Five years on from the launch of the VT-3, Roland has unveiled its latest Vocal Transformer box, the VT-4. Part of the Aira range, this is designed for adding both classic and futuristic effects to your voice, and offers hands-on control and a MIDI input so that you can ‘play it’ from your MIDI keyboard.
The processing tools cover the likes of harmonisation, vocoding, pitch-shifting, hard tuning and more, all of which can be accessed from the front panel with no menu diving. What’s more, the VT-4 can be powered for up to five hours with batteries, making it truly portable.
The effects offer real-time control, so you can make tweaks as you sing. There are dedicated Pitch and Formant sliders, while the central Auto-Pitch knob enables you to quickly dial-in your desired amount of hard tuning. You can use multiple effects at the same time and save these setups as presets for later recall.
If you plug in a MIDI keyboard you can use it to control the Auto-Pitch, harmony and vocoder engines. So, your voice can be hard-turned to specific notes as you sing, and you can create harmonies with voicings that follow the chords that you play.
The VT-4’s performance-centric workflow means that it’s likely to appeal to live performers, but its USB audio output means that it should also be easy to hook up to your DAW in the studio.
We’re still waiting on a price and release date for the VT-4, but we’ll bring you these when we have them. Find out more on the Roland website.
