Eventide Blog

		[{"id":93515,"link":"https:\/\/www.eventideaudio.com\/blog\/50th-flashback-1-the-ps101-instant-phaser\/","name":"50th-flashback-1-the-ps101-instant-phaser","thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.eventideaudio.com\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Phaser-Flashback-Thumb.png","alt":""},"title":"50th Flashback #1: The PS 101 Instant Phaser","excerpt":"Explore the history of tape flanging and the first device to simulate the effect, the PS101 Instant Phaser.","content":"The PS 101 Instant Phaser\n\n\n\nIn 1971, Eventide Clockworks began production of what would become pro audio\u2019s first rack-mount effects unit, the PS 101 Instant Phaser. Here\u2019s how the original user manual introduced this novel device:\n\n\n\nFrom the archives (1971)\n\n\n\nOriginally purchased for its phasing effect (the classic swishy drum \u2018wash\u2019 on Led Zeppelin\u2019s \u201cKashmir\u201d? - that\u2019s the Eventide Instant Phaser), Eventide\u2019s User Manual suggested its capacity as a utility device. We coined the phrase \"pseudo-stereo\" to describe the Instant Phaser\u2019s ability to spread a mono image across the stereo field. Most studios installed multiple boxes because engineers began using them to enhance the stereo image on everything.\n\n\n\nTodd Rundgren, an early adopter of Eventide products, using both hands to control two of seven Instant Phasers.\n\n\n\nWhat New Features Could an Effects Box Include?\n\n\n\nThe Instant Phaser introduced some new concepts including the notion of using the \u201cEnvelope\u201d of the signal to drive the sweeping effect or using a \u201cControl Voltage\u201d (the Mu-Tron Phaser incorporated these features in 1972). It also featured two \u201cdecorrelated outputs\u201d. Fifty years down the road, these concepts are SOP, but we did it first.  \n\n\n\nWhat Should We Call It?\n\n\n\nOf course, groundbreaking work always has its consequences. In the days of tape flanging, audio pros used the terms phasing and flanging interchangeably. We named this new electronic effect box the \u201cphaser\u201d to distinguish it from the tape effect since the tape effect results from a differential time delay and the phaser doesn\u2019t use time delay at all but rather a series of analog all pass filters. And, admittedly, our love of Star Trek was a factor. The ripples of that naming decision persist to this day.\n\n\n\nFrom the \u201cThere\u2019s no grudge like an old grudge\u201d department:\n\n\n\n\n\n\nhttps:\/\/youtu.be\/-McK5ObqQ3A\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAnd Not Just in the Studio!\n\n\n\nBack in the day, PA systems had amps, mics, speakers, consoles, and little else. The Instant Phaser was one of the first effects boxes used live. Here it sits, duck taped, on top of a 1745 Digital Delay Line at a Jefferson Airplane concert in 1972 with Jorma, Grace, and Papa John.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAnd here it is, in a proper small rack case, at a Led Zeppelin concert at Madison Square Garden (circa 1973). Ah, progress!\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEmulating that Special Sound\n\n\n\nIn 2018, we released a faithful emulation of the box, the Instant Phaser MK II plug-in. Check out this video to learn about the challenges of nailing the sound of certain analog gear.\n\n\n\n\n\n\nhttps:\/\/youtu.be\/akud19JpZ0g\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMagic Shop Owner, Steve Rosenthal, points out that, duh, no two Instant Phasers sounded quite alike:\n\n\n\n\n\n\nhttps:\/\/youtu.be\/Olcp9vxleBc\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFun with the Plug\n\n\n\nWhen we released the Instant Phaser plug-in we threw down the \u201cItchycoo Challenge\u201d:\n\n\n\n\n\n\nhttps:\/\/youtu.be\/gw79e6I_KkU\n\n\n\n\n\n\nHave a listen to these other creative entries to the Challenge.\n\n\n\nInstant Phaser Deep Dive\n\n\n\nVisit the Instant Phaser legacy page and check out our blog on the difference between phasing & flanging.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nUp next, we take a look at the DDL 1745 \u2014 the first digital audio device\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nLegendary Audio Pros Deep Dive Gear Club Podcast\n\n\n\nEpisode #3: The Road to the Magic Shop with Steve Rosenthal Part 1Episode #15: Capture the Moment with William Wittman Part I\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCheck out our previous flashbacks!\n\n\n\n\nFlashback #1: The Instant Phaser\n\n\n\nFlashback #2.1: The DDL 1745 Delay\n\n\n\nFlashback #2.2: The DDL 1745A Delay\n\n\n\nFlashback #2.3: The DDL 1745M Delay\n\n\n\nFlashback #3: The Omnipressor\u00ae\n\n\n\nFlashback #4.1: The H910 Harmonizer\u00ae\n\n\n\nFlashback #4.2: H910 Harmonizer\u00ae \u2014 The Product\n\n\n\nFlashback #4.3: H910 Harmonizer\u00ae \u2014 \u201cMinds Blown\u201d\n\n\n\nFlashback #5: FL 201 Instant Flanger\n\n\n\nFlashback #6: HM80 \u2014 The Baby Harmonizer\u00ae\n\n\n\nFlashback #7.1: The H949 Harmonizer\u00ae\n\n\n\nFlashback #7.2: H949 Harmonizer\u00ae \u2014 The New One\n\n\n\nFlashback #7.3: H949 Harmonizer\u00ae \u2014 Bending, Stretching, and Twisting Time\n\n\n\nFlashback #8: H969 Harmonizer\u00ae \n\n\n\nFlashback #9.1: Broadcast\n\n\n\nFlashback #9.2: Dump & Go \u2013 The Profanity Delay\n\n\n\nFlashback #10: Thinking Outside the Black Box\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nNext Flashback >","author":{"name":"AAgnello","link":"https:\/\/www.eventideaudio.com\/blog\/author\/aagnello\/"},"date":"Jan 19, 2021","dateGMT":"2021-01-19 10:50:00","modifiedDate":"2025-06-11 10:52:59","modifiedDateGMT":"2025-06-11 14:52:59","commentCount":"0","commentStatus":"closed","categories":{"coma":"<a href=\"https:\/\/www.eventideaudio.com\/blog\/category\/legacy-products\/flashbacks\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Flashbacks<\/a>","space":"<a href=\"https:\/\/www.eventideaudio.com\/blog\/category\/legacy-products\/flashbacks\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Flashbacks<\/a>"},"taxonomies":{"post_tag":"<a href='https:\/\/www.eventideaudio.com\/blog\/tag\/effects\/' rel='post_tag'>effects<\/a><a href='https:\/\/www.eventideaudio.com\/blog\/tag\/eventide\/' rel='post_tag'>Eventide<\/a><a href='https:\/\/www.eventideaudio.com\/blog\/tag\/eventide-history\/' rel='post_tag'>eventide history<\/a><a href='https:\/\/www.eventideaudio.com\/blog\/tag\/history\/' rel='post_tag'>history<\/a><a href='https:\/\/www.eventideaudio.com\/blog\/tag\/instant-phaser\/' rel='post_tag'>instant phaser<\/a><a href='https:\/\/www.eventideaudio.com\/blog\/tag\/ps-101-instant-phaser\/' rel='post_tag'>PS 101 Instant Phaser<\/a>"},"readTime":{"min":3,"sec":10},"status":"publish"},{"id":93532,"link":"https:\/\/www.eventideaudio.com\/blog\/50th-flashback-2-1-the-ddl-1745-delay\/","name":"50th-flashback-2-1-the-ddl-1745-delay","thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.eventideaudio.com\/uploads\/2021\/02\/DDL-1745-Flashback-Thumb.png","alt":""},"title":"50th Flashback #2.1: The DDL 1745 Delay","excerpt":"Learn about the history of the Digital Delay Line and it's impact on the industry.","content":"A Brief History of Time Delay\n\n\n\nNew York City, 1971 \n\n\n\nIn the basement of a building on 54th Street and 8th Ave, Richard Factor is putting the finishing touches on the DDL 1745, the world\u2019s first piece of digital pro audio gear\u2014a 3U rack-mount box with four large knobs. Weeks earlier, a one-off version of the DDL had been sold to Maryland Public Broadcasting. Now, with a production-ready prototype, Richard decides to carry it down to the Record Plant at 44th Street and Broadway where Jack Douglas and Rod O\u2019Brien are recording. From the Gear Club podcast, here\u2019s Rod\u2019s recollection of that day and his encounter with this decidedly newfangled piece of gear.\n\n\n\n\n\n\nhttps:\/\/youtu.be\/jGbJCWxfw-o\n\n\n\n\n\n\nUntil that day in 1971, recording, film, and broadcast gear was 100% electromechanical and analog. The word \u2018digital\u2019 had not yet entered the public, let alone the audio, lexicon. The console and all rack-mount gear (compressors, limiters, and amps) were 100% analog. And every studio dedicated at least one tape machine for double tracking and pre-delay to feed their plate reverbs.