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. When it came time to design the next-generation Harmonizer, we turned to engineer Jeff Sasmor to develop it.

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. Today we'll be looking at the Eventide H969 Harmonizer.

Infamous engineers interviewed about the H949: We reached out to a few of the H949’s devoted users for their take on what has made this box so special, and integral, to their processes for over four decades: The H949 has been a go-to device for engineers on classic songs and albums by the likes of Prince, Frank Zappa, the Ramones, and artists of today like Ty Segall. Even in live sound, a brave engineer could use it to perfect pitch on the spot, in front of a live audience! But beyond being an intelligent pitch-shifting tool, with options like Repeat, Delay, and Flange, artists and engineers could achieve huge, layered sounds that soared to harmonious-or cacophonous-new heights. With expanded options like Random delay mode and MicroPitch, the H949 set the standard for faithful, fine-tuned double-tracking emulation and pitch correction, which saved a lot of time in the studio when re-recording was not an option. In the first two parts of the H949 Harmonizer tale, you learned how the H949 built upon the legacy of the H910, offering de-glitched pitch-change for improved accuracy and a bevy of new features.

Eventide h910 harmonizer manual