A disclaimer on what I’m about to say: Eventide modulation is its own distinct own thing. I think that what this thread has chased so far is a unique sound, and it’s all over many records that I love. I am not in the business of commenting on another company’s product aside from having respect for the aspects of product design (both technical and aesthetic) that I think they get correct, and perhaps being a little jealous of their market share. I’m not interested in showing users how to precisely clone sounds offered by our competitors, I view that as being in bad taste and disrespectful of the care that other engineers (who I’m sure work just as hard as I do) have taken to craft their specific sounds – even if said engineers might not extend the same courtesy to me.
At present it is not possible to precisely match the units mentioned in this thread… there’s enough going on under the hood in that class of effects that we will never implement. I might get a bit of heat for saying this, but it is my philosophy that if you want THAT sound I recommend you purchase a product from the company that designs and sells it, while noting that the H90 will comfortably allow stereo effects as an insert to be added in the signal chain as needed – you can keep both slots of the H90 open for two effects, while adding a specific flavor of sound you seek as a third.
What I can do is assist in getting H90 users in the ballpark of Eventide’s take on similar (but distinct) sounds. It’s uniquely Eventide, and there’s an absurd amount of depth still to be explored in your H90. Who knows, you might find you enjoy what is already in H90 more than anything else you’ve heard, but you won’t know until you explore what’s in there. I encourage such exploration, as – to quote one of my favorite bands – the point of a journey is not to arrive.
I suggest poking around the pitch shifting algorithms first. Notably, MicroPitch. Set the two detunes to equal but opposite values (I find the range of ±1 to ±5 cents pleasurable). 5-30ms of delay, with different delay values for both. 100% modulation depth, mod rate to taste. Feedback to taste (I suggest starting in the 40-70 range). Set the filter to be a low cut – I like about 15 to 20 (I can’t recall off the top of my head which +/- direction is high cut and which is low cut and I don’t have my H90 in front of me, set the knob to extremes and listen to figure out which is which). Lower detune values will allow for a higher treble-most pitch in the swirl/swoop of tones happening. Using the envelope as a modulator can help add extra shimmer as notes die out, or emphasize the attack of notes – depending on if positive or negative envelope is used.
Another option is H910/H949. Similar philosophy – use Micro mode, set detune values to anywhere from 0.990-1.010 (and don’t be afraid to have both be positive or negative), 5-30ms of delay to taste. I like this sound with feedback off, though your mileage may vary – experiment and see if you like feedback on. In particular, the different shift algorithms are VERY useful for tuning this algorithm to taste – I like H949-2 and H949-1 the most, but your ears may tell you differently – there’s no “right” answer for which shift algorithm to use!
Tricerachorus also has a lot of flexibility here outside of the classic three-phase chorus. Chorus and Chorale sound distinct and unique, and experiment with adding detune on top of the three chorus engines in the algorithm. I recommend starting with the CEO and CFO presets to begin, make note of the parameter ranges and try turning one knob at a time to understand how each parameter contributes to the overall swirl.
The Modfactor Chorus and Flanger algorithms are also very powerful. The key to both is understanding how Manual, Depth Mod, Speed Mod, and Mod Rate all interact with the deeper engine. Explore all types of Chorus and Flange – each sounds different. Back off on feedback for this algorithm to take on a subtler tone The H90 Manual has a few pointers, but they can only dance about architecture for so long until one sits down with the algorithms, plays, turns knobs, and experiments.
As always, with each of these algorithms the preset library has many options for starting flavors, and I encourage users to pay attention to how each knob is set in different presets to get a deeper understanding of how to squeeze the sounds one wants out of a given algorithm.
