In this video we'll take a look at the Shifter audio effect.
Shifter is a multipurpose Pitch and Frequency Shifting effect.
It can be used to add ring modulation to incoming audio or to shift the pitch or frequency of audio in real-time.
Shifter can be used for a wide range of creative processing,
including real-time pitch shifting and harmony, to add metallic overtones to percussion, or to add subtle phasing and tremolo effects to audio.
Shifter has three modes: Pitch Shifting, Frequency Shifting and Ring Modulation.
Let's look at each mode starting with Pitch Shifting.
When in Pitch mode, Shifter adjusts the pitch of incoming audio up or down by an amount in semitones or scents
set by the Course and Fine controls.
Pitch shifting shifts the frequencies of the incoming audio up or down while maintaining the harmonic relationships of the frequencies.
This is useful for changing the pitch of incoming audio in real-time or adding harmonies.
The Window control affects the quality of the pitch shifting.
Low frequencies often sound best with longer window sizes, while high frequencies tend to sound better with shorter ones.
Experiment with this to find the quality you're looking for.
The Tone control cuts the high frequencies of the shifted signal and can be useful to remove harshness introduced by the shifting.
When Wide is enabled, adjusting the Fine control will shift the left and right channels in opposite directions,
which creates a widening effect.
Note that when the Fine control is set to zero, no widening is applied.
In Frequency Shifting mode, shifter moves the frequencies of incoming audio up or down by an amount in Hertz.
In Frequency Shifting mode, the harmonic relationship between frequencies is not maintained.
Because of this, larger amounts of shift can create dissonant metallic sounds useful for percussion or sound effects.
Smaller amounts of shift blended in with the original signal can result in subtle phasing effects.
Frequency shifting can also work particularly well for tuning drum sounds while maintaining their overall tone.
In Ring Modulation mode, the frequency set by the Course and Fine controls is added to and subtracted from the incoming audio.
Ring modulation creates quite harsh metallic sounds. This can be useful for adding brightness or a metallic character to drums and percussion.
In ring mode, there is an additional Drive control to apply distortion to the ring modulation.
When in ring mode, values below about 20 Hz can also create interesting tremolo effects.
I'll switch back to the chords,
enable Ring mode, and turn the Course control all the way down.
When combined with the Wide and Spread controls, this can create wide tremolo effects.
Shifter also has a Delay section, which can be used to apply a standard delay effect to the shifting.
Depending on Shifter's mode, the delay can have a wide range of different effects like simple echoes,
chorusing and even cascading pitches.
Shifter includes a Modulation section with an Envelope and LFO.
The LFO can be used to add movement to the shifted sound. Amount controls how much modulation is applied.
Rate controls the speed of the modulation and can be in free-time or synced to the beat.
The LFO has multiple waveforms to choose from including Random and Sample & Hold.
Duty Cycle adjusts the shape of the LFO's waveform.
The LFO has two Stereo modes.
In Spin mode the Spin Amount detunes the two LFO speeds relative to one another creating a spinning effect.
In Phase mode the Phase Amount adjusts the offset of the LFOs for the left and right channel.
You can enable an envelope follower that tracks the amplitude of the incoming audio and translates it into a modulation source.
Amount controls how much the envelope follower is applied.
Attack adjusts how quickly the envelope follower responds to rising input levels
and Release adjusts how quickly the envelope follower responds to falling input levels.
Shifter also has a MIDI sidechain section,
which can be hidden and shown using the toggle in the top left.
By default, Shifter is in Internal mode where the amount of pitch or frequency shifting
is set by the Course and Fine controls but you can also switch shifter into MIDI mode
where the Pitch or Frequency is set by an incoming MIDI note.
I've already set up a track with a MIDI melody to use as the input signal.
Be aware that Shifter is monophonic and will always respond to the last MIDI notes it receives.
The Glide parameter adjusts the time in milliseconds over which notes will slide to the pitch of the next incoming note.
You can set the Pitch-bend range between zero and 24 semitones to define the effect of incoming pitch-bend messages.