Crystallizer

Inspired by the Crystal Echoes preset in the Eventide H3000, Crystallizer combines granular reverse echo slicing and retro pitch processing to create a huge range of radical sonic manipulations and classics with a twist. Use it to create synth-like textures from simple acoustic guitar rhythms, lush detuned echos, or completely psychedelic pitch-shifted reverse echo effects. Great for drums, guitar, bass, sound design, electronic music, and just about anything else.

If you listened to the radio in the late 80s, you've heard the original Crystal Echoes effect. It's sound was absolutely unmistakable, and was often used on an intro or at the end of a song to create a synth-like pad from simple guitar chords. Crystallizer adds a few improvements, like MIDI sync, built-in Gate/Duck control, and high-cut and low-cut filters to help tame this sometimes unruly effect. Of course, automation is also supported.

Modern pitch-shifters use sophisticated mathematical algorithms to transform music and vocals as naturally as possible. The original old school devices (like Eventide's classic H910 Harmonizer) used a resample and cross-fade technique that introduced audible 'glitches' in the pitch-shifted audio. That's a big part of the "retro" sound.