Akai HV10 DecaBuddy Processor

Akai HV10 DecaBuddy Processor
The HV10 allows you to add multi-part harmonies to your vocals. By adding 9 harmony parts to the original vocal, up to 10-voice harmonies can be played: 5 parts (original + 4 transposed Harmonies) x 2 (Dual function). Harmonies can be selected using any one of the Preset Scales, User Scales or MIDI. When MIDI Scale is selected, you can control the notes in the harmony in real-time from an external MIDI keyboard from your MIDI Sequencer. As such, it's ideal for performers who want a big vocal sound live or in the studio.

In addition to generating harmonies, the Formant function changes female voice to male and vice versa. To create a natural feel, each voice can have random delay imposed. Furthermore, the HV10 can be used for pitch correction.

Features

Up to 10 voice harmonies can be created.
100 programs can be memorized (50 banks x 2 programs).
Various modes are provided to cater for different applications.
The DUAL function allows 'doubling' and chorus effects on each of the harmonies and the original.
Random delay recreates the natural timing discrepancies you would expect to hear from ten singers.
Formant control changes the gender of each harmony.
The XLR inputs and outputs offer professional connection live or in the studio.
The pitch correct function can be used to 'quantize' the pitch of each harmony and/or the original vocal in real-time.
Various modes are provided that can be used depending on the application:

Style mode
Style mode allows you to set a harmony scale (voicing) for each voice individually and there are 16 preset styles and nine user-defined styles to choose from.

Chord mode
Chord mode is similar to the Style mode, but here you can freely edit all voices, and you can have more complex Voicing options. This makes Chord mode more suitable for complex harmonies than Style mode.

Mdoal mode
Modal mode is the first MIDI-controlled harmony mode and will generate an appropriate chord based on the major scale.

Flexichord mode
Flexichord is another intelligent MIDI-controlled harmonizing method which is very easy to use. It can recognize 3-part and 4-part harmonies played in arbitrary inversion on the keyboard and generate an appropriate chord with three selectable voicings. This mode is most useful for keyboardists, as they can play the chords as they usually would.

Mono Chn. Mode
This and the remaining MIDI-controlled modes can be used to play exactly the notes that are played on the MIDI keyboard or sequencer. Mono Chn. mode is most useful with pre-recorded MIDI sequences as in this mode each voice receives Note On/Off messages on a separate MIDI channel.

Wait All mode
This mode is most useful to play a fixed-part harmony accompaniment. The algorithm waits until the number of pressed keys is equal to the number of active voices (i.e. voices that are not turned off), and then assigns the pitches to the voices in lowest-first order.

Priority mode
This mode differs from Wait All in that you can play as many voices as you like and the voices are assigned in a selectable priority order. This ensures that if a single key is played, it will be always assigned to the same (e.g., bass) voice, the second always to the second, etc.

Key Parameters
Formant: The character of each harmony part can be changed using this parameter. Male voices can be transformed to female voices and vice versa. This can be set individually for each part.
Random Delay: The delay parameter allows you to introduce random delays for each harmony part to create a more natural 'ensemble' effect where none of the singers will actually sing exactly in time.
Pitch Correct: The pitch correct function allows you to 'quantise' not only the harmony parts for accurate pitch but you can also use the pitch correct feature on the original vocal part thus allowing real-time pitch correction
Dual: Adds a 'doubling' effect for each part to thicken the choral backing sound.

Looking round the back at the rear panel, two footswitch inputs allow you change programs and banks using any standard footswitch. Another footswitch input allows you to switch the harmony effect on and off remotely.

The XLR input and outputs allows the HV10 to be used in-line with a mic input on your mixer or PA.

However, the line level inputs and outputs also allow the HV10 to be used as an insert effect.

Audio Samples