Neptune Pitch Adjuster and Voice Synth

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 hesitate 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.

It’s also possible to correct and edit monophonic pitches graphically in Audio Pitch Edit Mode in the Reason sequencer, see “Editing audio in Vocal Edit mode”.

#Typical use cases

Neptune can be used in a variety of ways and situations. Here are some examples:

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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. Set the Correction Speed parameter to a moderate value for transparent pitch correction - or set the Correction Speed parameter to max value and the Preserve Expression parameter to minimum for a hard “robotic” character.

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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 balancing 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).

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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.

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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.

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It is also possible to perform other tricks, as described in “Pitch adjustment tips and tricks”.

#Overview and basic concepts

#Sections overview

The Neptune panel is divided into three main sections that are connected in series:

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The Pitch Adjust section.

Here is where you control the pitch correction settings, including scale, correction speed etc. Here is also where you find the big display where you can view Input Pitch, Target Note and Catch Zone etc. See “Using pitch correction”. for more details.

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The Transpose section.

Here is where you control the pitch shifting parameters. See “Using pitch shifting (Transpose)” for details.

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The Formant section.

Here is where you can control and adjust formants. See “Using Formant control” for details.

These three main sections can be used separately, or in combinations, by clicking the ON/Off button of the respective section:

The first section in the signal chain is the Pitch Adjust section. To get a realistic result out of the pitch correction, you will probably want to use it in combination with the Formant section - especially if you control the target pitch via MIDI and the target pitch differs a lot from the input pitch.

The Transpose section can be used stand-alone when you only want to perform stiff pitch shifting of the input audio. If you want to pitch-shift atonal audio, you should use the Transpose section stand-alone, or in combination with the Formant section, for best result. You can also use the Transpose section together with the Pitch Adjust section for transposing pitch corrected audio by a defined amount.

The Formant section can be used stand-alone if you only want to change the character of the input audio - without affecting the pitch. Used on vocals or speech, the Shift knob lets you control the “gender” of the voice.

Besides these three main sections, there are also additional parameters for defining audio input characteristics (see “Input signal type”), MIDI control (see “MIDI Input”) and output level control (see “The Output Mixer section”).

#The display

The big display in the center of the Neptune panel shows the following information:

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The Input Pitch of the incoming audio signal.

The detected Input Pitch is displayed as a yellow vertical line above the keyboard.

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The Target Note to which Neptune corrects the output signal.

The Target Note is displayed as a green vertical line above selected notes on the keyboard.

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An orange horizontal line between the Input Pitch and the Target Note.

The orange line shows the distance and direction from Input Pitch to Target Note.

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The Catch Zones, i.e. the pitch “window” which determines to what Target Note to correct the Input Pitch.

The Catch Zones are displayed as red horizontal boxes above each selected key on the virtual keyboard. As soon as a detected Input Pitch lies within a Catch Zone, the Catch Zone box above the corresponding Target Note switches to green. See “Setting Catch Zone Size”.

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The virtual keyboard, where you can select your own notes or custom scale to correct the audio to.

See “Setting Root Key and Scale”.

#Setting up for pitch processing

The examples below describe how to connect and use Neptune in typical pitch adjustment situations. We assume here that you have a MIDI keyboard connected, or use the On-screen Piano Keyboard (see “On-screen Piano Keys”).

#Setting up for pitch processing of recorded audio tracks

The most flexible method of performing pitch adjustments is to apply it to already recorded audio tracks in the sequencer. Doing so will give you total freedom to edit and change the pitch adjustment settings afterwards without needing to re-record any audio.

To set up Neptune for pitch adjustments of recorded audio tracks, proceed as follows:

Select the Audio Track in the sequencer for the track you want to pitch-adjust.

Create a Neptune device.

The Neptune device will be created as an insert effect in the Audio Track device and will be automatically connected to the appropriate connectors.

If you want to control the pitch adjustment via your MIDI keyboard, create a sequencer track for the Neptune device and select the Neptune track in the Track List.

Now, you are all set for pitch adjustments of the audio on the Audio Track. For information about pitch correction, see “Using pitch correction”, for information about pitch-shifting, see “Using pitch shifting (Transpose)”, and for info about creating additional vocal harmonies, see “Using the Voice Synth”.

