The TC Helicon VoiceTone Create XT sweetens your vocals with reverb, auto-tune and automatic tone for less than $200

{rating}
VoiceTone Create XT is my take anywhere, use all the time pedal.

TC Helicon calls it a producer in a box.

It adds just enough to my live performances to sound like I have an engineer without paying for one.

It’s easy to use, change-up and has never let me down for years. Singing without any effects sounds flat. No pro allows their voice to be recorded or broadcast without effects.

VoiceTone Create XT adds reverb, delay, chorus, thickening and transducer to your voice with a few simple buttons.

When you are singing and playing guitar, there is no time to fiddle with complicated gear. VoiceTone Create XT is the essence of simple. Just plug it in, click one of 10 pre-sets and you have a polished sound for your voice.

One night I was singing at a lounge and a friend was in the audience. After the set he said “They could give you a little reverb.” Yikes! I had no control back then. With VoiceTone Correct XT I have it all at my feet with this cool pedal.

The effects can be used solo or chained. Before taking the pedal to a club, I auditioned all 99 chained effects and the solo effects. There were only 4 that I liked – two for ballads and two for up tempo songs.

After using the pedal, I settled into only two pre-sets that I tweak for the room. I’m not interested in playing with gear on stage and neither is the audience.

Tweaking is cool. Within any of the pre-sets, you can tweak a little more of this or a little less of that. I prefer a little less under the less is more strategy of voice mod.

The manual tells you what each chain consists of and what the XY tweaking controls. That is too complicated to memorize.

I pick the pre-set I like, tweak and go. My ears tell me all I need to know. If I don’t like the tweak I’ll change it next song.

You can also change the wet dry mix which at 11 o’clock sounds good to me all the time.

I did a gig with a friend and left VoiceTone Create XT on despite his initial nervousness. He was awesome compared to the dry vocal mic. The waitress kept stopping to listen. The audience loved it.

The pedal also has a reliable 48 volt output. I use that with a Neumann KMS 104 performance mic for a gorgeous warm and intimate sound. I’ve also used Create XT with a Shure Beta 58 and it worked just as well.

The VoiceTone Create XT works for any style of music: folk, roots, blues, country, ballads and rock.

I’ve also used it for broadcast recording and video to bring out those deep, warm tones.

In the recording studio, it is a pleasant addition but would prefer TC Helicon’s big brother VoiceLive 2 for flexibility. In the studio, I could pick up a slight noise floor with the VoiceTone XT.

Things not to like: the power wall warts take up too much room on the power bar if you have other effects. Dialing a pre-set is can be tricky as there are no detents on button. On stage, I never dial anything but use pre-sets. You can lose your pre-set by holding down the button too long but I always knows the ones I like and get it back in seconds.

The best thing about VoiceTone Create is that it works simply and reliably. Having tried the original VoiceLive pedal I understood the limits of my patience. This pedal is essentially all I need on stage. Well, that is except for Correct and Harmony.