Roland VT-4 is an effect processor for vocals, capable of both giving a little color to the voice, and extremely radically changing it. This is a fairly small device with a minimal set of controls and fairly user-friendly one. On the front panel you can find 4 faders for controlling pitch, formant, balance and reverb, a large knob for adjusting the signal mixing with pitch correction, as well as buttons for selecting the effect and its variation, a volume and sensitivity knob for the microphone and a note selection knob. Unlike the VT-3, the Roland VT-4 has become autonomous and can now be powered by 4 AA batteries, which should last for 4-7 hours, depending on the batteries and the mode of operation. In addition, from the innovations, the device has the ability to save up to 8 presets.

The processor has 5 main effects, each of which has 4 variations. Among the effects there is a tool for creating a robotic voice, and a reverb with a delay, and a chorus, a megaphone and an old radio effect, allowing you to achieve a pleasant lo-fi sound, as well as a harmonizer and various vocoder options. It is worth noting that the effects sound very decent, compared to most harmonizers or formant effects that you encounter, in the box from Roland there are no terrible annoying artifacts, and all changes occur smoothly, which favorably affects the processor usability not only in studio work but also on stage.

As for switching, the VT-4 has two microphone inputs, a headphone output (3.5" TRS), two line outputs (L / MONO, R / BYPASS: 6.3" TRS), USB for connecting to a computer with the ability to transfer audio , as well as MIDI input, which allows you to control the vocoder using an external keyboard. Microphone inputs are at the back and in the front: the rear one is a balanced XLR / TRS 6.3 "combo input, with the ability to supply phantom power, as well as a variable input level (from -40 to -12 dBu), the front one is 3.5" input resistance level (2.2 kΩ instead of 4.4).

Roland is positioning this device as good not only for musicians, but also for video bloggers who could get access to controlling the sound of their voice right during the stream. The price for VT-4 will appear in the near future, however, it is unlikely to be much more expensive than VT-3 and will cost about $ 300.