Octav8r VST: Activate Your Imagination!

The Octav8r VST effect plugin is a 7-node pitch-shifter that generates 6 differently pitched stereo versions of the audio input added to a ‘dry’ non-shifted signal to generate a richly layered sound. Each node has its own volume envelope and variable state filter plus send controls to vibrato, chorus, delay and reverb effects. The envelopes can be triggered by midi, audio gate or looped in sync with the host tempo.

The primary idea of Octav8r is to create multiple pitch-shifted layers of the incoming audio. With some twiddling you can get creative with panning to generate separation around the stereo field, use envelopes to bring each node in and out at different times and use chorus, delay and reverb to make each node sit differently in the mix. You can use the tempo-sync envelope trigger to create rhythmic gating or pulsing and the envelope toggles to make only some nodes modulated whilst others stay constant. Most controls have midi CC and midi learn support, so with some automation or midi knob twiddling, you can make the output really move around.

Features:

• 6 pitch-shifting nodes, with octave shifting (-3 to +3) and semitone shifting (-12 to +12, to 0.001 semitones)
• All nodes have independent volume, pan, ADSR envelope, variable state filter, vibrato, chorus, delay and reverb controls
• Node 0 is the ‘dry’ audio at incoming pitch, which also has pan, ADSR, chorus, delay and reverb
• Envelopes can be triggered by midi note, audio gate, a tempo-sync loop or bypassed
• Envelope contours can be changed and set to restart or pick-up at retrigger
• Mix level can be adjusted between dry and pitch-shifted nodes
• Each node can be fine tuned for pitch shift method and buffer size
• Each node, envelope and effect can be switched off to save CPU
• Midi CC support and midi learn for most controls
• 38 presets
• Multi-out version for hosts that can support this feature

Download demo VST - This demo version of the plugin is to allow you to fully evaluate Octav8r before purchasing. It is fully functioning except you will get 1 second of silence every 10 seconds and a nag screen on start up.

Audio Demos - In the audio demos, you will hear several examples of what Octav8r can do to different source materials. In each case you will hear the dry followed by the wet signal path, so you can compare the before and after.

Octav8r audio demo 1 mp3 - Synth with some gated Ocav8ing
Octav8r audio demo 2 mp3 - Synth with a big sound
Octav8r audio demo 3 mp3 - Synthy strings made bigger
Octav8r audio demo 4 mp3 - Plucked sound with delayed shifting
Octav8r audio demo 5 mp3 - Fast gated synth
Octav8r audio demo 6 mp3 - Guitar with high pitched overtones
Octav8r audio demo 7 mp3 - Choir pad with panning shifting
Octav8r audio demo 8 mp3 - Fuzzy synth gets choir-like overtones
Octav8r audio demo 9 mp3 - Male choir with subtle width and air
Whiskey Priest song demo mp3 - subtle vocal processing
Bahgheera Vocal Demo mp3 - unsubtle vocal processing

Download pdf manual - All the features and controls of Octav8r are fully described in this 12 page manual. The manual is also included in both the demo version download and the full version download.

There is also a Support forum available at the FLipside - Please post any questions or requests for support on this forum and we can answer there. This way the answers will also be available for other users.

***Note for users with Multicore processors***
Octav8r was developed using SynthEdit software version 1.016.
There is a known bug with this version that affects some multicore processors, although it isn't widely documented. Some users with multicore processors and certain hosts have reported issues when trying to load multiple instances of the same SynthEdit plugin. This bug is not reproducable on all systems or hosts, and may not occur on your system. If you have a multicore processor you are strongly urged to fully test the demo version of Octav8r on your system before purchasing.
- This bug does NOT affect single core processors or single instances of a plugin.
- This bug only seems to apply in hosts with multi-core support.
It is intended that SynthEdit 1.1 will fix this bug, but there is no planned release date. There is no guarantee that Octav8r can be updated on release of SE 1.1, as the compatibility between the two versions is not certain.
If you do have issues with multiple instances, there is a potential workaround. By making several copies of Octav8r.dll (eg Octav8r_1.dll, Octav8r_2.dll, etc) in your VST directory, your host will see each one as a different plugin and be able load one instance of each.

Credits
Plugin produced by: de la Mancha. Please see their website for more great plugins!
Original idea, co-development and presets by Singing Crane.
Additional presets, beta testing and GUI inspiration from WhiskeyPriest and de la Mancha.
Special Thanks to the beta testers, especially brstma, for bug hunting and feature ideas.