#Setting up for pitch processing of “live” audio

Neptune can of course also be used for performing pitch adjustments in real-time. This is great for live performances and can also be used for recording pitch-processed audio on an audio track.

To set up Neptune for pitch adjustments in real-time, proceed as follows:

Create a Mix Channel device.

Create a Neptune device, ether by double clicking the Neptune device icon on the Device Palette in the Effects location in the Browser, or by selecting it from the Create menu.

The Neptune device will be created and routed as an insert effect in the Mix Channel device.

Connect a microphone to your audio interface and manually patch the appropriate Audio in jack on the Reason Hardware Interface to the Left Input on the Mix Channel device.

If you want to control the pitch adjustment via your MIDI keyboard, create a sequencer track for the Neptune device and select the Neptune track in the Track List.

To make the tracking of the Input Pitch faster you could try and activate the “Live Mode” button.

This will reduce the latency even further, but could in some situations make the pitch tracking a little unstable.

Now, you are all set for live pitch adjustments. For information about pitch correction, see “Using pitch correction”, for information about pitch-shifting, see “Using pitch shifting (Transpose)”, and for info about creating additional vocal harmonies, see “Using the Voice Synth”.

If you want to record your processed audio on an audio track in the sequencer, perform the following additional steps:

Create an Audio Track.

Click the Rec Source button on the Mix Channel device you use for the Neptune.

Select the Mix Channel device as input source in the Input Selector on the Audio Track in the sequencer.

This will route the pitch-processed audio from the Mix Channel to the Audio Track. This setup is identical to what you would use when recording with effects, as described in “Creating an input channel for recording with effects”.

#Using pitch correction

Pitch correction is great if you, for example, have a vocal track in your song that contains flat notes. Instead of having to overdub the flat parts on the audio track, you can automatically adjust the pitches of the flat notes using Neptune. You can also sing through the Neptune in real-time and get a beautifully pitched voice!

There are two basic ways of using pitch correction in Neptune:

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Automatic pitch correction using Scales, see “Using automatic pitch correction”.

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Manual pitch correction using MIDI note input, see “Using manual pitch correction”.

You can also combine the two methods if you like. First of all, though, you will need to make some basic settings:

#Basic settings for pitch correction

Proceed as follows to set up the panel parameters for pitch correction:

Set up the Neptune device as desired according to the descriptions in “Setting up for pitch processing”.

Make sure the “Pitch Adjust” button is activated and that the “Transpose” button is off.

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Whether the Formant button should be on or off depends on the situation.

For very small pitch corrections, you might want to leave this off; for more substantial pitch changes you will get the most natural sound when this is activated.

Define the Input signal type by using the “Low Freq”, “Wide Vibrato” and “Live Mode” buttons:

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Activate “Low Freq” for low-frequency material such as a deep voice etc.

The “Low Freq” mode will make Neptune detect low frequency notes in a more precise way. Note that the latency will become longer due to the fact that low frequencies have longer cycle times.

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If the input voice contains a lot of vibrato, it might be a good suggestion to activate the “Wide Vibrato” button.

If your input audio has a heavy vibrato, this can cause Neptune to detect the wrong pitches. The result can be wobbling notes, unwanted swoops and glides etc. Activating the Wide Vibrato button will make the pitch detection ignore any vibrato in the input audio, eliminating the problems. Note however that the vibrato can still be retained in the processed sound, by raising the Preserve Expression parameter (see “About the Preserve Expression parameter”).

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If you are going to use pitch correction by singing through Neptune in real-time, try activating the “Live Mode” button.

This will reduce the latency of the pitch correction to a minimum, which might be preferable if you want to monitor the corrected signal as you sing. Note, however, that the audio quality may be lower in Live Mode.

Make sure the "MIDI" button is set to "To Pitch Adjust".

This will enable the pitch correction to be controlled also via MIDI (see “Using manual pitch correction”).

#Using automatic pitch correction

With the Root and Scale functions you can define what notes you want the incoming audio to be corrected to. The input audio will then be automatically corrected to the defined scale, without further user interaction. With the Catch Zone, Correction Speed and Preserve Expression parameters you can set the character of the adjusted signal.

It’s also possible to manually override the automatic settings via MIDI at any time, see “Using manual pitch correction”.

