wordless words/pitch wiggles

Discussion in 'Tomita' started by digiboy at n..., Sep 28, 2001.

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  1. >A pitch follower would just wiggle the pitch as it tracked it, the
    >differentiation between one vowel and another is not contained in the
    >pitch at all.

    Yes, that was exactly my point. In the pre-launch dialogue and countdown
    on The Planets, Tomita simulates the frequency variations (pitch wiggles)
    of normal speech, not singing. I think this is a very tricky thing to
    accomplish. It's a lot easier to simulate singing since for the most part,
    the pitch involved is already determined . There's no specific
    notes/pitches that are followed in normal speech. You could probably some
    close to simulating it by manually twiddling the pitch control of an
    oscillator, but it would be very difficult to make it really sound
    natural. I don't doubt Tomita could pull it off if he wanted to and maybe
    that's what he did. But a pitch follower tracking the sound of someone
    actually speaking in normal conversation would accomplish this in a much
    more elegant manner. It would leave you with a series of pitch "events"
    that accurately represent the way pitch varies when someone talks. Then
    he could apply his filters to these pitch patterns to create the
    vocal effects of language but without actually making words. That's what
    it sounds like to me.

    Pure speculation on my part, call it hogwash if you like. Chances are we'll
    never know how he did it anyway. If he ever read any of this stuff, he'd
    probably fall out of his chair laughing. Maybe it's good he doesn't speak
    English.

    Mike Berman
    digiboy at n...
     
    #1
  2. > Yes, that was exactly my point. In the pre-launch dialogue and countdown
    > on The Planets, Tomita simulates the frequency variations (pitch wiggles)
    > of normal speech, not singing. I think this is a very tricky thing to
    > accomplish. It's a lot easier to simulate singing since for the most part,
    > the pitch involved is already determined .

    mmmm still that sound to me like messing with a frequency shifter, he
    definitely had one.

    but you have a point that it seems logical he would use one on at least
    some vocal like things, I guess it depends on the particular synth
    effect we are talking about. I don't think anyone here disagrees that
    he's doing quite a number of different vocal effects using certainly
    different means.

    yes that countdown is definitely tracking some actual speech

    >
    > Pure speculation on my part, call it hogwash if you like. Chances are we'll
    > never know how he did it anyway.

    I'm sure if we are polite and patient we can find out.

    nick
     
    #2
  3. >
    > yes that countdown is definitely tracking some actual speech
    >
    > >
    > > Pure speculation on my part, call it hogwash if you like. Chances are we'll
    > > never know how he did it anyway.
    >
    > I'm sure if we are polite and patient we can find out.
    >
    > nick

    Whenever i speculate about how some amazing sound was achieved I have to remind myself of back when I was in a cover band , late
    70's/early 80's. The Synare thing had just hit the market. Basically a drum pad hooked up to trigger an oscillater with a couple of
    effects. You remember, it made those down-swept BEEEUUWW's like on the 1 beat in Anita Ward's "Ring My Bell." They were a big
    fad, every band wanted one. So we were playing in a club and doing some disco thing and suddenly I hear the BEEUUUWWW's coming
    loud and clear and it sounds pretty good except i know we don't have a Synare... I turn around and there's the drummer leaning into
    his boom mic and yelping a falsetto "BEEUUWW" on the beat. I cracked up. It don't always have to be high tech!
    I wouldn't be surprized if Tomita accomplished some of his tricks using very simple means, just a bit of imagination, and knowing
    how to make it fit in the music.
     
    #3
  4. john at e...

    john at e... Guest

    > It don't always have to be high tech!
    > I wouldn't be surprized if Tomita accomplished some of his tricks using
    very simple means, just a bit of imagination, and knowing
    > how to make it fit in the music.
    >
    >

    I just scanned this in from the end of the booklet in Sound Creature (
    www.elmdon.demon.co.uk/tomita.pdf ) looks a bit Peter Frampton like to me
    ;-)

    Translation anyone?

    JohnM
     
    #4
  5. Just like the BBC radiophonic Workshop did in the 50' and 60's

    --- In isaotomita at y..., "JohnM" <john at e...> wrote:
    > > It don't always have to be high tech!
    > > I wouldn't be surprized if Tomita accomplished some of his tricks
    using
    > very simple means, just a bit of imagination, and knowing
    > > how to make it fit in the music.
    > >
    > >
    >
    > I just scanned this in from the end of the booklet in Sound
    Creature (
    > www.elmdon.demon.co.uk/tomita.pdf ) looks a bit Peter Frampton like
    to me
    > ;-)
    >
    > Translation anyone?
    >
    > JohnM
     
    #5
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