Eventide, the undisputed masters of digital pitch‑shifting, have launched a limited‑edition version of their industry‑standard DSP4000. Is it just window dressing, or does it have anything genuinely new to offer? Hugh Robjohns finds out.
Eventide's 4000 series of digital signal processors redefined the state of the art when they were launched a few years ago, following in the footsteps of the fantastically popular H3000 range, and continuing to build on the foundations laid by the original classic H910 and H949 pitch‑shifters. Although the company started with dedicated digital pitch‑shifting machines, they quickly branched out to take full advantage of the signal‑processing capabilities of their products. The current DSP4000 series incorporates enormously powerful DSP, capable of providing the full range of high‑quality combinations of time‑domain effects (including some excellent reverbs), together with dynamics processing and elaborate equalisation.
While the 4000‑series machines could never be described as budget models, professional users have justified their cost on the grounds of superb quality and range of effects — especially the wonderful pitch‑shifting algorithms — the machines' upgradability, and their phenomenal power and flexibility, which allows an imaginative user to create brand new effects and signal processing all of their own.
The DSP4500
The 4000 series has, until now, included three models: the studio‑standard DSP4000, the DSP4000B broadcast‑oriented variant, and the GTR4000 version optimised for guitar performance. All models can be enhanced and upgraded with three different sampler cards (providing 22, 87 or 174 seconds of sampling time), and various libraries of factory and specialist preset effects exist on PCMCIA cards. Thus any machine can be expanded to match the specifications of any (or all) others, if required.
The new version of the Ultra‑Harmoniser has been badged as the DSP4500 and incorporates the 87‑second internal sampler card as standard, plus over 1000 preset effects. This mind‑blowing collection includes every effect already available across all the other 4000‑series machines, plus 225 brand new effects from guru Scott Gilfix under the title 'Alchemy 101'. (These are also available on a PCMCIA card for existing DSP4000 users.)
Nuts & Bolts
There can be no doubt about the build quality of the DSP4500, which goes a long way towards justifying its relatively high cost. Taking a peek inside the machine reveals that three‑quarters of the box's floor area is occupied by a very densely packed SMD motherboard carrying three smaller daughterboards (the largest being the sampling card). The remaining floor area is occupied by another PCB, just as packed with surfacemount components as the others, and this appears to handle the analogue and digital I/Os. The internal mains power supply is a conventional linear design, switchable for 110 or 220V operation, with an externally accessible fuse holder, and the conventional IEC mains socket. Considering the high standard of engineering of this product, I'm surprised that there's no chassis earthing post, although there are plenty of screws available which could clamp a tag if required.
The back panel of the review model is equipped with a good selection of socketry. Analogue I/Os are catered for with a pair of combi‑jack input connectors accepting either 2‑pole unbalanced A‑type jacks (at ‑10dBV) or balanced XLRs (at +4dBu), and a pair of balanced +4dBu XLRs for the outputs. Next to these, another pair of XLRs provide AES‑EBU digital I/Os and, nearby, a pair of phono connectors accommodate S/PDIF‑format digital in and out.
The usual trio of MIDI sockets provided for remote control and data dumps are supplemented by three quarter‑inch jack sockets. These provide dedicated connections for a footpedal (a volume‑type device for proportional control of effects parameters), a double footswitch, and two contacts of an internal relay which can be controlled by the DSP4500's effects algorithms to trigger external devices. The final socket was blanked off on the review machine, but can optionally be fitted with a 9‑pin 'D'‑Sub connector configured on manufacture as either an RS232 PC‑compatible serial data port, or an RS422 Sony 9‑pin‑compatible remote‑control port. One application for the serial port option is to enable effects algorithms designed and created with the supplied Algorithm Construction Kit (for PC) to be downloaded into the machine.
