Harmony Rotator: Your Harmonization Assistant
Musicians are always seeking ways to enrich their compositions, especially when it comes to harmony. Creating multi-layered harmonies can be a complex and time-consuming process, requiring precise programming of MIDI parts for each voice. But what if there was a tool that could automate this process, allowing you to focus on creativity?
The Harmony Rotator plugin from ToneCarver is an innovative solution designed specifically for musicians and producers who want to easily add rich harmonic layers to their MIDI tracks. It’s not just a chord generator; it’s a flexible tool that allows you to create unique vocalizations and experiment with different harmonic structures based on a single incoming MIDI note.
How it Works
The essence of Harmony Rotator lies in transforming a single incoming MIDI note into a set of up to four output notes that form a harmony. The plugin analyzes the incoming signal and, using preset parameters, generates up to three additional harmonic voices in addition to the original. This approach gives incredible flexibility in creating complex textures, whether dense string arrangements, rich synth pads, or experimental soundscapes.
Four Harmony Voices
At the heart of Harmony Rotator are its four independent “voices”, each playing a unique role in forming the final harmony:
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Main Voice: This voice plays the original incoming MIDI note. You can use it as the foundation for all other harmonies.
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Parallel Voice: Generates a harmony at a fixed distance (offset) from the main voice. This is ideal for creating simple parallel harmonies often found in various musical genres.
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Rotator Voice 1 and Rotator Voice 2: These voices generate harmonies based on a set of predefined offsets that can change, adding variability and nonlinearity compared to a simple parallel voice. This allows you to create interesting, unexpected harmonic movements.
Key Features and Flexibility
Harmony Rotator offers a range of important features that make it a powerful tool in your arsenal:
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Individual Voice Enable/Disable: Each of the four voices can be independently activated or deactivated. This allows you to use only the voices you need for your specific harmonic idea, from a simple parallel movement to a full four-voice harmony.
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Snap-to-Scale: One of the most useful features is the ability to snap the generated notes to the selected musical scale. This ensures that all generated harmonic notes remain “in tune”, avoiding dissonances (unless you are aiming for them!). This feature greatly simplifies the creation of musically correct harmonic lines.
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Output MIDI Channel Selection: Each voice can be assigned its own output MIDI channel. This makes it possible to route different harmonic voices to different instruments or tracks in your DAW, opening up space for complex mixing and arrangement.
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Optional Delay: Each voice also has the ability to add a small delay before the note is played. This feature can be used to create desynchronization effects, to imitate natural human performance (where notes are not always played perfectly simultaneously) or to create interesting rhythmic patterns based on harmony.
Who is this plugin for?
Harmony Rotator is ideal for:
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Composers writing for string, wind, or synthesizer ensembles.
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Electronic music producers looking for new ways to create dense pad sounds and textures.
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Musicians experimenting with avant-garde or ambient genres, where non-traditional harmonies play a key role.
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Anyone who wants to quickly and easily add harmonic depth to their melodies without manually programming each note.
Conclusion
ToneCarver Harmony Rotator is a small but incredibly powerful MIDI plugin that simplifies the process of creating complex harmonic structures. With its flexible voice settings, scale-snapping feature, and the ability to independently control each harmonic layer, you’ll be able to quickly realize your musical ideas and add a professional sound to your tracks. If you work with MIDI and want to expand your harmonic capabilities, Harmony Rotator deserves your attention.
The plugin is available in VST format for Windows operating systems (32-bit and 64-bit).
