TC Helicon H1: Using with Many Instruments and other Tricks!

****Re-uploaded due to error on original video****
The TC Helicon H1 harmony pedal is, as it says on it, "intelligent". It's musical, flexible and does all sorts of favours to expand your sound.
In this video, I show how you can use it if you don't have a guitar or keyboard: maybe you're a solo singer or a bass player who sings..
Also covered is what to do if you're in a minor key (default keys on the TC H1 are majors).
Perhaps you're a string or brass player that would like harmonies - this is for you too!
Enjoy and share
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[@southsidejohnny5624]

Dan, you are the man! This was the best demo I’ve seen of any of these types of pedals. Thank you very much. This was a musician’s review, by a musician, for musicians.

[@luisthree]

Excellent video! You go to the point and you tell exactly what we need to know. Thank you!

[@aidanlizotte9124]

Great video man. I appreciate that you gave many filled out examples rather than play the same 10 second riff the whole video

[@9C85-g4b]

Just bought one. Can't wait to play with it

[@user-gy7up2um3b]

Incredibly helpful, thank you!

[@edgardocrespo3840]

You never cease to amaze me, the best demonstrator on YOU TUBE. More power to you.

[@joycefleming1422]

What a great demo of this pedal I’m thinking of buying! Thank you! 🙏🏻🎶

[@nimaljayathilaka4718]

Very clear instruction.thank you from Srilanka

[@RayAdanREIMA]

Great review! Very useful... Thanks a lot!

[@chiparooo]

Cool pedal! Thanks for demoing and sharing.

[@tavaresbrasil9448]

Legal cara ! Foi bom e pratico o que fez. Parabéns !🎉

[@liesbetleroy]

Great review, thank you!

[@JohnBilowus]

Great Demo Dan! I am interested in purchasing this unit . I have my backing tracks on a laptop. I just plug and play into my powered mixer. Would I connect this unit directly into the laptop and laptop directly into my mixer? Would this work? Thank you for your time and expertise.

[@DanBakerMusic]

This should work, but if you feed the pedal from an auxiliary so that your backing track goes into the unit unaffected by the master and allowing you to mix the gig without worry. The mic would then go into the unit and out into the mic in of your desk. The unit won’t like a hotter level like that from a desk main output. One thing you could also do is to mix from your laptop so that you get drums and bass through one channel and keys through the other. You could then feed the unit from the keys channel, making the detection more reliable..

[@MusicLand53]

Very informative. I have been looking at harmony pedals, recently, for recording vocals on my songs. This seems, like a good pedal. I have also looked at the Boss VE-2. Thanks

[@Windiguana]

Just double checked the upload date upon seeing that crt in the background 😂 Excellent video you made here. Also not hating on the crt in any way.

[@Teemac831]

Very good information and tips for this outstanding pedal. I am a bass player and own this pedal. Your insight for bass players to use the harmonizer is much appreciated! Great work! You are very talented. I always enjoy your videos!

[@DanBakerMusic]

Thank you very much! I used this for a while, gigging. I actually mounted it half way up a mic stand to make quick changes of key!

[@johntammaro]

Great video Dan. Not sure why but something tells me I had some software with the same name many years ago. I haven't Googled this yet but will have another look in my old cd collection later

[@tchelicon]

This video is great! Can we share it on our social channels and tag you?

[@DanBakerMusic]

Thank you very much and please do share! Is there anything else I can demo for you?

[@thisecosystem6362]

Great video. For clarification, I was wondering if there was any other pedals/FX present in the signal chain for your vocals in this demo? Great sound.

[@DanBakerMusic]

Hi there-thanks for watching! The vocals will have had some compression for the final mix of the audio to accompany the video, but nothing else…

[@kiskadar69]

Good demo! 7:16 "the pedal doesn't supply phantom power": not true. The pedal provides 24V phantom power.

[@sandraandpaul]

excellent video, thanks. How can I feed the chords from an acoustic guitar into it and feed it into an electric violin instead of a mic? Thanks

[@DanBakerMusic]

Plug your electric violin into a passive DI box and take the mic output (XLR) of the box into the pedal. An active DI won’t work as the pedal doesn’t provide phantom power..

