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Comments
Bloomberg, 2020, Pp.181-183:
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Harmonizer 2.0
The harmonizer, while doing well given the amount of travel required for touring, was getting extremely beat
up. The Portwell computer was designed as an ‘industrial’ machine with shock and vibration ratings, but we
found the power supply board inside was vulnerable to shock on its ATX connector. Several times the harmo-
nizer was dropped, including off the back of a van and when being checked in on a plane. Each time, I would
have to dismantle the PC and reflow the solder on the power supply. Eventually other parts started to fail. The
week before TED, the machine stopped booting for good and corrupted its disk.
Even before that we had spent some time making the system more robust. The wear and tear on the cables and
connectors was too much and it started to become quite temperamental. Like the One-Man Show mixer rack,
we hoped to design a case requiring minimal connections and with proper strain relief. I created some basic
designs for a metal chassis to house everything with shock mounting, and Brian Mayton and Tommy Moriarty
were instrumental in taking the drawings I made and turning them into reality. We added a customized patch
panel with transformer isolated inputs and outputs soldered directly to a DB15 cable for the RME Babyface.
Brian made a 3D printed case for the TC Helicon, and we dismantled it, removing its display entirely. Brian
came up with a way to connect the display and button panel if needed via a ribbon cable, but we generally pro-
gramed the TC via MIDI. The capacitive display caused problems as cables would brush against it; so removing
it entirely solved some issues we’d experienced where its programming would unintentionally change. We also
modified the connectors on the rear panel to remove the guitar inputs, since these were never used and some
others were failing. The computer was mounted in this chassis and all its cables were carefully strain relieved. A
central power supply was cabled to everything. A USB over Cat5 extender was included for getting the Nova-
tion MIDI back to the side stage or FOH, if needed. This was also used to pass the harmonizer MIDI to the
video system in certain configurations.
When the computer finally failed, we found a single board industrial PC by Neousys5 which was actually
smaller for the same spec (quad i7 3.4Ghz, 16GB ram). We were able to rebuild the system with that PC but
with additional shock mounting right before TED. The system behaved well and has been relatively stable for
2 years. If I were to build a second harmonizer, I would use this machine and case design, since it has finally
reached a point where it is stable and roadworthy.
People often ask me how much custom software and hardware is in the harmonizer and the answer is: not
much. It is true that if it were a completely bespoke device, we would be able to thoroughly tweak it as neces-
sary, market it, patent it, etc. But, the circumstances around its development weren’t conducive to making
hardware and software from scratch. We instead spent our valuable time tweaking and combining components
that we knew and trusted, rather than assembling basic building blocks. Now that we have a version of the
instrument that we really like and trust, we could look at recreating what we have from scratch. This could be a
project for the future, but its motivations would primarily be commercial, rather than creative or research-driv-
en.
If I were to re-design the harmonizer today, I would consider using low latency DSP or FPGA platforms. FPGA
leaves the most flexibility but has a longer development process. Our biggest struggle with the current version
is the system latency (inherent because accurate FFT on low frequency input takes a relatively longer time).
We play some tricks to lower the latency, but this could be done much more effectively by writing a vocoder
algorithm from scratch. That would also allow for microtuning, hermode tuning and altered intonations which
are features that we’ve long wanted to include. To develop this and add back in the traditional DSP elements
(MS processing, customized enveloping, sustain, glide, freeze pitch shifting, EQ, etc.) would be quite a serious
project. It would then need to go through a rigorous debugging and QA testing phase. Finally, it is essential to consider the non-sound, non-musical features that make the current unit useful for high-stakes performances.
We spent a good deal of time refining the sound of the device, but what makes it functional for Jacob are all
the other features— its durability, its ability to be remote controlled, its simplicity of use, the fact that it can
be used in many different configurations and power systems, its features tailored specifically to the songs and
the set, etc. Perhaps down the road we’ll start a company with a hardware vendor to do this, but for now, we’re
happy to have a device that sounds and feels truly unique and works well for our purposes.
I would like to also know how TB Voicepitcher stacks up. This clearly has a lot more to it, but for what they do similarly, how do they compare? One big thing Voicepitcher has is the freeze function and apparently it does harmonies and FX too. Can Anyone who has both compare?