The socketry on the machine is already pretty comprehensive, but there are also an intriguing number of blanking plates dotted about. For example, the analogue I/O section could apparently accommodate two more pairs of connectors, potentially catering for four inputs and outputs, and the AES‑EBU section also appears to be expandable for 4‑channel operation. I could find no mention of such an upgrade in the documentation, but it would seem that the mechanical hardware, at least, has been built with that capability in mind. Another clue to a future enhancement is a blanked XLR input socket labelled 'Aux' (but described in the manual only as 'unused').
The front panel of the 4500 is painted an attractive deep blue, but is otherwise identical to the other 4000‑series machines. On the right‑hand side are a numeric keypad (complete with up/down cursors, enter and clear keys), a PCMCIA card slot, the mains power switch and two user‑programmable function buttons. Just to the left of the keypad is a large, weighted knob for adjusting any selected parameter.
The LCD is surrounded by more buttons, the four directly below it being soft keys to perform a variety of functions, according to the on‑screen legends. A column of buttons to the right includes keys to set the unit up in the preferred manner, recall and configure programs, edit parameters and confirm selections. There is also a pair of left/right cursor keys here to help navigate around the LCD screen pages. To the left of the display is a programmable Bypass button which is software‑selectable for a hard relay or soft electronic bypass, or to provide input muting only — the last being very useful if the machine is used for live performance. The remaining button here provides access to a menu for setting input and output levels, and a pair of input‑level 10‑step LED bargraph meters completes the tour.
In terms of audio processing, digital I/Os are capable of supporting full 24‑bit operation and the internal workings are performed to 56 bits, guaranteeing very high quality and accuracy of effects. Analogue I/Os employ 20‑bit converters, giving the system better than 96dB dynamic range and 0.005 percent THD (Total Harmonic Distortion). The DSP4500 can be configured for all the common sampling rates — 32, 44.056, 44.1 and 48kHz.
Once the machine is up and running it's remarkably intuitive to drive — at least at the level of locating and tailoring a preset effect — although its vast capability means that inevitably, sooner or later, it's going to be necessary to spend some time browsing the thick ring‑bound manual.
Navigating The 4500
Essentially, there are just five simple main screen menu pages to master, and most users would probably only make regular use of two or three of these. The first is the Levels page (selected by pressing the Levels button under the meters), which determines input and output levels, the wet/dry mix, the bypass functions, and the meter characteristics. Once these are set to your 'house standard' it's unlikely you'd need to return to this page very often. Similarly, the Setup page would see little use, as it is concerned with configuring display contrast and brightness, selection of analogue or digital I/Os, MIDI functions, and self‑testing functions.
The three main operational menus are the Program, Parameter and Patch pages, each accessed by a dedicated button alongside the display. The Program page selects, loads and saves the effects algorithms, which are grouped into various banks (programs may either be stored internally or on plug‑in PCMCIA memory cards). The Parameter menu changes radically between the different selected effects, of course, displaying all the relevant controls — often over several pages for the more complex algorithms.
Virtually every operation on the machine involves the LCD display, so it's just as well that it is clear and easy to understand. There are a number of nice touches, too, such as being able to gang a number of controls together: when adjusting the input levels, for example, toggling through the parameter selection first gives both channels together, then left only and right only. The procedure for entering text (such as when naming a new effect patch) is not quite as worthy of praise, since it involves a lot of tedious scrolling around with the wheel, but there's no easy solution to that one without adding a lot more buttons to the panel. In all fairness, it's not often that you need to enter text strings, and once you've got the hang of the way the wheel system works, it's reasonably quick and simple.
The DSP4500 has 99 internal program banks, each of which can store up to 128 preset effects, and the PCMCIA memory cards can store the same amount again. Unfortunately, there's no built‑in search system of any kind to help the user locate specific types of effect, which is a real shame when there are 1000 or more available. However, the manual provides comprehensive lists and descriptions of all the internal effects, and once you know where you're going, finding a specific program is very easy. The left/right cursor keys are used to allocate the data wheel to scroll through either the program banks or the preset effects within a bank, although a small frustration here is that the wheel has no proportional speed control — each complete revolution only increments or decrements the program banks by one, and preset effects by four, no matter how vigorously you spin the wheel. For those in a hurry, it's also possible to use the keypad to enter a bank and then preset number directly.
