TC-Helicon PLAY ACOUSTIC Specifications

English ManualPlay Acoustic

IntroductionPlay Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16) 8DiagramsOn the following pages, you will see some con-nection diagrams. We have set things

BasicsPlay Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16) 9Basics

BasicsPlay Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16) 10Play Acoustic – rear panelInputs and outputsConnectors are described from right to left. For se

BasicsPlay Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16) 11PEDAL connectorUse a TRS cable to connect a Switch-3 (optional) to the PEDAL connector. If you

BasicsPlay Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16) 12Gain settingsHow the Input LED Level Meter WorksThe LED on the top of your Play Acoustic is use

BasicsPlay Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16) 13scale on the fly. “NP” is only shown when a change in key/scale is detected – so don’t panic if

BasicsPlay Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16) 14Switches and operationThe three Play Acoustic footswitchesDOWN and UP footswitchesForm here on,

BasicsPlay Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16) 15To exit Loop mode, tap the HIT footswitch.You may exit Loop mode while a loop is still play-ing

BasicsPlay Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16) 16Control knob and arrow buttonsBACK, STORE, arrow buttons and the control knobUse the control kn

BasicsPlay Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16) 17Changing preset namesTo change the name of a preset, press the STORE button once, then press th

Play Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16) aImportant safety instructions 1Before you begin 4About this manual 5Getting support 5VoiceSupport

BasicsPlay Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16) 18Soft buttonsSoft buttonsThere are six “soft” buttons on the Play Acoustic – three on each side

BasicsPlay Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16) 19In the Genre menu, use the control knob to navigate through the available options. Select a Gen

Connection diagramsPlay Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16) 20Connection diagrams

Connection diagramsPlay Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16) 21The following connection diagrams show you some common ways to hook up Play Acous

Connection diagramsPlay Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16) 22Stereo (or mono) vocals and guitarThis diagram shows connections for both Stereo

Connection diagramsPlay Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16) 23Mono vocals and guitar ampThis configuration works well when you want to pass you

Connection diagramsPlay Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16) 24Mono vocal and guitar with a TC-Helicon FX150This configuration gives you mic-sta

Connection diagramsPlay Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16) 25Mono vocals via FX150 and a guitar ampHere, you can send the vocal signals to an

Connection diagramsPlay Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16) 26Guitar and vocals via FX150 and stereo out to a PAIn this setup, you can use the

Connection diagramsPlay Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16) 27Stereo PA and TC-Helicon Guitar & Headphone cableIf you own our Guitar &

Important safety instructionsPlay Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16) 1Important safety instructions

Setup button/sectionPlay Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16) 28Setup button/section

Setup button/sectionPlay Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16) 29Input page (1/7)Input parameterUse the Input parameter to select the type of mi-

Setup button/sectionPlay Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16) 30Pressing and holding the button on you Mic Control-enabled microphone will engag

Setup button/sectionPlay Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16) 31Output page (2/7)Output parameterUse the Output parameter to set how signals are

Setup button/sectionPlay Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16) 32System page (3/7)LCD Contrast parameterUse the LCD Contrast parameter to set the

Setup button/sectionPlay Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16) 33System page 2 (4/7)Global Key parameterUse the Global Key parameter to define if

Setup button/sectionPlay Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16) 34Loop page (5/7)Input parameterUse the Input parameter to set the input source(s)

Setup button/sectionPlay Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16) 35Switch-3 page (6/7)Control parameterSwitch-3 is an optional, high-quality remote

Setup button/sectionPlay Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16) 36Product Info page (7/7)The System Info page contains information about… ►the ins

Vocal FX button/sectionPlay Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16) 37Vocal FX button/section

Important safety instructionsPlay Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16) 21. Read these instructions.2. Keep these instructions.3. Heed all war

Vocal FX button/sectionPlay Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16) 38Press the VOCAL FX button to open the Vocal Effects menu, which is comprised

Vocal FX button/sectionPlay Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16) 39Harmony page (1/7)Use the Harmony block to create harmonies that accompany yo

Vocal FX button/sectionPlay Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16) 40Harmony Advanced pageTo enter the Harmony Advanced page, press and hold any o

