Intelligent Harmony rage... help please!

acidfrost

acidfrost

Inspired
Hi,

I've been at it for at least an hour and it doesn't seem to work logically. I've read the manual and the part on intelligent harmony makes no sense. I mean I've studied classical music for 6 years and I don't understand the manual.
What I want to do is have a -3 or -4 harmony play on only 3 notes. I'm in E Aeolian Minor, And I want my harmonies to only be on E, F# and G. Now custom notes are can only go down to 4 notes so I can work with that. But whenever I set the custom notes, they keep jumping to other ones.
Example:
Key: E Aeolian Minor
Custom Notes: 4
Tonic: E, Note 2 F#, Note 3 G, Note 4 whatever
Everytime I select F# or G, it jumps to A# or C#, which makes no sense...

What am I doing wrong?

Edit: here's the exact harmonies I want to do. First is the note I play, second is the harmony:
G/E - A/F# - B/G - C/G
 
According to the manual, custom notes must be at least a half step higher than the previous scale note, so you can't set multiple notes to the same harmony note in the intelligent mode. Use the Custom Shifter mode instead of the Intelligent mode. There you can define each scale degree anywhere from +/- 24 semitones via the Global menu. It's a bit weird as you have to setup the scale in the key of A and then use the key parameter in the shifter to transpose it to the desired key. So, create the desired custom scale in A minor and then set the key parameter in the shifter to E.

Honestly, I find it easier to just assign an expression pedal to the shift parameter in the intelligent mode and then change it on the fly with my foot. In your case, you would set the pedal minimum to -3 and maximum to -4. You play normally with the pedal at heel down for all notes except you sweep your foot to toe down when you hit the C note.
 
don't use the intelligent harmoniser. use the "custom shifter"

set up a global scale, where every interval is set to zero, except for the notes you want harmonised. set those to the number of semitones you want

point the custom shifter to the global scale you just created

job done
 
This is why I use Global Custom Scales. Using them, I can easily set up any harmony I want. I really, really, really, really wish there were more than 32.

Even the custom scale mode of Intel Harm usually has me pulling my hair out. Use the "Custom Shift" instead of "Intel Harm" for the Effect Type to use the global scales. Edit the scales using the "Scales" tab after pushing the "Global" button on the front panel.

I seem to be alone in my desire for more than 32 global scales. Pity for me.
 
Axe-Edit doesn't adjust custom scale notes 2-8 correctly when TONIC parameter is something other than C. For custom scale use front panel instead. Or in Axe-Edit use C tonic, realizing this only defines an interval pattern while KEY parameter sets true tonic. As Simeon mentioned, custom shift block type might be a better solution.

Do the notes you want to harmonize occur in only one octave throughout the part?

Do you need to play those notes unharmonized at times in that octave? Unharmonized in a different octave? This would be a problem with pitch block staying on. It's possible to make the block engage only when playing a certain range of notes.

Do you want a doubled sound when not harmonizing, or should the harmony sound more like a second guitar jumping in/out? Custom shifter at 0 shift will add latency and comb filtering, typically sounding strange unless you pan dry/pitch oppositely or use some detune.
 
Thanks! I'll try the custom shift.
I'll also try the front panel, Bakerman. I only use axe edit so that could be my problem.

I only need the harmonies I wrote in the first post for a couple bars twice during a song. During those parts, there's always harmonies.
 
acidfrost said:
I only need the harmonies I wrote in the first post for a couple bars twice during a song. During those parts, there's always harmonies.
Click to expand...

I use the custom harm for many short parts, so I leave the pitch block on and set an ext momentary switch to a modifier set to the pitch block mix, to stomp the harmony on for the short parts and can walk away with out worrying if it turned off
 
Ok so the intelligent harmonizer from the front panel was giving me the same issue.
I switched to custom harm and did my custom scale which works exactly how I wanted, BUT!, Is it normal that the custom scale is off by a 3 semi? Example:
When I play a G, I want an E to be in harmony, so logically I would go on the G "shift" and put it at -3 semi.
What's happening right now is I have to actually got to E "shift" and put it at -3 semi. But I'm playing a G... Am I missing something?

Thanks!

EDIT: I figured it out, the custom scales are base off a A scale. So if I put a different key, I have to consider A =1, B = 2, etc. Wow.
Might be a suggestion to do number scales instead of letters as this is confusing.
 
acidfrost said:
Ok so the intelligent harmonizer from the front panel was giving me the same issue.
I switched to custom harm and did my custom scale which works exactly how I wanted, BUT!, Is it normal that the custom scale is off by a 3 semi? Example:
When I play a G, I want an E to be in harmony, so logically I would go on the G "shift" and put it at -3 semi.
What's happening right now is I have to actually got to E "shift" and put it at -3 semi. But I'm playing a G... Am I missing something?

Thanks!

EDIT: I figured it out, the custom scales are base off a A scale. So if I put a different key, I have to consider A =1, B = 2, etc. Wow.
Might be a suggestion to do number scales instead of letters as this is confusing.
Click to expand...

You get used to it. BOSS has an extremely easy-to-use interface on some of their products that utilizes the pitch detector. You place the cursor on the "note to be harmonized with" field and play the note for which you want to add a harmony. It displays the name of the note you play. Then you place the cursor in the "harmony note" field and play the harmony note you want generated by the pitch shifter. It also displays the name of the note you play. Repeat for each of the 12 notes of the scale for which you want a non-zero shift interval. Quick and easy.
 
These kinds of threads make me want to learn how to use the harmonizer. I should go that, I don't have a use for it, but if I figure it out, that might change.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Yeah I'm starting to learn it. I'm used to the simple boss pedal one which is pretty straight forward but limited. That custom scale option in the axe, once you figure it out lol, is pretty coooool!
 
You might find it interesting that Intel. Harm. mode w/ custom 6-note scale Eb F Gb Ab Bb Db, -3 harmony will also generate the harmony you described. This is due to how non-scale notes are calculated, using the interval (not note) that would harmonize the nearest scale tone, or lower tone case of a tie. Unlike custom shift block type, this setting will hold a steady G harmony if you bend from B to C.

Another option is pitch as modifier on voice harmony, configured to switch from -3 to -4 between the B and C w/ scale E Aeolian. Techniques like this can help avoid using global scales too quickly if you're setting up a lot of harmonies.
 
yes, i think it's really interesting how the harmonisers deal with non-scale tones. you can get some interesting stuff happening if you deliberately play outside notes. i have two harmonisers set up to give me chord clusters in A Aeolian, but playing notes that aren't in the scale gives you some fantastic sounding chords. i also love the way that the harmoniser handles outside notes when soloing. it always sounds very natural.
 
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