[@kingstumble]

Super demo. Hours of fun.

[@sachachanyan]

Hi! Very useful info! Thanks...! Maybe you can answer the following question: Is it at all possible to change the mode of the switch from latch to momentary? I have so many songs where I need to switch between harmony on and off very quickly within a single phrase. Thanks in advance...

[@DanBakerMusic]

I don’t think there is unfortunately….

[@sachachanyan]

@@DanBakerMusic😓 Ok, thanks anyway!

[@jimmccall2689]

Volume pedal in an effects loop?

[@sachachanyan]

@@jimmccall2689 Hmmm! 💡🤔

[@davidperreault8889]

Hi Dan, very good information. I am a bass player and would like to know more information about using this H1 with the bass. I play rock and blues music. I didn't quite follow your instructions on using in in a minor key ... Do I use the Dorian mode of the major key? Thanks Dave

[@2pains808]

mahalo for this!!!!

[@larrythebag]

Hey Dan! Came across your channel while researching TC Helicon stuff and saw a comment comparing H1 (somewhat negatively) to Harmony M. From what I understand, these two work in different ways: Harmony M offers a lot more funcionality (FX, manual mode etc) but is pretty much useless without a midi controller, while H1 works more or less out of the box thanks to the key knob, and is more guitar-friendly. Right now I have the oppotunity to get either of these (used). Since I'm primarily a guitar player and singer, H1 seems like an obvious choice, because I don't need to get distracted to control the key of the backing vocals with a midi controller. However, the extra functionality of Harmony M is also very alluring (even though I'd have to pay more than double to get the pedal itself and a portable midi controller). What would you recommend? Oh and thanks a lot for both videos, I didn't manage to find a better source of info about H1 anywhere else. P.S. I know about Harmony G as well, but it's not available where I live.

[@DanBakerMusic]

Hi Alexander-the H1 is a very hood choice for any guitarist as it recognises and sorts out all the harmony for BVs, as you say, straight out of the box. It’s such a great pedal in that you can manually set the key as well..you have to think in modal/relative minors to get minor keys to work, but a little playing around with it will yield results...

[@larrythebag]

​@@DanBakerMusic thanks! Yeah, the thing is, technically if I have a small midi controller with a sustain pedal nearby, it can function as the key knob with an added bonus of easily recognizable minor keys. So I guess, the only big drawback of Harmony M would be the impossibility to quickly adapt the backing vocals to a sudden key change while playing the guitar (without some bells and whistles like some kind of midi backing track going into the pedal). Could you also say something about the quality of the voices in both pedals? Because if the difference is insignificant enough, I'll probably just go with H1.

[@JCBCVideos]

Can you answer a question re: the H1 with a bass guitar... I know that you can't plug the bass into the pedal and must set the major keys manually. However, I have a question about the minor key setting. You say to use the Dorian Mode which would be F in the key of G. However, the 2nd of G is A, not F. I'm not a music theorist so I'm confused. If you're telling me that to play any minor you just set the device one full step below the key of the song, I'm very cool with that. But that's a b7th, not the Dorian. Can you explain further. I have no problem putting the pedal on my music stand and setting it correctly for any song. Would just like to add some harmony to our work. Thanks...

[@jakobmuire2355]

Dan, what about midi files? Can that be used on H-1 Voicetone?

[@DanBakerMusic]

It’s just audio..

[@TidesOnEarth]

I'm using the Harmony Singer 2 currently. Is this an upgrade from that pedal? This one seems to have the ability to set the key, which leads me to believe this is an upgrade. Thanks for the vid!

[@gutbucket260]

I think this one came first. The Harmony 2 is a slimmed down version? I bought this version a a few years ago and there wasn't a Harmony 2 back then.

[@enriquepedro9876]

Hello, I have an H1 Helicon, when I sing, I have to change the Key if the song is in different chord.for the harmony, thanks for you response, I dont play the guitar

[@cryptofantasy149]

can i use it for recording a piano with smartphone video camera?

[@sevalsezgin4841]

Arkadan gelen vokal sesi kendi sesimizden az olacak şekilde kısabiliyor muyuz?