#About the Scale Memory

There are four Scale Memory slots in the Pitch Adjust section. The purpose of Scale Memories is to allow for automation of different Root Key, Scale and Catch Zone settings. A selected Scale Memory slot automatically stores which Root Key and Scale notes are active (see “Setting Root Key and Scale”), just like a Redrum stores what 16th note buttons are selected in a pattern. The Scale Memory slots also store Catch Zone settings (see “Setting Catch Zone Size”). By using automation of the Scale Memory slots from the Neptune sequencer track, you can easily switch characteristics throughout the song. The Scale Memory settings are automatically saved with the document when you save your Song.

Before you perform any edits of the Root Key, Scale and/or Catch Zone parameters, make sure you have selected a Scale Memory slot that you want to overwrite.

#Setting Root Key and Scale

Any Root Key and/or Scale settings changes you make are automatically stored in the currently selected Scale Memory slot in real-time, see “About the Scale Memory”.

Define the Root Key and Scale parameters as follows:

Set the Root Key with the Root spin controls.

The key can be chosen between C and B in a one octave span, covering each key in the western 12-tone scale.

Set desired scale with the Scale spin controls.

The Scale parameter can be set to any of the following preset scales, as indicated in the Scale display:

Chromatic

Major with C as Root Key

Natural Minor with C as Root Key

Harmonic Minor with C as Root Key

Dorian with C as Root Key

Mixolydian with C as Root Key

* When Chromatic is selected, the Root display will switch to show “--” since all notes in the 12-tone scale are included and the root key is of no importance here.

You can also define your own custom scale by clicking on the keys in the display.

Selected notes in your custom scale will be indicated with green LEDs:

A custom scale containing the notes D, G and A.

When you set your own scale both the Root Key and Scale displays will switch to show “--”.

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The set Key and Scale is automatically repeated for every octave throughout the entire note range.

Note that this doesn't necessarily need to be an actual scale - sometimes you may only need to activate one or two notes, passing the other notes through, uncorrected.

#Setting Catch Zone Size

The Catch Zone Size parameter defines what pitches in each octave should be “caught” and adjusted towards the closest Target Notes.

Any Catch Zone Size settings changes you make are automatically stored in the currently selected Scale Memory slot in real-time, see “About the Scale Memory”.

The Catch Zones are shown as boxes above each selected note in the keyboard display:

The Catch Zones for the notes in a custom scale with notes D, G and A selected.

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The Catch Zone size is set with the Catch Zone Size knob.

The range is ±20 to ±600 cent, set in 20 cent steps. The range is always centered around the selected notes in the scale and the default value is ±100 cents.

Pitches outside or in-between Catch Zones are not caught and adjusted, but let through unprocessed.

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Catch Zones cannot overlap each other. If the Catch Zone Size is increased so that adjacent zones touch each other, they will stop expanding in that direction and meet “half ways”.

The Catch Zone size in the picture below is set to ±150 cents. As you can see, the Catch Zones for notes G and A have “collided” and therefore met half ways in the center of the G# note. If the Catch Zone size should be increased further, the G Catch Zone would expand only downwards and the A Catch Zone only upwards.

The Catch Zones for the selected notes D, G and A in a custom scale.

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If the Catch Zones should extend on either side of the 12-note keyboard range, they will “wrap around”.

In the picture below, notes C and G are selected in a custom scale. The Catch Zone Size is set to ±250 cents. Since the Catch Zone for the C note extends also to the left outside the display, the Catch Zone “wraps around” visually and continues from the B note down to the A# note. Since the Scale is repeated downwards and upwards for every octave, the result of this setting is that the Catch Zone for the C note will cover the B and A# notes in every octave.

The Catch Zones for the selected notes C and G in a custom scale, with the C note Catch Zone “wrapped around” to cover also notes B and A#.

#Setting Correction Speed

The Correction Speed parameter controls how fast the Input Pitch should be adjusted to the Target Note. The range is from Slow (knob turned fully counter-clockwise) to Fast (knob turned fully clock-wise).

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For a natural, transparent correction, a setting around the 12 o’clock position is ideal in most situations.

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A very fast correction speed will create almost a “stepped” correction.

This is the setting of choice for creating the infamous “robot voice” effect known from numerous radio hits.

