Best pitchshifter for beat mangling?
- KVRAF
- Topic Starter
- 5223 posts since 20 Jul, 2010
Even though it went out of style in like 1996 I love playing with the pitch of breakbeats within a pattern, such as pitch staircases and pitch drops, pitchbending and playing samples on different keys in a traditional "tape style" sampler or a tracker.
Now I've tried pitchfunk and pitchwheel and neither really jumped out at me like the sampler pitching did. My demo with pitchfunk was limited since I forgot about it (I was a bit underwhelmed when I first tried it, I'd like to try again, but the demo ist kaput).
Pitchwheel does a great job preserving transients and provides formant shifting as well, but has a lot less sound mangling options other than that. It just doesn't sound "heavy" when you go down like the sampler/tracker does. I've tried coupling the formants or leaving them fixed. It sounds excellent for what it does but it just doesn't take me "there".
I'm in half a mind to just get pitchfunk and spend more time with it, but then I wonder if pitchwheel would be better because of it's treatment of transients. Maybe I just haven't demoed them properly.
Does anyone have any experience with these plugins and/or getting this kind of sound out of them?
Now I've tried pitchfunk and pitchwheel and neither really jumped out at me like the sampler pitching did. My demo with pitchfunk was limited since I forgot about it (I was a bit underwhelmed when I first tried it, I'd like to try again, but the demo ist kaput).
Pitchwheel does a great job preserving transients and provides formant shifting as well, but has a lot less sound mangling options other than that. It just doesn't sound "heavy" when you go down like the sampler/tracker does. I've tried coupling the formants or leaving them fixed. It sounds excellent for what it does but it just doesn't take me "there".
I'm in half a mind to just get pitchfunk and spend more time with it, but then I wonder if pitchwheel would be better because of it's treatment of transients. Maybe I just haven't demoed them properly.
Does anyone have any experience with these plugins and/or getting this kind of sound out of them?
http://sendy.bandcamp.com/releases < My new album at Bandcamp! Now pay what you like!
- KVRAF
- 3879 posts since 28 Jun, 2009 from Wherever I lay my hat
Well, I can't think of the effects that you're referencing - I don't listen to a lot of electronic music, heh - but Pitchfunk is a very deep effect. With a choice of several pitch-shifting algorithms, the ability to change the effect routing, and those marvellous LFOs, I'd be surprised if you couldn't get the sound you want and more. You can also degrade the sound/pitch-shifting nicely, add aliasing to get that old-school vibe, and you have the option to effect in stereo, M/S, or L/R, which is really cool.
I'm pretty sure Dave will grant you some more demo time if you write him an e-mail.
As for an alternative, the obvious one that comes to mind is AD's Discord 3. It is good for setting up something quickly - Pitchfunk needs a bit more attention, although the presets are very good starting points.
I'm pretty sure Dave will grant you some more demo time if you write him an e-mail.
As for an alternative, the obvious one that comes to mind is AD's Discord 3. It is good for setting up something quickly - Pitchfunk needs a bit more attention, although the presets are very good starting points.
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- Banned
- 22457 posts since 5 Sep, 2001
- KVRAF
- 12355 posts since 7 May, 2006 from Southern California
Most pitch shifters use de-glitching methods to smooth out pops and clicks at loop points. This kills transients. When you pitch up audio in a sampler, you are actually changing the playback speed, so transients are preserved.
If you just want to change the pitch of a break beat but not the speed, process the sample with an transient shapper and pitch shifter (I use U-He's Uhbik G, Sound Toys' Crystalizer, Guitar Rig's pitch shifters and an Eventide Pitch Factor) in parallel. Use the transient shaper to get rid of the decay stages of each drum hit. This way you are layering the pitch shifted signal with just the attack parts of the dry signal. This will help to preserve the punch without sounding obviously layered.
Or you could use something like Ableton Live or Recycle to slice your breaks. It all depends on what kind of sound you are looking for.
If you just want to change the pitch of a break beat but not the speed, process the sample with an transient shapper and pitch shifter (I use U-He's Uhbik G, Sound Toys' Crystalizer, Guitar Rig's pitch shifters and an Eventide Pitch Factor) in parallel. Use the transient shaper to get rid of the decay stages of each drum hit. This way you are layering the pitch shifted signal with just the attack parts of the dry signal. This will help to preserve the punch without sounding obviously layered.
Or you could use something like Ableton Live or Recycle to slice your breaks. It all depends on what kind of sound you are looking for.
Last edited by justin3am on Sun Jan 20, 2013 6:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.
