The Harmonizer
Programmer’s Manual
The Harmonizer
Programmer’s Manual Page 3 of 97 Release 1.2.1
1999 Eventide, Inc.
This manual covers Orville
TM
as well as the DSP7000
TM
family of Harmonizer
Brand Effects Processors, as well as the
DSP4000B+
TM
. In the following text these will, for convenience, be referred to as 'Harmonizers'. Much of its contents also
apply to the older 4000 family, but the reader is not advised to view this publication as an exhaustive reference for these models.
This manual does not cover the Eclipse
TM
or the H3000 family of Harmonizer
Brand Effects Processors.
One of the reasons Eventide’s effects units are so versatile is that their effects programs are “modular." A
single program is composed of many smaller “modules." Modules might best be thought of as good old
fashioned “guitar pedals” (except, of course, that unlike guitar pedals, the modules in the Harmonizer are 24 bit, crystal clear, high-end audio
processors!)
. Imagine you have a gym floor covered with guitar pedals and a coat rack draped with patch cords.
You run around connecting pedals, a delay pedal to a pitchshifter pedal, the output of that pitchshifter pedal
to a compressor, the output of that compressor into a filter, etc. The end result of all that patching is, to the
Harmonizer, a program.
Although that picture is oversimplified, it does capture the essence of what’s going on inside VSigfile and
the Patch Editor area. You’re just connecting modules (guitar pedals) to each other to produce a desired
overall program.
Without going into details, the example cited above, “a delay pedal into a pitchshifter into a compressor into
a filter” is shown to the right as seen in the Patch Editor. The little
boxes represent the modules and the lines between them
represent “patch cords."
IN represents the inputs to the DSP
(Digital Signal Processor) running the program,
dly represents the
delay module,
psh represents the pitchshifter module, cpr
represents the compressor module,
flt represents the filter module and OUT represents the outputs from the
DSP running the program.
Of course, if things were going to remain this simple there would be no need for this separate Programmer’s
Manual. But conceptually, things are this simple! We’ll muddy things up by implementing “control” features
that will make your programs easier to use in the
PARAMETER area. We’ll further muddy them by making
large programs that utilize many modules connected in ways that defy the “serial/parallel” paradigm. So the
details may get a little complex, but the main idea should remain crystal clear: we’re just connecting a bunch
of 24 bit, full bandwidth guitar pedals!
The first chapter in this manual, General Principles, will cover the underlying concepts involved in
constructing programs either in VSigfile or the Patch Editor area. It is essential reading. The second
chapter will discuss the mechanics of creating programs in VSigfile, and the third chapter will discuss the
mechanics of creating programs in the Patch Editor area. It is suggested that you only read the chapter
pertaining to the construction “environment” you will in fact use. The Appendix, Modules Manual, will be
indispensable in all of your programming adventures. It lists the Harmonizer’s available modules along with
their specifications.