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A slow correction speed will make the pitch correction almost unnoticeable during fast passages in the music.

This is because the correction won’t have time to set in before new incoming pitches are detected.

#About the Preserve Expression parameter

The Preserve Expression parameter controls how much vibrato in the input audio should be let through when you use a fast Correction Speed setting (see “Setting Correction Speed”).

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With a minimum Preserve Expression value and a fast Correction Speed there will be almost no natural vibrato left in the pitch corrected voice.

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With max Preserve Expression value and a fast Correction Speed the original vibrato is still preserved.

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With max Preserve Expression value and a slow Correction Speed the original audio is let through almost unaffected.

#About adding Pitch Bend and Vibrato

It’s also possible to add Pitch Bend and/or Vibrato via MIDI while using the automatic pitch correction:

Select “To Pitch Adjust” in the MIDI Input section.

This allows for incoming MIDI Pitch Bend and Vibrato (Mod Wheel) data to control the output pitch and to add vibrato to the output signal.

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Clicking and moving the wheels on the panel will also generate pitch bend and vibrato.

#Using manual pitch correction

It’s possible to override the automatic (scale) pitch correction settings with monophonic MIDI note data at any time. This makes it possible to control the desired output pitches either by playing live on a MIDI master keyboard - or by playing back recorded MIDI notes from the Neptune track in the sequencer!

Create a sequencer track for the Neptune device and select the Neptune track in the Track list.

To allow for MIDI note control of pitch correction, select “To Pitch Adjust” in the MIDI Input section:

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When you sing through Neptune and hold down a key on your MIDI master keyboard, the output pitch will correspond to the held MIDI note.

As soon as any MIDI note is received by Neptune, the Root Key, Scale and Catch Zone settings will be temporarily ignored. However, the Correction Speed (see “Setting Correction Speed”) and Preserve Expression parameters (see “About the Preserve Expression parameter”) will still be active.

Note that MIDI control of the pitch is monophonic.

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When pitch correction is controlled via MIDI, the corrected audio signal will also respond to Pitch Bend and Vibrato modulation.

If you transpose pitches several semitones compared to the input pitch, there could be strange formant effects that may or may not be desirable. To make heavily pitched signals sound more natural, you can use the formant correction function described in “Using Formant control”.

Note that MIDI control of the pitch correction will only momentarily override the Root Key, Scale and Catch Zone settings. As soon as there is no MIDI Note present, the automatic (scale) pitch correction settings will take over again.

It’s also possible to generate polyphonic voices (harmonies) via MIDI using the Voice Synth function, see “Using the Voice Synth”.

#Using pitch shifting (Transpose)

Pitch shifting basically means altering the pitch of the input audio by a set factor - the transpose value - and output the result. As opposed to pitch correction, pitch shifting can be made on any type of monophonic audio input signal; it doesn’t even have to have a regular pitch (tone). Pitch shifting can be used to generate a number of cool effects, for example:

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Voice doubling effects by using slight transposition of only 5-10 cents.

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Adding an additional voice one octave up or down from the original lead vocal.

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Creating dark spooky monster voices by transposing speech down heavily.

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Creating chipmunk effects by transposing speech up heavily.

The list goes on...

Use the Transpose function as follows:

Click the Transpose button to activate the Transpose section.

Adjust the transposition using the Semi and Cent spin controls in the Transpose section.

The Transpose range is ±12 semitones with a fine tuning range of ±50 cents.

If you want to transpose pitch corrected signals, make sure the Pitch Adjust section is on and has the desired parameter settings.

If you want to transpose non-pitched signals, such as speech, switch off the Pitch Adjust section.

#Using Formant control

#What are formants?

Formants can be described as a sonic “footprint” of an acoustic space. The practical effect of formants could be compared to a multi-peak filter acting on the frequencies in a sound. An acoustic guitar, for example, has a body shape which makes is sound the way it does. The same goes for a human vocal tract (throat and mouth cavity); every human vocal tract has a unique “shape” which gives the voice its character. It is these shapes that produce formants. A big difference between a vocal tract and a guitar body, though, is that the vocal tract changes shape as you sing different vowels. This also means that the formants will change.

