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Vocal harmonizer app that AUTO DETECTS musical (not just midi) chords (and keys?).
Hi everyone!
Im fairly new to this whole digital thing - but I have been lurking on here for a few months now, and what an amazing forum it is! A huge plethora of knowledge, helpful ideas and likeminded people. Im really looking forward to being a part of this community 
Over the past few years I have been playing my solo shows with a vast amount of guitars, basses, pianos, drums, pedals, mics, mixing boards, loopers and all sorts. I am getting tired of taking 4+ trips to the car for a 1 man show, so I downloaded AB, AUM, Loopy, and a ton of VST's, effects, drum machines and IR loaders. All of that is great and super fun!
The place where I am stuck is my vocal harmonies... I currently use a T.C. Hellicon Harmony Singer 2 which I would love to be rid of - but only if there is an app that will do the job.
So I am looking for a vocal harmoniser app - IAA/AUV3 with low DSP usage etc. that can AUTO DETECT chords played on a guitar and offer a selection of harmonies. Finding the key is less important, but it would be a cool feature.
Ive looked at Vocal Soloist (4Pockets), Voloco (Resonant Cavity), VocalLive (Ik Multimedia), Voice Rack FX (T.C. Hellicon), and Harmony Voice (VirSyn).
I couldn't see the auto detect feature in any of these apps. They all (as far as I could tell) required the user to preset Key, Scale, Mode etc. or are operated by Midi command - not what I'm looking for. Alas my guitar does not send midi.
My apologies if this has been answered in another thread somewhere. I did a fair bit of digging, but to no avail. I might be just another blind noob looking for easy answers. lol.
Thank you all for your help and comments in advance!
I should say that I am currently using an iPad Air2 USB linked to a Behringer XR18 mixer, but hope to upgrade to a 2021 iPad Pro in a few weeks - I'll use the same mixer.
Comments
Harmonizr will do that quite well, but it’s made for vocals. I can’t say how well the detection will work with guitar. Here’s a little improvisation I made with it, only two tracks:
I can’t offer any help. I was going to recommend AudioKit’s LE03 AudioTune, as I didn’t see it on your list, but I think it’s “Sold Out” (I’m glad to have it!) and I don’t know if it has what you’re looking for anyway.
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/le03-audiotune-auv3/id1514663681
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/voice-rack-fx-vocal-effects-processor/id950058913
Nothing detects guitar input accurately as well as "MIDI Guitar 2"... it has a confusing set of In-App features you'll need but it's great. Once you have MIDI it's easier to use other apps that can do auto-arranging stuff like "One Man Band" and others. MIDI Guitar 2 can host AUv3 apps outside of AUM too.
One Man Band can import Yamaha Arranger style files but most styles are pretty dated but still serviceable.
Cable everything together in AUM, IMHO.
But the best thing is a solid Looper app with pre-loaded tracks you can trigger for each tune... like a good Boss Pedal. Our host here is working on a Looper app (as an updated creation to replace to his aging "Loopy" that made him independent in the mid 2010's).
Quantiloop is a good take on a hardware Looper pedal down to the graphical user interface. Quantiloop can host AUv3 apps outside of AUM too.
For easy triggering of Audio segments... check out Koala sampler. A single note can make it go and a pedal board or other input can be used. Koala is dirt cheap for what it does.
+1 for harmonizr
Here a mini tutorial by his developer.
I’ll add this old dinosaur too. Needs a little work , also has nice just tuning presets
Of all the ones listed above , I have tried harmonizr a lot and can’t be trusted live, too glitchy
None of apps can do the TC electronic guitar trick , that’s why the big bucks
Though I have not used , you can have a look at waves auto tune
Yeah, Im using AUM to run everything - just like a big mixing board I'm used to.
Looks similar to my Boss RC300, I have this, and I've had n RC505. Im trying to declutter. lol. I dont really have anywhere to stand when I'm plying. haha
Great job on this one!! Thanks for the info
I think Ill be getting Harmonizr - I got myself Voice Rack FX because I trust T.C.
Hopefully with those 2, a nice compressor and external verb, ch, and delay I should be ok...
I think Quantiloop is a good shout - a bit more 'hardcore' than Loopy. I'd be really interested to see what Michael comes out with. Multi channel looping, with some sort of DJ element would be SICK!!!
Create the loops, have them playing, have the option to fade each one in or out, group them into Vocals, instruments, drums etc (like Djay Pro does), then be able to slow, speed up, filter, fade etc, all from the same interface. That would be incredible! - I just posted this idea in feature Wishlist. lol.
Thanks for the advice and comments guys!!
Much appreciated
The one caveat is that Harmonizr will glitch sometimes when it can’t parse the input. For me I have come to accept that as part of the character of the instrument, like new guitar strings squeaking when you slide your fingers along them. But it can sometimes be annoying and require another take.
Ah ok. Thanks for the heads up.
I’m going to be using it for live purposes mostly, and I doubt I’ll loop the harmonized vocals, so another take might not be an option.
Thanks tho!
Just be sure to test the HELL out of any setup you settle on, and once you find something stable, never, ever change anything without another full round of testing and practice. This includes adding any new apps to the mix and even updating apps or iOS.
iOS is nothing like a hardware setup. It can do unexpected things like suspending apps when it thinks it's out of memory. App updates can break things, iOS updates regularly break things. Apps that you think are closed can leave behind "ghost" processes.
You can achieve a stable setup, but you have to approach it with a very different mindset than with hardware. Oh ... and always reboot your device before a performance. Also get in the habit of "resetting memory" after every music session. On the Air2 the way to do it is to: force-quit all apps, then hold down the power button until the power-off slider comes up but don't power off, finally, hold down the home button until you're returned to the home screen or get the prompt for your device unlock code.
@wim THANK YOU!!
This is great to know, especially as I’ll be using all this in a live setting.
Much appreciated buddy!
There are some people around here that use iOS successfully live (I'm not one of them
). You might want to start a thread on that subject once you start getting your setup figured out. They will have lots of great insight, I'm sure.
BTW, what version of iOS are you on? If you haven't gone to iOS 14 yet, you should hold off. There's a bug that can make all your AUv3 apps go "missing" from time to time. It's solvable with a reboot, but not something you'd want to have happen during a performance.
Hahahahah…. Crap.
Yeah, running iOS 14. Something.
Gonna be upgrading to the new iPad 12.9 when I can, so hopefully those bugs are sorted. lol!
Good idea! When I’m more established with this set up, I’ll make a thread
thanks for all your help @wim 
‘#wimming
Good tips and thoughts.
I’m using for a live setup 4 iPads and 1 iPhone.
A thread for live performance tips and tricks will be a blessing.
Haha, me too! Trying to cut down to just 4 iPads.
Great ideas on here guys!!
Thanks for all the info and possibilities!
Cool.
Do u sync them all with Ableton link?
Not with my current set up.
But in the past I have.
I’ve managed to cram most of the important stuff on my main iPad, using another for the AB remote, one for my XR18 mixer and the other for lyrics.