Having issues trying to get clean pitch bends with vocals...

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Hey all,

I've been trying to figure out how to do CLEAN vocal pitch bends.
I'm trying to mimic something in this song:
https://soundcloud.com/cashmerecat/withme

Starts at :58. Notice how he pitches way past an octave but the vocal holds the same amount of time. It doesn't become all chipmunky. It rings out and sounds clear as it moves up.

A faster example of a clean pitch bend:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pptznZquqLo

Starts at 1:03ish

NOW....here is a video of me trying to do the same thing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAvVQlfPoLk

First I take the phrase "Love You"
Throw it into an EXS24 and try to play the keys. As you can hear, as I move past 5-6 semitones or even try to get to one octave, the phrases last less than half a second, are inaudible, and sounds like someone scratching a record really quickly...aka sounds like shit...

How do I fix this and get clean, clear, pitch-bending vocals that hold out?

Thank you!

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You need to use a different Pitch Change algorithm - one that keeps the length of the sample constant. I don't know ESX24, but Kontakt has "Time Machine" which does this. This video explains the issue you're seeing and shows you how Kontakt lets you pitch the sample up and down without changing the playback rate using Time Machine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yua85ylVKZA
Last edited by benzo8 on Sun Nov 30, 2014 6:43 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Hey, I tried clicking the youtube link but it goes to a blank page. Do you think you can re-post the link?

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Sorry - missed a letter in the URL - corrected it now.

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Thank you for this!
Think I'm going to take the dive and buy Kontakt while NI is having this weekend sale.

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