- KVRian
- 1457 posts since 28 Jan, 2004
You may find this useful:
http://akaizer.blogspot.co.il/
http://akaizer.blogspot.co.il/
- KVRAF
- Topic Starter
- 5223 posts since 20 Jul, 2010
Thanks for the suggestions! At the moment I'm basically using the "recycle" method (only I do my chops by ear/eye because it's fun) and thus you can pitchbend without the rhythm going out of time. The problem with this comes from the fact that the envelope changes with the playback speed and as you go up, you get gappy sound where each sample can't last until the next beat as it's over quickly. There are ways to counteract this such as using pingpong looping etc and each one has it's own sound and vibe.
I guess what I'm really asking is: what is the most punchy and dynamic pitch shifter?
I guess what I'm really asking is: what is the most punchy and dynamic pitch shifter?
http://sendy.bandcamp.com/releases < My new album at Bandcamp! Now pay what you like!
- KVRian
- 1457 posts since 28 Jan, 2004
What did you use on "TELEPORT, MARIO!"?Sendy wrote:I guess what I'm really asking is: what is the most punchy and dynamic pitch shifter?
Reminds me (fondly) of this track:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNdZxoGKEPw
- KVRAF
- Topic Starter
- 5223 posts since 20 Jul, 2010
That was Harmor. Good idea, I'll see what results that gives on breakbeats.NAD wrote:What did you use on "TELEPORT, MARIO!"?Sendy wrote:I guess what I'm really asking is: what is the most punchy and dynamic pitch shifter?
Reminds me (fondly) of this track:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNdZxoGKEPw
http://sendy.bandcamp.com/releases < My new album at Bandcamp! Now pay what you like!
- KVRAF
- 12355 posts since 7 May, 2006 from Southern California
I have never found one that I have been happy with for the kind of thing you are describing. I do use pitch shifters on breaks but using the artifacts and glitches as an effect.Sendy wrote:I guess what I'm really asking is: what is the most punchy and dynamic pitch shifter?
That said, if your goal is mangling sounds, you may want to try the Eventide H3000 Factory plug-in or any of the ones I mentioned in my first post. Pitch Funk is also very good.
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- KVRian
- 1074 posts since 12 Jul, 2009 from Brighton
Send me email, demo extension is no problem.
Dave.
Dave.
[ DMGAudio ] | [ DMGAudio Blog ] | dave AT dmgaudio DOT com
- KVRAF
- Topic Starter
- 5223 posts since 20 Jul, 2010
Ok, done. Thanks!DaveGamble wrote:Send me email, demo extension is no problem.
Dave.
http://sendy.bandcamp.com/releases < My new album at Bandcamp! Now pay what you like!
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- KVRAF
- 4065 posts since 2 Jul, 2005
Old school samplers didn't have granular pitch shifting in real time. Just use any software sample and the pitch wheel. you want to change the playback speed of the sound along with the pitch. there are some buffer manipulation plugins that will allow you to achieve these effects without loading your loop into a sampler. Try out artillery, dblue glitch, NI the finger, effectrix, and stuff like that. they should get you much closer. you want a non granular change of pitch.
Don't F**K with Mr. Zero.
- KVRAF
- 6325 posts since 18 Jul, 2008 from New York
Just got Discord3 and I like it but haven't done much beat mangling with it. Here's a video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wzc2IkVikdY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wzc2IkVikdY
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- KVRAF
- 2982 posts since 9 Dec, 2008
I use PitchFunk for my mangling needs. While I don't fully understand what's going on half the time with this plug, the trial and error results I can tease out after a bit of work are generally very usable.
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- KVRAF
- 7540 posts since 7 Aug, 2003 from San Francisco Bay Area
I agree. Beat mangling in 1996 didn't involve any of the fancy modern techniques listed in this thread. The best you could hope for was slicing up a beat with Recycle, uploading the slices to your hardware sampler, and rearranging the associated MIDI data. Pitch shifting only amounted to playing a sample at a different rate, so it would play faster (higher) or slower (lower). Also common was resampling at a very low rate like 10khz for that bitcrushing sound we all know and love.Ah_Dziz wrote:Old school samplers didn't have granular pitch shifting in real time. Just use any software sample and the pitch wheel. you want to change the playback speed of the sound along with the pitch. there are some buffer manipulation plugins that will allow you to achieve these effects without loading your loop into a sampler. Try out artillery, dblue glitch, NI the finger, effectrix, and stuff like that. they should get you much closer. you want a non granular change of pitch.
The first mainstream sampler capable of any modern mangling techniques was the Roland VP-9000, which wasn't released until 2000.
Another technique from those days would be to play the sample back through an external pitch shifter. Oh, and Turbosynth, can't forget that!
Incomplete list of my gear: 1/8" audio input jack.