[@kiskadar69]

Evet. KURU/ISLAK potansiyometresi herhangi bir oranı ayarlamak için kullanılabilir.

[@BlakeSandenMedia]

Can I use my H1 and my C1 together thru ONE MIC ?

[@gersomengels]

Yes

[@gersomengels]

Mic into C1 first, then into H1

[@luisthree]

Can you push the pedal when you need VB and release it when you don't (instead of pushing and pushing again)?

[@DanBakerMusic]

Unfortunately not-it’s a push-push

[@DavideRuggerini]

I don't understand. Do you feed the guitar input with the backing track?

[@DanBakerMusic]

Usually the guitar feeds the input, but if you have backing tracks on stage, it does mean that a guitarist would have more flexibility in playing. I’ve done this where there is a click on one channel of the backing track, and basic chords of the song on the other, which connect directly to the H1 and it works well...

[@iSteen]

Can you please explain (for newbies) how to set the mode for bass players? I didn't understand setting a G as an F etc.

[@DanBakerMusic]

It’s all to do with the modes, that is if the tune is in a major key, minor key, or a bluesy type tune. Basically, you set the knob to G for G major, and the same for all other major keys, but if you want G minor, set the knob to F or Bb (play with it to get the harmonies dependent on your other chords in the tune) and then set it to C if you want the more bluesy dominant 7th sounds. I’ll make a video on this...

[@iSteen]

@@DanBakerMusic thank you, I will really look forward to that video. Thank you for inspiration

[@Tonytotalify]

6:30 sounds like the Melotron on Strawberry Fields:)

[@arno-luyendijk4798]

I have one question as to the connection to the guitar: do you plug it in after the first pedal of your guitar pedal chain, or do you have to use a guitar amp with send and return plugin?

[@kiskadar69]

For best results, send a clean guitar sound into the H1.

[@robertocadow8634]

Hi, does this pedal works (with vocals) with a guitar that is played through a amp sim ? thank you for your answer...greetings from Lima Peru

[@gersomengels]

Route guitar through H1 first, then into your amp simulator

[@norbertsmallegange6331]

Just put this pedal BEFORE you go into any other fx

[@jacobsmithjr]

Wouldn't it be better to use the relative minor key instead of Dorian mode. For example, if you want g minor use Bb major setting.

[@DanBakerMusic]

It depends entirely on whether chord four in a minor key is major or minor. Taking G minor as an example, it could be that you have a C major chord instead of C minor, the difference being E or Eb. The only way to see which one to use depends on the chord sequence...

[@MikeydeLaraCovers]

Might you know if it’s connected to a reference pitch? I play in 432… is this gonna be useless for me? (If I want to sound good?)

[@DanBakerMusic]

It’s at 440 only I believe. The USB socket is for firmware updates only.

[@kiskadar69]

I think the H1 is useless for you because I think the H1 only works well with 440Hz tuning. You can adjust the reference frequency in several other models of TC-Helicon.

[@JVJF7]

Will the phantompower pass through the pedal?

[@kiskadar69]

The phantom power does not pass through the H1 pedal, but the H1 always provides 24V phantom power to its own microphone input.

[@stuhughes877]

Can this be used without an instrument when singing with backing tracks

[@DanBakerMusic]

You can use these without an instrument but you need to set the key and it can be tricky if the song modulates! One idea is to have a live pre-prepared chord track that feeds only the helicon

[@stuhughes877]

@@DanBakerMusic thank you

[@lastoftheurgents1965]

what happens with a song that has a key change later in the song?

[@DanBakerMusic]

When I used to do a lot of gigs with it, I had the thing on a mic stand holder and manually switched it!

[@lastoftheurgents1965]

@@DanBakerMusic Ok, Thanks. Great videos btw Cheers

[@stewvlogs5084]

Anyone know if this pedal connects straight to your pedal board through the send return loop or do I need a separate amp to connect it to. Thank you

[@DanBakerMusic]

You’d be better off putting this in line, before your pedalboard, so the H1 can recognize the guitar chords clean...

[@franklongman8937]

First he He HE ha Ha HA HA! HA!! HA!!! HA!!!! HA!!!!! HA!!!!!!