User Guide P u r e P i t c h T D M Ve r s i o n 2 .

Extreme Vocal Processing

for Pro Tools

Crea ted by Ken Bogdano wicz,

Robert Bristo w-Johnson, a nd Bob Belcher
License Agreement
By purchasing this package, you are hereby granted the right to use this copy of
this software, subject to the following restrictions:
You may not copy, or distribute any copies of this software or documentation,
with the exception of copies made for back-up purposes.
We still retain all rights to this software, meaning that by purchasing this soft-
ware you can use it, but we still own the code, algorithms, designs, copyrights,
patents and anything else related to this software.
You agree not to reverse engineer this product.
You understand that this software may not be free of bugs or errors. We’ve
done our best to make sure that the software is bug-free, but sometimes bugs
happen.
We are not liable for any damage caused by this software, whether it’s trashed
files, or trashed recording sessions! We don’t expect this to happen, but you
can’t be too careful. Back-up your data regularly! IN ANY CASE, OUR LIABILITY IS
LIMITED TO THE AMOUNT THAT YOU PAID FOR THIS SOFTWARE.
That said, we want you to be happy with this software. If you have a problem
with this product, tell us, and we will try to correct the problem. If we can’t
correct the problem, and you choose to return the product, we will refund your
money without giving you a hassle.

This manual and PurePitch™ software ©copyright 1998-2002 Wave Mechanics,

Inc. Wave Mechanics, the Wave Mechanics logo, and PurePitch are trademarks of
Wave Mechanics, Inc. Pro Tools is a registered trademark of Digidesign, Inc.

Wave Mechanics, Inc.

PO Box 528
Burlington, VT 05401

www.wavemechanics.com
e-mail: [email protected]
fax: (802) 951-9799
phone: (802) 951-9700
Contents

C h a p t e r 1 : G etti ng S tart e d
Intro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
System Requirements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

C h a p t e r 2 : Usi ng Pure Pit ch TM

Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Block Diagram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Pitch Control Panel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Pitch Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Pitch Bend . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Formant Shift . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Shift Mode Control Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Mixer Control Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Mix. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Dry Delay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Shift Delay. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Feedback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Expression Control Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Expression Ratio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Current Frequency Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Rotation Frequency. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Shift Limit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Expression Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Modulation Control Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Waveshape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Rate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Pitch Mod . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Formant Mod. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Level Mod . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Tweak Control Panel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Min Freq . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Max Freq . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Highpass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Pitch Slew . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Status Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Mute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Bypass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Quality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Caveats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Keyboard Shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Automation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

C h a p t e r 3 : Doing Real Stuff With PurePitch

Fixing Out-Of-Tune Vocal and Instrumental Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Creating Realistic Harmonies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Re-Scoring Vocal and Instrumental Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

C h a p t e r 4 : PurePitch Preset Patches

Chorus Presets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Dialogue Presets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Harmony Presets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Spacey Presets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Tremolo/Vibrato Presets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Vocal Transforms Presets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Wacky Presets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

C h a p t e r 5 : Common Problems/Questions
How Do I Get Finer Resolution on
Parameter Adjustments? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
How Do I Return to the Default Value
for a Parameter Control? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
The Pitch Shifted Output Sounds Chopped Up or ‘Glitchy’. . . . . . . . 40
Pro Tools Says that the DSPs are ‘Maxed out’
When Trying to Insert PurePitch.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

C h a p t e r 6 : Technical Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
 C h a p t e r 1 : Ge t t ing St ar t e d

Intro
PurePitch™ is the original high-quality pitch processing plug-in
for Pro Tools TDM systems. It is designed to detune or transpose
vocal or instrumental tracks over a wide pitch range and still
maintain the original, natural sound.
The PurePitch plug-in is a versatile tool that can be used to
create a wide variety of harmony and detuning effects. It can
create ‘virtual’ backing vocals, creating new harmony lines from
a single lead vocal track. With independent control over pitch
and formants, PurePitch can create truly realistic vocal doubling,
mutate vocal character and gender, or create other-worldly crea-
tures. With the built-in delay, LFO, and flexible parameter mod-
ulation, PurePitch can add vibrato, tremolo, or create extreme
sonic modulations. For dialogue processing, the unique expression
controller can be used to enhance, reduce, eliminate, or invert
the pitch inflections of vocal dialogue tracks, or to create instant
robotic effects.
PurePitch is completely real-time, which means you don’t have to
take a coffee break while the computer is chewing on your audio
track. Move the parameter knobs, and hear the effect instantly.

1
 System Requirements
PurePitch™ is a software plug-in for the Digidesign TDM environ-
ment. To use PurePitch, you must have a Digidesign Pro Tools
system, version 5.0 or later, equipped with TDM, running on a
Macintosh computer with OS 9.1 or later.
Each PurePitch processor uses one DSP chip on the DSP farm card.
Your current setup must have at least one free DSP of sufficient
memory resource.
This manual assumes that you are familiar with the Digidesign Pro
Tools TDM environment. If you are uncertain about how DSP plug-
ins work within the TDM environment, please read the Digidesign
documentation and spend some time getting comfortable with the
basic TDM system and the DSP plug-ins that come with it before
using this package.

Installation
PurePitch™ software comes on a UltraTools CD-ROM and uses
an iLok USB hardware key device for software authorization. The
UltraTools CD-ROM contains software for every current Wave
Mechanics Pro Tools TDM plug-in in the UltraTools family. The
PurePitch plug-in that is authorized by the iLok will run without
restriction whereas other Wave Mechanics plug-ins (not autho-
rized) will run in Demo Mode for a limited period of time.

