA Stereo PA and TC Helicon Guitar amp Headphone cable Play Acoustic Reference manual 2014 07 16 O1 O1 O1 O1 O 10 12 14 16 18 20 21 21 22 23 24 25 26 2 Setup button section Input page 1 7 Output page 2 7 System page 3 7 System page 2 4 7 Loop page 5 7 Switch 3 page 6 7 Product Info page 7 7 Vocal FX button section Harmony page 1 7 Harmony Advanced page Double page 2 7 Delay page 3 7 Delay Advanced page Reverb page 4 7 HardTune page 5 7 Transducer page 6 7 Transducer Advanced page uMod page 7 7 Guitar FX button section Guitar Reverb page 1 7 Guitar uM
18. SETUP Menu to define which parts of your performance are captured by the looper For example you can set the looper to only record guitar not vocals or vice versa or both Here is a good example of why you might want to capture just the guitar while singing and play ing your instrument You have an 8 bar chord progression that you sing a verse over After the second 8 bar verse section you want to play a guitar solo Wouldn t it be cool if the rhythm guitar part kept playing as you perform the solo With a looper you can do just that 1 Set the looper to record Guitar 2 Play the verse as you normally would 3 When you get to the second round of the chord progression keep singing and playing but press REC on the Looper 61 TCHELICON 4 At the end of the chord progression press REC again Play Acoustic will immediately be gin to play back the guitar chord progression you just recorded 5 Begin playing your guitar solo over the record ed chord progression 6 When the solo section ends simply stop the loop by pressing the Stop Era se footswitch and play sing again This is a very basic example of how a loop can be seamlessly incorporated into your perfor mance A subtle loop coming out of nowhere can be a great experience for your audience Stopping loop playback Press the Stop Era se footswitch to stop loop playback Erasing the loop Press and hold the Stop Era se footswitch t
19. a Switch 3 optional to the PEDAL connector If you use the Switch 3 you have direct access to looping and other ef fect control See the Switch 3 menu section for details on assigning controls to each Switch 3 button USB connector Connect to your computer with the included ca ble Use the VoiceSupport software to manage presets and update the product s internal soft ware firmware You can download VoiceSupport here tc helicon com products voicesupport Stereo audio input and output via USB is also supported at 16 bit resolution with 44 1 or 48 KHz sample rate Incoming USB audio signals are NOT passed to the USB output allowing you to sing play along with tracks from your DAW while recording back just the vocals and guitar Power socket Connect the included power supply Your Play Acoustic will power up immediately Always use a TC Helicon power supply 12V 400 mA Using any other power supply may damage the unit and will void your warranty Play Acoustic Reference manual 2014 07 16 Basics TCHELICON Basics Gain settings How the Input LED Level Meter Works The LED on the top of your Play Acoustic is used for both vocal and guitar level metering When setting the level for your microphone or guitar make sure that you sing or play separately If you are setting your vocal level don t play your guitar and vice versa The meter will show a combined level for both guitar a
20. avigate through the available options Select a Genre Press the BACK button to return to the main win dow where you will see only the presets con tained within the Genre that you have selected Presets can be associated with multiple genres Setup button Press the SETUP button to open the Setup menu which controls the general functions of the device This button is described in its own chapter Setup button section Play Acoustic Reference manual 2014 07 16 Basics S TCHELICON Connection diagrams Connection diagrams Play Acoustic Reference manual 2014 07 16 20 TCHELICON The following connection diagrams show you some common ways to hook up Play Acoustic For basic information about audio inputs and outputs see Inputs and outputs Mixer setup For connection to your mixer or PA check out this Craig s Corner video youtube com watch v qq0AOtafljs It s very important to follow gain staging instruc tions in order to get the best signal to noise ratio SNR from your device and prevent distortion in the signal chain Play Acoustic Reference manual 2014 07 16 Play Acoustic back panel inputs and outputs CL e TCHELICON BAG i w PEDAL 400 mA O Oe O GND GUITAR DI R VOICE L K Play Acoustic back panel Connection diagrams INPUTS O O va X GUITAR IN 21 TCHELICON Stereo or mono vocals and guitar This diagram shows connections
21. ay the in coming vocal signal very slightly to compensate for the small amount of latency introduced when effects are processed by the device Play Acoustic Reference manual 2014 07 16 This delay ensures that the processed generated voices like harmonies will be perfectly in sync with the lead vocal None setting No delay compensation is used Voice Sync setting The lead vocal is delayed an amount equal to the maximum latency of the system with all effects turned on Auto setting The lead vocal will be delayed by an amount equal to the latency of the currently enabled effect blocks Using more effect blocks will in crease the latency compensation amount Tune Reference parameter Use the Tune Reference parameter to define the reference frequency for the guitar tuner and any Harmony or HardTune effects The default is 440 Hz A which can be changed in 0 5 Hz in crements Aux to Main Out parameter Use the Aux to Main Out parameter to define wether the Aux signal should be sent to the XLR outputs Set this parameter to Off if you would like to hear the Aux input only in your head phones This is useful for in ear monitoring ap plications You can send a full monitor mix to the Aux input and you will only hear it over your headphones or in ear monitors Setup button section Aux In Type parameter The Aux In Type function will perform magical calculations to help make harmonies more ac curate Live
22. ccount management gt Access to support You can download VoiceSupport for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X from tc helicon com products voicesupport Before you begin Please register your Play Acoustic To register your Play Acoustic using the Voice Support software launch VoiceSupport and click on the ACCOUNT button Please note that registration of your product is not required to use VoiceSupport download presets update firmware or contact support S TCHELICON Introduction Introduction Play Acoustic Reference manual 2014 07 16 6 TCHELICON Welcome to the Play Acoustic manual First thank you so much for purchasing Play Acoustic We at TC Helicon are confident that your vocal and acoustic guitar performances will be positively impacted with this great effects processor As you discovered in the Quick Start Guide the short manual that came in the box Play Acous tic is easy to use at the top level but there is more under the hood of this compact device than you might think We recommend you treat your Play Acoustic like any other new instrument and dedicate some time to learning how to use it Yes that means RTFM Read the full manual And if you ever find yourself without this manual On the bottom of your Play Acoustic you will find a cheat sheet explaining the most impor tant functions Play Acoustic Reference manual 2014 07 16 Diagram legend The following icons ar
