OR-0006
Halvyn
United Kingdom · 1983 – c. 2008
Ser. 1200/D004
1998 · effect
Issued as VST3 · AU
Restored 2024 from 1998 hardware.
Halvyn A-1200 — Auto Retune
Halvyn A-1200 · automatic retune · restored from unit no. 1200/D004 · Halvyn, United Kingdom, 1998
The restorer's note
The robotic pitch-snap of the late 90s, with the retune time all the way at zero — the staircase, not the correction. Serial D004: a very early unit of Halvyn's last great idea, restored with the effect that outlived the intent.
Acquisition
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The plate
The controls
The controls.
- Key C as issued
- Sets the root note that Scale measures from: C, C#, D, D#, E, F, F#, G, G#, A, A#, or B.
- Scale Major as issued
- Chooses the scale of allowed target notes: Chromatic, Major, Minor, Dorian, Mixolydian, or Pentatonic.
- Speed 0–500 ms · 0 ms as issued
- Sets how quickly the pitch is corrected to the target note, in milliseconds; at 0 ms the snap is instant — the robotic staircase.
- Amount 0–100 % · 100 % as issued
- Sets how strongly the pitch is pulled toward the target note, in percent.
- Formant -12.0–12.0 st · 0.0 st as issued
- Shifts the formants independently of the correction, in semitones; at 0 st the formants simply follow the corrected pitch.
- Input -24.00–24.00 dB · 0.00 dB as issued
- Sets the level going in, in decibels, before the signal reaches the restored circuit.
- Output -24.00–24.00 dB · 0.00 dB as issued
- Sets the level coming out, in decibels, after the restored circuit and the Mix blend.
- Mix 0–100 % · 100 % as issued
- Blends the restored circuit against the untouched signal at equal power, from the untouched signal alone at 0 % to the circuit alone at 100 %.
- Bypass Off as issued
- Takes the restored circuit out of the path and passes the untouched signal, delayed to match the circuit so nothing shifts in time.
A stored setup is a program. PROGRAM hands the DATA wheel to the list, and each program applies as the wheel reaches it; line one shows its number and name, line two ARCHIVE, a pack's name or USER. STORE asks STORE? PRESS AGAIN; a second press opens the name, which starts as USER NN, and line one reads NAME, THEN STORE. The wheel changes the letter, PROGRAM moves on, and STORE stores it; the computer keyboard may type the name instead, Return storing and Escape cancelling. Holding STORE on a user program asks CLEAR? PRESS AGAIN.
Listening
Listening
Demonstration recordings, prepared at the bench.
The staircase, plainly
The restorer's note, read plainly, then held to A Minor at Speed 0 from five seconds — every slide in the voice snapped to the nearest scale note, the staircase in full.
0:00 / 0:30
Speed, opened
Speed opens from 0 to 500 milliseconds — the staircase softens into a slow glide toward each note — then Amount falls to 0 and the correction lets go of the voice.
0:00 / 0:30
Pulled to the wrong key
The reading, held at Speed 0 and remapped as it goes: Scale to Major at eight seconds, the whole grid to A# Minor at fourteen, home to A Minor at nineteen. Formant then tilts the voice −8 and +8 semitones.
0:00 / 0:30