Change pitch of a track.

joesapo · Post by **joesapo** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 11:58 pm

I'm looking for a VST or a Live effect that will let me alter the pitch of a track.

End goal is to try to create something like the harmonic color knobs on the DJM800. Not sure if it will work, or what it will sound like, but I think it's worth a try.

I don't want to use the clip pitch for this. A track effect would be best.

Any ideas?

DJ VAKIS · Post by **DJ VAKIS** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 12:51 am

Why not using the clip pitch?

Anubis · Post by **Anubis** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 3:24 am

Really, that's how I do it.

Patch · Post by **Patch** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 8:06 am

I was looking for a VST effect to do just this. I gave up. I use re-pitch for warping - so when I warp an acapella, and try to speed it up too much I get the chipmonk effect. I'd hoped I could find a VST with ONE KNOB that would just adjust the pitch of the acapella without touching the tempo.

Does anybody know why the pitch adjust is disabled in session view when you use re-pitch to warp?

forge · Post by **forge** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 8:10 am

Patch wrote: Does anybody know why the pitch adjust is disabled in session view when you use re-pitch to warp?

because repitch alters tempo by changing the pitch of the sample so it stays the length of the loop but without timestretching

in order to change tempo and pitch you need to timestretch

try tones mode though you can usually get quite ok results doing what you're suggesting - or even complex

MacBookDJ · Post by **MacBookDJ** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 8:13 am

Why not just warp in 'complex' mode and re-pitch (if you need to) with the clip's pitch control?

ciw · Post by **ciw** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 10:11 am

there's a free vst called specmonkey, can't remember where to download it though. it's pretty basic pitch shifting (live will do it better) but it might be what you're after.

I tried using it, because unlike live's transpose it will allow you to assign midi controls separately for transposing each channel (bloody frustrating that you can't imo). Quality wasn't good enough though, I'm now using live's pitch shift again. However I have managed to use midi ox to map it to midi notes

Another (low quality) option is to use grain delay with a short delay (25ms?), freq of maybe 40hz and change the pitch up and down.

Angstrom · Post by **Angstrom** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 11:39 am

you are using re-pitch to avoid timestretching artifacts, yes?

well any pitch shifting VST technology will produce those same artifacts, in fact probably worse than live!

pitch shifting while maintaining speed, and speed shifting while maintaining pitch are two sides of the same coin. Same technologies, same drawbacks.

when you want to pitch shift - use one of lives pitch enabled modes, because they are locked to tempo they are pretty good. And also - that's what the app is for eh?

Sartori · Post by **Sartori** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 11:44 am

It's not something I use very often, so I thought I'd ask - can Live pitch-shift clips by less than a semitone? Sometimes just using the Transpose control doesn't give the correct pitch, especially where guitars are involved...

ciw · Post by **ciw** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 11:45 am

yes - the little white box under the transpose knob shifts by cents

Patch · Post by **Patch** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 11:58 am

forge wrote:try tones mode though you can usually get quite ok results doing what you're suggesting - or even complex

I use live for Dj'ing - so Repitch really is the only option for me. Changing pitch independently from tempo can be done easily - I've seen a plug-in that does it but I cannot find the one...

Machinate · Post by **Machinate** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 12:19 pm

Patch wrote:I use live for Dj'ing - so Repitch really is the only option for me.

Why? TONS of people use live for djing, and they use the entire arsenal of modes at their disposal

Patch wrote:Changing pitch independently from tempo can be done easily - I've seen a plug-in that does it but I cannot find the one...

ALL the other warp modes will do this. Hence : Why only repitch? As Angstrom said, the end result will be better if you simply skip Repitch mode from the beginning.

forge · Post by **forge** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 2:19 pm

Patch wrote:
forge wrote:try tones mode though you can usually get quite ok results doing what you're suggesting - or even complex
I use live for Dj'ing - so Repitch really is the only option for me. Changing pitch independently from tempo can be done easily - I've seen a plug-in that does it but I cannot find the one...

you said it was for an acapella

you might be surprised how well both tones and complex do on an acapella

like angstrom and machinate and me all said, if you are pitch shifting AND tempo changing - or pitch changing and keeping the same tempo or tempo changing and keeping the same pitch you will have to use some kind of timestretch

it is not physically possible to use repitch mode and have independent pitch and tempo control at the same time

you wouldnt be able to do that with turntables