Questions about effects (What are the names of?)

[SoundCrafter]

Ok, so I was listening to some music the other day, and I heard something in Daft Punk's 'One More Time' that I wanted to try and replicate. I'm referring to the vocal part of the song, where the singer's voice is broken into 'segments', and so when he's changing pitch, it's very...blocky. There are distinct steps. How can I replicate this effect?

Also, I don't know if anyone's heard CAG's Asian In A Microwave (In the downloads forum) but I wanted to know how to replicate the effect in the asian-style lead, where it sounds like the note is being retriggered, but there's a distinct sound to it. You may have to listen to it to understand.

I understand these are very vague terms, but can anyone help me with the name or replication of these effects?

[KrazyKatz]

Id suggest posting a small sample of the works so we can get an idea of what you're looking for.

[LPChip]

I think you mean a gate? (tremor)

If so, look up the command I (it effect for tremor with on and off time)

[MisterX]

Most likely, Daft Punk uses technology similar to Vokator:

http://www.native-instruments.com/index.php?id=vokator_us&ftu=7d7a6b1241&flash=8

This allows you to load a sample and control it using the MIDI keyboard to adjust the pitch or other quality of the sample.

To replicate this in MPT would be difficult, but not impossible.  When a tracker adjusts the pitch of a sample, it "speeds up" or "slows down" the sample, so just entering different notes for each part of the sample and using offsets wouldn't be sufficient.

My guess is that you would have to edit the vocal part in a sample editor first, breaking up the parts that you want to be different pitches, and using a pitch bend effect or plugin to alter each one.  You can then load each sample into the tracker and make an instrument out of it to control the vocals.

I suppose more detail would be needed, but that is the general idea, I think.

[Sam_Zen]

This also smells like the use of a harmonizer.

[SoundCrafter]

MisterX, I think you're pretty close.  Here's a sample of the effect.  
@Sam_zen: I haven't tried a harmonizer yet

[Sam_Zen]

A harmonizer is a device to control the pitch of a source in real time with some modulation-signal.

[SoundCrafter]

@Sam_zen: Is it solely hardware? Or are there software harmonizers available?

[Diamond]

The effect in the vocals of that song is called a vocoder.  There are a few free ones at KVR.  I haven't really played around with them, but I'm pretty sure that most of the really good vocoders are shareware.  The other effect you're looking for is probably a gate as LP said.  There are quite a few free gate effects at KVR too.

[Diamond]

Three of my favorite gate effects are:
DFX Skidder
http://www.kvraudio.com/get/661.html
GetaBlitch Jr.
http://www.kvraudio.com/get/2038.html
killerGATE+
I think the download link for this one is broken so if you can't get it just PM me and I'll send it to you.
http://www.kvraudio.com/get/1848.html
Or look at this list for some other possibilities:
http://www.kvraudio.com/get.php?mode=results&st=adv&soft=e&type%5B%5D=66&f=vst&fe=0&win=1&free=1&sf=0&receptor=&de=0&sort=1&rpp=100

[Sam_Zen]

2 SoundCrafter
I have worked with a hardware analog one. Haven't found any soft ones lately.
Some tools claim so, but, as usual, the term is now often sloppyly used, for other things.

2 Diamond
Maybe vocoder, but I doubt it.
Both devices have in common, that there are 2 inputs and one output. One input for the main
signal, the 'carrier', and one signal to control the change of that signal, the 'modulator'.
But there is a difference.
- With a harmonizer the modulator defines the change of pitch of the main signal.
- With a vocoder the sound of the modulator is transferred to the sound-characteristics of
the carrier, while it still can use its own pitch.
So with a vocoder you can sing a song and replace your voice by an organ-sound.
With a harmonizer you can sing a song all in the same note, while the modulator defines the
final note at the output.
BTW : You can find a simple freeware vocoder here at AnalogX

[anboi]

i think the effect in this song is an example of using autotune with extreme settings - when the tracking is turned right up on autotune (and probably some other vocal tuning software too) then it retunes the parts of a slide into discrete notes and makes the 'stepping' effect as it jumps from note to note keeping it in key. there is also a bit of other stuff going on in the production on top of that but i think the base effect is autotune - also widely known from that cher song 'believe' which famously uses it.
i'm not entirely sure of the dates but i think the autotune algorithm has been around in hardware since 1996 or so (i seem to remember seeing it on 'tomorrows world' way back) and has been available in software for a good 5 years. unfortunately its very expensive but used in a lot of pro studios for subtle tweaking of out-of-tune singers. it received a lot of press a few years ago for its ability to gently tweak poor singers performances into being perfectly in tune - perfect for singing super models/actors/tv presenters etc. who are not necessarily that good at singing.

[speed-goddamn-focus]

a decent free auto-tuner is GSnap

[SoundCrafter]

I doubt it's a vocoder, unless it was live (realtime)
Anboi's theory is certainly interesting, and it makes sense to me (Sam's theory also works, but since I've never heard a harmonizer, I can't refute or accept it.)  

@SGF: Thx for pointing me towards GSnap. Sadly, I'm at school at the moment and can't use it. I'll try it this afternoon

@Diamond: Thx for the effects. See my comment to SGF

[speed-goddamn-focus]

I made a pattern showing how to (or at least one way) use Gsnap with MPT: autotune.itz. Note that you have to download and install Gsnap before you load it, or you will hear only a very out of tune voice