Long-Range Pitch Shifter

[aleo]

I'm looking for a kind or plug-in that will allow me to shift the pitch of wave files I've recorded from various sounds in nature, percussion kits, pieces if junk, etc.  This is not regular pitch shifting; I'm talking about shifting the pitch either up or down by as much as six or seven octaves like we used to be able to do with reel-to-reel tape recorders.  If the plug-in will work on audio clips within Cakewalk that's fine, but I need it to at least work on wave files.  Quality of sound or fidelity is more important to me that cost.

[reginaldStjohn]

Melodyne or even the built in audio transpose may be able to do this.  The quality of that much shifting would have to be up to you to decide if it is acceptable.

[aleo]

Thanks for responding Reginald.  I experimented with Melodyne a little bit last year.  I'll take another look at it for this application.

[Alan Tubbs]

Sound forge can do that.  Separate program, not a plug.  Check to see if the cheap version (when it was a sony product they had a sub hundred version, I don’t know about magic).

[bitflipper]

Melodyne's probably your best bet, since you can fiddle with the formants, which is useful when doing large shifts.

Another option, if you have it, would be Kontakt. That would let you turn your sounds into a playable instrument.

But I gotta ask: how did you get a 7-octave shift with a tape machine? Best I could ever do was 3 octaves, by recording at 15 ips, playing it back at 7.5 ips and then bouncing to another machine that could do 3.75 ips. I guess you could bounce that back to the 15 ips recorder and repeat the process, but it would sound pretty bad.

[aleo]

Alan -- thanks for responding. I'm looking into Sound Forge; it sounds like a good candidate.

Bit Flipper--thanks for the advice on Melodyne, I've got to get back into it and explore its capabilities.  

         " how did you get a 7-octave shift with a tape machine? Best I could ever do was 3 octaves, by recording at 15 ips, playing it back at 7.5 ips and then bouncing to 

          another machine that could do 3.75 ips. I guess you could bounce that back to the 15 ips recorder and repeat the process, but it would sound pretty bad."

A very astute question.   I was hoping I could get that range out of some of the new software.?   I was thinking of the ease with which we could change the speed of playback and recording with the old reel-to-reels and you're right, something like six octaves would be pretty challenging.   I was able to get more than a three-octave reduction in speed using two tape recorders, one of which was my old Revox A-77 which had a custom-built variable speed control.

[User 905133]

Back in the day, a friend and I slowed down a fast part (IIRC it was the sped up sax section near the end in Peaches en Regalia) using 2 machines. In addition to slowing  it down, the pitch dropped 4 octaves. We could have then dropped it by another factor of two to make it 8 octaves from the original (and then to 16).  But as noted, the drop in sound quality compounded with each iteration. 

We didn't have a variable speed motor to drop something in multiples of 1.5 octaves. We only had 7 1/2 and 3 3/4.

In the interest of mentioning other options, Voltage Modular has a Sampler II module which is visually patterned after an old E-Mu Emulator.  Using Pitch Control Voltages, a sample can loaded, triggered, and be played across the span of a keyboard (for example).

I found a vocal sample of a female singer saying something ("Yeah, yeah, yeah.") and played it across a 48 key keyboard. I pitched the keyboard down to the lowest midi value and at my lowest C it sounded like a foghorn or something like that.  Pitching the keyboard up also worked, but after "chipmunk pitch" I got nasty artifacts--probably because internally Voltage Modular does 48K.  If you are looking for higher sample rates, this might not work for you.

Not sure what you will be doing, if you are wanting to batch process lengthy audio files, or manipulate individual slices or selections from larger files.  A full-fledged audio editor might best meet your needs. However, when you say "various sounds in nature, percussion kits, pieces if junk, etc." you might want to re-pitch those individually--as sounds or as clips.

And if you are really into sample manipulation, there are a few third-party sample manipulation modules for Voltage Modular. 

Just another option depending on what you will be doing.

[abacab]

As Bitflipper suggested, using a sampler to create a playable instrument from the wave files would be a relatively simple solution. A single sample could be mapped all the way across the keyboard. Play it in any octave you wish!

An alternative to Kontakt, if all you need is a simple instrument, is the basic free sampler VST called Grace by One Small Clue. With sample drag and drop simplicity and keyboard mapping.

https://www.onesmallclue.com/

 

Edited January 25, 2023 by abacab

[aleo]

Thanks again everyone.  You've given me several interesting possibilities and ideas to work with. 

[Starship Krupa]

The free Kilohearts Essentials collection includes a very good pitch shifter. I'm not sure about the range, but hey, it's free.

[abacab]

3 hours ago, Starship Krupa said:

The free Kilohearts Essentials collection includes a very good pitch shifter. I'm not sure about the range, but hey, it's free.

The kHs Pitch Shifter can do +/- 24 semitones, so range is +/- 2 octaves. The effect works in real time and if you set the mix knob to 100% wet, you only hear the shifted audio, otherwise you hear some of the original signal as well.

Edited January 26, 2023 by abacab

[Starship Krupa]

6 minutes ago, abacab said:

The kHs Pitch Shifter can do +/- 24 semitones, so range is +/- 2 octaves.

So if you bounce the track, you get 2 octaves, then apply the effect again....

[abacab]

15 minutes ago, Starship Krupa said:

So if you bounce the track, you get 2 octaves, then apply the effect again....

...and no tape machines required!

[abacab]

Kilohearts Essentials, free here: https://kilohearts.com/products/kilohearts_essentials