\n\n\n\nProducers and engineers had long ago discovered the value in adding a second, delayed vocal to a vocal track -\u201cdouble-tracking.\u201d The vocalist would perform the same verse twice while trying their best to match pitch and phrasing as closely as possible.  The resulting combined vocal had a bigger impact \u2013 it sounded \u2018fatter.\u2019 For the effect to work, however, the singer needed the skill to repeat the performance nearly identically - quite the challenge for most. Given the cost of studio time, it was clear that using delay to automatically achieve the double-tracking effect was a winner. However, ADT (Automatic Double Tracking) requires delay and there simply was not any way to delay analog audio electronically for even a fraction of a second. For the engineer at the time, a tape machine was the only viable choice.\n\n\n\n\n\n\nhttps:\/\/youtu.be\/QXNoUHdFyrQ\n\n\n\n\n\nhttps:\/\/youtu.be\/Bja7B3uR6QI\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSidebar: There was one alternative to using a tape machine for delay - The Cooper Time Cube. The Cooper Time Cube was built into a wooden cabinet about the size of a small washing machine. Inside the cabinet was a coiled garden hose. With a small speaker at one end and a small microphone at the other, audio was sent down the garden hose achieving the desired delay; with, of course, some obvious limitations. First, the amount of delay was fixed by the length of the hose. Second, the audio sounded (what a shock!) as if it had travelled down a garden hose.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAs Rod and John described, the job of the \u2018tape op\u2019 was to ensure that the tape machine being used for delay was always running, and woe to the assistant who let the tape run out while tracking or mixing! (This was before automated faders, when \u2018mixing\u2019 was an all-hands, real-time, performance.)\n\n\n\nTape delay was also routinely used to help solve a somewhat new problem with reverberation. In the \u201860s, echo chambers were rapidly being replaced by plate reverbs because they freed up precious studio space. Well-engineered plates had most of the attributes desired for reverberation: good and relatively uncolored frequency response, adjustable decay time, and high echo density. But plates had one shortcoming\u2014 no pre-delay. In a room (or echo chamber), the reverb \u2018wash\u2019 doesn\u2019t kick in for a fraction of a second; first there are \u2018early reflections\u2019 which impart the sense of the space.  Without this \u2018space\u2019 before the high-density wash of reflections, reverb sounds unnatural and intelligibility suffers. The \u2018space\u2019 was achieved by using tape delay to \u2018feed\u2019 the plate.\n\n\n\nThe Digital Delay Line\n\n\n\nEnter Richard Factor. Richard was a young electronics wiz and, as a pre-teen (armed with his trusty tapered reamer), he had been building audio electronic projects for fun. He understood that If audio could be digitized with high enough fidelity, it could be stored as digital bits, converted back to analog and, voila, you would have achieved delay \u2013 in real time, with no moving parts. By 1970, the bits and pieces became available to build a commercial product.\n\n\n\nThe Shift Register - Wonderfully Unreliable and Fearfully Expensive\n\n\n\nThe breakthrough that made digital delay practical came in the form of a new semiconductor chip, the one-kbit shift register, which pushed the IC technology of the time right to the bleeding edge\u2014thousands of transistors packed into a single chip! Put in perspective, it would take 8 million of these chips to store a gigabyte. Still, one kbit was quite a feat for the time. And these chips were truly \u2018bleeding edge.\u2019 They ran hot and suffered high rates of \u2018infant mortality.\u2019 In spite of its shortcomings, the shift register enabled digital\u2019s first serious foray into the world of pro-audio.\n\n\n\nCloseup of a portion of the DDL1745 circuit board showing a field of shift registers.\n\n\n\nA Brief Pre-History of Time Delay\n\n\n\nIn the beginning, before our Flashback begins, before Eventide itself, there was Federal Scientific Corp. The Richard mentioned a few paragraphs earlier was working in the military-industrial complex, the very same one President Eisenhower warned us about in 1961, less than a decade before the Eventide story begins. Federal Scientific made sophisticated spectrum analysis equipment. How sophisticated? Look up the Pueblo incident; a sufficiently detailed account might mention some of the Federal equipment North Korea captured. The interregnum between Richard's broadcast career and the founding of Eventide was spent building and testing such equipment. (Flash forward: Spectrum Analysis intertwines itself with Eventide history. But not yet.)\n\n\n\nThese years also encompassed the period when integrated circuits were new and evolving quickly. From a single or dual flip flop to a binary or decade counter. From RTL to ECL to LSTTL to MOS (you could look 'em up), the chip \"families\" proliferated and their complexity multiplied. And, Lo, not long into this brief era, the shift register emerged. By today's standards, they were not only primitive in terms of manufacture and features, but they were also wonderfully unreliable and fearfully expensive. Federal purchased shift registers to replace the persnickety ultrasonic (acoustic) delay modules\u2014essentially tiny Cooper Time Cubes\u2014used in the analyzers. And shift registers had, Richard recognized, possibilities.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nNormally \"fearfully expensive\" and \"wonderfully unreliable\" would create a frisson of dismay in our lad's story, albeit each for a different reason. Possibilities or not, perhaps they should be left to the military budget. But shift-register unreliability, a continuing theme in Eventide's early history, was also responsible for our existence. You see, Federal Scientific's commercial gear used all four sections of a quad shift register. If one section was bad, all four had to be discarded. Where to? With a few words to the technicians, into Richard's capacious paws and pockets. And so, in his spare time, a phrase that had meaning in those days, he hand-wired an analog-to-digital converter with discrete parts (a story in itself), a bunch of shift registers, each with a defective section, and an integrated circuit digital-to-analog converter that didn't quite meet specifications. As the collection of partial shift registers incremented, so did the delay ultimately achievable by this hand-wired prototype. Each group of eight good shift register sections of 256 bits yielded a few milliseconds of delay, enough to be audible and eventually enough to be interesting.\n\n\n\nThere The Matter Would Have Rested...\n\n\n\n...had it not been for the sudden appearance of an advertisement in the ancient broadsheet publication \"Electronics News,\" a free subscription to which could be had by virtue of creative form-filling. The ad was for 980-bit shift registers for only ten dollars each! The manufacturer was AMI and, as we found out later, these were \"seconds\" that didn't quite meet their primary customer's requirements. (In what way? IBM wanted chips that always worked. Sound familiar?) Investing what was then a good portion of our not-yet-corporate treasure, Eventide obtained a few hundred of these chips, enough at first to manufacture the SEG FA 1755 Digital Delay. You are unlikely to see any of these available in the used market. We built exactly one.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nShift registers weren't quite a proxy for a Ponzi scheme, but the OEM sale of this multi-second delay line, surely the longest in the world at the time, allowed us to buy even more shift registers. Which brings us to the beginning of the Flashback, and the Story of the Eventide 1745 Series of delay lines.