23. ction 52 TCHELICON BodyRez EQ page 3 7 Exclusive to Play Acoustic BodyRez combines equalization compression and ambience to give your guitar mounted pickup a more natural mic d in a room sound Style parameter Use the Style parameter to select from various BodyRez presets Choose from the following styles Custom Flat Just Comp BodyRez 1 BodyRez 2 BodyRez 3 BodyRez 4 BodyRez 5 Yy YV VY VY YV V Vy YW Amount parameter Use the Amount parameter to control how much BodyRez processing should be applied to your guitar signal Amount settings lower than 10 will limit the range of any EQ Compression or Ambience settings you can adjust when in BodyRez Advanced mode See BodyRez Shelf EQ page 4 7 for in structions on how to reveal the Advanced page Play Acoustic Reference manual 2014 07 16 Low Gain parameter Use the Low Gain parameter to control the bass range of frequencies within the BodyRez style Hi Gain parameter Use the Hi Gain parameter to control the treble range of frequencies within the BodyRez style Guitar FX button section 53 TCHELICON BodyRez Shelf EQ page 4 7 This page is hidden by default To access it en ter the Setup menu and change the BodyRez Editing parameter from Basic to Advanced The BodyRez Shelf EQ page provides a high shelf and a low shelf equalizer with adjustable Frequency and Gain parameters Play
24. cts To use your newly selected Key and Scale sim ply press EXIT To save the current preset with your chosen Key and Scale press STORE twice Storing presets IS covered in more detail later in this manual Basics Tap tempo To access Tap Tempo press and hold the UP and HIT footswitches simultaneously TEMPO 120 BPM Tap tempo screen Once you see the current tempo displayed on the LCD screen tap the HIT button in time with your music When you are finished stop tapping and the screen will time out back to the preset screen 19 TC HELICON Control knob and arrow buttons VOCAL HARMONY FX GUITAR FX BACK STORE arrow buttons and the control knob Use the control knob to scroll through presets and to move through various settings in the Edit System or other menus The arrow buttons act similarly allowing you to move through presets effect setup pages styles Genres etc Quick Tip You can press and hold the arrow buttons to jump to the first or last page in a menu For example in the Vocal FX menu you can move from Harmony page 1 to Transducer page 7 directly by pressing and holding the gt button BACK button Press the BACK button to exit the current screen or mode Play Acoustic Reference manual 2014 07 16 STORE button What are presets To use Play Acoustic effectively you need to un derstand the concept of Presets Essentially a Preset is a rec
25. d dress the most common feedback culprits Phase Invert parameter Use the Phase Invert parameter to invert the phase of the guitar signal by 180 This can help prevent feedback when playing your acoustic guitar close to a stage monitor or other speaker When you experience feedback this should be the first setting to try Low Cut Filter parameter Acoustic guitars can be prone to resonance es pecially in the low frequency range If you are having trouble with rumbling or low frequency feedback use the Low Cut Filter parameter to roll off low end frequency from your guitar signal Play Acoustic Reference manual 2014 07 16 Notch Filter section This very narrow band equalizer can help hone in on feedback causing frequencies and reduce their gain Notch Gain parameter Use the Gain parameter to set the gain for the note frequency range you have selected with the Freq parameter Use negative values e g 8 to reduce troublesome frequencies If you are unsure which frequency is causing the feedback it can be useful to use positive values 8 for example to boost the feedback you are hearing This allows you to highlight problematic frequency ranges more easily Then you can re duce the Gain setting for this frequency range using a negative value Notch Freq parameter Use the Freq parameter to set the frequency of the notch filter For this parameter we show both the frequency in Hz and the relative
26. d or grounding type plug A polarized plug has two blades with one wider than the other A grounding type plug has two blades and a third grounding prong The wide blade or the third prong is provided for your safety If the provided plug does not fit into your outlet consult an electrician for replacement of the obsolete outlet Protect the power cord from being walked on or pinched particularly at plugs con venience receptacles and the point where they exit from the apparatus Only use attachments accessories speci fied by the manufacturer Use only with a cart stand tripod bracket or table specified by the manufacturer or sold with the ap YA paratus When a cart is used use caution when moving the cart apparatus combination to avoid injury from tip over Unplug this apparatus during lightning storms or when unused for long periods of time Play Acoustic Reference manual 2014 07 16 14 Refer all servicing to qualified service per sonnel Servicing is required when the ap paratus has been damaged in any way such as power supply cord or plug is dam aged liquid has been spilled or objects have fallen into the apparatus the appara tus has been exposed to rain or moisture does not operate normally or has been dropped Caution You are cautioned that any change or modifi cations not expressly approved in this manual could void your authority to operate this equip ment Service gt All service mu
27. e display and use the Control Knob to define the function the respective footswitch should con trol The available settings are gt Loop Rec Play gt Loop Stop Clear Loop Undo Loop Start Stop 1 Btn Looper Tap Tempo gt gt gt gt Play Acoustic Reference manual 2014 07 16 gt Set Key gt Preset Down Preset Up Hit Harmony Harm Moment Doubling Delay Delay Moment Reverb HardTune Transducer uMod Gtr Amp Gtr Boost Gtr Compressor Gtr uMod Gtr Delay Gtr Reverb Yy Y Y Y Y VY Yy Yy VY Y VY Y Y WY VY VW Yy Harm Moment and Delay Moment When you have selected the Custom setting two menu items work slightly differently from the oth ers Harm Moment and Delay Moment With Harm Moment and Delay Moment the respective effect harmony voices or delay is active only as long as you press down the foot switch Some users prefer the precision offered by this mode 1 Btn Looper setting The 1 Btn Looper 1 Button Looper setting is a convenient way to control all relevant Looper functions using a single footswitch This allows you to assign the two remaining buttons on a Switch 3 for other features e g Hit Setup button section gt With no loop present tap the footswitch once to record gt Tap the footswitch again to define the loop length and switch to loop playback gt Tap the footswitch again to overdub during playback gt Hold the footswitch to undo the
28. e used in the diagrams in this manual i Microphone Acoustic Guitar Monitor Mix ses le ji Mixing Board Introduction 0000000228 Guitar amp XLR cables Gh Gh Ya 6 5 mm TRS Tip Ring Sleeve and TS Tip Sleeve guitar cables 3 5 mm cable TCHELICON Diagrams On the following pages you will see some con nection diagrams We have set things up to give you clear and concise representations of what goes where There are a few things we would like you to keep in mind as you look at the diagrams 1 Inputs to Play Acoustic will be to the eft of the back panel image Outputs from Play Acoustic will be to the right of the back panel image There are two boxes on the bottom of each diagram gt The Play Acoustic box shows what you hear from your Play Acoustic headphone output gt The P A box shows what you hear from the P A speakers We don t account for other inputs instruments when showing what you hear from the P A SO you won t see pictures of drums etc In a lot of cases what you hear will be the same for both Play Acoustic headphone out put and P A but it can also be different Play Acoustic Reference manual 2014 07 16 PLAY ACOUSTIC Introduction S TCHELICON Basics Basics Play Acoustic Reference manual 2014 07 16 9 TCHELICON Basics
