The BOSS VE-500 Vocal Performer is a vocal-effects engine in a stompbox form factor. It’s suitable for guitar players looking to affect their vocals in a variety of ways. For instance, the pedal combines intelligent compression, EQ, and de-essing into an Enhance Section; this allows your voice to shine the best it can. Further atmospheric effects including reverb, delay, modulation, and more are at your disposal, as are trashy distortions and other ear-catching sounds.
By means of a guitar input and thru-put, you can create harmonies that follow the chordal structure of your playing, filling out the arrangement if you’re the sole singer in a band. This input can also be used to elicit classic vocoder and talkbox effects; thus, you can get that classic Peter Frampton sound without having to introduce a frequently-unsanitary tube into your mouth.
Have a favorite sound? Have several favorite sounds? You can store them in one of 99 presets, or utilize the 50 preset-patches already onboard. Controls are available via three assignable footswitches, three assignable knobs, intuitive buttons for the menu screen, and external footswitch options: Loop a TRS expression pedal into the external footswitch for continuous effects, or hook two control pedals into the VE-500 via a TRS-to-1/4″ Y cable, securing two additional footswitches in the process.
Turn your attention to the rear of VE-500 and you’ll note 1/4″ instrument jacks for your guitar’s input and thru-put. If you’re a MIDI-based musician, use the 5-pin DIN input to get info from your DAW, synth, or apposite harmony generator. You can also use the micro-USB type-B input for this purpose, or to use the Editor/Librarian software, which facilitates patch management and sound editing on your computer. An XLR input is on hand for your mic, and you can route mono or stereo sound to the house by means of the two XLR output jacks. An AC adapter is included.
Key Features at a Glance
- Vocal multi-effects stompbox for singing guitarists
- Automatic vocal harmony/pitch correction powered by BOSS algorithms for natural sound and smooth tracking
- 32-bit DSP engine for processing vocals with up to nine effects at once
- Enhance section for shaping core tone, including compression, de-essing, and more
- Extensive selection of effects specially tuned for vocals, along with reverb, delay, modulation, distortion, EQ, filter, and many other types for further processing
- Versatile and creative vocoder effect for generating electronic voice and talk-box sounds based on guitar input
- Flexible effect routing options for processing live and harmonized vocals together or separately
- Dedicated looper
- XLR mic input with adjustable sensitivity and available phantom power
- Guitar input for harmony, pitch, and vocoder processing; Thru output for sending unprocessed signal to guitar pedals
- Stereo XLR outputs for sending vocal sounds to a PA mixer or recorder
- Three assignable footswitches for real-time performance control, plus support for up to two external footswitches or an expression pedal
- 99 user memories for storing patch setups
- Three assignable knobs for quick access to essential parameters while performing
- MIDI input and USB-MIDI for guiding harmony/pitch engine from an external MIDI keyboard or DAW backing tracks
- Editor/librarian software (Mac/Windows) for sound editing and patch management via USB
- Enhance section for shaping core tone
