- In the context of Roland's AIRA series as it exists today, the VT-3 might seem like the runt of the litter—it's the only effect unit, it's the smallest and it's the only one that wasn't obviously inspired by a classic Roland box. The VT-3 does, however, have an ancestor (albeit a more obscure one) that falls in the extended branch of the Roland family: the Boss VT-1. If you've heard the transformed vocals on Air's ethereal "Run," you've heard the VT-1. Its premise was simple—it allowed the pitch and formant of vocals to be shifted in real time. Since the VT-1 was a digital unit, it stands to bear that Roland could recreate the same algorithms in the VT-3, so I was curious to see what else they brought to the table in this modern redesign.
The VT-3 shares the same design aesthetic as the rest of the AIRA series, with its black panel and green highlights. The back of the unit houses the normal stereo output jacks and a combo TRS/XLR mic jack, but there is another set of mini jacks on the front that serve essentially the same purpose. Like all of the AIRA series, the VT-3 has a USB port that can be used to pass audio and MIDI back and forth from a computer (including the ability to configure a loopback). Strangely, though, there is no way to route USB audio through the VT-3's signal processing; it always comes back dry.
The front panel of the VT-3 houses the main controls: four sliders divided by a knob ringed by LEDs. The sliders are the same as on the original Boss unit, controlling pitch (plus-or-minus one octave), formant, mix balance and reverb. The knob is where the VT-3's new features come into play—it selects a character mode to apply to the output of the pitch and formant effects. There are two auto pitch modes (like AutoTune pitch correction), two distortion modes (one megaphone-style and the other radio) and four melodic modes. Included in the melodic selection are vocoder, bass, synth and lead. These are essentially four different synth patches that use the VT-3's pitch-tracking logic to play a melodic line along with your voice. Finally, like the other AIRA units, the VT-3 includes a Scatter mode that repeats sections of the incoming signal.
When I first tried the VT-3, the character modes felt a little bolted-on and easy to dismiss as novelty. The static synth patches and lack of ability to quantize the pitch detection to scales resulted in a fairly lackluster experience. However, Roland just released an update (version 1.1) that addressed this—all of the character modes can now be pitch-controlled via MIDI. This pushes the VT-3 up a notch when it comes to true vocoder functionality. If only they'd supplied another audio input that could act as a true carrier (the synth sound) for the vocoder mode, this could become a seriously powerful effect unit. Maybe this could be added as an additional USB audio input in the future?
Another welcome feature of the 1.1 update is the ability to automate the front-panel controls via MIDI control change (CC) messages. This includes pitch (CC #12), formant (CC #13), mix balance (CC #16), robot (CC #17), bypass button (CC #18), bypass pedal (CC #19) and reverb level (CC #91). You may notice a couple of omissions there: namely the character knob and controls for Scatter. The character knob is kind of a big deal, but you can sort of work around that by using the six different preset slots, which can be automated via MIDI program change messages. Scatter, on the other hand, is a bit of a black box on the VT-3. In my tests it seemed to be triggered based on a volume threshold. This is a step down from the other AIRA units, which all provide hands-on control to activate and shape the Scatter effect. One would think that the only true effect box in the AIRA series would deserve better.
I had mixed feelings about the AIRA VT-3. The pitch and formant control is excellent, and thus it certainly excels in the same way as that the original Boss unit did. Those vintage units can cost up to $500, so if you're looking for a modern replacement, the VT-3 is an easy choice at $199. Still, it feels like Roland missed some opportunities here. The recent update shows that they are ready to continue improving the AIRA series, so there's a good chance the VT-3 will get better with time.
Ratings:
Ease of use: 4.5/5
Cost: 4/5
Sound: 4/5
Versatility: 2.5/5