@Bruques
Here is a video of Jacob describing the freeze function:
If you could teach me how to do that I would be very grateful. It would be cool to have a freeze because that way you could have sound coming out without needing to vocalize (and hence output breath) all the time. I'm not sure if on his he could start playing other things while freezing the previous sound but that would be ideal as well.
I was a bit bummed at how similar Voices is to Waves Harmony, they are almost identical. Voices does have a better interface and the MPE does have a lot of potential.
One thing that irks me is that that incoming voices on the midi keyboard just randomly pan from left to right. I wish there was a way for it to be a bit more intelligent about the voicing and the melodies to do the panning a bit more natural as if there was a choir. A simple solution would be to set up "registers" of the keyboard in the stereo space like the registers of a choir, so that it was a bit more consistent.
Another thing on my wishlist is more midi voices than 8. Using a sustain pedal I could easily add a lot of crunch to chords by adding harmonies on top of each other. With the new m1 Macs I feel like we have the processing power...
I feel like this conversation happened pages ago but anyway,,,,
Voicepitcher has two re pitched voices only, and is NOT midi, so in that regard it is not comparable, if the comparison is with midi playable harmonizers. It is closer to something like Soundtoys Alterboy, yet with even more going for it, than it is to Bleass Voices. A person looking for a midi playable harmonizer a la Waves Harmony or the TC Voicelive is not looking fot TB Voicepitcher because the fundamental functionality is not there, but if you want high quality voice pitch shifting in production, the TB is excellent sounding for that.
Good shout on the freeze function though, if it works in the way that @monksCat is referring to it could be a case of trying out the pair of Bleass Voices chained with TB for the freezing and midimapping control of the TB freeze, otherwise, I would have thought a good granular effect with the right settings is how to get that freeze, again midimapped. Getting the window shape and the grain length tends to do it, so the telltale granular glitchiness goes away and it becomes paddy. Maybe Silo with the right settings.
That sounds like some particular preset, because all the panning and various other parameters are fully controllable. If they're moving around that sounds like stuff to turn off in the Performance, Modulation or Sequencer tabs. Evidently something is mapped to stereo controls there.
Yeah you could but it's a heck of an undertaking, you could build something like a Max 4 Live patch that once it receives more than 8 midi notes that are not turned off yet, it routes the next ones to a second instance of Voices. It would be a bit of work but it's doable. Probably the type of thing Ben did for Jacob who would also have been greedy about how many harmonies can he have. On iOS I'm guessing Mozaic might be usable for that, I don't have it myself, but @McD might have an idea if it's hard or not to do something like that in Mozaic? IE, 10 midi notes have been played (and they are MPE potentially IE on different channels!), the first 8, must be routed to one instrument, and the extra ones to another instrument, they are currently sustained, then another 6 notes are incoming, while still sustaining, these continue to be routed to the second instrument. (Even more? to a third instrument? at which point MPE breaks down, we only have 15 MPE channels because the main is the 16th)....
@Bruques Thanks for the exhaustive info above about the development of Jacobs harmonizer. When you read all this, and also
“We spent a good deal of time refining the sound of the device, but what makes it functional for Jacob are all the other features…”
…it's pretty clear that it's anything but a regular TC Helicon just built into another casing. I’m not surprised that this custom build solution sounds clearly identifiable better and much more balanced compared to the commercial harmonizers incl. Bleass Voices.
I would somewhat disagree. it's exactly the same harmonizer, and all of us can achieve exactly the same sound if we take the same amount of care. What you sing, what harmonies you use, the voice leading. the fact that it was better for higher notes than lower ones, being mindful to use a dark enough mic. It's as customized as personally I would customize my own. But the heart of it was purely a TC.
Although, on closer reading of Ben's thesis, I missed a huge huge point.
The custom harmonizer is a mix of 4 instances of Antares plugin, to get a total of 16 voices, which has better sounding lower notes, blended together with the TC Voicelive Touch 2, which had lower latency and better sounding higher notes.
The technicalities of making any such thing work, the glide, and the freeze, these are all things we could do too. But most of us won't.