\n\n\n\nFrom A to D (and back again)\n\n\n\nSo, with a big bunch of 1k shift registers in hand, a commercial Digital Delay Line (DDL) becomes viable. However, a major roadblock remained: the conversion of audio from analog to digital with sufficiently high resolution to satisfy pro audio requirements. Suitable off-the-shelf A-to-D chips were still a decade in the future. Eventide, like other digital audio pioneers, had no choice but to roll their own. The result was that each manufacturer\u2019s product had a distinct sound.\n\n\n\nThe DDL 1745 The World's First Digital Audio Device (1971)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEventide\u2019s first DDL, the 1745, was a 3U rackmount box with one input and two outputs. Each output was capable of delaying audio up to 200 msec of delay (adjustable in two msec increments). The box was packed with over 100 shift registers connected in series and the digital bits moved through them like water through a pipeline. That\u2019s why it was called a \u201cDelay Line\u201d.\n\n\n\nEach individual shift register delayed audio by two msec. The shift registers were laid out in nine rows of 10 shift registers each for selecting coarse delay in 20 msec increments and an additional 10 shift registers were mounted on each output board for adding up to an additional 20 msec in 2 msec increments.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFour big knobs were used to set the delay value. The knobs controlled a simple switch that \u2018tapped\u2019 the line of shift registers at the end of the corresponding row. For 20msec, the switch selects the end of the first row of ten shift registers.\n\n\n\nThe DDL1745 was unlike anything else found in a studio back then. Here\u2019s how Richard and Eventide co-founder Stephen Katz described it in an early audio magazine article:\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nRichard described the development of the DDL1745 in a Gear Club Podcast interview. Here\u2019s an excerpt:\n\n\n\n\n\n\nhttps:\/\/youtu.be\/Kn-BhXdRT0o\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEvery Studio Had to Have At Least One\n\n\n\nThe 1745 was an instant hit. For a mere $4,000\u2014$28,000 in today\u2019s dollars\u2014studios could repurpose the tape machines being used for double tracking and reverb pre-delay. Assistant engineers worldwide could breathe a sigh of relief knowing that they would never again be reprimanded for allowing the tape to run out during tracking or mixing.\n\n\n\nAnd, Not Just Studios - Live Sound needed DDLs too!\n\n\n\nIn 1973, an outdoor rock festival was held that drew a record-breaking crowd of 600,000 people. The Grateful Dead were one of the headliners and they had arranged for the PA system. Given the size of the crowd, a series of speaker towers were set up hundreds of feet from the stage. The previous experience with using speaker towers had been less than gratifying since the sound travelling through the air from the stage would arrive after the sound coming out of the closest speaker. For fans hundreds of feet back from the stage yet close to a speaker tower, the result was a disorienting echo. Eventide worked with the sound crew and supplied a stack of 1745 delay lines to delay the audio feed to the towers by an amount equal to the estimated delay of the stage sound travelling through the air. It worked like a charm. We believe that this was the first use of digital delay for sound reinforcement.\n\n\n\nSix DD1745s sitting in the hot sun at Watkins Glen delaying audio feeds to the six speaker towers located in the crowd.\n\n\n\nDDL 1745 Deep Dive\n\n\n\nClick here for everything we could find in our archives about the original DDL 1745 Delay. \n\n\n\nStay tuned for \"The Next Step\" - The DDL1745A\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCheck out our previous flashbacks!\n\n\n\n\nFlashback #1: The Instant Phaser\n\n\n\nFlashback #2.1: The DDL 1745 Delay\n\n\n\nFlashback #2.2: The DDL 1745A Delay\n\n\n\nFlashback #2.3: The DDL 1745M Delay\n\n\n\nFlashback #3: The Omnipressor\u00ae\n\n\n\nFlashback #4.1: The H910 Harmonizer\u00ae\n\n\n\nFlashback #4.2: H910 Harmonizer\u00ae \u2014 The Product\n\n\n\nFlashback #4.3: H910 Harmonizer\u00ae \u2014 \u201cMinds Blown\u201d\n\n\n\nFlashback #5: FL 201 Instant Flanger\n\n\n\nFlashback #6: HM80 \u2014 The Baby Harmonizer\u00ae\n\n\n\nFlashback #7.1: The H949 Harmonizer\u00ae\n\n\n\nFlashback #7.2: H949 Harmonizer\u00ae \u2014 The New One\n\n\n\nFlashback #7.3: H949 Harmonizer\u00ae \u2014 Bending, Stretching, and Twisting Time\n\n\n\nFlashback #8: H969 Harmonizer\u00ae \n\n\n\nFlashback #9.1: Broadcast\n\n\n\nFlashback #9.2: Dump & Go \u2013 The Profanity Delay\n\n\n\nFlashback #10: Thinking Outside the Black Box\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n< Previous Flashback\n\n\n\n\n\nNext Flashback >","author":{"name":"AAgnello","link":"https:\/\/www.eventideaudio.com\/blog\/author\/aagnello\/"},"date":"Feb 11, 2021","dateGMT":"2021-02-11 15:03:00","modifiedDate":"2023-06-08 14:42:52","modifiedDateGMT":"2023-06-08 18:42:52","commentCount":"0","commentStatus":"closed","categories":{"coma":"<a href=\"https:\/\/www.eventideaudio.com\/blog\/category\/legacy-products\/flashbacks\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Flashbacks<\/a>","space":"<a href=\"https:\/\/www.eventideaudio.com\/blog\/category\/legacy-products\/flashbacks\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Flashbacks<\/a>"},"taxonomies":{"post_tag":"<a href='https:\/\/www.eventideaudio.com\/blog\/tag\/flashback\/' rel='post_tag'>flashback<\/a>"},"readTime":{"min":10,"sec":25},"status":"publish"},{"id":93601,"link":"https:\/\/www.eventideaudio.com\/blog\/50th-flashback-2-2-the-ddl-1745a-delay\/","name":"50th-flashback-2-2-the-ddl-1745a-delay","thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.eventideaudio.com\/uploads\/2021\/02\/DDL-1745A-Flashback-Thumb.png","alt":""},"title":"Flashback #2.2: The DDL 1745A Delay","excerpt":"Learn how DDL1745 evolved with the addition of LEDs and improved electronic control of delay.","content":"The original DDL 1745 had one major shortcoming. Using the big switches to set delay would usually result in a dangerously loud pop\/crackle\/bzzzztttt. Engineers quickly learned to pull down the appropriate fader before changing delay. Richard took advantage of two new innovations\u2014the shaft encoder and the Light Emitting Diode\u2014to create the model DDL 1745A. Today, an encoder would be the logical choice but encoders were not yet commercially available (or, if they were, they were prohibitively expensive). Eventide designed its own encoder and the \u201cBig Knob\u201d was born. Turn it slowly for fine control or spin it quickly for large changes. The Big Knob has become a key control feature for many of Eventide\u2019s products since that day in 1973.\n\n\n\nThe 1745A also featured an LED numerical display of the delay setting\u2014likely the first display of its kind to find its way into a studio.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nHere\u2019s the original 1745A Data Sheet describing the significant innovation - \u201cElectronic control of delay is...a reality today...there is little or no noise when changing delay settings.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Next Step\n\n\n\nWhile the 1745A represented the next step in DDLs, these were still early days. The first DDLs were heavy (30 lbs), power-hungry, ran \u2018hot\u2019, and were reliably unreliable if not treated properly. The first page of the Instruction Manual, titled ENVIRONMENT, cautions users to treat their unit with kid gloves:\n\n\n\n\n\u201cThe Delay Line likes fresh air...Give your delay line a good home and it will be your friend.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nThe implication is clear...\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMore than Just a Delay\u2014First Glimpses of a New World\n\n\n\nThe 1745A was marketed as more than simply a utilitarian delay and the Instruction Manual described some of the new techniques that, for the first time, had become practical.