Alesis PlayMate Vocalist
Reduces vocals from any recording. Adjust tempo without changing pitch. Built-in CD player.
Overall User Ratings (based on 94 ratings)
Submitted June 24, 2006 by a customer from yahoo.com
"The honest truth!"
Verified Customer
zZounds has verified that this reviewer made a purchase from us.
I'll probably get something better and experiment.
Sound
I thought it would remove more vocals but i doesn't do much of that!Its cool to mess w/pitch and tone though.
Features
Pretty Simple but i guess thats a good thang! Easy to connect.
Ease of Use
Pretty easy just read the instructions if you dont know. K?
Quality
Dependable but doesn't quite impress me. ya know?
Value
Expensive for what this thing actually does.
Manufacturer Support
Never needed it.
The Wow Factor
Depends on the person.
Musical Background:
Musician
Musical Style:
Rap, Hip-Hop, R&B, Spanish, Funk, Ol' Skool
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Submitted December 8, 2005
"An Incredible Learning and Teaching Tool"
This review has been selected by our experts as particularly helpful.
At the music store I teach at, we're all intrigued and excited by this new tool to learn and teach songs. It's a "keeper" and the coolest thing we've seen in a long time. I wouldn't be without one now. The next step is to replace our CD players at home and at work with the Alesis Playmate Vocalist. Why have only a music playback machine when you can have a unit that will give you so much more flavors of sound?
Sound
I am a professional guitar teacher and use this unit at with at least 30 of my 50 students per week for learning, teaching, and having them play guitar along with new songs. The sound quality works just fine through small, amplified Roland speakers. We have had no problems at all with this unit regarding the sound, and in fact it can get much louder than we need it to be (plenty of gain).
Features
The features are that which make this unit incredibly powerful for use in learning and teaching guitar (or any instrument) parts of songs.
This is where this unit shines: it is incredible! I've never experienced another machine or software do what this unit will do.
The four or so "filters" which are included, will remove various parts of the tracks (including the majority of the vocals) and "feature" or "play" other tracks so that one can hear clearly various parts of a song: e.g. with U-2's "Vertigo", we could hear The Edge clearly play his guitar parts by removing other parts of the band's tracks. It's absolutely incredible to use this way and there's no other tool like it that we've seen. ("We" are the several instructors at the music store.)
Quality
The quality of workmanship seems fine in the month that I've put this unit to very heavy use during a 50 student work-week. The students love this machine and are intrigued by it's ability, looks, sexiness, and sounds. Like I said, at least 30 students per week use this machine with me and we love it. We do not use it for vocal use - only to figure out guitar parts for songs with and play guitar along with the them through separate guitar amps.
Value
Many of the guitar teachers (and the store owner) where I work are getting excited over this new tool, and want to use it for teaching their students new songs. We all think this is the hottest tool for learning and teaching songs in a long time.
Manufacturer Support
I have not had to request support for this product. It has worked fine.
The Wow Factor
Every student who came into my teaching room the first week I had this machine, took one look at the beautiful and sexy blue lights on the unit and loved it. At first they wonder what it is; then after they use it they want one as well.
The students and myself love the various sounds that the "filters" or "vocal removal settings" allow us to hear on each CD as well as the ability to slow down or speed up the songs, and change the pitch without retuning their guitars to learn the song playing.
Musical Background:
Professional Music Teacher
Musical Style:
Folk, Blues, Alternative Rock, Classical, Flamenco, Jazz, Electronica, Ambient
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Submitted May 10, 2005 by a customer from cfl.rr.com
"Vocal playmate needs an overhaul."
Verified Customer
zZounds has verified that this reviewer made a purchase from us.
From the advertisements it appears to be a great piece of equipment to remove vocals and use various pitch correction, speed control and transposition. The input for the mic outputs to a stereo out along with the cd. This is the only way to be able to use the reverbs. It is useless in that regard. It doesn't remove the vocals on most cds. I did have some success on some of Jimmy Buffets CDs. The engineers who disigned this thing couldn't have been musicians because it has lots of features that cannot be used independently. For instancde, you must have a high quality connector from the output to the innput of the mixer or power source or you loose the mic quality. The reverb can only be used if a mic is connected into the mic input. If were to use a mic pre amp into the direct in the reverb is bypassed.I was very dissapointed with this. It is very one dimensional. Leave it on the shelf!
Sound
Ok for playing cds and adjusting the pitch, and speed but not too much.
Quality
Finsih and fit are great but what good is that if the product doesn't deliver.
Musical Background:
hobbyist 20 yrs
Musical Style:
christian, childrens
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Submitted April 1, 2005
Alesis PlayMate Vocalist Customer Review
Sound
The CD quality was terrible. For anyone that has hearing beyond that of Helen Keller it is intolerable for even practicing with. I couldnt get much out of it.
Manufacturer Support
I called Alesis and asked several questions and they were very helpful. They just didnt prepare me for the awful quality sound.
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