With the success of the H949 Harmonizer’s de-glitched pitch change in 1979, our focus largely shifted towards all of the other possibilities for digital audio with a particular emphasis on reverberation, leading to the development of the world’s first general-purpose digital audio processor, the SP2016. When it came time to design the next-generation Harmonizer, we turned to engineer Jeff Sasmor to develop it.
The H969 ProPitch Harmonizer, released in 1984—five years after the H949 and nearly a decade after the H910—offered the “cleanest, highest quality pitch change ever,” as stated by the user manual. A complex device with a simple-to-use interface, the manual even came complete with an innovative Experiments section; there were 5 “experiments” users could perform to help them navigate the H969’s new features, including extended flange, repeat, reverse, and a brand new Doppler effect. The H969 also improved the accuracy and range (a whole octave wider) of the pitch change, allowing users to set precise, musical intervals of pitch shifting with the push of a button:
Engineer Chuck Zwicky recalls Prince adding the H969 to his arsenal at Paisley Park as soon as it became available. Steve Vai was also an early adopter.
“I remember that Steve Vai came to Paisley Park to meet Prince and Steve was seated in the back corner of the room, right under a little 4 space insert in the wall which housed a Quantec QRS and our H969. At one point Steve mentioned that he also had one and that he liked it for its “musical” aspects (pre-set pitch interval keys) and I said that I liked its extreme range of pitch shift.”
In fact, the H969 was one of the first pro audio products to feature “PRESETS” by including a set of 5 buttons that users could program to specific values of delay, making it easier to save and recall favorite delay settings:
Read more and all about the H969 in Anthony Angello's blog:
https://www.eventideaudio.com/flashback ... armonizer/