So yes, the custom harmonizer sounds different to any one standard harmonizer, and I was being too simplistic.
This is the current version of the Antares plugin:
https://antares-web-frontend.sfo3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/products/vocal-effects/harmony-engine/videos-webm/Harmony Engine_Final.webm
4 of these and a TC Voicelive is the core of the Collier Bloomberg harmonizer
If we were to blind test these and Bleass Voices I suspect it would be a very close call either way
Audio Damage EOS 2 is a (bargain on ios) reverb with the "Infinite" switch .
EDIT: correction EOS 2 Infinite is not a freeze as it will keep being added to while switched on. Toneboosters Reverb on the other hand has a real freeze.
Midimapping TB Reverb
to respond to either sustain pedal, which is CC 64, or an additional CC, would mean you could control both the harmonizer sustain and reverb freeze possibly with just one pedal depending how you prefer. I'm sure there's plenty other freezable verbs, particularly granular ones, that can be set mega smooth.
See pp. 166-168 of the Bloomberg thesis. Their freeze made use of the hold feature on the free SmartElectronix Ambience reverb plug.
MPE amongst other things means you instantly have the glide functionality.
You could run it into Eos or another reverb with a freeze function and get the same result.
I once got FAC Envolver to turn on the Eos freeze function on the last note played. I was using a piano patch. I'd play a phrase with normal reverb, and then Envolver would kick in the freeze at the end of the phrase.
Yep what @Wrlds2ndBstGeoshredr said. Try TB, midimapped to freeze and unfreeze when you CC 64 on off.
Sorry, pal: it was 4 pages back that you had a similar question. What made me bring it up was Voicepitcher freeze but you made a good comparison.
» show previous quotes
You could run it into Eos or another reverb with a freeze function and get the same result.
Yep what @Wrlds2ndBstGeoshredr said. Try TB, midimapped to freeze and unfreeze when you CC 64 on off.
Cascade also has a freeze function plus an additive infinite mode.
Been playing around with the demo version of Voices and waves Harmony (which I already own). Things I noticed:
-Sound isn't close. Waves Harmony sounds robotic and thin in comparison to Voices. You could especially notice it in the higher voices. This alone is what will propel me to buy Voices. I do wonder how Antares Harmony engine stacks up.. but at only 4 voices and 299$ I might not bother to check it out.
-One easy way to expand the voices 16 or more is to run two instances and set a midi split on your keyboard. This is also convenient if you want to have different settings for different "registers" of the keyboard. This of course will still only allow 8 voices per region that you've allocated.
-The 'real time' mode is essential. Even with a MacBook Pro m1 max there is noticeable latency without it. More interestingly, the MPE vibrato which I initially thought was flimsy and useless came to life when I turned on 'real time'. It was responding a bit more realistically and I could see how it would be useful.
-@Bruques I don't understand why you say MPE gives you glide for free. The 'glide' we are referring to in harmonizers is different than the 'glide' normally mentioned in MPE's such as the seaboard. In harmonizers it refers to notes swooping in in time from low to high or high to low. (I think it uses the last sung or played note as a baseline?) . See the video I posted for Jacob demonstrating it.
-Thanks for the suggestions of how to try to incorporate a freeze function. Hopefully I get to it this week.
Ultimately I'm definitely gonna purchase it. Kinda wished I caught the sale price but at 70$ its still definitely very much worth it.
You've just described portamento or glissando, a pitch bending across a significant distance from either low to high or high to low. MPE by default has pitch bend range set to 48 semitones, hence my comment that glide is a part of MPE, you can glide via MPE multiple octaves if you want, it is entirely common for me to use MPE pitch bending to glide between notes an octave or a fifth or fourth away, and to do so with whole chords. On Jacob/Ben's it was done with portamento, and as such Jacob in that video just changes the portamento speed/amount, so the difference between what Jacob does and what I'm saying isn't a difference of sound, it's a difference of physical action required for me to perform my MPE glides as a violin player would, as opposed to a synth portamento user who does nothing at all, they change the setting and carry on playing the notes, and I suppose a difference in the resulting midi. Not a difference sonically.