Vocal FX button/sectionPlay Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16) 41Double page (2/7)The Double effect block creates the impression that one or m

Vocal FX button/sectionPlay Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16) 42Delay page (3/7)The Delay effect block repeats the input signal based on the

Vocal FX button/sectionPlay Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16) 43Delay Advanced pageTo enter the Delay Advanced page, press and hold any of th

Vocal FX button/sectionPlay Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16) 44Reverb page (4/7)The Reverb effect block creates “room” around your voice. Es

Vocal FX button/sectionPlay Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16) 45HardTune page (5/7)Ah – HardTune…Some call it the Cher effect and others refe

Vocal FX button/sectionPlay Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16) 46Transducer page (6/7)The Transducer effect block modifies the sound by adding

Vocal FX button/sectionPlay Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16) 47Transducer Advanced pageTo enter the Advanced Transducer page, press and hold

Important safety instructionsPlay Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16) 3EMC / EMIElectromagnetic compatibility / Electromagnetic interferenceT

Vocal FX button/sectionPlay Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16) 48µMod page (7/7)µMod stands for “micro modulation”. The µMod effect block is u

Guitar FX button/sectionPlay Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16) 49Guitar FX button/section

Guitar FX button/sectionPlay Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16) 50Press the GUITAR FX button to open the Guitar Effects menu, which is compris

Guitar FX button/sectionPlay Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16) 51Guitar Reverb page (1/7)Reverb creates “room” around a signal. Es-sentially,

Guitar FX button/sectionPlay Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16) 52Guitar µMod page (2/7)Just like the vocal effect of the same name, the µMod

Guitar FX button/sectionPlay Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16) 53BodyRez EQ page (3/7)Exclusive to Play Acoustic, BodyRez combines equalizati

Guitar FX button/sectionPlay Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16) 54BodyRez Shelf EQ page (4/7)This page is hidden by default. To access it, en-

Guitar FX button/sectionPlay Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16) 55Ratio parameterUse the Ratio parameter to define the amount of compression a

Guitar FX button/sectionPlay Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16) 56Guitar Anti-Feedback page (7/7)In live environments, the open body style of

Mix button/sectionPlay Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16) 57Mix button/section

Before you beginPlay Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16) 4Before you begin

Mix button/sectionPlay Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16) 58Press the MIX button to enter the Mix menu, where various audio signal levels with

Mix button/sectionPlay Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16) 59Mix page (2/2)USB In Level parameterUse the USB In Level parameter to adjust the

The LooperPlay Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16) 60The Looper

The LooperPlay Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16) 61What is looping?At its core, looping is the simple process of tak-ing a small audio record

The LooperPlay Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16) 624. At the end of the chord progression, press REC again. Play Acoustic will immediately be

The LooperPlay Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16) 63Using a Switch-3 for loopingConnecting a Switch-3 (optional) to your Play Acoustic will gi

TroubleshootingPlay Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16) 64Troubleshooting

TroubleshootingPlay Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16) 65Sometimes, things just aren’t working the way you expect them to. Here are a few thing

AppendixPlay Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16) 66Appendix

AppendixPlay Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16) 67TC-Helicon scales reference chart Harmony notes in the Key of CScale Sung Note C Db D Eb E F

Before you beginPlay Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16) 5About this manualThis manual will help you understand and oper-ate your Play Acoustic

LinksPlay Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16) 68Links

LinksPlay Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16) 69Support resourcesThere is a large FAQ Knowledge base and fo-rum for you to use. Please make sure

Technical specificationsPlay Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16) 70Technical specifications

Technical specificationsPlay Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16) 71FeaturesVocal Effects µMod, Delay, Reverb, Harmony, Double, Transducer, Tone

Technical specificationsPlay Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16) 72A to D Conversion 24bit, 128 x oversampling bitstream, 110dB SNR A-weighte

Technical specificationsPlay Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16) 73

IntroductionPlay Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16) 6Introduction

IntroductionPlay Acoustic – Reference manual (2014-07-16) 7Welcome to the Play Acoustic manual!First, thank you so much for purchasing Play Acoustic.