29. etting Only the Basic BodyRez page is accessible The Advanced BodyRez page is hidden Advanced setting Both the Basic and Advanced BodyRez page are accessible 33 TC HELICON Loop page 5 7 Input parameter Use the Input parameter to set the input source s for loop recording The following settings are available gt Guitar gt Lead gt Aux gt Lead Guitar gt Lead Aux gt Guitar Aux gt All With the All setting everything you hear will also be recorded as part of the loop Undo parameter Use the Undo parameter to switch the Loop undo function on or off On setting Undo is active and may be used to undo the last change made to your loop It is common to use undo when you have added a loop section that you are not happy with and want to try it again You can also press Undo a second time to redo your last Undo action This will bring a loop over dub back that you have removed using Undo In this mode the total available loop time is 15 seconds Off setting Disables undo freeing some memory for addi tional looping Play Acoustic Reference manual 2014 07 16 In this mode available loop time is doubled to 30 seconds Loop Feedback parameter Use the Loop Feedback parameter to control the amount of loop record feedback When recording a loop with multiple passes or parts the signal from the first loop pass is add ed to the next and so on If all of these passes we
30. fects This button is described in its own chap ter Vocal FX button section Guitar FX button Press the Guitar FX button to open the Guitar FX menu which controls the settings of the guitar effects This button is described in its own chap ter Guitar FX button section Basics Mix button Press the Mix button to open the Mix menu which allows you to adjust the levels of the sig nals This button is described in its own chapter Mix button section Favorite button You can tag a preset as a Favorite This allows you to e g mark all presets you want to use in a show and filter out all others This means that you can use Favorites to create a set list or sim ply group all the presets you like regardless of their Genre gt To add the current preset to your Favorites press the FAVORITE button FAV will be shown in the top right corner of the display gt To remove the current preset from your Favor ites press the FAVORITE button gt To only browse your Favorite presets press the GENRE button and select FAV as the Genre Press the BACK button to return to the Home screen If there are no presets tagged as Favorites the FAV option will not appear in the Genre menu GENRE button Genres allow you to filter your presets by cat egories such as musical styles and effect types Press the GENRE button to open the Genre menu TCHELICON In the Genre menu use the control knob to n
31. fications Play Acoustic Reference manual 2014 07 16 70 S TCHELICON Technical specifications Features Vocal Effects uMod Delay Reverb Harmony Double Transducer Tone HardTune amp Correction Guitar Effects Reverb including TC Electronic Hall of Fame Reverb Mod including TC Electronic Corona Chorus BodyRez EQ Compression Ambience Anti feedback manual control VLOOP Control Preset Up Down and HIT footswitches Graphic LCD display Bump protected Mic Level knob Dual color backlit buttons Dedicated Effect Block On Off buttons Design Size and weight Height 1 8 inches 45 mm Width 7 9 inches 200 mm Depth 6 1 inches 156 mm Weight 2 1 Ib 0 95 kg Construction Connections Analog Inputs Connectors balanced Connectors unbalanced Impedance Mic Input Level 0 dBFS EIN Max Mic Gain Rg 150 Ohm Mic SNR Phantom Power Aux Input Level 0 dBu Play Acoustic Reference manual 2014 07 16 Dual die cast clamshell design Acrylic lens Punch cut metal connection panel Rubberized footings Backlit graphic LCD display Microphone input XLR Aux input 1 8 stereo mini jack Guitar input 1 4 Balanced Unbalanced Mic 2 14 1 07 kOhm 42 dBu to 13 dBu 127 dBu gt 104 dB 48 V on off via Setup menu 2 dBu 71 TCHELICON to D Conversion Analog Outputs D to Conversion Connectors balanced Output Impedance Balanced Unbalanced XLR Output 0 dBFS Dynamic Range
32. g and control over you vocal and guitar QT TCHELICON us CD POWER channels while sending a summed mono signal PEDAL suma n to a mixer or PA Lo PA or x For additional control you can opt to plug a mu sic player into the Aux channel on the FX150 instead of Play Acoustic giving you control of Vocals Guitar and Aux independently Signals will still be summed to mono at the output of the FX150 URI oD For more information on FX150 see tc helicon com products voicesolo fx150 b ii B O J J 00o A O x ax ee ZX or Setup example Mono vocal and guitar with an FX150 Play Acoustic Reference manual 2014 07 16 24 TCHELICON Connection diagrams Mono vocals via FX150 and a guitar amp Here you can send the vocal signals to an FX150 and guitar signals to an amplifier ouros _ TCHELICON i i 6 D _ 00060602 UMN oD b B O J J eoo 0 00 eco aX 00e EX EE Setup example Mono vocals via FX150 and an acoustic guitar amp Play Acoustic Reference manual 2014 07 16 25 TCHELICON Connection diagrams Guitar and vocals via FX150 and stereo out to a PA In this setup you can use the Headphone Out from Play Acoustic to send Guitar Vocal and Aux OUTPUTS TCHELICON nors gB POWER signals to your FX150 and send a stereo mix to OVS PEDAL TA C a A A the PA via the Pla
33. g the but ton on you Mic Control enabled microphone will cycle through the device s presets moving for ward Loop setting With the Loop setting pressing the button on you Mic Control enabled microphone will ac tivates or deactivate the Record Play Overdub feature of the Looper Tone Style parameter Use the Tone Style parameter to apply varying amounts of adaptive EQ Compression and Gate to the signal OFF setting No tone style is applied NORMAL setting Some bottom mid and air EQ light com pression and minor gating is applied to the sig nal Minor gating means When the input level gets low enough the input gain is reduced to im prove open mic feedback resistance LESS BRIGHT setting The LESS BRIGHT setting is similar to normal but with less emphasis on the high frequency EQ band Play Acoustic Reference manual 2014 07 16 NORM WARMTH setting The NORM WARMTH setting is similar to nor mal with a small mid bump to add some warmth to the voice MORE COMP setting The MORE COMP setting utilizes the normal EQ and Gating settings but it has more aggressive compression settings This is a good setting to try if you have a large dynamic range when sing ing and want to keep your levels under control NORM NO GATE setting Removes the Gate function from the NORMAL setting LESS BRIGHT NG setting The LESS BRIGHT NG is the same as the LESS BRIGHT setting but with the
34. iar with Record and Play Overdubbing is the process of recording another take to a recording without deleting the first take Play Acoustic Reference manual 2014 07 16 Using the Play Acoustic looper Activating Loop mode To enter Loop mode press and hold the DOWN and UP footswitches simultaneously HIT PLAT REGO TOP ERA on The Loop mode screen In Loop mode the DOWN footswitch controls the following functions gt PLAY gt REC Record gt Overdub gt Undo removes the most recently recorded Overdub if there is one In Loop mode the UP footswitch controls the following functions gt STOP gt ERA HOLD to erase Exiting Loop mode To exit Loop mode tap the HIT footswitch You may exit Loop mode while a loop is still playing That means you can choose a new vocal sound and then re enter Loop mode to add a new overdub to the loop The Looper ele your first loop gt Press the footswitch assigned to REC PLAY ODUB to start a recording gt Press the footswitch again to finish recording and immediately begin playback gt Alternatively you can press the footswitch as signed to STOP ERA se to finish recording and not switch to playback gt Press the REC PLAY ODUB footswitch again to record an overdub another part onto the initial recording You can overdub as many times as you want to What gets recorded as part of your loop Use the Loop Input parameter in the
