Eventide has introduced H910 Harmonizer, a software version of the classic hardware Eventide H910 Harmonizer.

The Harmonizer was developed by Eventide in 1974 and they describe it as “the world’s first commercially available digital audio effects device”. The Harmonizer combined ‘de-glitched’ pitch change with delay and feedback. It could be controlled by a keyboard remote control to instantly shift pitch in half steps. It featured a two octave range and up to 112.5 msec of delay.

Here’s a history of the effect, featuring Tony Visconti (David Bowie, T.Rex), Shelly Yakus (Tom Petty, Susan Vega), Tony Blatt (AC/DC), Jimmy Douglass (Led Zeppelin, Justin Timberlake), Laurie Anderson, Roy Hendrickson (Frank Sinatra, Miles Davis), Tony Bongiovi (Jimmy Hendrix, Talking Heads), Flood (NIN, U2), Kevin Killen (U2, Elvis Costello):

Here’s Laurie Anderson sharing her take on the effect:

Here’s Chris Carter and Cosey Fanni Tutti (Throbbing Gristle) discussing their use of the original H910:

Here’s H910 in action with a Moog Mother-32:

Features:

• Keyboard and MIDI mapping – The original H910 featured a keyboard remote control which was used live by several artists including Elton John. With the H910 plug-in you can easily use MIDI to control pitch and harmonization in real-time.
• Envelope Follower – An envelope follower has also been implemented in this latest release. Engineers and producers discovered that sending a control voltage to the hardware H910 could be used to slightly (or massively) vary the pitch, creating entirely new sounds. The built-in envelope follower makes exploring these possibilities easy.
• OUT2 Delay Group – adds inspiring attributes to your sound.
• True analog modeling of highly nonlinear electronics for faithful reproduction of the original H910’s “juicyness and grit”.
• Perform perfect pitch changes controlled manually, via MIDI or with Anti-Feedback.
• Anti-Feedback modulates the pitch around unity for a subtle or wild effect.
• Optional “glitching” of original H910 hardware to create unpredictable sounds as it alters pitch.
• Modify pitch by musical intervals (diatonic) to harmonize vocals or solo instruments.
• Delay rhythms and melodies to create everything from slap-back echoes to feedback chaos.
• Create colorful, unique sound effects and drones through self-oscillation.
• Individually control delay outputs and dry/wet mix.
• Mix Lock allows for scrolling through presets or settings while keeping the dry/wet mix constant.

Pricing and Availability

Eventide H910 Harmonizer is available for Mac OS X & Windows (VST/AU/AAX) for US $99 through July 31st, 2016 (normally $249). See the Eventide site for details.