TromboneChat

Back in the '70's a device was being used by Bill Chase and others so that when they played a note either an octave above or below also sounded at the same time. I think you might have been able to also set it up to play a third above or below.

Does anyone know what kind of device it was? The actual name of it?

TIA

I believe they called them "dividers". I'm sure they still exist. Basically reads the tone and modifies the frequencies by a fixed amount.

BGuttman wrote: ↑Tue Oct 03, 2023 1:52 pm I believe they called them "dividers". I'm sure they still exist. Basically reads the tone and modifies the frequencies by a fixed amount.

Danke!

These are used quite a lot in singing and with guitars, there are a bunch of pedals and similar that do this.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octave_effect

There are a whole bunch of octavers in the guitar pedal format, predictably called octave pedals. Even the cheap ones usually have octave down, 2 octaves down, and 1 octave up controls. They do work on brass, but guitar and bass octave pedals are designed for those signals and don't faithfully replicate an acoustic signal. If you just want the octave and don't care about how accurate it sounds, a guitar or bass octave pedal will be perfect.

If you want accurate-sounding octaves and other harmonies, you'll want a vocal harmonizer pedal. I use a TC Helicon Perform-VE, and that not only perfectly duplicates my sound into an additional octave or two, but it can do any harmony you want including manually playing the other parts with one hand on a MIDI keyboard while you play. (Obviously not possible on a slide trombone, but very possible with a flugabone as you can play that one handed.) It also has a suite of basic effects (delay, reverb, etc.), a looper, and more. I can't recommend it enough!

He used a Conn Multi-vider.

I use a guitar unit by Roland, the GT-10 in a R&B/Funk/Soul band in order to play 'octave belows like a Bari Sax', add extra chord tones, etc. etc.

We have Trpt, Tenor, and Bone. I've programmed the GT-10 to play chord tones for tunes like TOP's 'What is Hip', 'Funkafize', and loads of other tunes where some extra notes or doublings or even more chord tones would help fill out the sound. Add some 8va for the trumpet in some places.

The hardest part is learning to do the 'pedal dance' like a guitar player and figuring out the best way to organize the chord changes and patch change order you need for certain songs.

And, the GT-10 can do many other things that I haven't even explore yet, like 'scalar-tonal harmonizing' and all the guitar/amp effects. I'm just doing the basic pitch changes effects or adding some 8va's or 16vb's.

You can get these guitar units used these days. The thing I use came out about 15 years ago, but is still excellent. A lot of features I don't even need, but it's a sturdy unit.

Kingfan wrote: ↑Tue Oct 03, 2023 2:47 pm He used a Conn Multi-vider.

I think Frank Rosolino used the same unit on his last recording (posthumously titled “The Last Recording”).

About 8 years ago I used a clip on mic and a vocal harmonizer I'll have to think awhile on what brand/models I was using.
Go to around 2:16 in this video to hear what it sounded like.

Sorry I meant 4:16

The harmonizer was TC electronics.