35. ic Type is set to MP 75 or to e835fx USB setting Digital audio can be passed to Play Acoustic via the USB port allowing you to send vocals from a DAW to the unit for processing When sending dry vocals from your DAW pan the vocal signal hard LEFT in the DAW mixer If you have a guitar track recorded and want it to guide harmony pan it hard RIGHT in the DAW mixer Play Acoustic Reference manual 2014 07 16 RoomSense parameter Controls the way the two onboard RoomSense microphones work Ambient setting With the Ambient setting RoomSense uses the onboard microphones and passes that signal via the headphone output Control for RoomSense level can be found in the mix section default OFF To avoid feedback the RoomSense output is only passed to the headphone output and not the XLR output s You can also mix some of the ambient signal into an in ear monitor mix to give you room sounds with your direct microphone feeds Ambient Auto setting With the Ambient Auto setting RoomSense uses the onboard microphones and passes that signal via the headphone output The onboard Room Sense microphones will also listen to musical information from the surrounding environment a single chord based instrument or even your whole band will work to determine the key scale for Harmony and HardTune effects If you have a guitar plugged in the Guitar acts as the primary source for chord detection If
36. ies 21051886 scale chart for TC helicon products Portamento parameter Use the Portamento parameter to control the amount of slide between notes as you sing The more Portamento you use the more the Harmony voices will slide instead of jump from note to note gt The O setting turns Portamento off gt 100 is the maximum setting Play Acoustic Reference manual 2014 07 16 Using high amounts of both Humanize and Por tamento can make your harmony voices sound as if they ve well been drinking a lot Small amounts are usually preferable Humanize parameter Use the Humanize parameter to humanize the Harmony voices by imparting some timing and pitch variances to the voice At its core this is actually the process of making the harmony voices less accurate but imper fection is something that can make voices sound more real gt The 0 setting turns humanization off gt 100 is the maximum setting Vocal FX button section 40 TCHELICON Double page 2 7 The Double effect block creates the impression that one or more vocalists are singing in unison with small differences in the timing and timbre of each voice Some refer to doubling as thicken ing or double tracking The latter references a recording studio method of singing the same vo cal part on two separate tracks and playing them back simultaneously Style parameter Use the Style parameter to set the
37. l parameter Use the Level parameter to controls the overall level of the uMod effect Press the right middle soft button to select this parameter and use the control knob to adjust the level O dB is the maxi mum volume for the effect Speed parameter Use the Speed parameter to adjust the speed at which oscillation or modulation occurs within the effect Vocal FX button section 48 S TCHELICON Guitar FX button section Guitar FX button section Play Acoustic Reference manual 2014 07 16 49 TCHELICON Press the GUITAR FX button to open the Guitar Effects menu which is comprised of five pages Each page contains the parameters controlling the respective vocal effect block Guitar effects are handled in the same way as vocal effects see Vocal FX button section Guitar sounds in Play Acoustic are global meaning you only need to adjust them once As you change presets your guitar sound will re main the same Please note that several pages described in this chapter will only be visible when you have set the BodyRez Editing parameter in the Setup menu to Advanced The page numbering will change accordingly l e when the BodyRez Editing pa rameter is set to Basic the first page will be numbered 1 4 not 1 7 Each guitar effect has a Control parameter simi lar to those in the Vocal FX section However for guitar effects the Control parameter only has On and Off se
38. last overdub gt Hold the footswitch again to restore redo the last overdub gt Tap the footswitch twice quickly to stop Please note that when stopping a short por tion of audio is recorded gt Tap the footswitch to play or hold to erase the loop Tip If you prefer to have Play Acoustic up on a music stand you can use Preset DN Preset UP and HIT as your custom Switch 3 assign ments to replicate the footswitch controls 35 TCHELICON Setup button section Product Info page 7 7 The System Info page contains information about gt the installed firmware version gt serial number and gt manufacture date for your device If you need to contact support please have this information handy See Support resources Play Acoustic Reference manual 2014 07 16 36 S TCHELICON Vocal FX button section Vocal FX button section Play Acoustic Reference manual 2014 07 16 37 TCHELICON Press the VOCAL FX button to open the Vocal Effects menu which is comprised of seven pag es Each page contains the parameters control ling the respective vocal effect block There is one parameter common to all effects pages Control parameter Use the Control parameter to turn an effect block on and off Off setting The effect block is inactive no signal process ing occurs On setting The effect block is active and will process the signal according to the selected
39. ll voice generating effect blocks like Harmony and Double Guitar Level parameter Use the Guitar Level parameter to adjust the out put level of the guitar signal This control is also dependent on the Guitar input level set in the Setup menu Make sure to set your input level according to the instructions and use the Guitar Level parameter to set your overall guitar output volume Out Level parameter Use the Out Level parameter to control the over all output level of your Play Acoustic Delay Reverb level parameter Use the Delay Reverb level parameter to change the level of Delay Reverb effects across all pre sets This control is useful if you find yourself in a performance environment that has a lot or very little natural reverb and you d like to tune your sound to that room without having to manually adjust all presets Mix button section Headphone Level parameter Use the Headphone Level parameter to adjust the volume of the headphone output RoomSense parameter Use the RoomSense parameter to control the amount of ambient RoomSense sent to the headphone mix This parameter does NOT en able RoomSense to be sent to the main mix as this would cause feedback Aux Level parameter The Aux Level parameter will only be shown if a signal source is connected to the Aux connector Use the Aux Level parameter to adjust the level of the signal received at the Aux input If you prefer to only hear the Aux in
40. lower right corner of the display when a loop is running but you are Currently not on the Loop mode screen GB Guitar Boost indicator The GB Guitar Boost indicator is shown in the lower left corner of the display when guitar boost is active Genre indicator If you have set the Genre selector to any other value than All the currently selected genre is shown in the upper left corner of the display In the screen shot above it is Harmony Play Acoustic Reference manual 2014 07 16 Basics TCHELICON Switches and operation The three Play Acoustic footswitches DOWN and UP footswitches Form here on we will refer gt to the footswitch with the down pointing tri angle as the DOWN footswitch and gt to the footswitch with the up pointing triangle as the UP footswitch The DOWN and UP footswitches allow you to navigate through presets gt Press a footswitch once to switch to the previ ous or next preset slot gt Press and hold a footswitch to quickly move through presets Play Acoustic Reference manual 2014 07 16 HIT Hold for TALK HIT Hold for TALK footswitch During normal operation this footswitch acts as a HIT button What does this mean When you activate HIT by tapping the footswitch a new effect or several effects will be added to the current sound This feature is perfect for spicing up a section of a song with a particular effect e g Harmo
