Variphrase sampling - independent pitch, time and formant like VP 9000 or V Synth
Roland Variphrase technology is quite unique and was used by VP 9000 and V-Synth hardware samplers. It has come out of fashion with multisampling and larger memory, but the technology still has some advantages:
You can set the pitch, tempo and formant of a single sample independently across the keyboard range. That means the sample can sound more natural when transposed, and allows for some very cool effects. The sample needs to be encoded to allow such realtime manipulation. The step feature allows e.g. a vocal sample to be played word by word with every key press. very cool
There is some detailed information in the manual on page 130
https://static.roland.com/assets/media/pdf/VP-9000_OM.pdf
Formant Keyfollow(Depth: –200~+200)
This parameter allows you to
vary the formant as you play higher or lower notes
(with the Original Key setting as origin, where the
phrase’s character corresponds to the sampled tim-
bre). “0” is the usual setting. Negative values (–) mean
that the character becomes darker (more like a male
voice) as you play higher notes (lower notes will grad-
ually transform the character into something that
reminds you of a female voice).