\n\n\n\nDoubling\n\n\n\nOne innovation was the ability to double the delay by cutting the sample rate in half. This was a new concept to users and the Instruction Manual, after explaining the consequence of sample rate reduction, offered this reassurance: \u201cDo not let the foregoing scare you\u2026\u201d\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nRepeat\n\n\n\nSignal Recirculation, \u201cRepeat,\u201d was a unique feature of the 1745A and an example of how a utilitarian device for simple delay morphed into a digital effects device. With the flip of a switch, the looper was born!\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nUsing Special Effects Live\n\n\n\nThe Instruction Manual went on to imagine special effects that might be achieved by \u2018storing\u2019 different words or segments of audio; described thus \u201cspecial effects which may be used to advantage under certain weird circumstances.\u201d The alleged purpose? \u201c...the amazement of the audience.\u201d If you attended a Frank Zappa or Laurie Anderson concert back in the day, you\u2019re likely to remember this to be true.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nHollywood Discovers the DDL (C3P0!!!)\n\n\n\nWhile studio pros instantly adopted the original 1745 to replace tape delay, it took a wee bit for broadcast and film pros to catch on. When they did, they caught on in a big way thanks to Eventide co-founder, Stephen Katz. Stephen left NY (and Eventide) to work in film taking a job with Dolby that gave him entry into studios making films like Star Wars. Stephen knew what a DDL could do; after all, he was the one who told Richard what a DDL should do. And he showed the producers of films like Star Wars, Altered States, Hair, A Star is Born, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, etc. what a DDL would do.\n\n\n\nHere\u2019s a photo of Stephen almost pointing to a 1745A during a session at Goldwyn Sound Studio D:\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFWIW, we now have documented evidence (included here for historical reference) that our 1745A front panel was defaced identically on both coasts (Record Plant - NY, Goldwyn Sound - LA). From time to time we would receive a 1745A in the shop for repair and we would remedy this mid-70\u2019s silliness. It was our formal policy to clean this up and we never failed to charge the owner for it.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEventide Co-Founder Stephen Katz Recognized by the Motion Picture Academy \n\n\n\nIn 1978 Stephen Katz was awarded a well-deserved Academy Award for Best Sound. Eventide is forever grateful for his role in getting Eventide off the ground, out of the basement, and our sounds on iconic films. It was our good fortune that Stephen landed in the right place at the right time. Our innovative gear, and Stephen\u2019s talent for using it, made digital effects the latest greatest thing for Hollywood\u2019s \u2018foley\u2019 audio since Foley recorded the sound of slicing bread.\n\n\n\nStephen Katz, surrounded by other luminaries, holding his Academy Award\n\n\n\nDDL 1745A Deep Dive\n\n\n\nClick here for everything we could find in our archives about the DDL 1745A Delay, and click here to read the original 1745A user manual. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe DDL saga continues with the introduction of the first memory-based DDL, the 1745M. Stay tuned...\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCheck out our previous flashbacks!\n\n\n\n\nFlashback #1: The Instant Phaser\n\n\n\nFlashback #2.1: The DDL 1745 Delay\n\n\n\nFlashback #2.2: The DDL 1745A Delay\n\n\n\nFlashback #2.3: The DDL 1745M Delay\n\n\n\nFlashback #3: The Omnipressor\u00ae\n\n\n\nFlashback #4.1: The H910 Harmonizer\u00ae\n\n\n\nFlashback #4.2: H910 Harmonizer\u00ae \u2014 The Product\n\n\n\nFlashback #4.3: H910 Harmonizer\u00ae \u2014 \u201cMinds Blown\u201d\n\n\n\nFlashback #5: FL 201 Instant Flanger\n\n\n\nFlashback #6: HM80 \u2014 The Baby Harmonizer\u00ae\n\n\n\nFlashback #7.1: The H949 Harmonizer\u00ae\n\n\n\nFlashback #7.2: H949 Harmonizer\u00ae \u2014 The New One\n\n\n\nFlashback #7.3: H949 Harmonizer\u00ae \u2014 Bending, Stretching, and Twisting Time\n\n\n\nFlashback #8: H969 Harmonizer\u00ae \n\n\n\nFlashback #9.1: Broadcast\n\n\n\nFlashback #9.2: Dump & Go \u2013 The Profanity Delay\n\n\n\nFlashback #10: Thinking Outside the Black Box\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n< Previous Flashback\n\n\n\n\n\nNext Flashback >","author":{"name":"AAgnello","link":"https:\/\/www.eventideaudio.com\/blog\/author\/aagnello\/"},"date":"Feb 16, 2021","dateGMT":"2021-02-16 14:15:00","modifiedDate":"2024-05-21 00:45:10","modifiedDateGMT":"2024-05-21 04:45:10","commentCount":"0","commentStatus":"closed","categories":{"coma":"<a href=\"https:\/\/www.eventideaudio.com\/blog\/category\/legacy-products\/flashbacks\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Flashbacks<\/a>","space":"<a href=\"https:\/\/www.eventideaudio.com\/blog\/category\/legacy-products\/flashbacks\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Flashbacks<\/a>"},"taxonomies":{"post_tag":"<a href='https:\/\/www.eventideaudio.com\/blog\/tag\/flashback\/' rel='post_tag'>flashback<\/a>"},"readTime":{"min":4,"sec":26},"status":"publish"},{"id":93796,"link":"https:\/\/www.eventideaudio.com\/blog\/50th-flashback-2-3-the-ddl-1745m-delay\/","name":"50th-flashback-2-3-the-ddl-1745m-delay","thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.eventideaudio.com\/uploads\/2021\/02\/DDL-1745M-Flashback-Thumb.png","alt":""},"title":"Flashback #2.3: The DDL 1745M Delay","excerpt":"We take a look at the DDL1745M, a new kind of Delay Line with built-in RAM Memory.","content":"The DDL 1745M (1975)\n\n\n\nBy 1975, integrated circuit technology had advanced to the point that Random Access Memory (RAM) chips became commercially available. For audio delay, this was a game-changer. Instead of being limited to shifting bits into one end of a delay line and waiting for the bits to emerge from the end of the line, audio could be \u2018stored\u2019 in memory and recalled at will. The 1745M was unlike anything that existed and for many, DDLs were still a mystery. Here\u2019s how the Instruction Manual introduced it to audio pros and studio maintenance engineers: \u201c...this is an unusual instruction manual\u201d.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe DDL1745M represented a significant advance and became the industry standard for delay. It was mono in but could be configured with up to 5 independently controlled delay outputs. A single voice could turn into a chorus.\n\n\n\nYou Got an \u201cM\u201d not an \u201cA\u201d\n\n\n\nThe 1745M replaced the 1745A after only a year or so, and Page 1 of the Instruction Manual begins:\n\n\n\n\n\u201cYOU HAVE JUST PURCHASED AN EVENTIDE MODEL 1745M DIGITAL DELAY LINE. IF BY SOME CHANCE YOU WERE EXPECTING AN EVENTIDE 1745A DIGITAL DELAY LINE, DON\u2019T COMPLAIN.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nIt goes on to explain why starting with \u201cit weighs less!\u201d\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nBy the time of the introduction of the 1745M, \u2018digital\u2019 was still a new concept but no longer a complete mystery. The Instructional Manual included \u201cThe Digital Delay Line REVISITED\u201d which began with a bit of nostalgia, \u201cRemember when the Digital Delay Line was new?\u201d\n\n\n\n\u201cM\u201d Stands for Memory\n\n\n\nAfter discussing the limitations of using shift registers for delay, \u201cit\u2019s like a pipeline\u201d, Random Access Memory (RAM) is described as \u201clike a book\u201d. Humans could now, for the first time,  non-destructively read and write high fidelity audio at will and nothing would ever be the same. RAM\u2019s ability to \u201cstore individual chunks of data, and deliver them upon demand\u201d ushered in a new world. Our world today.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nRAM made high resolution, single sample, delay possible. The \u2018resolution\u2019 of a shift registered based delay was constrained by the time it took audio to pass through each shift register. In the case of the 1745 and 1745A, that was 2 msec. The 1745M\u2019s delay resolution was one sample, 20 usec - 100X finer! Users would flip a switch on the module and spin the knob to dial in the amount of delay with extreme precision with LED displaying the precise time in fraction of a msec.