Once an effect has been found, a soft key allows it to be loaded and run, usually in under two seconds, and the display then changes automatically to show the Parameters menu page. All the programs I found time to try had comprehensive parameters which were all obvious to adjust and did exactly what was expected, with no surprises. The left/right cursor keys are used to select the desired function and either the wheel or keypad enters the new value, which becomes active immediately.
The Effects
The most crucial aspects of any multi‑effects processor are not how well it is built, or how cool it looks, but what it sounds like and how easy it is to use. I've already tried to give some idea of just how intuitive and friendly this machine is. Describing how it sounds is rather more of a challenge!
The DSP4500 comes programmed with 93 banks of programs, with between four and 44 effects in each, giving 1018 effects in all — and that's a lot to get to grips with! Although I couldn't find applications for them all during the time I h ad the unit, I found that the vast majority were quite useful. Of course, there are the inevitable few 'specials' which are only really of any use in entertaining the drummer while you get on with setting up the studio or console — 'Tribbles' is a particularly good example of this type. There are also a lot of very useful and practical tools such as an MS decoder, chromatic tuner, and metronome.
The undoubted stars are the pitch‑shifting algorithms, which are as smooth and glitch‑free as it's possible to get.
A number of banks contain effects created or tailored by industry legends such as Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Trey Gunn and others, and these are well suited to their styles of music and production techniques. I particularly liked the Satriani presets. The undoubted stars are the pitch‑shifting algorithms, of course, which are as smooth and glitch‑free as it's possible to get. During the review, a mono pitch‑shift algorithm was used to salvage a concert recording of a large‑scale amateur choir where the sopranos dropped almost a semitone during a short quiet section. Processing just the soloist spot mics and remixing with the orchestra rendered a rather unpleasant few minutes considerably more bearable, and I suspect that only the golden‑eared would ever recognise that a pitch‑shifter had been used. The quality of the Eventide algorithms is so far ahead of most of the competition that it really does have to be heard to be believed. Other very useful pitch‑shifting algorithms lurk in the Mixdown Suite: these are the 'Nemwhippers' — a selection of mono and stereo pitch‑shifters which can be set up with defined maximum and minimum points, allowing the data wheel to be whipped from one end to the other without the danger of overshooting. These are great for correcting fleeting out‑of‑tune vocals on the fly.
While they're not specifically intended to serve as reverb processors, the 4000‑series machines have been blessed with so much DSP power that the various reverb programs are remarkably good, although perhaps not quite matching the sheer technical brilliance of the pitch algorithms. A good range of simple and elaborate equalisers are offered, as are some very nice dynamics processors — some clean and accurate, and some slightly dirty and valve‑like. There are dozens upon dozens of guitar‑orientated effects, which went down very well with my guitarist friends — everything from subtle enhancement to down and dirty distortion and amp simulations. There was even something for me, with several very usable Leslie effects.
The Bottom Line
The DSP4500 is a very serious piece of kit for the very serious professional, at a very serious price. Built to last and unlikely to ever become obsolescent, this machine does it all — most of it superbly well and the rest stunningly well! In fact, I find it hard to fault in any way at all. It can be a bit complex to program, but that's an inherent side‑effect of so much processing power and flexibility, and at least it's logical and manageable with a little familiarity. The huge collection of effects offers enormous variety without too many overlaps, and all provide superb quality and controllability. This is a Ferrari of a signal processor — the kind of machine budding young engineers should have posters of on their walls. Ah well, it's nice to dream....
Eventide, Heal Thyself!
