Dotcomformat

On 28 Jul 2008, at 19:43, John Mahoney wrote:

> My only experience with any of the above is that I've got an Encore  
> frequency shifter. I like it a lot! I've actually not tried to do  
> an "elf voice" effect with it, but it can definitely be used on  
> voice. However...
>
> Analog frequency shifting and digital pitch shifting are very  
> different. Frequency shifting causes harmonics to become inharmonic  
> (reminiscent of ring modulation, in a way) whereas pitch shifting  
> shifts all frequencies by the same harmonic interval.

Frequency shifting *adds* a fixed offset to harmonics. So it is  
indeed very much like ring modulation - in fact it's ring modulation  
with the difference products suppressed.

Pitch shifting *multiplies* harmonics by a fixed amount. So the  
relative offsets stay the same.

If you want an elf/chipmunk voice, a pitch shifter will probably do a  
better job. Frequency shifters are better for scary distorted monster  
voices.

If you can find someone with the Arturia Virtual Moog VST plug-in, it  
has a frequency shifter module which sounds not unlike a hardware box.

(Actually you can buy a Virtual Moog and a PC to run it on for the  
cost of a hardware frequency shifter. If it were me, I'd probably  
spend the money on other modules. ;) )

Richard