When you pitch shift a signal up or down, the formant “multi-peak filter” will move up or down with the signal frequency (just like a traditional synthesizer filter would with full keyboard tracking activated). The result will be a signal that not only is pitched but also changes character. In some situations this might be what you want, but when it comes to pitch shifting vocals you will probably often want the pitch-shifted signal to sound like it’s sung by the same person. Therefore, Neptune features a formant control function.

The Formant section in Neptune lets you control the formants so they don’t move along with the pitched signals. Neptune continuously samples and analyses the input audio and determines both the pitch and the current formants of the signal in real-time. The formants are then automatically applied to the pitch-adjusted output signal in real-time.

The picture below shows schematic examples of a 500 Hz signal, pitch-shifted down and up one octave respectively, without and with formant correction. The formants are the peaks of the gray dotted lines in the graphs:

Pitch-shifting without and with formant correction applied. The left column shows -1 octave pitch-shifting and the right column +1 octave.

#Using the Formant function

When the Formant section is not active, the formants will move along with the pitched signal. On vocals this could generate unnatural “gender change” effects, especially on heavily pitched voices. If this is not the desired effect, you should activate the Formant section:

Activate the Formant function by clicking the Formant button.

Adjust the Formant shift with the Shift knob.

The Shift range is ±1 octave.

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The default 12 o’clock position means that the formants will be “locked” to the input signal and won’t move with the shifted pitches.

Used on vocals this will give the impression of the same person singing at the adjusted pitches. (Refer to the picture in the “What are formants?” section for graphical examples of this particular Shift setting.)

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Turned further counter-clockwise, the formants will be “locked” to the input signal and displaced downwards relative to the input signal.

Used on vocals this will give the impression of a more deep male character voice.

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Turned further clockwise, the formants will be “locked” to the input signal and displaced upwards relative to the input signal.

Used on vocals this will give the impression of a more soprano/female/child character voice.

Note that Voice Synth has its own separate “built-in” formant correction and is not affected by the Formant section settings.

#Using the Voice Synth

The Voice Synth function lets you use Neptune as a harmony processor to generate polyphonic voices out of a monophonic input signal. The application is similar to how you would use a vocoder, such as the BV512 Vocoder, for example. However, using the Voice Synth in Neptune will produce completely transparent and natural sounding harmonies with pitches controlled from MIDI Note data.

Create a sequencer track for the Neptune device and select the Neptune track in the Track list.

Click the MIDI radio button to select “To Voice Synth” in the “MIDI” section. Also make sure the Voice Synth volume slider is raised:

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When you sing through Neptune and hold down a note or a chord on your MIDI master keyboard, the output pitch(es) will correspond to the held MIDI note(s).

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The Voice Synth harmonies will also respond to any Pitch Bend and Vibrato modulation.

The parameters in the Pitch Adjust, Transpose and Formant sections are ignored by the Voice Synth.

You can mix Pitched Signal with the Voice Synth signal in the Mixer section. If you only want the Voice Synth sound, lower the Pitched Signal fader.

#Panel parameters

On the front panel of Neptune, you will find the following parameters and displays:

#Level Meter and Bypass/On/Off switch

| Parameter

| Description

Bypass/On/Off switch

In Bypass mode, the input signal passes through unaffected to the main outputs of the device. The separate Voice Synth outputs are automatically muted. In On mode, the device outputs the processed signal. If the Voice Synth is used, its output signal are routed to the separate Voice Synth outputs. Off mode mutes the inputs, silencing the device.

Level meter

Shows the input signal level.

#Bend and Vibrato wheels

Choose what the Bend and Vibrato wheels should control by selecting desired destination in the MIDI Input section - see “MIDI Input”.

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The Pitch Bend wheel is used for bending the pitch of notes, much like bending the strings on a guitar or other string instrument.

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The Vibrato wheel can be used for applying vibrato to pitch corrected signals or to the Voice Synth harmonies.

Most MIDI keyboards have Pitch Bend and Modulation controls. Use these to control pitch bend and vibrato, or use the wheel controls on the panel by clicking and moving the mouse.

#Bend Range

The Range parameter sets the maximum amount of pitch bend, i.e. how much it is possible to change the pitch by turning the wheel fully up or down. The maximum range is ±12 semitones (±1 octave). You change the value by clicking the spin controls above of the display.

