Smartelectronix MadShifta [Donationware]

The SmartElectronix MadShifta is a free pitch shifting plug-in that was actually developed by SmartElectronix and Toby Bear Productions in tandem. The plug-in is available for both Mac and PC systems and in both VST and Audio Unit plug-in formats. You wouldn't be able to use this plug-in in Pro Tools unless you had a VST to RTAS wrapper. I don't remember much about installing the plug-in since it was years ago when I was getting my hands on every free plug-in I could find for my old Cubase SX system. However, it should be easy enough to locate a download for this and install it. Using the plug-in isn't hard, as the interface is pretty self explanatory. It gives you control over the pitch itself (in semitones), along with finer tuning knob as well. It then has mix and output levels, as well as built in delay and high pass filter with parameters for cutoff and resonance. I wouldn't know if they even made a manual for this plug-in...

SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE

Although I'm no longer running the SmartElectronix MadShifta, when I was it was in Cubase SX 2 primarily and later in SX 3. I was running it on a Hewlett Packard Pavilion dv8000 lap top computer consisting of a 3.0 Ghz processor and 2 GB of RAM. This system was adequate enough for me to run the plug-in comfortably and without hiccups, although I never needed to run more than one instance at a time.

OVERALL OPINION

For a free plug-in, I really can't complain at all about the SmartElectronix MadShifta. It does as advertised - it's a simple pitch shifting plug-in that also has some delay and a high pass filter. It isn't going to revolutionize anything at all, but it's pretty solid at what it does. The delay isn't great sounding, but if you use this plug-in for what it's for it can do simple jobs for you. It's definitely not a professional plug-in, but if you looking to mess around with a pitch shifting plug-in, this will do the job. It's free so you might as well try it for yourself if you're at all interested!

The installation is done by copying the program files directly in the VST directory, you can not get any easier, but it would have been anyway to specify in the "read me" because everyone is not necessarily very comfortable with this installation manual.
Everything works fine in Seven 64Bits and 32Bits Cubase 5.

SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE

I tried (and continue to seek) a simple effect "pitch shifter", this one tries somehow to maintain original note which gives a sound that I personally find very poor. Anyway, I'll look elsewhere ...

OVERALL OPINION

I just tested an hour, but at the same time there is no need either for several days to see if a "pitch shifter" is what we are looking for or not. I personally do not see the point of this app, but it says it has the advantage of being free so at least it did not cost me anything to test! And so thank you to the authors for their efforts anyway, even though for me I am far from being won.