Electro-Harmonix's Intelligent Harmony Machine delivers a Neater and Smarter Harmonizer with Classic Pitchfork style Pitch-Shifting onboard too
I have something of a love-hate relationship with Harmonizers - which I typically have acquired largely for purposes of playing Iron Maiden style harmonized guitar leads - The Trooper in particular!
I have three sort of Harmonizers to-date - the Boss PS-6 Harmonist, Meris Hedra, and TC Electronic Quintessence - where I find each a touch fiddly for that function. For the Meris you need to rely on secondary Alt functions, and in all cases you really need to know your music theory! These sorts of pedals are perfect for ear-trained geniuses like Rick Beato - who can instantly figure out what key a song is in. For the rest of us it involves looking things up and experimenting. With some perseverance I was able to utilise the Harmonizer functions of both my pedals - but I did find it tricky - and the lack of onboard presets really diminished the utility of the pedals as each song will need a different tuning / key.
What I really need is an auto-sensing harmonizer - where you press and hold the footswitch while playing a 3-chord progression - and the then device automatically figures out and sets what key you are in! For now though - all these smart Harmonizers need to be set manually. So not really all that smart as far as I’m concerned - let’s have some AI please!
CONTROLS
Key Knob - C|D|E|F|G|A|B : select the key of the song you're in!
# Sharp Key Switch : Up for Sharp, Down for Natural
Min/Maj - Select whether Key is Minor or Major
Poly-Override Button - Switch from Intelligent Harmony mode to Polyphonic Pitch-Shifter Override Mode
Interval Rotary Selector - Select Harmony Intervals, and Pitch-Shift Intervals when in 'Poly Override' Mode - note that in my visual - the Harmony Intervals are on the left in Blue, and the Poly / Pitch-Shift intervals are on the right in Red
HARMONY : -6TH | -4TH | -3RD | 3RD | 4TH | 5TH | 6TH | 7TH | 3RD+5TH | 3RD+7TH | 5TH+8TH
POLY OVERRIDE : DOUBLE | -4TH | -3RD | 3RD | 4TH | 5TH |-2ND | 2ND | -8TH | 8TH | 5TH+8TH
Mix Knob - Set you Dry>Wet Blend
Volume Knob - Set output level
Moment Button - Engage for Momentary action of footswitch
What's really smart about this pedal is that it is largely both a Pitchfork and Harmonizer in the same device. Where you will likely use the Pitch-Shifting elements more often - so this pedal has incredible utility as far as that goes. It really needs presets though as for Harmonizing each song will need a different tuning typically.
The Meris Hedra is my mainstay on slot #2 - while I don't use it that much for Harmonizing - rather more as a Pitch-Shifted Delay and Octaver. And the TC Electronic Quintessence hasn't been on the board for a while. I'm one of the few who is not particularly enamoured with the MASH footswitch - which really needs more sensitivity - it's very stiff really, and engages typically either tOo fast or too subtly - very trick to get that MASH action just right for me! The Boss PS-6 is in someways the easiest to handle for that function - but even then it's still not really an easy task as such!
In any case that section of my pedal-chain is incredibly congested now - particularly after the arrival of the Boss SY-200. Which means that if I want to get the BB-size Spaceman Gemini or Sputnik in on slot #5 - I need another smaller alternative to then occasionally swap out for the Hedra. So the EHX Intelligent Harmony Machine would really be perfect for those needs.
Pricing is $230 and no doubt this pedal will be arriving at dealers soon enough. This for sure goes in on my acquisitions list as it's a handy pedal to have - and as I mentioned pretty much gives you a Pitchfork at the same time - which is the more used / useful pedal for me!
Are any of you thinking of adding one of these - or do you have another smart alternative that you prefer?
Demo