2
Instal l Pur e Pi tc h (M ac i nto s h ):
■ Exit from Pro Tools and any other applications that use the
Digidesign ‘DAE’.
■ Insert the WaveMechanics™ Plug-ins CD-ROM into your com-
puter and double-click the WaveMechanics™ installer applica-
tion. Click on the Continue button with the mouse when the
initial ‘splash’ screen appears.
■ Read the license agreement. If you agree to these terms, click
the Accept button. If you don’t agree, click Decline, and the
installation will be terminated.
■ Read the Read Me file for last minute updates and important
information. Click on the Continue button.
■ In the installer dialog box, select either the UltraTools product
(non-authorized plug-ins will run in demo mode) or use the
Custom Install option and select the PurePitch™ product and
any other plug-ins you wish to install.
■ In the installer dialog box, select the drive on which to
install PurePitch™. Select the same drive on which Pro Tools is
installed.
■ In the installer dialogue box, click on the Install button.
■ When authorizing any or all of the component plug-ins of the
UltraTools bundle, the iLok USB key is used (the older key disks
are no longer used for authorization). All Digidesign HD and
current Mix and 001 systems ship with the iLok key. If you have
purchased an upgrade to UltraTools or any of its component
plug-ins, a license card is included in the package and you can
proceed to authorize your component plug-ins
■ If you purchased UltraTools or any of its component plug-ins
for the first time, you must contact Wave Mechanics to register
your product and receive the authorization appropriate to your
platform. Any of the plug-ins can run, fully functionally, for 30
days until your authorization is completed.

3
 ■ If you have a Mac with the USB, the iLok is the means of
authorization. If your Digidesign system does not already have
an iLok key, one can be purchase from Wave Mechanics at a
nominal cost. When you register your purchase with Wave
Mechanics, an iLok license card will be promptly sent to you
to permanently authorize your plug-ins. Be sure to carefully
remove the small license card (15mm x 25mm) from the larger
plastic card.
■ If you have an older, pre-USB Mac then the challenge and
response codes are the appropriate means of authorization. To
obtain the challenge code, while starting up Pro Tools (or the
authorizer application), the challenge code will be displayed.
The challenge code can be copied and sent to Wave Mechanics
by email ([email protected]) if your purchase is
already registered with Wave Mechanics or along with your
registration. Be sure to include the product name and serial
number as listed on your product registration card along with
the challenge code. A response that permanently authorizes
your plug-ins will be promptly returned.
■ If you have an iLok and the iLok license card for the plug-ins
you wish to authorize, simply start up Pro Tools or the autho-
rizer application for that product. Displayed is a window with
two button options: Authorize, or Quit. Click on the Authorize
button to authorize. Confirm that “Use license card” is checked
and click on Next>. If the license card is not inserted into
the iLok, you will be prompted to insert a valid license card for
the plug-in purchased, then click on Next> and your plug-in
is authorized.

4
If the installation completed successfully, PurePitch™ should now
appear in the inserts dialog box next time you start Pro Tools. The
installation should have installed the following on your computer:
■ A Wave Mechanics folder (located in the drive or folder you
specified during installation), containing a ‘readme’ file and the
user manual.
■ A copy of the PurePitch™ plug-in, located in your TDM Plug-Ins
or Plug-Ins folder, located within your DAE Folder, which is
located in your System Folder.
■ The PurePitch settings files, located in your Plug-In Settings
folder, located within your DAE folder, which is located in your
System Folder.
■ If you are upgrading, the previous version of PurePitch will be
moved to the Removed Items folder within the Wave Mechanics
folder.
Please take a moment to fill out the enclosed registration card.

5
C h a p t e r 2 : Usi n g P ureP i tc h™

Basics
Within Pro Tools, to process a track with PurePitch, ‘click’ on the
Inserts button for that track, and select PurePitch from the pop-up
menu.

Each time this is done, a new PurePitch processor is created. You

may create as many PurePitch processors as you want, until you
run out of DSP resources (each processor uses one of the four DSPs
available on the DSP farm card).

To access the control panel for PurePitch within Pro Tools, click
on the PurePitch™ insert button, in either the Edit window, or the
Mix window.

6
Using PurePitch™
The control panel for PurePitch is accessed as described previously
in the basics section. It should appear as below:

About Box Mixer Control Panel

Click the Wave Mechanics Controls Wet/Dry Mix, Feedback
logo to display program version, and Delay.
hardware key serial number,
credits and other info.

Shift Mode Control Panel

Selects the type of algorithm
used for pitch alteration.

Expression Control Panel

Controls for altering the pitch
inflections of dialogue tracks.

Modulation Control Panel

Applies periodic modulations
to pitch, formant, or level of
the input signal.

Tweak Control Panel

Fine-tunes the operation
of the PurePitch processor.

Pitch Control Panel Status Panel

Controls for altering the pitch Displays the state of the
and formant of the signal mute and bypass switches,
being processed. the pitch shift quality, and
the hardware key.

7
 The About Box, accessed by clicking on the Wave Mechanics logo, is
used to display the program version, credits, and other info.

Release Version Number

8
 Block Diagram
Below is a simplified block diagram showing the signal flow
through the PurePitch processor.
FEEDBACK

WET
SHIFT PITCH MIX
FORMANT
IN + DELAY SHIFTER SHIFTER

PITCH FORMANT LEVEL

MOD MOD MOD
EXPRESSION
PROCESSOR + OUT

LFO

DRY
DELAY DRY
MIX

Legend

Summing Junction
+
(2 signals added together)

Adjustable Gain Block

9
 Pitch Control Panel

Pitch Keys

Pitch Bend Slider

Formant Shift Slider

Pitch Keys
Click on one of the Pitch Keys to select a musical interval for
pitch shifting. The Pitch Keys, together with the Pitch Bend slider,
function similar to a MIDI keyboard. If you would like to detune
the pitch from one of the diatonic intervals, to get an in-between
note, you can add some additional pitch shift with the Pitch Bend
slider.
The pitch keys are laid out like a sideways piano keyboard, with
the unison key corresponding to middle C. For easier harmony

10
generation, there are also quick keyboard accelerators that mirror
the function of clicking on these keys with the mouse. (See the
Keyboard Shortcuts section)
To shift the pitch by more than 1 octave, click on the or
buttons.