Powering the DSP4500 for the first time is a surprisingly tedious but virtuous task. The beast takes over 30 seconds to boot up, but during that time it goes through an exhaustive self‑test of system ROM, effects presets, and just about everything else it can think of! The DSP4500 is a very serious piece of technology, running on a Motorola 68000 main processor with Motorola 56000 DSPs and an awful lot of custom Eventide chips. With this much hardware there's potentially a lot to go wrong — hence the need for thorough self‑tests — but the system has been around long enough now that Eventide can be confident about its reliability, and it certainly seemed to be extremely robust during the month or so I had it for this review. The latest version 2.20 software performed without any obvious bugs, and I only ever had one on‑screen warning message of a system problem — and even that didn't seem to affect anything! The manual describes over 50 different error messages of varying severity (mostly warnings and information) which the machine is capable of displaying if it detects a problem during operation. However, only seven are catastrophic enough to require a reboot, and it's very unlikely that any programmed effects would suffer even then.
Eventide's Family Values
If you were to add up the cost of all the constituent elements of the DSP4500 — Studio DSP4000, sampler card, Alchemy 101 effects, broadcast and guitar effects libraries — you'd find the total rather more than the 4500's asking price. So perhaps it's not so surprising that this 'special offer' has been given a 'limited edition' tag, with a distinctive blue front panel, and the claim that it will only be available for around 12 months.
The cynical side of me can't help wondering whether the introduction of a limited‑edition DSP4000, with all these extras thrown in at giveaway prices, is an attempt to clear the warehouses of DSP4000 hardware before the launch of a genuinely new product. No‑one would confirm or deny my suspicions, but the fact remains that this new variant represents more processing capability than you can shake a reel of 2‑inch multitrack tape at, and provides a greater range of worthwhile and usable effects than any other machine currently on the market. Value for money is a very subjective thing, and I know only too well that you can do an awful lot with the five grand asking price. However, if you're able to contemplate spending this kind of money on a state‑of‑the‑art multi‑effects processor, the DSP4500, to my mind, does define the standard and is offered at a very attractive price — at least when compared with other Eventide models!
Patches & MIDI
Perhaps the most powerful aspect of the DSP4500 is the patch editor, where new effects can be configured using a very clever block‑diagram style of display and a simple question and answer approach to selecting and interconnecting all manner of processing modules. And the routing does not just apply to audio signal paths, but also to control and modulation signals, so extremely complex patches can be constructed. The range and complexity of the effects this machine is capable of is simply stunning — not just the conventional gamut of time‑delay effects, but also the full range of dynamics and equalisation, as well as test oscillators, tuning and pitch recognition, and almost anything else you can think of!
The MIDI spec of this machine is just as impressive; pretty much any and every aspect of the DSP4500 can be controlled via MIDI. In fact, one DSP4000‑series machine can completely control another via MIDI, if desired. Programs can be loaded and saved over MIDI for use with an external sequencer; programs can be changed; effects parameters can be adjusted in real time; events can be triggered; the bypass mode can be altered; and audio levels and mix ratios can be modified. One particularly handy feature I found was MIDI Capture mode, where the DSP4500 can be set up to assign a parameter to any changing MIDI command. All the user has to do is initiate the Capture mode and fiddle with, say, the mod wheel on a keyboard. The system will automatically detect the changing MIDI data values of the mod wheel and assign that control to the selected parameter — it's that simple!
Pros
- Eventide's superb pitch‑shifting technology.
- 1018 different effects, including Scott Gilfix's Alchemy 101 library.
- An 87‑second sampler card built‑in.
- Unbelievably powerful and flexible.
Cons
- Frustrating lack of proportional speed control on the data wheel.
- You really do have to read the manual if you want to get the best from this beast.
Summary
A state‑of‑the‑art multi‑effects processor incorporating Eventide's unsurpassed pitch‑shifting algorithms, along with the full gamut of reverbs, dynamics, equalisation and time‑delay effects, all at a lower cost than an upgraded Studio DSP4000. This is as good as digital signal processing gets, and there is little to compete in terms of quality, flexibility, or ability.