#Vibrato Rate

Use the Rate knob to set the rate of the vibrato controlled by the Vibrato wheel.

#Input signal type

Here, you define the characteristics of the input signals you use.

#Low Freq

Activating Low Freq mode will ensure more accurate tracking of low-frequency audio signals, such as bass voices. Low Freq mode is suitable for input frequencies below the note F1, which is approximately 44 Hz. The detection in Low Freq mode will work down to approximately 22 Hz which corresponds to note F0.

Note that the pitch detection latency will be somewhat longer in Low Freq mode due to the longer cycles times of low frequency signals.

#Wide Vibrato

Note however that the vibrato can still be retained in the processed sound, by raising the Preserve Expression parameter (see “About the Preserve Expression parameter”).

#Live Mode

This is an ultra-fast tracking mode, perfect for when you want to monitor your pitch adjusted signal in real-time. However, we recommend that you turn this off when it's time to play back and mix your recordings, for the highest audio quality.

#MIDI Input

The MIDI Input section features a radio button which allows you to route incoming MIDI to either of the following destinations:

#Pitch Adjust

Routes incoming MIDI Note data to the Pitch Adjust section for manual control of pitch correction, see “Using manual pitch correction”. Pitch Bend and Vibrato (Mod Wheel) MIDI data will also be routed to the Pitch Adjust section.

#Voice Synth

Routes incoming MIDI Note data to the Voice Synth for generating additional harmony voices, see “Using the Voice Synth”. Pitch Bend and Vibrato (Mod Wheel) MIDI data will also be routed to the Voice Synth.

#Pitch Adjust section

#Pitch Adjust section On/Off

Click the Pitch Adjust button to activate/deactivate the Pitch Adjust section.

#Root, Scale and Keyboard

Set the Root key and Scale with the spin controls. You can also create your own custom scales by selecting individual notes in the Keyboard display. See “Setting Root Key and Scale” for more details on how to use these functions.

#Scale Memory

The purpose of Scale Memories is to allow for automation of different Root Key, Scale and Catch Zone settings. A selected Scale Memory slot automatically stores which Root Key and Scale notes are active. The Scale Memory slots also store Catch Zone settings.

The edits you make of the Root, Scale and Catch Zone parameters are automatically stored in the selected Scale Memory slot. The settings of the Scale Memory are saved together with the rest of the Song data. Refer to “About the Scale Memory” for details on how to use the Scale Memory slots.

#Catch Zone Size

With the Catch Zone Size slider you set the range of the input pitches to be corrected to specific notes. Refer to “Setting Catch Zone Size” for details on how to use this function.

#Correction Speed

Set the time is should take to adjust the pitch to the set scale. See “Setting Correction Speed” for more details.

#Preserve Expression

Set how much vibrato in the input audio should be let through when you use a fast Correction Speed setting. See “About the Preserve Expression parameter” for more details.

#Transpose section

Click the Transpose button to activate the Transpose section. When active, the output pitch will be transposed according the settings of the Semi and Cent parameters. The Transpose function can be used either on pitch corrected signals (with the Pitch Adjust section active) or on non pitch corrected signals (with the Pitch Adjust section deactivated).

#Semi and Cent

Set desired transposition value, in semitones and cents, with the spin controls. The range is ±12 semitones and ±50 cents.

See “Using pitch shifting (Transpose)” for more details.

#Formant section

Click the Formant button to activate the formant control function. When active, the formants of the input signal will be preserved and won’t move with the adjusted output pitches.

The Formant section settings have effect on the Pitch Adjust section and on the Transpose section, if they are active. However, the Formant section can also be used stand-alone to only displace the formants of the input signal.

#Shift

Use the Shift knob to displace the formants within an range of ±1 octave.

See “What are formants?” and “Using the Formant function” for more details.

#The Output Mixer section

The Pitch Adjust and Voice Synth parameters control the output from the Neptune in the following way:

#Pitched Signal

This slider controls the total output volume of the Pitch Adjust, Transpose and Formant sections routed to the Left and Right outputs (see “Audio Out”).

#Voice Synth

This slider controls the output volume of the Voice Synth routed either to the main Left and Right outputs or to the separate Voice Synth Left and Right outputs if these are connected (see “Voice Synth Out”).

