DigiTech HarmonyMan

DigiTech’s HarmonyMan is designed to automatically generate live three-part guitar harmony over lead/solo playing by analyzing and remembering guitar chord progressions from before the solo. According to Digitech, the HarmonyMan is the world’s first guitar pedal that can produce multi-part guitar harmonies on guitar solos by analyzing the chords users were playing before the solo. We’re told that players can perform favorite songs as they know them, and then hit the harmony footswitch at the start of a solo to render multi-part guitar harmonies. The HarmonyMan employs the same patented musIQ™ technology as the DigiTech Vocalist® family of products. This technology is designed to create multi-part harmony by analyzing guitar chords. Apparently, there is no tedious programming or knowledge of complicated music theory needed.

The HarmonyMan’s feature set includes:

• Intelligent Pitch Shifting, based on a new signal processing technology.
  
• Unique Key Display, showing the key that the HarmonyMan is currently using for harmonization. When musIQ is enabled, the display will update dynamically in response to the playing. A musically intelligent “Circle of Fifths” layout puts musically related keys (sharing the most notes) beside each other.
  
• Independently Selectable Voicings for each harmony, with a wide variety of options, including two intelligent shifting modes, unison/detune, octave up/down, straight chromatic shifts from –12 to +12 semitones, as well as 2 octaves down.
  
• Strum Key, allowing players to set the key of a song by strumming chords (for songs that start with a solo).
  
• musIQ Sidechain Input/Thru, which lets a second guitar be the chord recognition source while the Clean Input Guitar signal is shifted to produce harmonies
  
• Voice Memory, allowing players to pre-configure and store up to four different harmony voicings and step through them with the memory advance footswitch.
  
• Pre-Harmony Distortion Loop, which lets players place a distortion stompbox before the harmony effect without affecting chord recognition of the Clean Input signal.
  
• Built-in Guitar Tuner
  
• Mix Control, programmable control of the mix between the lead and harmony signals.
  
• 1/4" guitar input with distortion send and return, 1/4" guitar optional Sidechain input and pass-through and guitar ground lift
  
• Balanced Stereo 1/4" outputs
  
• Rugged roadworthy all-metal chassis
  
• Power supply included

The HarmonyMan Intelligent Pitch Shifter will be available May 2008 for an MSRP of $449.95.

For more information, visit their web site at www.digitech.com.