Does it have an output limiter for smoother vocal recording?

That is part of the system. It is a bit confusing to work with. You have to play around with it. It also has one of the dials that give you a crispy sound that is popular these days. I have decided to do without this unit since I think I have better vocal control "naked". There is nothing that can beat improving your voice, finding the right tone yourself, and having a decent mic and a decent amp. Then post production even garage band will have more options than this unit for sound quality. There are so many factors that go into getting good vocal sound live, I think this unit might just make it more complex rather than less. There is nothing that can beat singing better. Hope this helps.

will garageband recognize my mic if I connect the pedal to my laptop?

Since you route the microphone signal directly into the TC Helicon pedal, if you can get the signal from the pedal into an 'audio interface' (i.e. Mbox, Focusrite, etc).. then sure it will work just fine. You do have to have an external audio interface to plug the microphone into. http://www.amazon.com/Digidesign-Audio-Interface-Macintosh-Windows/dp/B0002EJV72/ref=sr_1_14?ie=UTF8&qid=1452621973&sr=8-14&keywords=Mbox

I have a Gemini 15 inch Bluetooth speaker with mic karaoke speaker no reverb will this work to add vocal effects?

No reverb or chorus on this. You might be better off with a box that has at least those two effects.

I can tell no difference when I dial the knobs, and only a small difference with warmth. Is this thing bad?

I initially had the same impression since the documentation totally stinks. I played around and figured it out (mostly). TL;DR - If the Mic Gain on the side of the unit isn't high enough to make the Input Level LED light green, you won't trigger the unit's magic. Details: This Shape processor is "adaptive", so it basically alters it's behavior whenever it gets a signal. So the Input Level LED is critical to keep an eye on, since if it's not lighting green, your signal may not be sufficient to trigger the processing. You need to put the Mic Gain up on the unit and then lower the gain at your pre-amp/mixer. If you sing a constant tone at a low volume (where the Green LED never lights), and mess with the Shape knob, you won't hear any difference. But if you sing louder, you'll hear the signal get brighter when the Shape knob is all the way to the right and the effect will be zero all the way to the left. If you tune the knobs when you're silent nothing will change, and then you'll hear it "kick in" and change from the previous state once you start singing. For example: Put the shape knob all the way to the right and sing a note and make sure the green light is lit some of the time. Then turn the pedal on/off you'll be able to clearly hear the change. Now, while the pedal is on sing a note and then go silent. While still silent, turn the shape knob all the way to the left. Sing a sustained note and you'll hear that it will start at the previous brightness and then "adapt" to the zero setting. I assume the compressor also needs some minimum input volume to kick in. I just got the unit so I haven't tested that extensively. But I have noticed the de-ess works very well when the knob is all the way to the right. In summary, this unit makes subtle (but not unnoticeable) changes to your voice while sounding natural, but only when your mic gain on the unit is up enough to make the green light come on most of time. NO GREEN = NO WORKY

Item Weight	14.72 ounces
Item Dimensions L x W x H	2.3"L x 3.5"W x 5.4"H
Style Name	Compact
Controls Type	Knob
Signal Format	Analog
Hardware Connectivity	1/4-inch Audio
Amperage	0.4 Milliamps
Voltage	12

TC Helicon

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