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Hey guys, I'm trying to put together a formant eq rack in Live so I can automate between different vowel eq sound to get some more movement in my basses. I followed through some random youtube tutes but i'm not really getting a desired sound. I went looking for a formant table to see how to get a specific vowel sound and I came across this: http://mitpress.mit.edu/e-books/csound/ ... able3.html
... But i have NFI how to decipher this...

Is anyone able to explain how to take this info and use it in an eq?? Or am I completely missing the point and none of this is relevant for EQing...?

Cheers

Parametric equalizers are multi-band variable equalizers which allow users to control the three primary parameters: amplitude, center frequency and bandwidth. The amplitude of each band can be controlled, and the center frequency can be shifted, and bandwidth ("Q") can be widened or narrowed.

F1, F2, F3, F4, F5, are the different Eq points needed to create the vowel sound.
Below each F# instance is the values you need to dial in on your eq to create that Eq point to create part of a vowel.
After dialing in each F# instance on the Eq for a category you should have created that vowel.

What does the bw (Hz) column mean?

Canonmusic wrote:What does the bw (Hz) column mean?

Bandwidth, it indicates how narrow or wide a cut or boost is

Efrafa11 wrote: F1, F2, F3, F4, F5, are the different Eq points needed to create the vowel sound.
Below each F# instance is the values you need to dial in on your eq to create that Eq point to create part of a vowel.
After dialing in each F# instance on the Eq for a category you should have created that vowel.

Thanks man. Makes a lot more sense now.

Different Q gives different results on different equalizers, but if you have a EQ that shows a graph over the frequencies (like most ones in DAWs, i know the Ableton one has one atleast) just put the bandwith so that you get the frequency specified in the table plus and minus the bandwith. For example, in the soprano a, the frequency on the second formant is 1150hz, and the bandwith 90hz, so you'd put the Q so that you get a cut from 1060hz to 1240hz, and setting the gain to -6db

This is real interesting and I had a look at it a few days ago but didn't really see how I could put this into my EQ, seeing as the main equaliser native to FL Studio only goes down to negative -18db (the amp), and even the third formant on soprano "a" has an amp of -32db. Is this just a shitty EQ? Or is it normal for EQ's to only go down to around -18(ish) db?? And if so how does that work with this table, which has formant amp values going all the way to -64db?

Anyway thanks guys for your explanations

Mindforce wrote:This is real interesting and I had a look at it a few days ago but didn't really see how I could put this into my EQ, seeing as the main equaliser native to FL Studio only goes down to negative -18db (the amp), and even the third formant on soprano "a" has an amp of -32db. Is this just a shitty EQ? Or is it normal for EQ's to only go down to around -18(ish) db?? And if so how does that work with this table, which has formant amp values going all the way to -64db?

Anyway thanks guys for your explanations

Well you can always boost the whole output from the EQ (the slider on the right which raises all the parameters) which would give you 36 dB of range but those settings are from the CSound manual which is non-real time and allows you to do things that you couldn't do in a real time DAW.

Okay I'm working on this right now, but I'm confused - once all these aspects are in place (i'm doing the bass "i"), what are we automating/messing with to create the movement? Is it a matter of setting all these vowels points and some how moving between them? If so you'd need like 25 points on an EQ... So i don't suspect that's the case. Any help appreciated; this is really cool

bodom418 wrote:Okay I'm working on this right now, but I'm confused - once all these aspects are in place (i'm doing the bass "i"), what are we automating/messing with to create the movement? Is it a matter of setting all these vowels points and some how moving between them? If so you'd need like 25 points on an EQ... So i don't suspect that's the case. Any help appreciated; this is really cool

If you're working in live...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7W-yU_i9fhE

No idea how to do this for other DAW's.

okayish example

ableton already has a bunch of different format presets on their eqs, same with a lot of other daws. no need 2 do all that research

I might upload this later, but I'll describe it anyway.

Its not technically a "formant" but what I did is chain the frequencies of a LP BP Notch BP Notch BP HP filter settings(in that order) in EQ8 to a single knob, then tuned them in map mode so it was hitting the frequencies I wanted. What you get is a harmonic filter(? don't know quite what it is) and it basically serves the same function except not necessarily with the sounds we attribute to vowels. I tried to tune mine to C3G4C6 as a start, but I'm pretty sure it doesn't actually scale correctly and maintain those ratios....but it doesn't matter. Its just supposed to be a unique sounding filter for my purposes.

hurlingdervish wrote:I might upload this later, but I'll describe it anyway.

Its not technically a "formant" but what I did is chain the frequencies of a LP BP Notch BP Notch BP HP filter settings(in that order) in EQ8 to a single knob, then tuned them in map mode so it was hitting the frequencies I wanted. What you get is a harmonic filter(? don't know quite what it is) and it basically serves the same function except not necessarily with the sounds we attribute to vowels. I tried to tune mine to C3G4C6 as a start, but I'm pretty sure it doesn't actually scale correctly and maintain those ratios....but it doesn't matter. Its just supposed to be a unique sounding filter for my purposes.

That sounds interesting, keen to hear an example. I've seen on some tutes where they automate a bandpass over the fundamental to make it stand out more than the rest of the harmonics. It gives the bass line some more added movement cause the eq isn't pushing the same frequency out when using different pitches.

I still don't understand how the bw (Hz) number correlates to the "q" in Ableton's eq eight. Anyone willing to explain?