Does anyone know of a LADSPA or LV2 ADT (automatic double-tracking) plugin? Or does anyone know of another way to achieve this effect (like that heavily used on the Beatles’ “Revolver”)?
I’ve thought about using a tape delay plugin and manually automating the delay time, but this would be very tedious. I did a small test run of this method with the CALF tape delay plugin, and when I adjusted the delay time, I got some scratchy artifacts.
Perhaps a pitch shifter plugin, set to change pitch by a fraction of a semitone, and you mix the original and pitch-shifted versions?
Ardour has a pitch shift function too, - it doesn’t run in real time but that has the advantage of not consuming lots of CPU cycles when playing.
Nah, if you wanted to imiate a harmonizer then yea maybe a pitch shifter.
For an ADT you really need a modulated delay. I don’t know of one intended for that purpose on Linux, but you could check some choruses and see if you can set the delays and modulation slow enough to get a similar effect. Or you can patch one up yourself using building blocks in ingen or pd, though the latter won’t load as a plugin, I believe ingen has capabilities like that but haven’t used it myself yet.
Thanks for the suggestions! I agree that actual double-tracking is great for getting a bigger sound, and I do that all the time. But I’m working on a song right now that I actually want to have a ‘thinner’ more 60’s psychedelic-rock sound.
I hadn’t thought of trying a chorus with a very slow modulation. The Tap Fractal Doubler looks promising, as well. I’ll give both suggestions a shot and see what happens!
Thanks for the reference to Fractal Doubler. I’m having a total blast going through a bunch of different plugins just playing with them to get a feel for how they sound. I was looking for a similar effect, so I’m going to compare fractal doubler to using Autotalent to slightly detune two copies of a track, with one tuned low by a few cents and panned left, and the other panned high by a few cents and panned right. Autotalent has an LFO, so I’m hoping that by setting the LFO on each track slightly different rates and depths it will keep the effect from sounding too static or artifical.
And is better
Isn’t there a Ford commercial with the tag line “and is better than or?” I’m going crazy 80’s over production here, I’ve got fractal double up the center, and pitch shifted copies to the left and right.
Actually, now that I listen to it some more it’s making me a little queasy. Kind of like some desserts, the first bite is great, the last bite makes your stomach hurt. I’ll have to figure out how to tone that down a little bit, but it is definitely getting closer to that fat sound I want.
Just for the sake of completeness, since this thread is older, from the Infamous plugins the lush life may be something in this direction. You can set pan, gain, delay and pitch shift individually for each voice as well as a LFO (see here: http://ssj71.github.io/infamousPlugins/plugs.html#lushlife)