Question on Harmonizer
- Thread starter Excalibur
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Ripper
New member
2 harmoniser effects? I think you mean effects producing 2 harmonising sound right, dude? Yes. Listen to Brian May and Marty Friedman, lotsa of harmonising lead from their playing. 2 delays only gives you 2 same note with same pitch with slight timing differential. You need effects to give you real harmonising function man, capable of tweaking the pitch of the harmonising voices, not just chorusing them.
eg. Boss HR-2, PS-2/3/5, Digi whammy, etc etc..
eg. Boss HR-2, PS-2/3/5, Digi whammy, etc etc..
Excalibur
New member
Thanks man. I'll rephrase my question.
I was using the 2 delay effects as an analogy. Yep, 2 delays will give a differential in timing.
What I've been wondering lately is if there is a use for 2 harmonizer effects instead. This came to mind when I saw some guitarist's pedal board at a gig. He had 2 Boss Harmonizers, yes I'm saying 2 units. So my question is, why the hell did the guy buy 2 of those? You only need one right? I use only 1 myself, is there a need for 2? (Different sound? Or just screw up your sound?)
I was using the 2 delay effects as an analogy. Yep, 2 delays will give a differential in timing.
What I've been wondering lately is if there is a use for 2 harmonizer effects instead. This came to mind when I saw some guitarist's pedal board at a gig. He had 2 Boss Harmonizers, yes I'm saying 2 units. So my question is, why the hell did the guy buy 2 of those? You only need one right? I use only 1 myself, is there a need for 2? (Different sound? Or just screw up your sound?)
Crawldaddy
New member
Hmm.
The thing about having 2 harmonisers, is the following questions:
1. will your sound become mush through the usage of 2 harmonisers?
2. what kind of sound, if not mush, would result from hooking 2 harmonisers together?
I can think of the following scenarios:
A. If Harmoniser 1 (H1) has a stereo output, just by using one harmoniser one can duplicate a 'twin lead' sound. Harmoniser 2 (H2) might be able to create a chorus effect, provided it has a detune function.
B. H1 is used to create a lower harmony note, with H2 using the DRY original, non harmonised signal to create an upper harmony note. When connected back into a stereo input (e.g. DD6) it will result in a 'triple' harmony sound.
C. H1 has an octave function, with wet signal going one octave up. H2 uses Dry signal from H1 to harmonise, thereby resulting in a 'twin lead plus one octave up' sound.
somehow there are many more possibilities... provided the harmonier pedals have stereo INPUTS, because most of them only have mono inputs...
However, one must bear in mind that the boss pedals require one's playing to be very tight, without any extra string noise because their tracking isn't exactly awesome... so if you intend to hook up two such harmonisers, bear in mind that MIGHT result in a significant delay between the (harmonised) H2 note and the dry H1 note.
It might sound thick, it might sound mushy... Up to you to go try it out!
The thing about having 2 harmonisers, is the following questions:
1. will your sound become mush through the usage of 2 harmonisers?
2. what kind of sound, if not mush, would result from hooking 2 harmonisers together?
I can think of the following scenarios:
A. If Harmoniser 1 (H1) has a stereo output, just by using one harmoniser one can duplicate a 'twin lead' sound. Harmoniser 2 (H2) might be able to create a chorus effect, provided it has a detune function.
B. H1 is used to create a lower harmony note, with H2 using the DRY original, non harmonised signal to create an upper harmony note. When connected back into a stereo input (e.g. DD6) it will result in a 'triple' harmony sound.
C. H1 has an octave function, with wet signal going one octave up. H2 uses Dry signal from H1 to harmonise, thereby resulting in a 'twin lead plus one octave up' sound.
somehow there are many more possibilities... provided the harmonier pedals have stereo INPUTS, because most of them only have mono inputs...
However, one must bear in mind that the boss pedals require one's playing to be very tight, without any extra string noise because their tracking isn't exactly awesome... so if you intend to hook up two such harmonisers, bear in mind that MIGHT result in a significant delay between the (harmonised) H2 note and the dry H1 note.
It might sound thick, it might sound mushy... Up to you to go try it out!
