TASCAM MP-VT1

This device is marketed as a "Vocal Trainer". Basically it's a 1GByte MP3 player with additional features for musicians. The following features are probably common to Tascam's MP-GT1 (Guitar Trainer) and MP-BT1 (Bass Guitar Trainer):
* Tempo Change (without changing pitch)
* Key Transpose (by +/- 1 to 6 semitones, without changing tempo)
* Fine Pitch Adjust (by +/- up to 50 cents, without changing tempo)
* Speed Change with Pitch change (both change in proportion, not very useful to me, but it introduces less distortion)
* AB Looping (set two time markers, play that in a loop)
* Pitch Generator
* Pitch Analyzer (if you plug in a mic)
* Metronome
* Headphone/Line out jack

The menu driven display is pretty easy to use and you can go in and out of looping, skip fwd/rev, stop/pause using dedicated buttons while keeping one menu item active (e.g. temp change or key change), so it is very easy to experiment with one section of music. It'd be nice to have more than the six display lines provided, but it's not bad.

When I learn a new vocal part there are three things that I've found very useful to do on my PC:

* Change Key to my range, sometimes multiple transposed files because I don't initialy know which Key I'll settle on

* Change the tempo, primarily for learning a difficult section and secondarily because I want a karaoke backing at my tempo

* Eliminate vocals, once I know the vocal part I don't want to hear the lead singer anymore

In comparison to the open source software tool "Audacity" running on a PC:

* This device is much easier to use since the effects are made in real time and adjustments can be made with instanteous effect

* Vocal Elimination in this device is not nearly as complete as vocal elimination in my desktop program, which is odd because in it's most basic form it's just a simple subtraction between the two channels. They could have done a better job on this function, but it does most of the elimination that Audacity on my PC does.

* Changes to Tempo and/or Key on any effects component, in my experience, will always introduce some distortion and this distortion will increase the further you shift these parameters from the original. While this player produces a little more distortion than the same effects applied in Audacity, it does it well enough.

If the vocal elimination were almost as good as Audacity, I would have given this a 7 or 8.

With the exception of the metronome/pitch-analysis/pitch-pipe functions, this is a "trainer" not a piece of on-stage gear. It has a serious metal case that convinces me it could take some abuse.

I believe the memory is Flash, not a moving disk which means a drop is less likely to break the MP3 storage. This is based solely on the fact that I do not hear a spinning motor sound during playback with my ear pressed against the case.

If you need to construct a karaoke backing for something you're singing in front of an audience I would recommend using this device to discover what Key and what Tempo you want, use this device to practice , but for any performance you will want to duplicate the effects on some other piece of equipment, especially the vocal elimination.

Have not dealt with customer support.

I sing pop, rock, classical, and some jazz. I'm a "born again" singer, in that I spent decades not going out of my way to sing, to weekly voice lessons and daily practice.