Pitch Be nd
The Pitch Bend slider adds an additional pitch shift to the interval
programmed by the Pitch Keys. The Pitch Bend slider alters the
amount of pitch shift by a given number of cents. There are 1200
cents per octave, and 100 cents equals 1 semitone. For double-
tracking, or detuning, use Pitch Bend amounts in the range of +/- Hint:
5 to 15 cents.
To get finer adjust-
ment of the Pitch
F o r m ant Shi ft
Bend amount (or any
A powerful feature of PurePitch is the ability to shift the pitch
other parameter), hold
of vocals without affecting the formant structure. Formants are
down the or Ctrl
what gives each vocal sound, and each person, a unique character.
A formant is simply a resonance, a narrow peak in the frequency key while dragging

spectrum, similar to the peak created by a parametric equalizer the slider. To return to
with a narrow bandwidth and high gain. Each vocal sound has the default, 0 cents
several of these resonances, all at different frequencies, with dif- value, option-click or
ferent bandwidths. These formant characteristics are also different Alt-click on the slider.
from person to person. Many pitch processors distort the location
of these resonances, yielding the familiar ‘chipmunk’ effect when
shifting pitch by more than a hundred cents or so. Hi n t:
While it’s usually desirable to preserve the formant structure To get more realistic-
when changing the pitch, the Formant Shift slider gives you the sounding downward
ability to warp the formant structure independent of the amount pitch-shifting, set the
of pitch change. Small amounts of formant shift can be used Formant Shift slider
to create more realistic harmonies or double-tracking, by subtly
to somewhere
altering the character of the original voice. More extreme changes
between -100 and
in the formant can be used to deepen voices, or to perform digital
gender-changes, without the need to visit your plastic surgeon. -300 cents.

11
 Even more extreme formant shifts can be used to recreate the
familiar animated chipmunk sounds, or evil alien humanoid voices.
Positive amounts of formant shift will make the source sound
more female, then more childlike, and ultimately like a ‘chipmunk’.
A negative formant shift acts like digital testosterone, yielding
deeper, more masculine sounds.

Shift Mode Control Panel

PurePitch can shift the pitch using one of two different pitch
shifting algorithms, depending on the setting in the Shift Mode
Control panel. The two algorithms are provided because each has
different strengths and weaknesses.
The Conventional mode is, in general, the cleanest of the two
algorithms, but will give rise to the ‘chipmunk-effect’ for large
amounts of pitch shift. This effect is caused by a warping of the
formant structure of vocal sounds. (For an explanation of formants,
Hint:
see the above Formant Shift control description.)
When mixing the wet Conventional pitch-shifting should be used when you are making
and dry signals, you small modifications in pitch, roughly plus or minus 50 or 100
may hear some cents. At larger shift amounts, vocals may start to suffer from the
unnatural phase-can- ‘chipmunk effect’ with this mode. This mode should also be used
cellation. To eliminate with non-vocal source material or material that doesn’t shift well
with the Formant-Preserving mode.
this, set the Dry Delay
and the Shift Delay to The Formant-Preserving mode will maintain the original character
of the source vocal for larger shift amounts than Conventional
slightly different set-
mode. However, this algorithm is a bit more fragile, and may have
tings, creating a more
difficulty shifting certain types of material. Typically very rough or
realistic mix. raspy vocal sounds are more difficult to shift with this algorithm,
and may on occasion produce some objectionable artifacts.

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Mixer Control Panel

Hint:
For the best pitch-
shift quality, a

Mix minimum amount of

delay is necessary.
The Mix slider controls the relative amounts of the dry, unpro-
If the delay is too
cessed signal, with the wet, pitch-shifted output. A setting of 100
percent will produce a pure pitch-shifted output. A setting of 0 small for optimal
will yield a totally dry signal. shifting, the quality
LED will turn

D ry D e l ay yellow or red.

The Dry Delay parameter adjusts the amount of delay applied to

the unprocessed signal, before mixing with the pitch-shifted Hint:
signal. By having separate parameters for wet and dry delay, the
relative timing of the original signal and the pitch-shifted signal Use fairly large
can be completely controlled. amounts of Shift
Delay when trying to
create regenerative
Sh if t De l ay
pitch effects. Try
The Shift Delay parameter adjusts the amount of delay applied to
the pitch-shifted signal, before mixing with the dry signal. The using only formant

Shift Delay also affects the amount of delay in the feedback loop. shifting, with a lot
of delay and a fair

F e edba ck amount of feedback

(with no pitch shift)
The Feedback slider controls how much pitch-shifted, delayed
signal gets fed back into the input. Non-zero settings here will to create some

create regenerative digital delay effects, and interesting pitch interesting sounds.
sweeps.

13
 Expression Control Panel

The expression processor built into PurePitch is designed to

manipulate the pitch inflections of dialogue tracks. The expression
processor compresses or expands the pitch envelope of the voice,
similar to what a dynamics processor does to the level of a sig-
nal. By compressing the pitch envelope, the pitch inflections are
reduced, creating a more monotone dialogue track. By expanding
the pitch envelope, the pitch inflections are enhanced, creating a
more expressive dialogue track.

Expr e ssi on R a t i o
The Expression Ratio control is similar to the ratio control on
a traditional compressor. The setting of this parameter indicates
how much the output pitch changes for each unit of input pitch
variation. A Ratio setting of 1:1 means that the output pitch
changes one unit for every unit the input pitch changes, or in
other words, the pitch inflection is unchanged. A setting of 1.0:0.5
means that the output pitch will move half as much as the
input pitch moves, compressing the pitch inflections, resulting in
a more monotone dialogue track. A setting of 1.0:2.0 means that
the output pitch will change twice as much as the input pitch,
expanding the pitch inflections, creating a more expressive vocal.
A setting of 1.0:0.0 will completely eliminate pitch inflections,
which is an easy way to create a monotone, classic robot sound.
The pitch inflection can even be inverted by setting Ratio to a
negative value
In general, small amounts of expression variation will give the
most natural results. A Ratio setting of 1.0:1.1 will slightly
enhance vocal tracks without adding unnatural artifacts.

14
Cu r r e nt Fr e que ncy Di spl ay
The Current Frequency display is a continuously updating readout
of the pitch of the input to the PurePitch processor. It is used in
setting the Rotation Frequency, below.