Note that the Voice Synth function must be activated, otherwise this control will have no effect - see “Using the Voice Synth”.

#Connections

Flipping the Neptune around reveals an array of connection possibilities. Some of these are CV (control signal) related and some are audio signal related.

#Sequencer Control

#Note

The Note input allows you to control the pitch of either the Pitch Adjust or Voice Synth (depending on what is currently selected in the MIDI Input section - see “MIDI Input”). The pitch could be controlled from a Note CV output of a Matrix or an RPG-8, for example.

A Gate signal on the Gate input (see below) must also be present for the Note Input to work.

#Gate

The Gate input should be used in combination with the Note modulation input (see above). As soon as a gate signal is present, any note modulation on the Note input will be activated. The Gate could be controlled from a Gate CV output of a Matrix or an RPG-8, for example.

#CV In

These control voltage (CV) inputs can be used for modulating various Neptune parameters from other devices. The inputs control the following parameters:

#Bend

The Pitch Bend input allows you to control pitch bend of either the Pitch Adjust or Voice Synth (depending on what is currently selected in the MIDI Input section - see “MIDI Input”). The pitch bend could be controlled from a Pitch Bend CV output of an RPG-8, for example.

#Vibrato

The Mod Wheel input allows you to control the Vibrato amount of either the Pitch Adjust section or Voice Synth (depending on what is currently selected in the MIDI Input section - see “MIDI Input”). The Vibrato could be controlled from a Mod Wheel CV output of an RPG-8, for example.

#Formant

The Formant Shift input allows you to control the Shift parameter in the Formant section from a CV source on another device. The Formant Shift parameter accepts bipolar control signals (-63 to +64).

#CV Out

These control voltage (CV) outputs can be used for modulating other device parameters from Neptune:

#Pitch

The Pitch output allows you to control the pitch of other devices from the Pitch Adjust section, either directly or via the Transpose section (depending on if Transpose is active or not). The Pitch CV corresponds to the pitch of the pitch adjusted and transposed signal. The Pitch output could be connected to the OSC Pitch CV input of another synth device, for example.

#Amplitude

Neptune features an internal envelope follower. The Amplitude output sends out a control signal from this envelope follower based on the audio input level to Neptune. The Amplitude output could be connected to the Master Volume or Level CV input of a synth device, for example.

#Audio In

Route your audio input signal(s) to the Left (and Right) audio input(s) to the right on the rear panel.

If you want to use Neptune in mono, connect only to the Left input.

#Voice Synth Out

Connect to these outputs if you want to break out the audio from the Voice Synth as separate signals and, for example, route to a separate Mix Channel for separate processing.

When these are connected, the Voice Synth audio will be removed from the main Audio Out outputs.

#Audio Out

The Left and Right outputs are the main stereo outputs of Neptune. Here, the audio from the Pitch Adjust, Transpose and Formant sections are routed. If the Voice Synth Sep Output (see “Voice Synth Out”) are not connected, the Voice Synth audio output are also routed to the main outputs.

If you want to use Neptune in mono, connect only to the Left output.

#Pitch adjustment tips and tricks

With Neptune you can use the pitch adjustment effects separately or in various combinations to generate different types of pitch effects. In this section a number of useful setups are described.

#Using automation for temporary pitch correction

To get the most natural-sounding results from Neptune you can use automation in the sequencer to momentarily apply pitch correction only where it’s necessary on the audio track. The example below shows a lead vocal track which sounds great most of the time, but has a few flat passages that we want to correct.

Use Neptune as an Insert Effect on the lead vocal track.

Between the middle of bar 13 and bar 15 there are a couple of flat notes that need to be corrected slightly. Between the middle of bar 23 and bar 27 there are some notes that we want to change several semitones.

Create a sequencer track for the Neptune device.

Set the Pitch Adjust button parameter to “Off” and create an automation lane for the parameter.

This will allow you to switch on and off pitch correction automatically.

Set the desired Scale or click the notes you want to use on the virtual keyboard.

Adjust the Correction Speed and Preserve Expression parameters to values that will make the pitch correction sound natural.

Activate the Formant section so that any adjusted pitches will have the original formants preserved.

Create an automation clip and change the Pitch Adjust button parameter to “On” between the middle of bar 13 and 15.