\n\n\n\nIn an alternate Universe \u201cM\u201d might have stood for \u201cModular\u201d\n\n\n\nWhile the \u201cM\u201d stood for memory, the 1745M chassis was a modular design with 5 slots holding up to 5 output modules. The standard 1745M shipped with 2 delay output modules but users could install up to a total of 5 independent delay modules. With the 1745Ms 5 outputs, a mono source could create a chorus of five voices or be used as a multitap delay to add ambience to a track.\n\n\n\nFlipping the Switches and Spinning a Knob\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nRAM also made two key features instantly available with a pair of front panel toggle switches\u2014\u201cDouble\u201d and \u201cRepeat.\u201d Flipping  these switches while turning the delay knob made digital looping possible for the first time\n\n\n\nHere\u2019s how those two toggle switches worked: The \u201cDouble\u201d switch instantly cut the sample rate in half, thereby doubling the amount of delay. The \u201cRepeat\u201d switch (the term we previously used, \u201cRecirculation,\u201d was too long to print on the front panel) allowed the user to instantly capture any audio currently stored in memory and play it back as an endless loop.\n\n\n\nUsers quickly discovered that flipping the \u201cDouble\u201d switch after capturing a loop would play the loop back at half speed with the audio shifted down by an octave. Alternately, turning Double on first and then Repeat would play a longer loop AND then turning Double off would cause the loop to play back at twice the speed and the audio would play back shifted up by an octave. Flipping those two switches and twisting the delay knob while looping open up a whole new bag of creative tricks.\n\n\n\nThe \u201cM\u201d Brings a New Bag-O-Tricks\n\n\n\nThe 1745M data sheet touted additional new effects made possible by the RAM-based design \u2014 flanging, pitch change, comb filtering, tunneling, recirculation, and reverb. The data sheet teases, \u201cif that\u2019s not enough\u201d and goes on to describe a completely different type of innovation - automation.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Instruction Manual put it this way \u201cIf you think that you just bought a delay line, think again\u201d and encouraged the user to do \u201cstrange and wondrous things to their unsuspecting signals.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nRepeat & Tunneling\n\n\n\nRAM-based \u201cRepeat\u201d took on a new meaning. Shift-register-based \u201cRepeat\u201d was constrained to be \u2018fixed\u2019. The playback of the captured signal was always the entire loop. The 1745M\u2019s RAM-based approach allowed for any length, any segment, of stored audio to be looped over and over again. And, for the first time, a digital device could play the captured audio in \u2018reverse\u2019 and \u2018get things which nobody knows about\u2019  like tunneling - \u2018The origin of the term is obscure..\u2019.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Optional Pitch Change Module\n\n\n\nIn 1976, Richard, with Tony looking over his shoulder and dreaming of a keyboard pitch changer, designed a 2-slot wide Pitch Change module.\n\n\n\n1745M with Pitch Change Module installed. The pitch change module occupies two of the five available slots. Photo courtesy of Dean Beamish (dbeamish@aol.com)\n\n\n\nThe Pitch Change Promise\n\n\n\nThe Instruction Manual described the challenges in designing a pitch changer but declares that by April of that very year (1976) a Pitch Change Module would be available and making the bold claim that \u201call (of) these problems are curable\u201d - well \u201cmitigated\u201d was more like it! With the pitch change option installed, the 1745M became the world\u2019s first electronic pitch shifter for musical applications.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Untold Stories\n\n\n\nThe Instruction Manual included a \u201cTheory of Operation\u201d but left out a few tantalizing tidbits. One was  secret, one embarrassing, and one not known at the time of publication.\n\n\n\nThe Secret! The Pitch Change module was inspired by the availability of a chip called a FIFO, or first-in first-out memory. It was pretty obscure and probably became obsolete within a few years as technology improved. But it would store a number of bytes of memory using one clock and read them out using a different clock. By reading two samples from the RAM sample memory every 20 microseconds you could read them out twice as fast, doubling the pitch. But since you were reading them in once every sample period, you would run out of samples quickly. The genius of the FIFO was the \u201chalf-full\u201d flag. If it was running out of data, the flag would demand more, reading two samples at a time. If there was too much data, i.e., reducing pitch, it would stop collecting samples from the memory. By keeping the FIFO approximately half-full, one could adjust the output sample clock from a pitch ratio of .5 to 2.0 without disturbing the input sample rate.\n\n\n\nThe Embarrassing! Why did the 1745M weigh so much less? Aluminum. The earlier 1745 and 1745A used these wonderful military-surplus power transformers that we were able to obtain on New York\u2019s \u201cRadio Row.\u201d Bullet-proof and reliable, but very heavy, and with, as it turns out, exactly the right primary windings for 115 and 230V and even a boost-buck winding that was good for Japan\u2019s 100VAC power. 50Hz? No problem. And cheap! Eventually we couldn\u2019t get them anymore and designed the 1745M with standard parts that weighed a lot less. No more steel chassis to support the transformer! Oh yes, those goofy round AC connectors? Radio Row!\n\n\n\nThe Unknown! What about MIDI control of the delay time for the newfangled \u201cautomation\u201d just coming to studios? Great idea, but MIDI didn\u2019t exist! So, anti-prophetically, we selected the IEEE-488 protocol used for test equipment that was invented by Hewlett-Packard. We built a remote-control module using a Motorola microprocessor and IEEE-488 chip. Worked beautifully! Too bad MIDI came along, although we did sign up. Our SysEx number is just a bit higher than that of Apple.\n\n\n\nThe Honest Truth\n\n\n\nAs for the \u2018cure\u2019, the pitch change method, while certainly usable, was far from perfect. Its \u201cLimitations\u201d were matter-of-factly described thus   \u201c...(it) isn\u2019t perfect. Well, nothing is, really\u2026\u201d and specifically described the results as being \u201cUnder most circumstances...not obnoxious.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDespite its shortcomings, the 1745Ms pitch changer was used on hundreds of records. Here\u2019s Barry Gibbs smiling with a 1745M with Pitch Change Option sitting over his shoulder.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nWe\u2019re Just Getting Started\n\n\n\nSome of the 1745Ms new effects were summarized under \u201cGeneral Weirdness\u201d:\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDDL 1745M Deep Dive\n\n\n\nClick here for everything we could find in our archives about the DDL 1745M and click here to read the original 1745M user manual.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe 1745M was the third and final of the 1745-series DDLs. Next month\u2019s flashback? Richard Nixon\u2019s role in the invention of the Omnipressor. Stay tuned.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCheck out our previous flashbacks!