41. me for the effect Decay parameter Use the Decay parameter to define how long it takes for the reverb to fade away Longer Decay times generally sound like large spaces while shorter times sound like small spaces Each Reverb style has its own decay time but you can change it Pre Delay parameter Use the Pre Dly Pre Delay parameter to define the time until the reverb tail sets in Guitar FX button section 51 TCHELICON Guitar uMod page 2 7 Just like the vocal effect of the same name the uMod effect block in the Guitar section applies minute pitch and timing variations to add depth or thickness to the sound Mod stands for Mi cro Modulation Style parameter Use the Style parameter to select the style of the uMod effect Choose from the following styles gt Corona 12 00 based on the Corona Chorus from TC Electronic Corona Fast Corona Slow Silky Detune Medium Detune Mono Chorus vY VvV V y Yy Level parameter Use the Mix parameter to controls the overall level of the Mod effect Speed parameter Use the Speed parameter to adjust the speed at which oscillation or modulation occurs within the effect Slower speeds often result in more noticeable effects Play Acoustic Reference manual 2014 07 16 Depth parameter Use the Depth parameter to adjust the intensity of the modulation effect Slower speeds often re sult in more noticeable effects Guitar FX button se
42. n nmam Eb nc nc nc nc nc nc Bb Bb Bb m 3a aa 8000omo nc nc nc Tl oBolmo okozxrolk Gb nc nc nc nc nc nc nc nc nc nc nc nc Q DYDD 000202 o e m o o o Ab nc nc nc nc nc nc Eb Eb Eb WJ NO ngng nuyu nuy nmng Appendix 67 TC HELICON Links Play Acoustic Reference manual 2014 07 16 68 TCHELICON Links Support resources There is a large FAQ Knowledge base and fo rum for you to use Please make sure to search for your particular issue there before submitting a support ticket It s likely that someone has al ready addressed the question and posted an answer gt TC Helicon Support tc helicon com support gt TC Helicon user forum support tc helicon com categories 20073491 User Forum gt TC Helicon Play Series forum support tc helicon com forums 21577876 Play Series gt TC Helicon warranty information tc helicon com support warranty Play Acoustic Reference manual 2014 07 16 TC Helicon on gt the web tc helicon com gt Facebook facebook com tchelicon gt Twitter twitter com tchelicon gt YouTube youtube com tchelicon TC Helicon newsletter For more information about your TC Helicon products latest news and updates tips and tricks subscribe to our newsletter gt tc helicon com subscribe 69 S TCHELICON Technical specifications Technical speci
43. nd vocals when you sing and play If you see the LED light red indicating clip ping it is helpful to play sing individually to see which input may be getting too much level Keep in mind that the combined level of two Inputs can clip even when the individual in puts do not If this happens for you it s best to simply turn down each input slightly until the LED no longer lights red when you sing and play si multaneously Setting Microphone Gain Once you have connected your microphone and selected the microphone type Dynamic Con denser MP 75 e835 FX use the Mic Gain knob on the side of your Play Acoustic to set the input level for your microphone As you increase the level pay close attention to the LED on top of Play Acoustic You want the Play Acoustic Reference manual 2014 07 16 input to light the LED green It s OK if the LED sometimes lights yellow but it should never turn red If it does turn red reduce the level Red means that a the input is overloading and b you ve got powerful lungs setting the guitar level The control for your guitar input is on Page 1 of the Setup menu You can access the Setup menu by pressing the SETUP button and then use the lt or gt buttons to move to Page 1 Press the soft button next to the Guitar IN box and use the Control knob to adjust your level Reading the LCD Display FA HIGH HARMONY 1 The Play Acoustic display The LC
44. number of voices and the timing of the double Choose from the following styles 1 Voice Tight 1 Voice Loose 2 Voices Tight 2 Voices Loose Shout 1 Voice Oct Up 1 Voice Oct Down 2 Voices Oct Up 2 Voices Oct Down Oct Up amp Oct Down Tight and Loose refers to how closely the double is timed with the lead vocal Loose tim ing can feel larger or more effected Level parameter Use the Level parameter to control the overall level of the doubling effect Press the right upper Play Acoustic Reference manual 2014 07 16 soft button to select this parameter and use the control knob to adjust the level 0 dB is the maxi mum volume for the effect Vocal FX button section 41 TCHELICON Delay page 3 7 The Delay effect block repeats the input signal based on the style and the current tempo Style parameter Select the Style menu by pressing the lower left soft button It will be the only one lit on the left side of the display Choose from the following styles Quarter Eighth Triplet Dotted 1 8th Dotted 4 Triplet Sixteenth Ping Pong 1 Ping Pong 2 Ping Pong 3 Multitap 1 Multitap 2 Multitap 3 Multitap 4 Multitap 5 Multitap 6 Classic Slap Set Time Yy Y Y Y Y Yy Yy vw Y Y Y Y Ww WY VY VY VW Yy Level parameter Use the Level parameter to control the overall level of the delay effect Press the right upper Play Acoustic Reference manual 2014 07 16
45. ny TALK mode When you press and hold the HIT Hold for TALK footswitch Play Acoustic enters TALK mode In TALK mode all vocal effects are bypassed and the microphone input is passed directly to the output TALK Tuner mode If you have a guitar plugged into the GUITAR IN you will enter TALK Tuner mode activating the guitar tuner built into Play Acoustic The guitar Basics output is muted to allow tuning but the dry voice is still passed to the output allowing you to tune your instrument and still entertain the crowd with witty banter Activating Loop mode To enter Loop mode press and hold the DOWN and UP footswitches simultaneously For more information on the Looper see The HIT PLAT NEGIS TUP THA Loop mode screen In Loop mode the DOWN footswitch controls the following functions gt PLAY gt REC Record gt Overdub Holding the DOWN footswitch will undo your most recently recorded Overdub In Loop mode the UP footswitch controls the following functions gt STOP gt ERA HOLD to erase 14 TCHELICON To exit Loop mode tap the HIT footswitch You may exit Loop mode while a loop is still play ing That means you can choose a new vocal sound and then re enter Loop mode to add a new overdub to the loop Loop Undo Redo To undo a loop overdub press and hold the DOWN footswitch To restore the overdub Redo press and hold the DOWN footswitch again Restoring a
46. o erase the loop completely Loop Undo Redo To undo a loop overdub press and hold the DOWN footswitch To restore the overdub Redo press and hold the DOWN footswitch again Restoring a loop overdub this way is only possible if you have not recorded another overdub after using Undo You can use Undo when you have made a mis take just remove the overdub that went wrong Play Acoustic Reference manual 2014 07 16 and do it again You can also use Undo and Redo creatively for a part track that you would like to come and go Record a basic chord pro gression for a song add a catchy melody as an overdub undo that overdub so you can sing the verse and use Redo to bring the melody back for the chorus The Looper Looping tips When it comes to looping practice is the key You might notice that your loops have a small gap between the end of the phrase and when the loop restarts This happens when you mis time pressing the PLAY REC ODUB button s Pay careful attention to coordinating your button press with the down beat so that the loop begin ning and end align seamlessly Experiment with exiting Loop mode and picking a different vocal sound for the next ODUB layer You can get some great results by simply varying the sounds that are part of the loop When adding an ODUB layer you can record multiple passes ODUB parts without starting and stopping the Looper This allows you to add numerous parts which can