Rotati o n Fr e que nc y Hint:

The Rotation Frequency control is used together with the expres- Make sure to set the
sion ratio in altering pitch inflections of dialogue tracks. When
Rotation Frequency
the pitch inflection is compressed, the pitch envelope will
when altering the
be compressed inward, towards the rotation frequency. During
expansion, the pitch envelope will be expanded outward, away expression of a
from the rotation frequency. dialogue track.

This is easier to picture when the expression ratio is set to 1.0:0,

yielding a monotone output. In this case, the output frequency Hint:
will always be at the rotation frequency. As the ratio is gradually
increased, the pitch inflection will increase, but will remain cen- Use the Current
tered around the rotation frequency (assuming the input frequency Frequency readout as
is approximately “centered” around the rotation frequency.) a guide in adjusting
In general, the result will be most natural when the rotation the Min Freq and
frequency is set to the pitch center (average pitch) of the original Max Freq controls for
signal. This is accomplished by clicking on the button hard to shift audio
between the current frequency readout and the rotation frequency tracks. If the Current
control. This causes the current average pitch value to be copied
Frequency readout
into the rotation frequency control.
varies too rapidly to
Each time a new dialogue track is processed, the rotation
read, try looping the
frequency should be re-adjusted. This is easily done by playing the
new track through PurePitch and clicking on the button segment of audio

during a typical dialogue section. that may contain

the minimum or

Shi ft Li m i t maximum frequency

that you are trying
The Limit control is used to control the maximum amount of
pitch shift that is applied by the expression controller. Usually, it’s to measure.

desirable to keep the amount of pitch shift applied to a dialogue

track limited to a small amount, so that the final result will be as

15
natural-sounding as possible. Limit places a hard limit on the amount of pitch shift. For
example, if Limit is set to 200 cents, the pitch of the dialogue track will not be altered
by more than two semitones in either direction.

Ex pressi on Exam pl e s
The following graphs illustrate how the expression processor modifies the pitch inflections.
In example 1, below, the expression ratio is set to 1:0.5, which will compress any
pitch inflections in signal to be processed. The first graph shows how the output,
or processed pitch will vary as the input pitch varies. The input pitch is indicated
along the horizontal axis, and the output pitch is indicated along the vertical axis.
The diagonal lines in the plot indicate what the output pitch will be for any given
input pitch. The solid diagonal line represents a 1:1 expression ratio, and is included for
reference. The dotted line shows what happens for an expression ratio of 1:0.5.
The graph to the right shows how the pitch inflection of a typical signal is modified.
The solid line shows a plot of the pitch variation of the original signal, and the dashed
line shows the pitch variation after processing. In this example, the pitch variation is
compressed, resulting in half as much variation on the output as on the input. Pitches
above the rotation point are shifted down, while pitches below the rotation point are
shifted up. The pitch at the rotation frequency is not modified at all.
Ex a mpl e 1 :
Expression Curve (Ratio = 1:2.0) Expression Example (Ratio = 1:2.0)
800 800

1:2.0 Ratio
Output Frequency (Hertz)

400 400
1:1 Ratio
Frequency (Hertz)

Rotation Frequency Rotation Frequency

200 200

Processed

Original

100 100
100 200 400 800 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
Input Frequency (Hertz) Time

In example 2, on the following page, the ratio is set to 1:2.0, which will result in an
expansion of any pitch inflections. In this example, the pitch inflection in the processed

16
signal is expanded, resulting in twice as much pitch variation as in the original signal.
Pitches above the rotation frequency are increased, and pitches below are decreased. As
in the previous example, the pitch at the rotation frequency is not modified.

Exam pl e 2 :
Expression Curve (Ratio = 1:0.5) Expression Example (Ratio = 1:0.5)
800 800
Output Frequency (Hertz)

400 400
1:1 Ratio

Frequency (Hertz)
1:0.5 Ratio
Rotation Frequency Rotation Frequency

200 200

Processed

Original

100 100
100 200 400 800 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
Input Frequency (Hertz) Time

In example 3, the expression ratio is set to 1:-1. This example shows how negative
values for ratio will invert the pitch inflection. Every time the pitch goes up in the
original signal, the pitch will go down in the processed output. This is easily seen in
the pitch inflection graph below, where the processed signal’s pitch is a mirror image
of the pitch of the original signal.

Exam pl e 3 :
Expression Curve (Ratio = 1:-1.0) Expression Example (Ratio = 1:-1.0)
800 800
Output Frequency (Hertz)

400 400
1:1 Ratio
Frequency (Hertz)

Rotation Frequency Rotation Frequency

200 200

1:-1.0 Ratio

Processed

Original

100 100
100 200 400 800 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
Input Frequency (Hertz) Time

17
Example 4 illustrates the effect of changing the rotation frequency. In this example the
ratio is 1:0.5, which is the same value as in the first example. The rotation frequency
here is set to 500 Hertz. Because the pitch of the input signal is always below 500
Hertz, the pitch of the processed signal is always shifted up, towards the rotation
frequency. If the ratio setting had been greater than 1.0, the pitch would have been
shifted down, away from the rotation frequency.
Ex a mple 4 :
Expression Curve (Ratio = 1:0.5) Expression Example (Ratio = 1:0.5)
800 800

Rotation Frequency Rotation Frequency

1:0.5 Ratio
Output Frequency (Hertz)

400 400
1:1 Ratio

Frequency (Hertz)

200 200

Processed

Original

100 100
100 200 400 800 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
Input Frequency (Hertz) Time

18
Modulation Control Panel

The modulation controls are used to add periodic variation to the

pitch shift amount, formant shift amount, or the output level. This
is useful to create vibrato, tremolo, chorus effects, or other more
wild modulations.

Wa ve shap e
The Waveshape control determines the shape of the modulation
signal. With the mouse, click on the button with the waveshape
graphic until it shows the modulation shape that you want. The
available shapes are:
To add vibrato, the sine waveshape is usually the best choice,

sine square triangle

sawtooth pseudo-random sample hold

since it gives a very smooth pitch modulation. The square wave

can be used to create trill effects. The sample-hold waveform
creates a stepped random function, similar to using a sample-hold
with a noise generator on an analog synth. This is useful for
random shift amounts to create realistic doubling effects. The
pseudo-random shape is a bit different from the others. At very
slow modulation rates, it is useful for creating a natural-sounding
random detune. At higher rates it will distort the vocal signal,
creating a rough, noise-like effect on the processed sound.

