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Pitch shifter

The Pitch shifter plays a copy of the sound moved up or down by an interval: an octave under a
bass, a fifth over a pad, a few cents either side to make a voice wide and doubled, or a shimmer
that keeps climbing. It goes in any effects rack, an insert or a Moon.

On a held note you may hear a faint warble; on drums and textures it sounds like the classic studio
harmonizer. That is its character: it slices the sound into short windows and plays each one faster
or slower.

Loads doing nothing

It loads at Pitch 0, Fine 0 and Spread 0: the sound passes untouched until you move one of them.

The Pitch shifter as an insert at +7 st, a fifth up, with a little Spread and Feedback: the Interval screen, then Pitch and Output.

Pitch​

ControlWhat it does
1PitchThe big knob. Moves the sound by whole semitones, −24 … +24 st: 12 is an octave, 7 a fifth, 5 a fourth. Beside its name it says the interval in words: 5th up, octave down. It steps from note to note, so an axis lands on intervals.
2FineNudges the pitch by cents, a hundredth of a semitone, −50 … +50 ct, on top of Pitch.
3SpreadTunes the left side down and the right side up by this much, 0 … 50 ct. With Pitch at 0, a little (8 to 15 cents) is the classic doubler: one voice becomes two, wide, without a chorus's wobble. With Pitch moved it widens the copy.
4WindowHow long each slice is, 10 … 100 ms. Short keeps attacks tight but turns grainy, almost metallic below 20 ms; long is smoother on held notes but softer, and slightly echoed. Turning it bends the pitch for a moment (a short glide, never a jump).
5FeedbackSends the shifted copy back through, 0 … 90 %, so it moves another interval with each pass: a fifth becomes a stack of fifths. Short windows blur the passes into a rising (or falling) shimmer; long windows let you hear the steps. Turning it up doesn't make the sound louder: the level is held.

The copy runs a little behind the sound, up to one Window; shorten Window to keep it tight.

Output​

6Dry/wet loads at 50 %: the first move of Pitch is a harmony, the shifted copy
beside the original. At 100 % the copy replaces it. 7Level sets the level after it.

On a Moon it starts at Dry/wet 100 % and returns only the effect; the Moon level sets how much you
hear (see Audio effects).

The screen​

8Root and bloom: the ground line is the original pitch, a seed on it.

  • Shifted up, a stem grows above the ground by the interval and opens into a flower; shifted
    down, a root     goes into the earth to a bulb.
  • Spread splits the stem in two, and Feedback adds side shoots, one interval further each.
  • The number, top left, is the interval in semitones. The dial, bottom left, is Dry/wet.
  • The word is the interval, such as Up · 5th or Down · octave.

Try it​

  • A fifth above a lead. Pitch +7 st, Dry/wet 50 %: every note plays with its fifth.
  • A doubler. Pitch 0, Spread 12 ct, Dry/wet 50 %: one voice becomes two, wide, without a chorus's wobble.
  • An octave under a thin sound. Pitch −12 st, Dry/wet 40 %, Window 60 ms.
  • A shimmer. Pitch +12 st, Feedback 60 %, Window 30 ms, on a Moon with a Reverb after it: each pass climbs an octave into the reverb.

Mapping​

Every control can be mapped to the Orbiter's axes: see Edit.