Ever managed to fake the Autotune effect?

Question

I'll describe Autotune as a pitch "discretiser", though I've been unsuccessful in my attempt to recreate a similar effect.

I want to create a bitstream effect from a water stream recording and I feel like it's the effect I need. First I tried Digi's Lo-Fi but this produces an old-sounding modem-like effect. I've played around with compressors and expanders to make an aliased (square) envelope but I can't find anything for the pitch.

Have you ever created a bitstream sound effect this way? I think I read about this on this board but can't seem to find it... About the DIY Autotune, do you know of any trick to get it done?

Answer 1

I'm guessing you're on PT... If you have any of the extra packs you should have gotten Melodyne, which will do a similar trick to AutoTune (draw in random pitches on the grid)... Also if you have Waves, try the MondoMod - square wave, 100% mix, max Pitch and Amplitude values to start - adjust to taste.

Answer 2

I made a folder full of data stream sounds and made most of them using granular processing - either with GRM Freeze (mess with the random pitch) or with Pluggo granular plugins... I tended to use sounds with some element of pitch/harmonics in them, but with the stream recording you should be able to get a burbling data stream if you play with the pitch & envelope of the granules...

Answer 3

You responded to my comment, "@NoiseJockey It's exactly what I mean, when beeps go crazy. I'm trying to turn this water recording into a river of beeps." Rad.

I can't recommend an Auto Tune clone, but have you tried the free AudioUnit plugin called Buffer Override? It can impart a vocoded sound to a sample that you can make clean or glitchy, and it can be fully automated, which can make the apparent pitch of the pseudo-vocoding change over time.

Answer 4

It won't sound like Autotune, but if you're trying to

"turn this water recording into a river of beeps"

have a look at the mda 'Tracker' AU from http://mda.smartelectronix.com/ - it tracks pitches in a sound, and can resynthesize them or reinforce using EQ or ringmod.

Answer 5

Autotune has a very unique sound to it and it's become so recognizable that it will be hard to fake. One thing you could try is drawing a pitch envelope over the sound using Pitch 'n Time. Radical shifts in pitch may create a similar effect.

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Secondly, if you are using Nuendo, I believe there is a function that allows you to draw real-time pitch envelopes over the track in the timeline. Any Nuendo users care to share more on this?