Eventide H910 Single and Dual Harmonizer User Guide

H910 Single and Dual Harmonizer

User Guide

Copyright 2021, Eventide Inc. P/N: 141259, Rev 8 Eventide is a registered trademark of Eventide Inc. AAX and Pro Tools are trademarks of Avid Technology. Names and logos are used with permission. Audio Units and macOS are trademarks of Apple, Inc. VST is a trademark of Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH. All other trademarks contained herein are the property of their respective owners.
Eventide Inc. One Alsan Way Little Ferry, NJ 07643 201-641-1200 www.eventide.com

Contents

1 Welcome

1

1.1 About This Product . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

2 H910 Harmonizer®

3

2.1 H910 Harmonizer® Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Input Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Pitch Control Select . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Pitch Ratio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Delay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Output 2 Delay Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Feedback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Mix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Main Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Out 2 Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Envelope Follower Attack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Envelope Follower Release . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Envelope Follower Sensitivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

HK941 Keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

HK941 Keyboard Glide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

HK941 Keyboard Hold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

2.2 H910 Dual Harmonizer® Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Stereo Feedback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Stereo Link . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Stereo Width . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Mix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

3 Working with the Harmonizer®

11

3.1 Signal flow of the H910 Single . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

3.2 Playing the Harmonizers with a MIDI Keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

3.3 Preset Bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Load/Save . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Compare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Mix Lock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Info . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

4 Conclusion

15

I

Welcome

H910 Single Harmonizer®

part 1

H910 Dual Harmonizer®

1

1.1 About This Product
Thank you for your purchase of the Eventide H910 Harmonizer® plug-in. The product recreated in this plug-in was among the first introduced by Eventide – and among the world’s first commercially available professional recording products. For over 40 years, innovative products like these have made Eventide an industry leader, and we are extremely proud that they continue to be in demand today. This package includes a stunning recreation of the H910 Harmonizer®, as well as a Dual H910 version, which recreates the popular technique of running two H910 units in parallel to create lush doubling and other interesting effects. We’ll get into more depth on the product soon but, before you forget, please take a few minutes to register online. This helps us keep you informed of any important software updates, and any special offers that may only be available to registered users.
2

H910 Harmonizer®

part 2

Production Dates: 1975 ­ 1984
The Eventide Clockworks H910 Harmonizer® was the world’s first harmonizer ­ and one of the first commercially-available digital audio products. It offered built-in delay, manual adjustment of +/- 1 octave and even had an “Anti- Feedback” mode which helped to eliminate feedback between a mic and speaker by constantly “riding” room modes.
The plug-in captures all the realism of the original, including its “glitching” as it modifies the pitch. The original HK940 keyboard option is included and augmented with modern MIDI control that allows you to “play” the desired pitch using MIDI notes or bend it via pitch wheel. Simply assign the connected controller to the H910’s MIDI channel (see: “Working with the Harmonizer®” for more detail.). The H910 plug-in also includes additional Mixer and Envelope Follower sections which allow you to utilize the second delay output and control voltage input options that were available in the original hardware H910.

3

2.1 H910 Harmonizer® Controls
Main H910 Panel

Line Input Level

When the Line control is IN the LED is on and the unit is actively processing audio; when it is OUT the LED is off and the unit is bypassed and passes audio directly from input to output.
The input LED will light at -0.5 dBFS. (Note that the Limit Indicator is “after” the Input Level and Feedback controls, so it will illuminate when internal clipping is about to occur due to excessive input level or feedback.) Adjust the Input Level so that the Limit Indicator flashes only on input peaks.

4

Pitch Control Select
Pitch Ratio

The four switches in this group allow you to select whether the pitch change is set by the manual knob (MAN), the anti-feedback oscillator (A-F), the HK941 keyboard and MIDI (KYBD), or the Envelope Follower (ENV).
· MAN ­ This switch activates the MANUAL control knob. When fully counterclockwise, the output pitch is decreased by 1 octave (ratio=.5). When centered, the ratio is unity. When fully clockwise, the output pitch is increased by 1 octave (ratio=2). Intermediate settings produce fractional octave ratios with the changes “bandspread” around unity.
· A-F ­ This switch activates the ANTI-FEEDBACK knob, allowing you to add small amounts of an up-and-down frequency shift to the output signal. This serves to decrease the effect of room resonance peaks on the signal which ultimately return to the microphone. Note that higher settings will make the effect more audible, so care should be taken to find a setting which provides adequate feedback reduction with minimal audience/performer disturbance.
· KYBD ­ When selected, pitch ratio is determined by the HK941 keyboard below, or by receipt of MIDI Note On and Pitch Bend messages (see “Working with the Harmonizer®” for more detail).
· ENV ­ When selected, pitch ratio is determined by the ENVELOPE FOLLOWER. The pitch ratio is nominally 1.0, but when input signal is applied it will modulate toward the setting of the MANUAL knob as determined by the ATTACK, RELEASE, and SENSITIVITY knobs.
The display shows the numerical pitch ratio. (See also ‘Pitch Ratio Readouts for Various Musical Relationships’.) Note that, just as in the original unit, when the knob is set between two values, the display will “jitter” between the two. This is visual jitter only, and does not affect the audio.

5

Delay

Allow you to insert additional delays before the output. When in DELAY ONLY mode, select delay times in 7.5 ms increments to a maximum of 112.5 ms. (7.5+15+30+60). When in pitch mode only the right two buttons are active for 30 ms each, allowing for up to 60 ms of additional delay (30+30).

