Effect or something else? Maybe a silly question...

OK, I need help with something I’m not sure I can explain. Way back I think I saw an effect (maybe DSP?) or something that could actually make triggered notes delay with modulation (+/- 4 tones, if I remember correctly). I think I heard it with bass (kind of like Moog) sounds which sounded fantastic. Does anyone understand what I’m talking about here? How can I achieve this effect in Renoise 2.8.0?

Do you mean that took an incoming MIDI note, delayed it, and shifted it up to 4 semitones up or down?

Or do you mean that it took audio input, delayed the signal, and modulated its pitch up and down up to 4 semitones?

If the latter, perhaps a chorus?

Or do you mean something else entirely?

Yeah, different kinds of this effect that i have heard. I’m also not sure which one you mean.

I’m still kinda stuck in the impulse tracker era so forgive tendencies toward barbarism, but…

Midi “delay”, which really just replays notes with progressively less velocity. Often times these let you change the pitch of each replayed note. This generally sounds better (or more delay-like, anyway) with some fairly heavy to very heavy velocity tracking on the filter. The old fashioned way of doing delay in trackers is to just copy and paste notes into other tracks, and that replicates this effect very well. Make them quiter (volume commands) and repitch (by transposing) them however you need to. Similar fake delay effects are sometimes built into synth patches if the synth has flexible enough lfos or envelops. Renoise can do that sort of thing pretty well, too.

Another is the pitch warble analog delay/tape delay thing. This can be achieved by modulating the delay time. Unfortunately, a lot of dsp delays don’t make very nice sounds when you do this. Instead, make a send channel with a delay device(multitap delay?) followed by chorus on a vibrato setting. Vibrato Twangy with the rate and depth turned down somewhat should make a good sound for this. Send some signal to this chain and tweak a bit and you should be pretty deep in similar territory quickly enough. Keep the dry and wet signals separated, of course, so you aren’t pitch shifting the original signal.

Then there’s the famous eventide devices. I don’t really know what to say about that… copy and paste to a track with a bit crusher? and do some some strategically placed pitch bends on the “delay” notes if you’re looking to get into producing prince’s albums… (i think pitch bends might simulate some of the lfo controlled or “bendy”/special effect sounding stuff you sometimes hear out of these types of devices on older records) or just transpose notes for harmonizer style effects.

*edited cause was confusing, i think?

A DSP device applies its output to the whole track, this also includes notes that you perhaps might not want to affect. (I guess that’s why you copy paste to other tracks)
I don’t know what you mean by making them harder to repitch? A simple shift + F1 or Shift + F2 transposes the whole track one semitone down/up.

Hi, it didn’t have anything to do with MIDI. It simply took regular samples in a track or a whole track, doesn’t matter and added this delay with +/-4 semitones shifts. Wahrk, I think you got me. :) I’m talking about the latter option. The cool thing is that it sounded somewhat randomized (i.e. it wasn’t clear cut delay, probably closer to multitap). I’ve heard this before 2002 so it’s not a new thing. Don’t you like deciphering situations like these? Thank you kindly for your help.

Perhaps some kind of beat repeat effect that shifts the pitch of each repeat up or down relative to the last? Ableton’s Beat Repeat can go down. It is in fact incredibly annoying that it can’t go up.

Then again you might be thinking of the arpeggio pattern effect command now that I think about it.

Sounds very much like some eventide sort of effect. Maybe look at the demos for Audio Damage Discord3, a vst which emulates this hardware.

Hi Kaeovo,

If the Eventide suggestion is on the right track it might be a delay with a pitch-shifter in the feedback path. Each subsequent regeneration gets progressively lower or higher as it passes through the pitch-shifter repeatedly. Try oneunkind’s suggestion of discord3 (I’m not familiar with it), or you can set up your own true console-style feedback loop with a free VST called Senderalla (look on KVR) and throw a pitch shifter in there. I can’t find any unambiguous examples of this effect on the webs but it was used a lot in hitchhikers guide to the galaxy, and rather subtly on Marvin’s voice here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4P3pvKmbsg#t=01m00s Notice how his voice goes down on the short delays.

B

edit: jump to time location in YT didn’t work, so skip to about 1:00.

I was actually just checking out the entries for the KVR Developer Challenge, and low and behold:

Indeed the effect of that voice in the YT snippet, pitch shifter is applied with feedback of the shifted signal, back into the pitch shifter. (this is also where the delays automatically come in due to the processed signal coming out delayed)

Guys, your effort is immensely appreciated. You rock! This is not exactly what I was looking for, but it will definitely help me achieve desired result. Cheers for everything!