19
 R ate
The Rate control adjusts the speed of the pitch modulation effect,
in Hertz. A setting of 1 Hertz means that the pitch, formant, or
level will be modulated once per second. Adjust this to your taste.

Pi tc h Mod
The Pitch Mod control adjusts how much the pitch shift amount is
modulated. To add vibrato to the signal, set this in the range of
about 50 to 100 cents, with a sine wave modulation shape, and
a rate of 1 to 10 Hertz. A more extreme setting of 1200 cents
would modulate the pitch shift amount over a range of plus or
minus one octave.

Fo r man t Mod
The Formant Mod control is used to add modulation to the for-
mants of the input signal. See the Formant control for a descrip-
tion of formants and formant shifting. Formant modulation will
sound something like a swept filter, or wah-wah applied to the
input signal. The formant modulation control is in cents, like the
formant slider. A setting of 1200 cents means that the formant
will be modulated over a range of plus or minus one octave.

L eve l Mod
The Level Mod control is used to add level modulation or tremolo
to the processed signal. This can be used to create more realistic
harmonies by adding a slight tremolo to the harmony output, or
can be used to create radical pulsating effects. The adjustment
is in percent where a setting of 100 percent will modulate the
amplitude from fully off to fully on, and lower settings will
modulate the level to a lesser degree.

20
Tweak Control Panel

Min Fr e q
The Min Freq parameter is used to optimize the quality of the
pitch processing. This parameter should be set to be less than
the lowest frequency in the audio track that is being processed.
Usually, it is best to set this parameter no lower than is necessary
for optimum quality. For most vocal tracks, a setting of 50 Hertz
usually works quite well. For high-pitched vocals, you may want
to try increasing this setting, and for extremely low-pitch vocals,
or for other instruments, you may need to decrease this setting.

Ma x Fr e q
The Max Freq parameter works together with the Min Freq param-
eter to optimize the pitch processing quality. This parameter
should be set to be at least as high as the highest frequency in
the audio track being processed. A setting of 1000 Hertz works
well for most vocal tracks. For higher pitched sounds, this may
need to be increased. For audio tracks that are difficult to process,
this should be set to the smallest value possible.

Hi ghpa ss
The Highpass parameter controls a highpass filter that is built in
to the pitch processing algorithm. This filter removes undesirable
DC and very low frequency signals that may degrade the perfor-
mance of the pitch shifter. While the setting of this parameter is
not extremely critical, it may improve the pitch shift quality for
some difficult tracks.

21
 Pi tch Sl e w
The Pitch Slew parameter acts as a portamento control on the
pitch shift amount. When composing harmonies using PurePitch,
it is often useful for the pitch to smoothly glide between the various
intervals being programmed. Use this to control how fast the pitch
will glide from one setting to the next.

Status Panel

The status panel indicates the state of Mute, Bypass, pitch shift
Quality.

Mute
When the red Mute LED is illuminated, the output of the
PurePitch processor is muted. Mute is toggled with a keyboard
shortcut, (Mac: control-M, Win: ‘M’ ) or through a DAE-aware
application that supports the mute function.

B ypass
When the red Bypass LED is illuminated, PurePitch is in the bypass
state, meaning that it simply passes the audio signal without
modifying it in any way. Bypass is toggled with a keyboard
shortcut, (Mac: control-B, Win: ‘B’ ) or by pressing the bypass
button above the PurePitch control panel.

Qua l i ty
The Quality LED turns yellow or red when the Shift Delay control
has been set too low, A yellow indicator indicates that PurePitch
is possibly producing less than optimum pitch shift quality. A red
indicator indicates severe quality degradation, and that the delay
should be increased to obtain cleaner pitch shifting.

22
Caveats
No pitch shifter is perfect. If you’ve had experience with other
pitch processors, you probably know this already. PurePitch is
quite good, but occasionally you’ll find a track that causes
PurePitch to ‘glitch’ (our technical term for a pitch-shifting
artifact that you’d rather not hear). If this is the case, first try
to adjust the Min Freq and Max Freq parameters. Also experiment
with the Shift Mode control, using the pitch-shifting mode which
gives the best results. Also, check our web site to make sure you
have the latest version of PurePitch. We are constantly working
on improving our algorithms, and occasionally we will release
new, improved versions of PurePitch.
If everything you try fails, send us a DAT of the offending track,
and we’ll try to come up with settings that work. We can’t
promise you anything, but we’ll try.
Use PurePitch on dry tracks only. Reverberation and other effects
will degrade the pitch shift quality. If you want reverb or other
effects on your pitch-shifted track, add the processing after
PurePitch.
Use a bit of delay. PurePitch needs a bit of time to analyze the
audio before it processes it. This is accomplished with the Pitch
Delay parameter. If you set this parameter to zero, you will notice
a slight degradation of the pitch shift quality. For the best pitch-
shifting quality, leave this parameter at its default setting, or
greater. If this small amount of delay throws off the feel of your
mix, you can always bounce the processed track, and slide it
ahead in time to compensate for the delay. Possibly, future ver-
sions of Pro Tools will automatically compensate for the process-
ing delay of DSP plug-ins.
PurePitch is designed to work on monophonic audio tracks only.
If you try to run a mix through it, you might not get what you
expect.

23
 Keyboard Shortcuts (Macintosh)
In combination with the control, option, and shift keys, the top
two rows of the keyboard have been arranged to function like the
pitch keyboard on the main screen of PurePitch.

unison
maj 2nd
maj 3rd
4th
5th
maj 6th
maj 7th
octave

min 7th
min 6th
dim 5th
min 3rd
min 2nd

To shift up, hold down the control key, and press one of the above
keys - this will function just like the upper half of the keyboard
on the PurePitch control panel. To shift the pitch down, hold down
control and option, and press the above keys - this is like the
lower half of the keyboard on the control panel. Holding the shift
key while doing any of the above will shift the pitch an additional
octave up or down - like the octave keys on the control panel.

