User Manual

NEPTUNE PITCH ADJUSTER AND VOICE SYNTH
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Introduction
The Neptune Pitch Adjuster and Voice Synth device is a combined monophonic vocal pitch corrector, pitch shifter
and polyphonic voice synth. Neptune was designed with focus on high-quality vocal processing but can also be used
on other material. However, due to the signal characteristics of other types of audio (complex inharmonic instrument
sounds, polyphonic material etc.) the result of the pitch adjustments might not be what you would expect. Don’t hes-
itate to experiment, though!
Used as a pitch corrector, Neptune can automatically correct flat monophonic input signals and output corrected
notes in real-time. The pitch correction can be adjusted from totally transparent to hard, robot-like. The correction can
be controlled from predefined scales, from input MIDI notes or from a combination of both!
When used as a pitch shifter, Neptune performs overall pitch-shifting of incoming monophonic audio in real-time and
transposes the output to a defined value within a ±1 octave range.
The Voice Synth section in Neptune allows you to add additional voices - harmonies - to a monophonic vocal input
signal and to control the voices via MIDI - from sequencer notes or by playing on your MIDI master keyboard.
Neptune also features controls for adjusting formants and for adding pitch bend and vibrato to the processed signal.
Typical use cases
Neptune can be used in a variety of ways and situations. Here are some examples:
• Transparent pitch correction of a vocal track
Neptune is used as an Insert Effect on the vocal audio track, with the Pitch Adjust’s Scale set to desired scale. The
Correction Speed parameter is set to a moderate value.
• Hard pitch correction of a vocal track (the “Cher/T-Pain effect”)
Neptune is used as an Insert Effect on the vocal audio track, with the Pitch Adjust’s Scale set to desired scale. The
Correction Speed parameter is set to max value and the Preserve Expression parameter to minimum.
• Octave dub
Neptune is used as a Send Effect. The Pitch Adjust section is turned off and the Transpose section is activated.
The Semi parameter is set to +12 to transpose up 1 octave. The Send FX control on the mixer is used for balanc-
ing the level of the octave-shifted voice. The Formant Shift control is used for making the transposed voice sound
more natural (or unnatural, if that's desired).
• Create backing harmonies on a vocal track
Neptune is used as an Insert Effect on the vocal audio track and MIDI Input is routed to the Voice Synth via the
Neptune sequencer track. Play some notes on your MIDI master keyboard and use the Voice Synth breakout jacks
connected to a separate Mix Channel for further processing.
• Pitch shift drums (non-pitched input)
The Pitch Adjust section is turned off and the Transpose section is activated. The Transpose parameters are set to
desired values.
• It is also possible to perform other tricks, as described in “Pitch adjustment tips and tricks”.