Pitch Effects

Type of Pitch Effects

• Pitch Shift

• Harmonisers

Pitch Shift

• Easiest to spot pitch shift when pitch-shifting devices are pushed beyond ‘reasonable limits’. Parts can sound a little unnatural, ‘metallic’ or ‘grainy’ and this especially noticeable in vocal parts.

• When the pitch is raised or lowered by a considerable amount (perhaps an octave or more, there will almost always be noticeable glitching.

• If a vocal part has been shifted up a lot, it will have a ‘chipmunk’ quality to the voice

• Pitch-shifted parts are often used as harmonies along with the original.

Harmonisers

• If pitch-shifted parts are shifted by a fixed interval (e.g. a perfect 5th), it is fairly obvious that the two parts are identical in every aspect except pitch. If they are shifted by a non-fixed interval (major or minor 3rds depending on original note), the device being used is a harmoniser.

• Can be programmed to harmonise in a certain key, so can change the interval to suit the chosen scale

• Harmonisers take an almost imperceptible length of time to work out what note they are supposed to produce to harmonise the given pitch (they first have tob, which takes a finite amount of time), but this tiny delay (latency) can sometimes be noticeable.

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