24
Here’s a summary of all keyboard shortcuts for PurePitch:
■ control-b bypasses the PurePitch processor. When bypass is
engaged, the bypass LED will be illuminated.
■ control-m mutes the output of the PurePitch processor. When
mute is engaged, the mute LED will be illuminated.
■ control- and 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 or q,w,r,t,y will imitate the upper half
of the keyboard on the control panel.
■ control-option- and 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 or q,w,r,t,y will imitate the
lower half of the keyboard on the control panel.
■ control-shift- and 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 or q,w,r,t,y will imitate the
upper half of the keyboard on the control panel, with the octave
up button engaged.
■ control-option-shift- and 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 or q,w,r,t,y will imitate
the lower half of the keyboard on the control panel, with the
octave down button engaged.
■ control- and ↑, ↓, →, or ← nudge the pitch bend and formant
values in 10 cent increments. The control-↑ key combination
moves the pitch bend value up, and control-↓ moves it down.
The control-→ combination moves the formant value up, and
control-← moves the formant down.
■ control-option- and ↑, ↓, →, or ← move the pitch bend and
formant values in 1 cent increments.
■ control-shift- and ↑, ↓, →, or ← move the pitch bend and
formant values in 100 cent (1 semitone) increments.
■ The key is used to get finer resolution of all parameter slider
adjustments. Hold the key and then drag the control slider
with the mouse.
■ The option key is used to return a parameter control to its
default value. Hold option, and then click the parameter control
with the mouse.

25
 Keyboard Shortcuts (Windows NT)
In combination with the control, option, and shift keys, the top
two rows of the keyboard have been arranged to function like
the pitch keyboard on the main screen of PurePitch.

octave shift down shift up octave

min 7th min 7th
min 6th min 6th
dim 5th dim 5th
maj 3rd maj 3rd
maj 2nd maj 2nd
unison

min 2nd
min 3rd min 3rd
4th 4th
5th 5th
maj 6th maj 6th
maj 7th maj 7th

To shift up, or down, press one of the above keys - this will
function just like the keyboard on the PurePitch control panel.
Holding the shift key while pressing any of the above keys will
shift the pitch an additional octave up or down - like the octave
keys on the control panel.

26
Here’s a summary of all keyboard shortcuts for PurePitch:
■ ‘B’ bypasses the PurePitch processor. When bypass is engaged,
the bypass LED will be illuminated.
■ ‘M’ mutes the output of the PurePitch processor. When mute is
engaged, the mute LED will be illuminated
■ The keys 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,0,-,=,\, and q,w,e,r,t,y,u,i,o,p,[,] will imi-
tate the keyboard on the control panel.
■ Shift and 8,9,0,-,=,\ , and u,i,o,p,[,] will imitate the upper half of
the keyboard on the control panel, with the octave up button
engaged.
■ Shift and1,2,3,4,5,6, and q,w,e,r,t,y will imitate the lower half
of the keyboard on the control panel, with the octave down
button engaged.
■ ↑, ↓, →, or ← nudge the pitch bend and formant values in 10
cent increments. The ↑ key moves the pitch bend value up, and
↓ moves it down. The → key moves the formant value up, and
← moves the formant down.
■ Alt and ↑, ↓, →, or ← move the pitch bend and formant values
in 1 cent increments.
■ Shift and ↑, ↓, →, or ← move the pitch bend and formant
values in 100 cent (1 semitone) increments.
■ The Ctrl key is used to get finer resolution of all parameter
slider adjustments. Hold the Ctrl key and then drag the control
slider with the mouse.
■ The Alt key is used to return a parameter control to its default
value. Hold down Alt then click the parameter control with the
mouse.

27
 Automation
With Pro Tools 4.0 or later, parameter adjustments to PurePitch may be automated.
For basic information about how to use automation, refer to your Pro Tools user
guide.
Virtually all parameters on the control panel of PurePitch are available for
automation. To enable a parameter for automation, click on the automation
button at the top of the PurePitch
control panel.
The Plug-In Automation window will appear. At the left is a list of parameters
available for automation. On the right is the list of parameters currently enabled
for automation. To enable a parameter for automation, select one or more of the
parameters in the list at the left, and click on the Add button. The parameter will
appear on the list at the right, enabled for automation.
To begin recording automation data, bring up the Pro Tools automation enable

28
window, and make sure plug-in is enabled for automation. In the
track you’re working on, select auto-write to enable automation
data to be written for that track. Now, when you press play
and manipulate the parameters within PurePitch, the data will be
recorded by Pro Tools. When the transport is stopped, the automa-
tion will automatically switch to auto-touch. The next time you
press play, the parameter changes you recorded will be played
back along with the audio. With auto-touch enabled, as long as
the mouse is clicked, new parameter changes will be written over
the previous automation data.
The most obvious use for automating the parameters of PurePitch
is to re-harmonize a vocal track. For information on how to do
this, see the next section.

29
C h a p t e r 3 : Do i ng R eal Stuff w it h Pur e Pit ch

Fi xi ng Out- O f Tu n e Vo ca l a n d I n s t ru m en t a l Tra ck s
To correct out-of-tune performances, use the PitchDoctor™ plug-
in, which is specifically designed for this task.

Cr e ati ng Re al i s t i c Ha rm o n i es
With the current version of PurePitch, an easy way to create a
harmony track is to arrange it using one of the Harmonist™
presets combined with the pitch keyboard on the control panel,
or the pitch keyboard shortcuts. This gives you ultimate control
over the harmony line, like playing a musical instrument. Using
the automation feature of Pro Tools 4.0, the harmony line that
you create can be stored and edited just like a MIDI sequencer
track.
■ First, insert PurePitch on the vocal track that you want to use
as your source.
■ Next, select the Harmonist™ preset that is in the same key as
the vocal track. When you play the track, you’ll notice that
the harmony output is always at the same note, by default the
root note of that key.
■ To perform a harmony, simply click on the pitch keyboard (or use
the keyboard shortcuts), just like playing a piano keyboard.
■ To record the harmony sequence, click on the automation but-
ton for PurePitch, and enable automation for Pitch Keys, and
any other parameter you may wish to automate (possibly Pitch
Bend and Formant Shift),
■ Bring up the Pro Tools automation enable window, and make
sure plug-in is enabled for automation.
■ In the track you’re working on, select auto write to enable
automation data to be written. Now, when you press play and
create harmonies with the pitch keys, the data will be recorded
by Pro Tools.
■ When the transport is stopped, the automation will automati-
cally switch to auto touch, which is a convenient way to add
new notes, or edit the harmony line on the fly.