This will switch on pitch correction only in these bars.

In bar 23-27 we want to change some pitches several semitones. We can’t use the automatic pitch correction here because this would correct the pitches to the closest notes in our scale and that is not what we want here. We could create a new custom scale in another Scale Memory slot and use here, but the easiest would be to just override our scale with MIDI notes.

Change the Pitch Adjust parameter to “On” in bars 23-27.

This will switch on pitch correction again in these bars.

Next, make sure that the MIDI Input in Neptune is set to “Pitch Adjust”.

This ensures that any incoming MIDI notes will control the Pitch Adjust section (and not the Voice Synth).

10.

Place the sequencer Song Position Pointer at bar 23 and start recording on the Neptune note lane.

Record the new notes from your MIDI master keyboard at bar 23 through bar 26.

Now, pitch correction has been applied only where necessary on the audio track. In bar 13-15 pitch correction was automatically applied using a defined scale, and in bar 23-27 the automatic pitch correction was overridden by MIDI notes.

If you like, you could freeze your pitch processed track with the effects - see “About “freezing” pitch adjustments on audio tracks”.

#Hard pitch correction of a vocal track

Use Neptune as an Insert Effect on the vocal audio track.

Use a suitable scale setting and set the Correction Speed parameter to max and Preserve Expression to minimum in the Pitch Adjust section.

If needed, adjust the Scale to fit the song key. If necessary, override certain passages manually with MIDI (see “Using automation for temporary pitch correction” above for a practical example).

If you want to control the pitch adjustment via your MIDI keyboard, create a sequencer track for the Neptune device and select the Neptune track in the Track List.

If you like, you could freeze your pitch processed track with the effects - see “About “freezing” pitch adjustments on audio tracks”.

#Pitch correction with changed voice character

If you want to pitch-correct your lead vocal but make is sound like another person is singing, you can easily do that:

Set up the Pitch Adjust section for automatic pitch correction as desired (see “Using automatic pitch correction”).

Activate the Formant section.

Adjust the Shift parameter up or down to change the voice character of the output.

Adjust down to generate a deeper (male) character and up to create a more soprano-like female character.

#Octave dub

Use Neptune as a Send Effect in the Main Mixer Master Section.

Turn off the Pitch Adjust section and activate the Transpose section.

Set the Semi parameter to +12 to transpose up 1 octave.

Play back, or input audio in real-time on your mixer channel.

Use the Send FX control on the mixer channel strip to balance the level of the octave-shifted voice.

Use the Formant Shift control to make the transposed voice sound more natural (or unnatural, if that's what you want).

#Pitch-shifting drums (non-pitched input)

Route the drum sound to the audio input(s) of Neptune.

Turn off the Pitch Adjust section and activate the Transpose section.

Set Semi and Cent parameters to desired values.

Use the Pitch Bend control for special bend effects.

Activate the Formant section and experiment by shifting the formants if you like.

#Speech effects

To create various types of atonal speech effects you can use the Transpose section, alone or together with the Formant section:

Make sure the Pitch Adjust section is deactivated (off).

Activate the Transpose section.

Set desired transposition ratio with the Semi and Cent spin controls in the Transpose section.

Adjust down to generate a darker voice and up to create a brighter voice.

To lock the formants and thus preserve more of your voice’s original character, activate the Formant section and set the Shift parameter to the 12 o’clock position.

To change the voice character, adjust the Shift parameter down to generate a bassier (male) character and up to create a more soprano-like female character.

Experiment with different combinations of Transpose values and Formant Shift values to create different “characters”.

#About “freezing” pitch adjustments on audio tracks

In all examples below that describe pitch adjustments of recorded audio tracks, you can choose to “freeze” the tracks afterwards. By using the Bounce Mixer Channels function you can have your pitch processed audio track rendered to a new track in the sequencer, complete with pitch adjustment effects and all. Just be sure to use the following settings in the “Bounce Mixer Channels” dialog:

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Range to Bounce: “Song” (to get the entire track rendered, if that’s what you want)

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Bounce to: “New Tracks in Song”

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Apply Mixer Settings: “All” or “All except fader section” (to include the pitch adjustment effects)

Refer to “Bouncing Mixer Channels” for more details.