\n\n\n\n\nFlashback #1: The Instant Phaser\n\n\n\nFlashback #2.1: The DDL 1745 Delay\n\n\n\nFlashback #2.2: The DDL 1745A Delay\n\n\n\nFlashback #2.3: The DDL 1745M Delay\n\n\n\nFlashback #3: The Omnipressor\u00ae\n\n\n\nFlashback #4.1: The H910 Harmonizer\u00ae\n\n\n\nFlashback #4.2: H910 Harmonizer\u00ae \u2014 The Product\n\n\n\nFlashback #4.3: H910 Harmonizer\u00ae \u2014 \u201cMinds Blown\u201d\n\n\n\nFlashback #5: FL 201 Instant Flanger\n\n\n\nFlashback #6: HM80 \u2014 The Baby Harmonizer\u00ae\n\n\n\nFlashback #7.1: The H949 Harmonizer\u00ae\n\n\n\nFlashback #7.2: H949 Harmonizer\u00ae \u2014 The New One\n\n\n\nFlashback #7.3: H949 Harmonizer\u00ae \u2014 Bending, Stretching, and Twisting Time\n\n\n\nFlashback #8: H969 Harmonizer\u00ae \n\n\n\nFlashback #9.1: Broadcast\n\n\n\nFlashback #9.2: Dump & Go \u2013 The Profanity Delay\n\n\n\nFlashback #10: Thinking Outside the Black Box\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n< Previous Flashback\n\n\n\n\n\nNext Flashback >","author":{"name":"AAgnello","link":"https:\/\/www.eventideaudio.com\/blog\/author\/aagnello\/"},"date":"Feb 25, 2021","dateGMT":"2021-02-25 21:45:00","modifiedDate":"2023-06-08 14:50:18","modifiedDateGMT":"2023-06-08 18:50:18","commentCount":"0","commentStatus":"closed","categories":{"coma":"<a href=\"https:\/\/www.eventideaudio.com\/blog\/category\/legacy-products\/flashbacks\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Flashbacks<\/a>","space":"<a href=\"https:\/\/www.eventideaudio.com\/blog\/category\/legacy-products\/flashbacks\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Flashbacks<\/a>"},"taxonomies":{"post_tag":"<a href='https:\/\/www.eventideaudio.com\/blog\/tag\/ddl\/' rel='post_tag'>ddl<\/a><a href='https:\/\/www.eventideaudio.com\/blog\/tag\/ddl-1745\/' rel='post_tag'>DDL 1745<\/a><a href='https:\/\/www.eventideaudio.com\/blog\/tag\/ddl-1745m\/' rel='post_tag'>ddl 1745M<\/a><a href='https:\/\/www.eventideaudio.com\/blog\/tag\/eventide-history\/' rel='post_tag'>eventide history<\/a>"},"readTime":{"min":7,"sec":54},"status":"publish"},{"id":95192,"link":"https:\/\/www.eventideaudio.com\/blog\/50th-flashback-3-the-omnipressor\/","name":"50th-flashback-3-the-omnipressor","thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.eventideaudio.com\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Omni-Flashback-Thumb.png","alt":""},"title":"Flashback #3: The Omnipressor\u00ae","excerpt":"Learn about the world's first dynamics effects processor with sidechain and a host of other features.","content":"The Omnipressors (1973 & 1974) \u2014 A Tale of Two Richards \u2014 Factor and Nixon\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s 1973 and Richard Factor is thinking about how compressors and limiters are used in the studio solely for utilitarian purposes and wonders: Could a device be designed to create dynamic effects? Richard recalls a conversation that he had with Dr. Mark Weiss, an audio expert who was later asked to investigate the infamous 18-minute gap in an Oval Office recording that was at the center of Richard Nixon\u2019s impeachment inquiry. Factor recalls Dr. Weiss describing a \u2018homomorphic filter\u2019 and is inspired to create a \u201cdynamics modifier.\u201d Here\u2019s Richard recalling his thinking in the invention of this groundbreaking technique during an episode of the Gear Club podcast.\n\n\n\n\n\n\nhttps:\/\/youtu.be\/j6upBgu61hE\n\n\n\n\n\n\nInventing the \u201cSide Chain\u201d\n\n\n\nA fundamental innovation of the Omnipressor is the technique that has become known as the \u2018side chain.\u2019 Dedicated compressors combined an audio level detector and a VCA (Voltage Controlled Amplifier) connected to the same signal input. Richard had the thought that those two functions could be separated such that one audio source could be applied to the level detector and the level detector\u2019s output could be used to control the level of a different audio source or sources. In other words, a smash on the tom tom could squish the level of the vocal, or vice versa. Combining that innovation with the notion of designing a flexible, general-purpose device that could realize a wide range of dynamics processes such as compression, expansion, and gating, Richard got to work building a prototype.  His first prototype was a \u2018one off\u2019 shown in Sound Exchange Studio in 1972 in New York City.  (Note the \u201cedgewise\u201d meter and the misspelled name!)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe DBX Connection\n\n\n\nThe side chain was made feasible by products from another new company, Dave Blackmer\u2019s DBX. Although Dolby noise reduction reigned supreme at the time, DBX introduced a line of products that performed complementary compression and expansion, thus cutting in half the dynamic range required for the recording medium, inevitably magnetic tape.  At the hearts of each DBX channel were the RMS level detector and Voltage Controlled Amplifier, each a sealed black module.  These could be purchased separately, and for the first Omnipressor, they were used with control circuitry to achieve the gate to infinite-compression gamut.  By the time the Black-Meter Omnipressor was introduced a couple of years later, the DBX VCA had shrunk in size and price. Also, an interesting substitute for the level detector\u2014a chip with four logarithmic amplifier sections that could be cascaded for a 120dB detection range\u2014became available.  This chip made it possible to improve the performance of the system and, even more critically, made it predictable.\n\n\n\nThe White Meter Omnipressor Model 2826\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAfter demoing the prototype, Richard designed the Model 2826 Omnipressor which Eventide introduced in 1973. In the Instruction Manual Richard explained that it is not a \u2018normal\u2019 limiter or compressor but is instead \u201ca special effects unit.\u201d Richard understood that he was onto something new and strange. The instruction manual distinguishes it from the typical compressors and limiters that were used at the time by explaining that the unit \u201cis not normal,\u201d \u201cnot simple\u201d but \u201cRather, it is a special effects unit.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nOften engineers who tried to use the 2826 were puzzled about what it might do and frustrated when they tried to use the controls. Recognizing that this strange device had a significant learning curve, the Applications section starts with a plea:\u201cYour Omnipressor Loves You and Wants to be Your Friend\u2026 please read this Applications section before blaming your Omnipressor for malfeasance or deviltry.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Omnipressor\u2019s functionality was illustrated by a graphic that highlighted the \u201cunusual capabilities of the unit.\u201d And what to do when a \u201creturn to normalcy is desired.\u201d \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Black Meter Omnipressor (1974) Model 2830\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAlthough the Model 2826 claimed that it wanted to be your friend, most folks didn\u2019t find it so. It was perplexing and the controls fell decidedly short of intuitive.  Enter Jon D. Paul, a degreed engineer and skilled analog designer. Richard had met Jon at Federal Scientific, also the then-employer of Dr. Weiss. Jon took the lessons learned from the white meter version and designed a fully calibrated version with controls that made sense, the black meter Omnipressor, Model 2830, introduced in 1974.\n\n\n\nHere\u2019s Jon at the console during a Jefferson Airplane concert in New York\u2019s Central Park:\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEventide touted Jon\u2019s improvements referring to \u201cCalibration\u201d as an \u201cadded bonus.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nInventing Dynamic Effects\n\n\n\nAs described above, the Omnipressor was designed to be a \u201ca special effects unit\u201d and it lived up to that description. The unit was embraced by creative artists and used on countless records.  We called the groundbreaking approach going \u2018open-loop\u2019 as described here:\n\n\n\nThe Instruction Manual described several of the new effects made possible by this novel design.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nInfinite Compression\n\n\n\nThe Omnipressor\u2019s 60dB dynamic range and controllability made infinite compression possible.  Input signals of any level would all be output at the same level as illustrated by this cartoon.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDynamic Reversal\n\n\n\nThe Omnipressor introduced engineers, producers, and musicians to a new type of audio modification\u2014dynamic effects. The first Application Note described a truly groundbreaking technique as \u201cYour Backwards Omnipressor.\u201d Small signals get large, and large signals get small as illustrated by this cartoon.