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Ripper
New member
The HR-2 got to be tweaked manually. Unlike other harmonising effects that have presets for different pitch combination, eg digi whammy.
So, the guy in question may need need 2 for different songs, not necessarily to switch them on at the same time. He can mess up his sound though..
Excalibur
New member
Thanks guys 
You've just given a me a superb idea. Haha.
Don't know if it's feasible though. Back on crawdaddy's points of octave and harmony.
What's the difference with stereo input?
This is what I have in mind, use a signal router or looper (whatever you call it, I don't really know) to do a triple lead harmony using 2 harmonizers. The idea of using both an octave and a harmony sounds good.
I can't possibly hook up those 2 harmonizers just like that right? Else I won't be able to get the DRY original sound for the H2.
Thanks once again to the 2 of ya
You've just given a me a superb idea. Haha.Don't know if it's feasible though. Back on crawdaddy's points of octave and harmony.
What's the difference with stereo input?
This is what I have in mind, use a signal router or looper (whatever you call it, I don't really know) to do a triple lead harmony using 2 harmonizers. The idea of using both an octave and a harmony sounds good
.I can't possibly hook up those 2 harmonizers just like that right? Else I won't be able to get the DRY original sound for the H2.
Thanks once again to the 2 of ya
PatheinRaindropMoe
New member
triple harmonizing can be found in the pitch shifting efx patch from yamaha magicstomp. There will be 3 sounds going on at anytime when one instrument is being played, dry signal and 2 octave signal which can be tweaked to any interval in relative to the dry signal.
If wanna do it manually, 2 harmonizer in series will never get the right sound. You will need a active signal splitter to split your dry instrument signal into 2 and let it travel in parallel into the 2 harmonizing effect and mixed it back into one again.
In this way, you will have your original instrument sound(as set by the mix/blend knob on the harmonizing effect), a + interval sound and a lower octave sound sounding together when playing the instrument. Eg, + interval can be set to 3rd/5th of dry signal and lower octave to -1. At any time, there will be the dry signal, 3rd/5th and -1 octave sounding out when the instrument is being played.
electro harmonix's pog or hog will do the triple octave thingy as well and tracking is pretty excellent(be it single note of complex chords).
If wanna do it manually, 2 harmonizer in series will never get the right sound. You will need a active signal splitter to split your dry instrument signal into 2 and let it travel in parallel into the 2 harmonizing effect and mixed it back into one again.
In this way, you will have your original instrument sound(as set by the mix/blend knob on the harmonizing effect), a + interval sound and a lower octave sound sounding together when playing the instrument. Eg, + interval can be set to 3rd/5th of dry signal and lower octave to -1. At any time, there will be the dry signal, 3rd/5th and -1 octave sounding out when the instrument is being played.
electro harmonix's pog or hog will do the triple octave thingy as well and tracking is pretty excellent(be it single note of complex chords).
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Crawldaddy
New member
Hmm.
The thing about stereo outputs (in the case of a Boss PS-5 for instance) is it allows you to hook up that one pedal to two amps, with the dry and + signal going to separate amps, or an active mixer.
If you use (again, e.g. a PS-5), you can have the A (dry) output of pedal 1 going into the mono input of pedal 2, with the harmonised signal out from B output (e.g. +3 pitch) going into Amp 1.
THEN, with the resultant signal from pedal 2, you can hook it up to Amp 2, resulting in a Dry + harmonised signal (e.g. original & -3 pitch) going into amp 2, while Amp 1 has the upper harmony.
That way, in theory you can have the triple lead sound. In theory, that is.
The thing about stereo outputs (in the case of a Boss PS-5 for instance) is it allows you to hook up that one pedal to two amps, with the dry and + signal going to separate amps, or an active mixer.
If you use (again, e.g. a PS-5), you can have the A (dry) output of pedal 1 going into the mono input of pedal 2, with the harmonised signal out from B output (e.g. +3 pitch) going into Amp 1.
THEN, with the resultant signal from pedal 2, you can hook it up to Amp 2, resulting in a Dry + harmonised signal (e.g. original & -3 pitch) going into amp 2, while Amp 1 has the upper harmony.
That way, in theory you can have the triple lead sound. In theory, that is.