I'm not saying this sounds good yet, but the possibilities are intriguing
Do you necessarely need a carrier signal ?
Oh, dude, your memory's totally on point! Jacob rocked that TC Helicon like a boss! It's all right there in Ben's PhD thesis at MIT, no cap!
They were all about leveling up that harmonizer game. Portwell's industrial PC with no moving parts or fans, genius move! That Reaper session was sitting pretty in that Peli-can case with all the audio gear, mixer, and of course, the TC Helicon for that sweet low latency and sick high voices. It's like they knew what they were doing, man!
And that video with Jacob and his white TC Perform VK on the Nord? Legit stuff, no need for custom magic harmonizer from MIT, just pure Todd Machover course wizardry. Take that, mainstream media, no need to exaggerate!
Now, comparing Bleass Voices with the TC Units is like comparing apples and oranges, you feel me? Mic choice, technique, formant tricks, post-processing voodoo, and note spacing, they all play a part in getting that smooth and natural sound. So, it's not just the gear, it's the magic touch of the musician that makes it happen! 🎤🧙♂️
how does voices compare to alterboy ? i’m talking quality of pitch and repitch …
Why can bleass harmonics trigger via keyboard midi but not sequenced midi?
Without audio issues.
.
.
.
Seems to be correct way for multiout.
Starts the seemingly uncorrect way. Track 2 to Bleass multiout 1.
Its then not multiout.
Then setting up so its multiout functionality.
Its ok via external keyboard but not from a recorded sequence.
Yeah so.
Have no use for a Korg microkey but would be good for bleass voices ( but to then edit also, via sequencer )
but sequenced versions of midi. Have audio issues.
Happens in AUM.
Is it Drambo sequencer.
Or bleass app.
Its annoying not knowing.
Dosent anyone use app. Multiout out etc ?
Not that anyone is bothered and tbh. Its a bit of a faff to gain sound. Especially with so many tracks in project.
but the issue is Drambo sequencer. Its ok via playback with other ( crash prone sequencers ) Loopbud. Which you cant edit.
But Bleass voices seems to be wierd panning anyway. Like the main outputs arnt balanced but are stereo. The next 3 harmonics ( it would probably be 4 ) If the multiout routing started at 1, are stereo. Then harmonic channels from there are mono.
Its either not setup as multiout corrcectly.
Or the app harmonics were designed by app to not have balanced outputs and harmonics are only acheivable because they are mono copies or routing or something.
If this is how it works and not because I havent routed correctly.
You cant really control panning anyway.
Quit this for now.
Its not mono as described ( In Aum )
and found even triggering with an external keyboard. Is like how Drambo sequencer triggers Bleass.
Weird because Drambo keyboard is ok.
Could be a routing and or because Drambo maybe dosent route to multi fx like a multiout generator.
Note midi that is
other midi woyld be ok because it maps etc seperate from note.
Just a guess though.
If stemmed from aum using feedback app.
Id maybe have to buy a sequencer app.
but may just not be as ocd. With all the multiout to fx etc.
But then its not midi.
Unless the multiout voices listen to midi to compensate for audio latency and Drambo isnt the same as aum for multiout fx.
It works in aum but no Drambo sequencer.
Cant set this up in Drambo.
Maybe because Drambo isnt made for multiout processor ?
Which means the old 8 track ( Drambo applies )
Because setting up multiout routing. Anything passed 8 tracks cant be panned.
Even if you dont multiout the first 4 Bleass voices and then just 8 bleass harmonics ( as I cant press more than 8 keys anyway )
The no pan of multiout still applies to the fifth harmonic onwards.
Which means instead to route via aum. Use loopbacks.
For live. Dont use loopy on per harmonic channels as you would hear all harmonics if for example ( to gain the fifth harmonic. You would still hear 1-4 and these might already be loop recorded.
Ok for production with loopy of harmonics but still a faff.
Aum channels. Loopbacks. Recieve Drambo per track. Multi in to loopy. Multiout to the same amount of ins ( bleass voices )
Loopbased harmonics to fx.
Its just annoying having to route via aum as you cant tweak app ( unless with midi )