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Application Note cautions that trying to use this technique on certain tracks \u201cwill generally meet with ignominious failure.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe application note went on to point out \u201cIf you can make forward things sound backwards, you should be able to make backward things sound forwards!\u201d\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPredicting \u201cPredictive Compression\u201d\n\n\n\nThe application note predicted a technique that is commonplace today but required the use of delay to achieve. Compressors and limiters have the inherent problem of handling signals with fast attack transients. This problem can be solved by combining the \u201cunique\u201d technique of side chaining and delay as shown in this App Notes block diagram. The first Omnipressor measures the input signal and controls the gain of a second Omnipressor which acts on a delayed version of the input signal. The audio is \u201cheld off\u201d (delayed) until the first Omnipressor decides what to tell the second Omnipressor to do. The result is that fast attack transients can be squelched.\n\n\n\nApplication Note 5 described using delay and the Omnipressor\u2019s side chain to create \u201ca very close approximation to the ideal compressor.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nIt goes on to say \u201cEquipment necessary to realize \u201cpredictive compression\u201d has only recently become available.\u201d That would be an Eventide DDL of course!\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTest Procedure\n\n\n\n1974 was approximately a decade before personal computers were used for design or documentation. Schematics, documentation, test procedures all were created using typewriters, pencils and erasers. Here\u2019s an example of a handwritten test procedure:\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Poster\n\n\n\nModel 2830 (black meter) Poster\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nOmnipressor Deep Dive\n\n\n\nClick here for everything we could find in our archives about the Eventide Omnipressors, and be sure to watch this vintage British audio commercial showcasing the many sounds the original Omnipressor could make:\n\n\n\n\n\n\nhttps:\/\/youtu.be\/MmVnU7c7k-0\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nStay tuned for our next flashback \u2014 the H910 Harmonizer!\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Plug-in\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTry it Free\n\n\n\n\n\n\"If you want a compressor with bags of pump, depth and character then look no further.\" \n\u2014 Pro Tools Expert\n\n\n\n\n\"The most twisted, aggressive, nasty, and yes, seductively versatile dynamics control device I've used\"\n\u2013 Harmony Central\n\n\n\nWatch Richard demo the Omnipressor Plug-in:\n\n\n\n\nhttps:\/\/youtu.be\/SDjQewjR3t0\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCheck out our previous flashbacks!\n\n\n\n\nFlashback #1: The Instant Phaser\n\n\n\nFlashback #2.1: The DDL 1745 Delay\n\n\n\nFlashback #2.2: The DDL 1745A Delay\n\n\n\nFlashback #2.3: The DDL 1745M Delay\n\n\n\nFlashback #3: The Omnipressor\u00ae\n\n\n\nFlashback #4.1: The H910 Harmonizer\u00ae\n\n\n\nFlashback #4.2: H910 Harmonizer\u00ae \u2014 The Product\n\n\n\nFlashback #4.3: H910 Harmonizer\u00ae \u2014 \u201cMinds Blown\u201d\n\n\n\nFlashback #5: FL 201 Instant Flanger\n\n\n\nFlashback #6: HM80 \u2014 The Baby Harmonizer\u00ae\n\n\n\nFlashback #7.1: The H949 Harmonizer\u00ae\n\n\n\nFlashback #7.2: H949 Harmonizer\u00ae \u2014 The New One\n\n\n\nFlashback #7.3: H949 Harmonizer\u00ae \u2014 Bending, Stretching, and Twisting Time\n\n\n\nFlashback #8: H969 Harmonizer\u00ae \n\n\n\nFlashback #9.1: Broadcast\n\n\n\nFlashback #9.2: Dump & Go \u2013 The Profanity Delay\n\n\n\nFlashback #10: Thinking Outside the Black Box\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n< Previous Flashback\n\n\n\n\n\nNext Flashback >","author":{"name":"AAgnello","link":"https:\/\/www.eventideaudio.com\/blog\/author\/aagnello\/"},"date":"Mar 10, 2021","dateGMT":"2021-03-10 19:36:00","modifiedDate":"2024-03-06 12:18:36","modifiedDateGMT":"2024-03-06 17:18:36","commentCount":"0","commentStatus":"closed","categories":{"coma":"<a href=\"https:\/\/www.eventideaudio.com\/blog\/category\/legacy-products\/flashbacks\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Flashbacks<\/a>","space":"<a href=\"https:\/\/www.eventideaudio.com\/blog\/category\/legacy-products\/flashbacks\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Flashbacks<\/a>"},"taxonomies":{"post_tag":"<a href='https:\/\/www.eventideaudio.com\/blog\/tag\/50-years-of-gear\/' rel='post_tag'>50 years of gear<\/a><a href='https:\/\/www.eventideaudio.com\/blog\/tag\/50th-anniversary\/' rel='post_tag'>50th anniversary<\/a><a href='https:\/\/www.eventideaudio.com\/blog\/tag\/eventide-history\/' rel='post_tag'>eventide history<\/a><a href='https:\/\/www.eventideaudio.com\/blog\/tag\/flashback\/' rel='post_tag'>flashback<\/a><a href='https:\/\/www.eventideaudio.com\/blog\/tag\/omnipressor\/' rel='post_tag'>omnipressor<\/a><a href='https:\/\/www.eventideaudio.com\/blog\/tag\/richard-factor\/' rel='post_tag'>Richard Factor<\/a><a href='https:\/\/www.eventideaudio.com\/blog\/tag\/tony-agnello\/' rel='post_tag'>Tony Agnello<\/a>"},"readTime":{"min":6,"sec":34},"status":"publish"},{"id":95576,"link":"https:\/\/www.eventideaudio.com\/blog\/50th-flashback-4-1-the-h910-harmonizer\/","name":"50th-flashback-4-1-the-h910-harmonizer","thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.eventideaudio.com\/uploads\/2021\/04\/H910-4.1-Thumb.png","alt":""},"title":"Flashback #4.1: The H910 Harmonizer\u00ae","excerpt":"Learn the history of pitch change and the products that would eventually become the Harmonizer.","content":"The Hall of Fame\n\n\n\nIn 2007, 42 years after its invention, Eventide was gobsmacked (assuming Eventide has a gob to smack) to enter the Hall of Fame hand-in-hand with the iconic Theremin.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThere\u2019s a lot of history to cover about the conception and development of the Harmonizer so let\u2019s first consider the underlying principle: the interesting phenomenon known as Pitch Change.\n\n\n\nThe Strange Case of Pitch Change\n\n\n\nWhile Pitch Change is naturally occurring, throughout history, humans would rarely have perceived the effect because the sound source must be traveling at a high enough rate of speed relative to the listener to cause a discernible change in pitch. Why had no one elucidated this effect in our long history? It\u2019s simple; few things moved fast enough! Sound travels at ~750 mph. To notice even a slight pitch change of 2% a sound source with 100% constant pitch would have to be approaching the listener at 15 mph. (Kids whirling objects around on a string were not the scientific observers for which one would have hoped.)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nIn 1842, Christian Doppler suggested that \u201cthe observed frequency of a wave depends on the relative speed of the source and the observer.\u201d Doppler was thinking about star light, not sound, but a wave is a wave is a wave.\n\n\n\nJust three years later, Buys Ballot, a Dutchman, demonstrated the Doppler Effect on sound waves by having six tubas play the same sustained note while perched on the front of a speeding locomotive.\n\n\n\nThe Doppler Effect explained the sound of train whistles speeding past\u2014possibly the first time humans became aware of pitch change (although some lucky human might have noticed the interesting effect on the sound of an arrow whistling past their ear).\n\n\n\nRecording Sound: Edison, Berliner, Et Al.\n\n\n\nWith the first audio recordings by Edison in 1877, a mechanically spinning wax cylinder, pitch change was inevitable. In fact, the challenge became playing a recording at precisely the same rate that it was recorded to prevent pitch change. One can imagine both the fun and consternation that resulted when hearing \u201cWow\u201d and \u201cFlutter\u201d for the first time. In the 1890s, Emile Berliner invented the gramophone (phonograph), the vinyl disc was born, and pitch change became commonplace.