30
To edit the harmony line graphically, select Pitch Keys, in the Pro
Tools waveform selection pop-up menu for this track. A graph
of the harmony notes will appear on top of the audio waveform
display. Use the mouse to edit the harmony note values, locations,
and to add new pitch transitions. The screenshot below shows an
example of this:
To make the result sound more natural, the default Harmonist
preset adds some vibrato to the synthetic harmony. To control the
amount of vibrato, adjust the Pitch amount in the modulation

control panel. To set the vibrato rate, simply adjust the modula-
tion Rate. To add a bit of tremolo, set the Level amount in the
modulation control panel.

Re-Scoring Vocal and Instrumental

Tracks
Because PurePitch is quite good at shifting the pitch by large
amounts, it is possible to actually edit the original melody line of
a vocal or instrumental track.
■ Start out using the default setting of PurePitch (the setting that
comes up when the PurePitch plug-in is inserted).
■ To set up automation for pitch correction, click on the automa-
tion button for PurePitch, and enable automation for the Pitch
Bend parameter.
■ Bring up the Pro Tools automation enable window, and make
sure plug-in is enabled for automation.
■ In the track you’re working on, select auto-write or auto-touch
to enable automation data to be written.

31
 ■ In Pro Tools, locate and select the note that you want to adjust.
It is helpful to set Pro Tools to Loop Playback. Loop the selected
section, and use the Pitch Keys to transpose the highlighted
segment to the note you’d like
■ Once you’ve adjusted the pitch, store this setting as automation
data using Write Automation.
The transition to the new note can be smoothed by using the
Pitch Slew parameter in the Tweaks control panel. If Pitch Slew
is set to 0, the pitch transition will be instantaneous, which can
be a bit unnatural. The purpose of the Pitch Slew parameter is to
smooth out these unnatural-sounding pitch transitions. Set Pitch
Slew so that the transition sounds good to you. The default set-
ting of 25 milliseconds usually works well for most applications.

32
 C h a p t e r 4 : Pur e Pit ch Pr e se t Pat ches

The presets for the PurePitch™ processor are organized into fold-
ers according to how we expect you might use them. The folders
are:
Chorus: Chorus and thickening effects for solo vocal
and instrument tracks.
Dialogue: Dialogue inflection manipulation, using the
expression processor.
Harmony: Musical harmony effects, for solo vocal and
instrument tracks.
Spacey: Spacey long delay effects, typically with lots
of feedback.
Tremolo/Vibrato: Tremolo and vibrato effects created using
level and pitch modulation.
Vocal Transforms: Effects for manipulating the character of
spoken word and musical vocals.
Wacky: This is what you get when you’ve been star-
ing at a computer screen and listening to the
same vocal track for months.

Chorus Presets

Ambient Chorus
Random microtuning and some delay regeneration are used to
create an ambient chorus effect. Useful for thickening vocal or
instrumental tracks.

Doubler
A not-so-subtle doubling effect created with formant shifting and
a fair amount of delay

33
 Double Tracker
A fairly tight double-track effect created by using a small amount
of formant shifting. Useful for vocals.

Formant Phasor
A unique twist on the classic phase shifter, created by modulating
the formants with a slow triangle sweep.

Microtune Chorus
A classic pitch shifter effect created by simply detuning by -12
cents and mixing with unprocessed signal. Useful for thickening
just about anything.

Random Microtune
A more realistic chorus effect created by randomly detuning the
signal. Useful for thickening just about anything.

Unison
A subtle, but realistic doubling effect created with small amounts
of formant and pitch modulation.

Dialogue Presets

Less Expression
This preset will slightly reduce the pitch inflections of a dialogue
track. Make sure to set the rotation frequency according to your
source vocal, so that the pitch will not be altered at the speaker’s
average speaking pitch. To exaggerate the effect, reduce the ratio.

Monotone
This preset will completely eliminate pitch inflection in a dialogue
track. Make sure to set the rotation frequency according to your
source vocal, so that the pitch will not be altered at the speaker’s
average speaking pitch. This is an easy way to create a robot sound.

34
More Expression
This preset will slightly exaggerate the pitch inflections of a
dialogue track. Make sure to set the rotation frequency according
to your source vocal, so that the pitch will not be altered at the
speaker’s average speaking pitch. This is useful for enhancing a
voice-over to add a bit more impact or excitement.

Robotic
An intentionally synthetic sounding vocal effect. This preset uses
the expression processor to create a monotone voice, and then
adds extreme pitch and formant shifting to make it sound even
more synthetic. Useful for special effects or animation voices.

Harmony Presets

Deep Octave
This preset illustrates how formant shifting can be used to make
large downward pitch shifts sound more natural. This patch is
useful for harmony doubling of vocal tracks.

Deeper and Longer

Like above, with a long delay, and a deeper sound. This could be
used to create a male accompaniment to a female vocal track.

Harmonist™ (A, Ab, Bb, B, C, C#, ...)

Use one these presets to compose synthetic harmonies using the
pitch keys as a piano keyboard. The unison key becomes the root
note of the key that you’re working in, and the output will be
at whatever pitch you play on the keyboard. For Harmonist C,
the unison key will shift the audio to middle C. By playing the
keyboard, you can compose completely new harmony lines. See
the keyboard shortcuts to use the keyboard to control the pitch.
To adjust the tuning use the rotation pitch control to set the
frequency for middle C. By automating the pitch control, you can
compose completely arbitrary melodies using any vocal track as
source material.