Output 2 Delay Time

The OUTPUT 2 delay buttons control the amount of delay time for the second output. This second delay tap is fed from the same input as the first, and it also allows you to mix another delay into the wet output using the mixer section in the second panel.

Feedback

Used to determine the decay time of the output delay. Clockwise rotation increases decay time until feedback reaches unity, at which point the system will begin to oscillate.

Power

When the Power button is IN the unit is powered up and operational, and when it is OUT the unit is powered off and the plug-in bypasses.

6

Secondary (HK941) Panel Controls

Mix

This control sets the overall balance of wet (effected) signal to

dry (original) signal.

Main Level

This control sets the level from the H910’s main output, which can be set to either shift pitch or output delay only. The main output is also the source for the Feedback buss.

Out 2 Level

This control sets the level from the H910’s OUTPUT 2, which is delay only. This output is also fed from the feedback from the main output, but it does not feed back into the Feedback buss itself.

Envelope Follower When the Pitch Control Select is set to ENV this sets the attack

Attack

time of the Envelope Follower.

Envelope Follower When the Pitch Control Select is set to ENV this sets the re-

Release

lease time of the Envelope Follower.

Envelope Follower When the Pitch Control Select is set to ENV this sets the Sen-

Sensitivity

sitivity of the Envelope Follower.

7

HK941 Keyboard
HK941 Keyboard Glide HK941 Keyboard Hold

When the Pitch Control Select is set to KYBD the HK941 Keyboard is an automatable keyboard which can be operated by your mouse and which automatically sets the H910 to musical intervals. This two octave keyboard is set up in such a way that the center C key represents a pitch ratio of 1.0, with each key to the right shifting the pitch ratio one further half-step up and each key to the left shifting the pitch ratio one further half-step down. This allows you to use the keyboard to easily transpose the incoming signal up or down by a musical interval related to the center C.
In KYBD mode the H910 plug-in also responds to MIDI Note Number input in the same way, using the MIDI notes centered around middle C. To use this mode you most route MIDI from your MIDI source to the H910 plug-in in your DAW.
The Glide control sets the rate at which the H910 shifts from one ratio to the next when the Pitch Control Select is set to KYBD.
By default the H910 responds to notes momentarily, which means that the pitch ratio returns to unison (1.0) when no key is pressed. By turning the HOLD mode on, the H910’s pitch ratio will stay at the value set by the last pressed key until it gets another update.

8

2.2 H910 Dual Harmonizer® Controls
The H910 Harmonizer® plug-in comes bundled with the H910 Dual Harmonizer® plugin, which recreates two H910 units running in parallel, an application that was frequently used in the hardware version to create doubling effects. Of course, you can also use the H910 Dual to create a wide variety of other interesting sounds. The H910 Dual plug-in includes two Main Panels (as described above), and an Expansion Panel with several additional controls.
Expansion Panel Controls

Stereo Feedback Stereo Link Stereo Width

The three buttons in this group allow you to control the feedback routing between the two H910 units. In MONO mode, the output from a single unit only feeds back into that unit. In STEREO mode, the output from the top unit feeds back into the bottom unit, and vice versa. In BOTH mode, the output of each unit feeds back into both itself and the other unit. An interesting application of these modes is when using feedback combined with pitch shifting, which based on the Pitch Ratios of the bottom and top units, can cause the incoming signal to shift up/down continuously, shift up and then down continuously, or shift away from a Pitch Ratio of 1 in both directions.
The three buttons in this group allow you to more easily control the plug-in, by linking corresponding controls in the bottom and top units. In MONO mode, all controls can be set independently. In LINK mode, changing a control on one unit will cause the corresponding control on the other unit to follow that change. Reverse Link mode behaves much like cvalueLink mode, but changing the Pitch Ratio on one unit will cause the other unit’s Pitch Ratio to move in the opposite direction. This is especially useful for creating stereo detuned and doubling effects.
Allows you to control how “wide” the output of the plug-in is, from mono to full stereo.
9

Mix Output

Controls the total Wet/Dry mix of the H910 Dual plug-in. Controls the output level H910 Dual plug-in.

10

Working with the Harmonizer®

part 3

3.1 Signal flow of the H910 Single
The original H910 Harmonizer® had additional inputs and outputs which would have traditionally been attached to external studio gear to work. In order to make this plug-in work well in a DAW environment, we’ve built some of this external gear, like an envelope follower and a mixer, into the H910 Single plug-in itself. Because of this, the signal flow in the H910 Single can be difficult to understand. Please refer to the following figure if you have any difficulties.

11

3.2 Playing the Harmonizers with a MIDI Keyboard
A MIDI keyboard set to send MIDI on the H910’s MIDI Channel can be used to control the pitch ratio in discrete musical steps. Middle C on the keyboard will set Unison on the Harmonizers; 1.00 on the display. Playing the E above Middle C will produce a harmony of a Major 3rd. Playing the E-Flat above Middle C will produce a Minor 3rd and so on. Refer to the graphic below and the chart on the following page.
12

The Harmonizers respond to MIDI Note On and Pitch Bend messages. The bend range covers two octaves, from 0.5 to 2.0. The MIDI response for all plug-ins is OMNI, i.e. messages received on any of the 16 channels will be accepted.
Figure 3.1: Pitch Ratio Readouts for Various Musical Relationships
13

3.3 Preset Bar

Located at the top of the H910 Harmonizer® Plug-In, the Preset Bar lets you load and save presets, along with several other features.

When H910 Harmonizer® is installed, a library of settings is placed into the