47. od page 2 7 BodyRez EQ page 3 7 BodyRez Shelf EQ page 4 7 BodyRez Parametric EQ page 5 7 BodyRez Compressor page 6 7 Guitar Anti Feedback page 7 7 Notch Filter section Simple steps for feedback reduction 28 29 31 32 33 34 39 36 37 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 51 52 53 54 54 54 56 56 Mix button section Mix page 1 2 Mix page 2 2 The Looper What is looping Using the Play Acoustic looper Looping tips Using a Switch 3 for looping Troubleshooting General troubleshooting Appendix TC Helicon scales reference chart Links Technical specifications Product Play Acoustic Product firmware version 1 0 57 58 59 60 61 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 70 Document Reference manual Document version date 2014 07 16 S TCHELICON Important safety instructions Important safety instructions Play Acoustic Reference manual 2014 07 16 TCHELICON Se ee E 10 11 12 13 Read these instructions Keep these instructions Heed all warnings Follow all instructions Do not use this apparatus near water Clean only with a dry cloth Do not block any ventilation openings In stall in accordance with the manufacturer s instructions Do not install near any heat sources such as radiators heat registers stoves or other apparatus including amplifiers that pro duce heat Do not defeat the safety purpose of the po larize
48. ord of all the settings for a group of effects that you can recall quickly and easily The Preset concept is extremely flexible A Pre set can be general purpose like a simple Re verb or Harmony sound But a Preset can also represent a specific song or portion of a song via multiple effects and settings A good modern analogy for a Preset is a user ac count on a computer Even though each user has access to the same hardware CPU RAM etc each user can change their desktop wallpaper Basics icons on the desktop program behaviors and much more When each user logs in the com puter recalls all of their custom settings Depending on how you like you to work with ef fects you may find that you like to use a few gen eral purpose Presets Or you might be the kind of guy or girl who likes to spend a bit more time in advance of the performance to create Presets for all sorts of things Once you have fine tuned all settings in the Vo cal section you should store them as a Preset So you can later recall them Keep in mind that you never have to save Guitar effects settings They are global and retain their values across all of your vocal presets Storing presets When you have made a change to a preset sim ply press the STORE button Pressing the STORE button once will bring up the name location display allowing you to re name and or relocate the preset Pressing the STORE button again will save the preset along
49. put over your headphones go to the Setup Output menu and change Aux to Main Out to OFF If you would like the Aux input to listen for chord information but not be heard at via the Main Out or Headphone outputs set the Aux Level parameter to OFF 58 TCHELICON Mix page 2 2 USB In Level parameter Use the USB In Level parameter to adjust the level of the incoming USB audio signal such as backing tracks This control has no effect if Input is set to USB and you are post processing the received signal via a DAW The track controls within the DAW it self will determine the output level and therefore the Play Acoustic USB input level USB Out Level parameter Use the USB Out Level parameter to control the level of the audio signal sent over USB If the device you are connected to is clipping at its input try turning this parameter down Play Acoustic Reference manual 2014 07 16 Mix button section 59 S TCHELICON The Looper The Looper Play Acoustic Reference manual 2014 07 16 60 TCHELICON What is looping At its core looping is the simple process of tak ing a small audio recording and playing it over and over seamlessly When coupled with cre ativity and musical ability the results can be as tonishing Basic looping concepts Most loopers including the one in Play Acoustic are built around a few basic controls Record Play and Overdub You should be famil
50. re put together at full 100 volume the loop you are working on would get louder and louder and LOUDER so you would end up with a distorted output signal The purpose of the Loop Feedback parameter is to prevent this volume increase from happening When you record a new pass to the existing loop it is recorded at 100 volume but the existing loop is blended with it at the Loop feedback set ting The calculation works like this Input Loop x Loop Feedback Loop output l e input Loop x 90 output Run away Scary math Most users find the default setting of 98 works well but you may find a different setting that works best for you Setup button section 34 TC HELICON Switch 3 page 6 7 Control parameter Switch 3 is an optional high quality remote con trol which you can use with your TC Helicon de vice Use the Control parameter to set the func tionality of connected Switch 3 Loop Mode setting With the Loop Mode setting the three foot switches on a Switch 3 will control loop func tions gt Button 1 activates Record Play Overdub gt Button 2 stops recording playback and can be used to erase the loop by holding gt Button 3 is used for Undo Custom setting With the Custom setting you can assign func tions to the three footswitches on a Switch 3 from a list Simply press the soft button next to Switch 1 Switch 2 or Switch 3 on the right side of th
51. set They are overrid den but not overwritten if Global tempo is on If your selected Delay style is Slap or Time the Tempo parameter will say Time instead and be represented by a millisecond value Vocal FX button section 43 TCHELICON Reverb page 4 7 The Reverb effect block creates room around your voice Essentially a reverb puts your dry vo cal into a simulated space small or large to give a sense of depth and distance Style parameter Use the Style parameter to determine the size of the simulated space and also the type of material being used to create the simulation Choose from the following styles Smooth Plate Reflection Plate Thin Plate Bright Plate Real Plate Real Plate Long Jazz Plate Quick Plate Soft Hall Amsterdam Hall Broadway Hall Snappy Room Library Dark Room Music Club Studio Room Warehouse Bouncy Room Cozy Corner Bright Chamber Wooden Chamber St Joseph Church Dome Chapel Y Y Y Y Y Yy Yy Yy WW VW VW VY VW VW VY VW VW VW VW WV W YW Play Acoustic Reference manual 2014 07 16 Hockey Arena Museum Indoor Arena Warehouse Thin Spring Full Spring vY VvV V V Vy YV Level parameter Use the Level parameter to control the overall level of the reverb Press the right upper soft but ton to select this parameter and use the control knob to adjust the level 0 dB is the maximum volume for the effect Decay parameter Use the Decay parameter to define ho
52. setting Use the Live setting when you are playing live or processing a recorded vocal track from your DAW using the aux in to provide guide tracks Tracks setting Use the Tracks setting when you are singing along with prerecorded music e g from an MP3 player Monitor setting Use the Monitor setting to remove incoming Aux signals from the main output This allows you to hear Aux audio via headphones but not pass that audio to the PA This is a great solution for cost effective in ear monitoring The TC Helicon Guitar amp Headphone Cable is an excellent way to combine your guitar and headphone signals into a single cable For more information see tc helicon com products guitar headphone cable 32 TCHELICON System page 2 4 7 Global Key parameter Use the Global Key parameter to define if key and scale information for harmony generation and or pitch correction should be global or pre set specific Off setting Key can be set per individual preset via direct key setting C D F etc Guitar IN via Natural Play RoomSense or Aux On setting When a key is chosen within a preset that key will remain even when you switch to another pre set Global Tempo parameter Use the Global Tempo parameter to define if tempo based effects should follow a global tem po or a preset specific setting Off setting Tap tempo set within a preset changes from pre set to preset On setting Wen you have set a