\n\n\n\nTape-based Pitch Change: Les Paul, The Chipmunks & The Beatles\n\n\n\nWhile pitch change is a natural consequence of recording audio, the use of pitch change as an effect wasn\u2019t exploited until the introduction of magnetic tape. Early adopters of tape machines, starting famously with Les Paul, began making dramatic use of pitch change to stand out. Les Paul was first to use his tape recorders to punch in, double track, Varispeed (change pitch) and reverse audio.\n\n\n\nNovelty Records\n\n\n\nA few brave and wonderfully silly souls took the possibilities of tape-based pitch change to the extreme and had major radio hits! Case in point: The Chipmunks Christmas holiday smash, \u201cChristmas Don\u2019t be Late.\" The song was sung at half-speed, then played back and re-recorded at double speed. Those of a certain age will also remember \u201cThey\u2019re Coming to Take Me Away, Ha Haaa\u201d by Napoleon XIV. The strange effect of pitch change was at the heart of most novelty hits of the 60s!\n\n\n\n\"In My Life\"\n\n\n\nTape-based pitch change also found utilitarian uses. A classic example is the \u2018piano\u2019 solo on The Beatles\u2019 \u201cIn My Life\u201d. Here\u2019s an excerpt from a Gear Club podcast with Prof. Alex Case describing George Martin\u2019s crafty and effective \u2018trick.\u2019\n\n\n\nGear Club Podcast \u00b7 \"In My Life\" Excerpt from Ep. 48 with Alex Case\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAs Prof. Case describes, George Martin wasn\u2019t able to nail the piano solo at full tempo\u2014too many notes\u2014and so he set the tape machine to record at half-speed and played the part at half-speed one octave down on the keyboard. When he mixed the song, he played the piano solo back at double speed. Worked great, but the timbre made it sound a bit like a harpsichord.\n\n\n\nThe Curious Case of the Eltro Tempo Regulator\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nA short-lived intermediate between changing tape speed to change pitch and tempo, until then ineluctably entwined, was the Eltro Tempo Regulator. It was an appliqu\u00e9 for a standard tape deck around which one threaded the tape path. It had a quad tape head with four magnetic pickups 90 degrees apart. And the head rotated!\n\n\n\nBy selecting the rotation speed and the tape speed, it could increase pitch by keeping the tape speed constant. It could increase tempo by speeding up the tape and rotating the head in a direction contrary to the tape motion, thus keeping the pitch the same. Since head rotation and tape motion could be controlled separately, pitch and tempo could be adjusted separately. This device achieved little commercial success due to its high cost, mechanical complexity, and because it required constant maintenance. This opened the door for digital pitch change, which initially, was only expensive.\n\n\n\nDigital Pitch Change\n\n\n\nEnter digital audio. As with most forms of audio capture, digital audio is \u2018recorded\u2019 at a fixed rate and stored as 1s and 0s in memory chips. The audio can be \u2018played back\u2019 (read from memory) at a different rate to achieve pitch change. Unlike mechanical recording, digital recording and playback can happen in \u2018real time\u2019 which Richard Factor demonstrated in the years prior to founding Eventide by building this prototype:\n\n\n\n\n\nNote the display does not use LEDs, which didn\u2019t quite exist at the time.\n\n\n\n\n\nThese are NIXIE Tubes!\n\n\n\n\n\nLater, in 1974, Eventide introduced a pitch change option for its memory-based DDL1745M and, for the first time, recording engineers could accomplish pitch change without resorting to tape. The stage was set for the development of an effects device that would forever change the world of music production: the Eventide Harmonizer\u00ae.\n\n\n\nThe \u201cHarmonizer\u201d Idea\n\n\n\nMy original concept for the Harmonizer was for a two-octave keyboard instrument, not a rack mount effects box. An instrument that could be played by a vocalist to instantly generate harmonies. Unlike a traditional keyboard, with each key sounding a specific note, it would act as a controller allowing musicians to select pitch ratios in semitone steps and actually \u2018play\u2019 the pitch changer as one would a musical instrument. Pressing center \u201cC\u201d would output unison, unchanged pitch. Pressing high \u201cC\u201d would shift the input up one octave and pressing low \u201cC\u201d would shift one octave down. Vocalists could perform live and instantly add major 3rds, minor 3rds, 5ths, etc. Create harmonies live, keep the backup singers\u2019 checks! \n\n\n\nThe Harmonizer Prototype\n\n\n\nThe prototype circuitry was \u2018packaged\u2019 in a discarded military chassis with a two-octave keyboard bolted to its top. There were controls for level, pitch, delay, and significantly, feedback\u2014a combo that yielded endless musical possibilities.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEventide displayed the beastly prototype at a New York Audio Engineering Society convention in 1975. As we were about to bring it to the show floor, we realized it needed a name and so I taped on a white sheet of paper to the top and scrawled \u201cHARMONIZER by Eventide\u201d.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDespite (or due to?) its appearance, it definitely made an impression on attendees! In fact, Jon Anderson of Yes got wind of it and off it flew to Jon\u2019s studio in Beaconsfield near London. The world\u2019s first Harmonizer effects were used on Jon\u2019s solo album Olias of Sunhillow released in June 1976. \n\n\n\n\n\n\nhttps:\/\/www.youtube.com\/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_n4AGKf_XD3Cl6COYoXw3OWiCj5B6XTwhs\n\n\n\n\n\n\nWe recently spoke with Jon during COVID and here\u2019s his recollection of that first ever use of this new device.\n\n\n\n\n\n\nhttps:\/\/youtu.be\/5AY8D9M6tuI\n\n\n\n\n\n\nH910 Deep Dive\n\n\n\nFor more stories about the Harmonizer and other legendary Eventide products, check out this Quarantide episode (featuring Jon Anderson, Clara Ponty, Jean-Luc Ponty, Jean de Reydellet, and Martha Mooke) and this Gear Club episode featuring Alex Case.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nStay tuned for part 2 of this retrospective - The H910, The Product\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCheck out our previous flashbacks!\n\n\n\n\nFlashback #1: The Instant Phaser\n\n\n\nFlashback #2.1: The DDL 1745 Delay\n\n\n\nFlashback #2.2: The DDL 1745A Delay\n\n\n\nFlashback #2.3: The DDL 1745M Delay\n\n\n\nFlashback #3: The Omnipressor\u00ae\n\n\n\nFlashback #4.1: The H910 Harmonizer\u00ae\n\n\n\nFlashback #4.2: H910 Harmonizer\u00ae \u2014 The Product\n\n\n\nFlashback #4.3: H910 Harmonizer\u00ae \u2014 \u201cMinds Blown\u201d\n\n\n\nFlashback #5: FL 201 Instant Flanger\n\n\n\nFlashback #6: HM80 \u2014 The Baby Harmonizer\u00ae\n\n\n\nFlashback #7.1: The H949 Harmonizer\u00ae\n\n\n\nFlashback #7.2: H949 Harmonizer\u00ae \u2014 The New One\n\n\n\nFlashback #7.3: H949 Harmonizer\u00ae \u2014 Bending, Stretching, and Twisting Time\n\n\n\nFlashback #8: H969 Harmonizer\u00ae \n\n\n\nFlashback #9.1: Broadcast\n\n\n\nFlashback #9.2: Dump & Go \u2013 The Profanity Delay\n\n\n\nFlashback #10: Thinking Outside the Black Box\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n< Previous Flashback\n\n\n\n\n\nNext Flashback >","author":{"name":"AAgnello","link":"https:\/\/www.eventideaudio.com\/blog\/author\/aagnello\/"},"date":"Apr 20, 2021","dateGMT":"2021-04-20 19:02:00","modifiedDate":"2023-06-08 14:50:41","modifiedDateGMT":"2023-06-08 18:50:41","commentCount":"0","commentStatus":"closed","categories":{"coma":"<a href=\"https:\/\/www.eventideaudio.com\/blog\/category\/legacy-products\/flashbacks\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Flashbacks<\/a>","space":"<a href=\"https:\/\/www.eventideaudio.com\/blog\/category\/legacy-products\/flashbacks\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Flashbacks<\/a>"},"taxonomies":{"post_tag":"<a href='https:\/\/www.eventideaudio.com\/blog\/tag\/flashback\/' rel='post_tag'>flashback<\/a>"},"readTime":{"min":6,"sec":54},"status":"publish"}]