35
 This preset adds a bit of tremolo and vibrato to the source to make
the synthetic harmonies more realistic. To adjust the depth of the
vibrato, adjust the Pitch control in the modulation control panel.
To adjust the depth of the tremolo, adjust the Level control. The
Rate control will affect the vibrato and tremolo speed.

Octave Doubler
Octave doubling, using a slight detune on the octave to make a
more pleasing and realistic harmony. Greate on vocals.

Octave Tremolo Slap

A simple slap delay with an octave up pitch shift.

Perfect Intervals Above

Parallel intervals, in perfect tune. Use the pitch keys to select the
interval. For shifting down, see the next preset.

Perfect Intervals Below

Parallel intervals, but with a tweak in the formant to make the
shifted output more natural for down-shifting. Use the pitch keys
to select the interval.

Stretched Intervals Above

To fix the flat effect of perfectly tuned intervals, this preset adds
a few cents of pitch bend to make the intervals more pleasant and
realistic. Use the pitch keys to select a harmony interval.

Stretched Intervals Below

Like above, except that the formant is tweaked for more realistic
downward pitch shifting.

36
Spacey Presets

Altered States
An interesting octave-modulated reverberant sound, created with
square wave modulation on level and pitch, with lots of delay
and feedback.

Ascension
Ascending formants on tremolo echo trails. Cool.

Cyberia
Sounds like your computer’s starting to get an attitude.

MicroTuned Echoes
Sweet long echoes, with random microtuning. Nice on vocals or
instruments.

Space Monkeys
Beautiful, spacey, modulated echoes up an octave. This one is
really nice.

Tremolo/Vibrato Presets

Ambient Tremo-Vibe
A nice big vibrato, with ambience. Adjust the tremolo by tweaking
the level mod amount. Adjust the vibrato with the pitch mod.
Great on guitar.

Delayed Tremo-Vibe
A straight delay, with tremolo and vibrato.

Delayed Tremolo
Tremolo and delay. Use the level mod control to control the
intensity, and the modulation rate to control the speed.

37
 Delayed Vibrato
Vibrato and delay. Use the pitch mod control to control the
intensity, and the modulation rate to control the speed.

Tremolo
Just tremolo. Use the level mod control to control the intensity,
and the modulation rate to control the speed.

Vibrato
Just vibrato. Use the pitch mod control to control the intensity,
and the modulation rate to control the speed.

Vo c a l Tr a n s f o r m s P r e s e t s

Diva
This preset can turn your singer into an operatic soprano, without
the ego.

Estrogen
A combination of pitch and formant shifting capable of turning
the most macho man into a certifiable wimp. Play with the pitch
and formant knobs to suit your taste. Useful for turning men into
women.

Munchkinizer
How to create that old chipmunk sound, without changing the
pitch. Twiddle the formant slider to tweak this to your needs.

Little Tyke
A preset that turns adults into children.

Testosterone
Put your singer on steroids, without the side effects. Great for
creating a basso profundo, or turning women into men.

38
Tinkerbell
For those rare occasions when you need a fairy godmother. Works
best on female vocals.

Wacky Presets

Acid
Our impression of a bad trip. (Not that we’d know...)

Bad Connection
A bad telephone connection, in the days before digital phone
lines.

Evil Aliens
Sort of like that movie classic villain, Darth something.

Military Radio
The sound of highly compressed battle-field communications.

Not Enough Coffee

A really bad Monday morning!

Small Furry Animals

Another classic of a sort. Here to remind you what your old pitch
shifter sounded like.

Tone Deaf
This turns the best trained vocalists into tin ears.

Too Much Coffee

Starting to get that shaky feeling?

39
C h a p t e r 5 : C omm o n P rob l ems/Que sti on s

How do I get f in er r es o lu tio n o n p a r a meter a d ju s tmen ts ?

Mac: Hold down the key while dragging the parameter slider.
WinNT: Hold down the Ctrl key while dragging the parameter
slider.

How do I re tu r n to t h e d ef a u lt v a lu e f o r a p a r a meter c o n-
trol?
Mac: Hold down the option key and click on the parameter con-
trol. WinNT: Hold down the Alt key and click on the parameter
control.

The pit ch shif ted o u tp u t s o u n d s c h o p p ed u p o r ‘g lit c hy ’.

First, make sure that you are only trying to process a monophonic,
or single instrument sound. Also, make sure that the track is as
dry as possible, which means making sure that any reverb or other
effects are inserted after PurePitch. Try changing the shift mode
to the Conventional pitch-shifting mode. Finally, in PurePitch,
adjust the Min Frequency and Max Frequency parameters (see the
description of these parameters in the Using PurePitch section.)

Pro Tools sa ys th a t the DS P s a r e ‘ ma xed o u t’ wh en tr yin g

to insert P ure P it c h.
You’ve run out of DSPs on your DSP farm card. You must either
remove some other DSP plug-ins from your current session, or
add more DSP power by purchasing another DSP farm card from
Digidesign.

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 C h a p t e r 6 : Te chnical Suppo r t

Wave Mechanics offers free technical support for all registered

users. We love to hear from our users, but if you are having
problems, first try to look in the manual for an answer. Also,
check our web site for technical notes and product updates. If
you are still stumped, please e-mail us with the following info
(keep in mind that we won’t be able to help you with questions
about Pro Tools, Apple, Windows hardware or software, or any
other non-Wave Mechanics stuff):
■ The product version and serial number.
■ The version number of your Pro Tools system, and type of
hardware (e.g. HD, Mix, ‘classic’ PCI, or NuBus.)
■ Your computer type and operating system version number (e.g.
System 9.1, etc.)
■ A detailed description of the problem.

The e-mail address for support is:

[email protected]
If you don’t have access to e-mail, please fax the
same info to:
fax: 802-951-9799
If you don’t have e-mail or a fax, you can call us at:
phone: 802-951-9700
Finally, if you are completely un-wired,
you can write to us at:
Wave Mechanics, Inc.
P.O. Box 528
Burlington, VT 05401

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Notes

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