53. sk of electric shock to humans The exclamation point triangle is used to alert the user to presence of impor tant operating and service instructions in the literature accompanying the product S TCHELICON Before you begin Before you begin Play Acoustic Reference manual 2014 07 16 4 TC HELICON About this manual This manual will help you understand and oper ate your Play Acoustic You can download the most current version of this reference manual from tc helicon com products play acoustic support To get the most from this reference manual please read it from start to finish or you may miss important information Play Acoustic Reference manual 2014 07 16 Getting support If you still have questions after reading this ref erence manual please read the FAQs visit the user forums and get in touch with support at support tc helicon com VoiceSupport VoiceSupport is the application that allows you to fully unlock the potential of your TC Helicon product and stay in touch with the latest news tips and tricks VoiceSupport key features include gt Professionally authored preset libraries gt Direct access to product manuals gt Update messaging helping you stay up to date with the latest software gt Drag amp drop preset management gt Customizable content about your products gt VoiceCouncil feeds for the latest advice for singers gt Firmware upgrading gt A
54. st be performed by qualified personnel gt There are no user serviceable parts inside Important safety instructions Warning To reduce the risk of fire or electric shock do not expose this apparatus to rain or moisture and objects filled with liquids such as vases should not be placed on this apparatus gt This apparatus must be earthed gt Use a three wire grounding type line cord like the one supplied with the product Be advised that different operating voltages require the use of different types of line cord and attachment plugs Check the voltage in your area and use the correct type Voltage Line plug according to standard 110 to 125 V UL817 and CSA C22 2 no 42 220 to 230 V CEE 7 page VII SR section 107 2 D1 IEC 83 page C4 This equipment should be installed near the socket outlet and disconnection of the device should be easily accessible To completely disconnect from AC mains dis connect the power supply cord from the AC receptacle The mains plug of the power supply shall re main readily operable gt Do not install this device in a confined space gt For use at an altitude of 2000 m or lower gt Do not open the unit risk of electric shock inside TCHELICON EMC EMI Electromagnetic compatibility Electromagnetic interference This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class B digital de vice pursuant to part 15 of the FCC rules These
55. style HIT setting The effect block is assigned to the Play Acous tic HIT button or the button on a microphone supporting Mic Control and will become active when the HIT button is lit See the Setup section for instructions on how to activate Mic Control Play Acoustic Reference manual 2014 07 16 Vocal FX button section 38 TCHELICON Harmony page 1 7 Use the Harmony block to create harmonies that accompany your lead vocal using up to two ad ditional voices Style parameter The Style parameter determines the number of harmony voices and the way those voices relate to your lead vocal Choose from the following styles High Higher Low Lower Octave Up Octave Down High amp Low High amp Higher High amp Lower Higher amp Lower Higher amp Low Lower amp Low Oct Down amp Up Oct Down amp Higher Oct Down amp High Oct Down amp Low Oct Down amp Lower Oct Up amp Higher Oct Up amp High Oct Up amp Low Oct Up amp Lower Semitones 5 Semitones Yy Y Y Y Y Yy Yy Yy Y Yy W VW VW VW VW VW VW VW VY WV WV VW Yy Play Acoustic Reference manual 2014 07 16 7 amp 5 Semitones 12 amp 7 Semitones 12 amp 5 Semitones 12 amp 7 Semitones 12 amp 5 semitones vY V V y Yy Level parameter Use the Level parameter to control the overall level of the harmonies Press the upper right soft button to select this parameter and use the control knob to adjus
56. t the level O dB is the maximum volume for the effect Key parameter Key is the most important setting for creating harmonies Get it right and things sound amaz ing Get it wrong and they will sound well bad Auto setting With the Auto setting key is set automatically based on input from gt the Guitar input connector gt the Aux connector gt the RoomSense microphones in this particular order The priority of inputs is as listed For example if you have a guitar plugged into the GUITAR IN and tracks playing via the Aux in the system will read key scale information from the guitar If the Vocal FX button section guitar stops playing and the Aux signal contin ues the system will then look to the Aux input for chord information Key setting With the Key setting you can choose any of the 12 keys C through b in Western music 39 TCHELICON Harmony Advanced page To enter the Harmony Advanced page press and hold any of the lit Blue Led soft buttons To exit the Advanced page press the BACK button Scale parameter If the Key is set manually not auto the ad vanced menu will allow you set the scale associ ated with the Key Choose one of the following settings Major 1 Major 2 Major 3 Minor 1 Minor 2 Minor 3 vY VvV V V y Yy For more information see TC Helicon scales reference chart You can also find this chart on the TC Helicon website support tc helicon com entr
57. tempo using tempo tap ping within a preset that tempo will remain even when you switch to another preset Play Acoustic Reference manual 2014 07 16 RoomSense LoCut parameter Use the RoomSense LoCut parameter to roll off undesirable frequencies from your mix In some circumstances the low frequencies in the room such as bass or kick drum can cause the RoomSense microphones to become muddy sounding The built in high pass filter al lows you to reduce this kind of rumble Guitar Gate parameter Use the Guitar Gate parameter to set the gate threshold for the GUITAR input Guitars have varying amounts of noise inherent in their signal Sometimes it is desirable to set a gate to cut off or mute the guitar when the incoming signal is very low We have set the threshold pretty low by default but you may want to raise it to suit your style Having a higher gate threshold can be effec tive when playing quick chords with rests in be tween Mic Boost parameter If you are a quiet singer you can use the Mic Boost parameter to increase the microphone gain Some artists sing more quietly than others re quiring the Mic Gain knob to be turned up quite far To offset this we have added a Mic Boost Setup button section feature which allows 6 Low or 12 High dB of extra gain if you need it The default value is 6 dB Low BodyRez Editing parameter Basic s
58. the Ratio parameter to define the amount of compression applied to the signal The signal at the input of the compressor has to exceed the threshold by the number of decibels dB set with this parameter to raise the signal at the output by 1 dB Here is an example gt Set the Threshold parameter to 10 dB gt Set Ratio to 4 0 gt Now if the level of the signal at the Compressor s input suddenly jumps to 6 dB it is 4 dB above the Threshold 10 dB and the compressor kicks in The Compressor will compress those 4 extra decibels to 1 dB this is the compression ratio Accordingly the level of the signal at the compressor s output will only jump from 10 dB to 9 dB Release parameter Use the Release parameter to define how fast the original signal level should be restored once the signal at the guitar input falls under the Threshold value Ambience parameter The Ambience section of the BodyRez effect block utilizes timing variances to emulate body resonance from your acoustic guitar Use the Amount parameter to set the amount of Ambi ence applied to the signal Play Acoustic Reference manual 2014 07 16 Guitar FX button section 99 TCHELICON Guitar Anti Feedback page 7 7 In live environments the open body style of acoustic guitars is especially prone to feedback from nearby sound sources such as stage moni tors or PA speakers To assist you with feedback management there are some controls to a
