Electro-Harmonix VOICE BOX User Manual

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VOICE BOX
Harmony Machine and Vocoder
Congratulations on your purchase of the Electro-Harmonix Voice Box!
The Voice Box is a comprehensive and easy to use vocal harmony
machine and vocoder. Singers can produce 1 to 4 part harmonies from
their solo vocals. The harmonies are determined by the chords played on
your instrument and the notes you sing. The Voice Box has a superb and
easy to use vocoder, allowing you to easily create classic vocoder
sounds. Additionally the Voice Box has an Octave mode, Whistle effect
and a Unison effect.
Special Features of the Voice Box:
 3 different dual harmony modes including: Low, High, Low + High.
 3 different multi harmony modes.
 Vocoder mode turns the Voice Box into a professional sounding
vocoder.
 Octave mode produces an octave above and below your vocal.
 Whistle mode synthesizes a whistle tone 2 octaves above the note you
sing.
 Unison mode allows for a formant shaping effect without pitch shifting.
 Save and load up to 9 presets: 1 preset for each mode.
 Scroll through the presets using the MODE knob or PRESET Footswitch.
 Built-In balanced Mic Pre-Amp with switchable Phantom Power and Gain
adjustment.
 Effect output on balanced XLR line output for interfacing with mixers
and stage breakout boxes.
 Clean and transparent analog instrument through circuitry.
WARNING: Use only the AC Adapter that the Voice Box comes
supplied with. Do not use any other AC Adapters. Using other AC
adapters, even those made by Electro-Harmonix, could cause harm to
the unit
,
the ada
p
ter or
y
ou. The Voice Box does not use batteries.
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- QUICK START GUIDE -
BASIC CONNECTION SETUP
1. Connect your microphone to the MIC input on the right side of
the Voice Box using a balanced XLR cable.
2. Connect a balanced XLR cable to the EFFECT output jack on the
left side of the Voice Box. Connect the other end of the XLR
cable to the line input of a mixer.
3. Using an unbalanced instrument cable, plug your instrument into
the INST Input Jack on the right side of the Voice Box.
4. Connect your instrument’s amp or chain of effects into the INST
output jack on the left side of the Voice Box.
5. Plug the AC Adapter into a wall outlet.
6. Plug the barrel connector of the AC Adapter into the 9V power
jack at the top of the Voice Box. Polarity is center negative.
7. If using a condenser microphone, flip the Phantom Power switch
up to the top position, otherwise leave it off. The Phantom
Power Switch is located on the right side of the Voice Box, next
to the XLR MIC input.
8. Push the MIC BYPASS Footswitch until its associated LED is off.
Sing into the microphone, you will hear your dry vocal at this
point. Adjust mixer settings as well as the MIC GAIN switch on
the Voice Box to obtain optimal mic levels.
USING THE HARMONIES
1. Rotate the white MODE knob clockwise until LOW HARMONY
mode is selected.
2. Rotate the GENDER BENDER, DRY and HARMONY REVERB
knobs fully counter-clockwise.
3. Rotate the BLEND and VOICE MIX knobs so that they are set to
12 o’clock or 50% position.
4. Play your instrument to make sure you can hear it well. Now
tune your instrument, the harmonies in the Voice Box work best
when your instrument is properly tuned with itself. The
instrument does not have to be tuned to A440 or any other
standard.
5. Play some chords and sing, you will hear the Voice Box produce
mostly 3rds and 5ths below your original vocal and in tune with
your instrument.
6. Rotate the MODE knob to load the other harmony modes.

Electro-Harmonix VOICE BOX Specifications

Power

power jack voltage	9.6 VDC
power jack current	200 mA

Audio Specifications

output impedance	700 Ω
mic pre-amp gain (LO mode)	15 dB
mic pre-amp gain (HI mode)	25 dB
A/D and D/A conversion sample rate	36 kHz
A/D and D/A conversion bit resolution	24 bits

Summary

QUICK START GUIDE

BASIC CONNECTION SETUP

Step-by-step guide for connecting the Voice Box to microphones, instruments, and audio outputs.

USING THE HARMONIES

Instructions on selecting harmony modes and adjusting basic harmony settings like BLEND and VOICE MIX.

OPERATIONAL MODES AND KNOB FUNCTIONS

VOICE MIX and GENDER BENDER Knob Adjustments

Explains VOICE MIX for harmony blending and GENDER BENDER for timbre shaping across modes.

Adding Reverb to Vocals

Guide on applying separate reverb effects to dry vocals and harmony/effected vocals.

USING THE VOCODER

Instructions for setting up and using the vocoder mode to modulate instruments with vocals.

USING OCTAVES MODE

Explanation of the OCTAVES mode, which adds octave harmonies without an instrument.

ADVANCED MODES AND MODE DESCRIPTIONS

UNISON + WHISTLE MODE

Details UNISON for formant shift and WHISTLE for a two-octave whistle effect.

DESCRIPTION OF MODES OVERVIEW

Introduces the 9 modes and how knobs change functionality across them.

DETAILED MODE DESCRIPTIONS

Harmony Modes (Low, High, Low+High)

Explains LOW, HIGH, and LOW + HIGH harmony modes and their specific knob functions.

Multi Harmony Modes (1, 2, 3)

Details MULTI HARMONY 1, 2, and 3, explaining their harmony combinations and knob functions.

CONTINUED MODE DESCRIPTIONS

Octaves and Unison + Whistle Mode Details

In-depth guide to OCTAVES, UNISON, and WHISTLE effects and their control parameters.

Vocoder Mode Details

Comprehensive guide to the VOCODER mode, including its controls and effects.

PRESETS AND CONTROLS

PRESETS - Saving and Loading

Procedures for saving, loading, and managing presets for each mode.

PRESET Footswitch / LED Operation

Details the function of the PRESET footswitch and its status LED for loading presets.

CONTROLS, INDICATORS & I/O

MODE KNOB Functionality

Describes the MODE knob's function for scrolling through modes and saving/loading presets.

GENDER BENDER KNOB Functionality

Explains the GENDER BENDER knob's role in formant shifting across different modes.

VOICE MIX KNOB Functionality

Details the VOICE MIX knob's function in blending voices across various modes.

REVERB KNOBS Explained

Describes the DRY REVERB and HARMONY REVERB knobs for applying reverb.

BLEND KNOB Control

Explains the BLEND knob as a wet/dry control for the effect output.

MIC BYPASS Footswitch / STATUS LED

Describes the MIC BYPASS footswitch and its LED for switching between effect and bypass modes.

MIC GAIN and PHANTOM POWER Switches

Explains MIC GAIN sensitivity adjustment and PHANTOM POWER for condenser mics.

Microphone and Instrument Inputs

Describes the MIC INPUT XLR and INSTRUMENT INPUT 1/4" jacks and their requirements.

OUTPUTS AND SPECIFICATIONS

Instrument Output Jack

Describes the 1/4" INSTRUMENT OUTPUT jack for connecting to amps or effects.

9V Power Jack and Requirements

Details the power input requirements and connector type for the AC adapter.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Lists technical details like mic pre-amp gain, sample rate, and bit resolution.