59. them to Here are a few things to keep an eye on General troubleshooting l m singing but can t hear anything gt Make sure you have turned up the input gain so that the input LED is lighting green gt Have you plugged in your headphones or con nected to a PA gt Is the PA turned on connected to its speakers and receiving signal If not check your PA manual to make sure ev erything is set up correctly gt Are you using a condenser mic gt Did you make sure to change the microphone type to condenser in the setup menu have turned on the harmony effects but they don t sound right gt Did you select a key scale gt Is it the right key for the song gt If you are using RoomSense to listen for Key information make sure it s close to whichever instrument is playing the most clearly defined chords Rhythm Guitar Piano etc gt If you are using an MP3 player to sing along with tracks set the AUX IN TYPE parameter in the Setup Menu to TRACKS Some tracks Play Acoustic Reference manual 2014 07 16 will work better for NaturalPlay than others based on the mix and instrumentation of the recording gt If you are using Guitar to control harmony make sure you have got the Key set to AUTO on the harmony effect page None of the effects seem to be making any changes to the sound gt Is the unit in Talk Tuner mode gt If the HIT LED is flashing tap it once to ret
60. ttings There is no Guitar HIT setting functionality Play Acoustic Reference manual 2014 07 16 Guitar FX button section 50 TCHELICON Guitar Reverb page 1 7 Reverb creates room around a signal Es sentially it puts your dry guitar into a simulated space small or large to give a sense of depth and distance Style parameter Use the Style parameter to determine the size of the simulated space and also the type of material being used to create the simulation Choose from the following styles Hall of Fame Hall Hall of Fame Plate Hall of Fame Room Hall of Fame Church Hall of Fame Spring Hall of Fame Ambience Hall of Fame Lofi Hall of Fame Tile Smooth Plate Reflection Plate Thin Plate Bright Plate Real Plate Real Plate Long Jazz Plate Quick Plate Soft Hall Amsterdam Hall Broadway Hall Snappy Room Library Dark Room Yy Y Y Y Y Yy Y Yy Y Y Y Ww WY WY VW VY VY VY Y VY VW YW Play Acoustic Reference manual 2014 07 16 Music Club Studio Room Bouncy Room Cozy Corner Bright Chamber Wooden Chamber St Joseph Church Dome Chapel Hockey Arena Museum Indoor Arena Warehouse Thin Spring Full Spring Yy Y YV Y Y Y Yy Yy YV WW Y VW Yy Level parameter Use the Level parameter to control the overall level of the reverb Press the right middle soft button to select this parameter and use the con trol knob to adjust the level O dB is the maximum volu
61. urn to normal operation How do restore all of the factory presets gt When powering up the unit press and hold the two arrow buttons next to the Control Knob Any changes you have made to pre sets will be erased gt Back up your custom presets via VoiceSup port How do perform a full factory reset gt When powering up the unit press and hold Back and store gt Any changes you have made to presets or set up information will be erased gt Back up your custom presets and setup data via VoiceSupport Troubleshooting VoiceSupport is a bit confusing where can learn more about it gt Goto tc helicon com products voicesupport support 65 TCHELICON Appendix Appendix Play Acoustic Reference manual 2014 07 16 66 TCHELICON TC Helicon scales reference chart Scale Maj 1 Maj 1 Maj 2 Maj 2 Maj 3 Maj 3 Min 1 Min 1 Min 2 Min 2 Min 3 Min 3 Sung Note Chosen voicing interval 3rd High Lower 5th Higher Low 3rd High Lower 5th Higher Low 3rd High Lower 5th Higher Low 3rd High Lower 5th Higher Low 3rd High Lower oth Higher Low 3rd High Lower 5th Higher Low O Oo lTollolmioimioim Db nc nc nc nc nc nc nc nc nc nc nc nc Highlighted cells show differences between scales nc no change Play Acoustic Reference manual 2014 07 16 Harmony notes in the Key of C g Pn
62. w long it takes for the reverb to fade away Longer Decay times generally sound like large spaces while shorter times sound like small spaces Each Reverb style has its own decay time but you can change it Vocal FX button section 44 TCHELICON HardTune page 5 7 Ah HardTune Some call it the Cher effect and others refer to it as Auto Tune Whatever you name it If you are looking for that radio pop tuned sound this is your effect The HardTune effect block can also be used for scale based natural pitch correction so don t discount the effect if you are looking for correc tion that does not sound robotic Style parameter Use the Style parameter to determine the accu racy speed and aggressiveness of the tuning effect Choose from the following styles Pop Country Gliss Robot Correct Natural Correct Chromatic not scale based Drone Gender Bender vY VvV V V V Vy Yy Shift parameter Use the Shift parameter to shift the note you are singing up or down by one or more semi tones You can shift your voice up or down by up to 36 semitones Play Acoustic Reference manual 2014 07 16 Gender parameter Use the Gender parameter to manipulate the tim bre of your voice to sound more male or more fe male in nature Extreme settings for this param eter will sound very unnatural but that may be just the effect you are looking for Vocal FX button section 45 TCH
63. will have the Transducer effect applied Gate Threshold parameter Transducer effects are very prone to feedback via a PA or monitor The Transducer block has an independent gate that can be set to help al leviate feedback Raising the threshold will cause the effect to kick in at a higher input volume which can help avoid feedback while you are not singing Play Acoustic Reference manual 2014 07 16 For more information about feedback and tips on how to reduce or eliminate it check out this Craig s Corner video youtube com watch v VIN1RJ4gcAo Gain parameter Use the Gain parameter to control the overall level of the transducer effect Vocal FX button section 47 TCHELICON uMod page 7 7 uMod stands for micro modulation The uMod effect block is used for creating effects that modulate the signal such as flanger phaser panning or chorus Style parameter Use the Style parameter to select the style of the UMod effect Choose from the following styles Micromod Clone Micromod Wider Thicken Light Chorus Medium Chorus Wide Chorus Mono Chorus Fast Rotor Panner Flanger Flange Feedback Flange Negative Mono Flange Soft Flange Tube Up Tube Down Tube Down amp Up Tube Rise and Fall Auto Wah Y Y Y Y Y Yy Yy Yy Yy Y Y Y Y Y VY VY VY Yy y Yy gt Underwater Play Acoustic Reference manual 2014 07 16 gt Cylon Mono gt Cylon Stereo gt Alien Voiceover Leve
64. y Acoustic XLR outputs O O z D GUITAR DI R VOICE L URI oD BE OO 0 0 ee a E a 00e EX 5 Setup example Guitar and vocals via FX150 and stereo out to a PA Play Acoustic Reference manual 2014 07 16 26 S TCHELICON Connection diagrams Stereo PA and TC Helicon Guitar amp Headphone cable If you own our Guitar amp Headphone cable sold separately you can use an external monitor _ ouros TC HELICON INPUTS e send to the Aux in on Play Acoustic to create a EDA GUITAR IN i APN la headphone IEM mix O UM oI i Setup example Stereo PA and guitar headphone cable not included Play Acoustic Reference manual 2014 07 16 27 S TCHELICON Setup button section Setup button section Play Acoustic Reference manual 2014 07 16 28 TCHELICON Input page 1 7 Input parameter Use the Input parameter to select the type of mi crophone you will be using Dynamic Mic setting Use the Dynamic Mic setting for dynamic micro phones like an SM 58 or OME Condenser Mic setting Use the Condenser Mic setting for condenser microphones like a Beta 87a MP 75 or e835fx mic setting Use the MP 75 or the e835fx mic setting with the MP 75 or e835fx microphones which have an on board switch to control various functions of your Play Acoustic such as HIT or LOOP functions The Mic Control feature defaults to HIT when M

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