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Pitchfactor


burno70
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I'm thinking of getting one but would need to sell off a few of my other pedals first.

Before I offload my polytuner and OC2 can anyone who has one advise whether the tuner is any good. Also, am I likely to miss the mojo of the OC2 or can it get a similarish tone if used as a simple 1 down octaver?

ta.

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[quote name='Sibob' timestamp='1370874562' post='2106682']
Pantherairsoft swears by his Pitchfactor, loves it! :)
However, he often still uses it with an OC-2 and a tuner. I'm sure he'll be along soon to comment

Si
[/quote]

I know I've seen his - and other pedalboards with these pedals on. It would probably be a deal breaker for me if I had to keep them, as it's sooo expensive.

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Best pedal in the world? Really? Quite possibly... Yes!

Tuner is great, though not super quick to access on stage.

Octaves are HUGE. Serious bass - though you'll struggle to get the OC2 sound from anything but the OC2. Still a brilliant octave.
Great bass synth noises from the adjustable filters on the octave patch, Lovely reverbs, killer chorus, easily the most advanced harmoniser in pedal form, best whammy-type pedal about and the list goes on and on. It's not a 'multi-effect' as such... But it is really.

Don't expect to buy one and get the most out of it in a few weeks though. It's taken me 18 months to get it to replace half my board and I'm about 50% of the way through its hidden quirks. It's an investment... But I think it's worth more than its price tag!

Edited by pantherairsoft
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Thanks Shep. I think the thing I like about the OC2 is that it has a fat, synthy tone to it. If I can get something big, albeit not the same, from the Pitchfactor then that would be fine.

The not super quick tuner is a little problematic though. I regularly tune up and down during a set so I need something decent. Might have to be patient and save a little longer before I take the plunge.

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There is so much to explain with the pedal that its hard to know where to start.

There are 2 modes to use it in... One is as it was a single stomp box... It has one effect active and the 3 foot switches apply to that effect. To go to another effect you turn the knob to change setting. Each of the settings (Octave, Harmonizer, Whammy etc) have a default setting which you can set up (so one patch for each type of effect).

The other mode is a bank mode where you can have upto 99 banks, each bank has 2 effects. One foot switch per effect and one to scroll to the next bank. This is what I use to perform live with. I currently use 10 presets, in 5 banks.

To access the tuner you HAVE to be in the 1st mode. So I would need to swap modes (hold one footswitch for 2 seconds) then turn on the tuner (hold down 2 footswitches for 2 seconds), then undo it all.

I just use a polytune mini!

The octave is one of the best I've used. The fact the 2nd sub octave tracks so well is crazy. I have to say though that using the 2nd sub octave is not 'musical' on the bass... It's like the DOD Meatbox... It will clip your amp and gut you! :) The octave itself has 2 filters, with resonance and a blendable fuzz too. Very versatile. With the filter off, a little resonance and some depth tweaking there is certainly some OC2 mojo, BUT its much bigger, lots more LOW meaning on this setting it is boomier and dominates the mix more than the OC2 does.

Using the filters gives you all sorts of classic synth bass tones. It's worth mentioning the expression can be assigned to any parameter of every patch you set up as well... So you can do soooooo much. On one of my octave settings I have it blending the fuzz from wet to dry and on another inside it to sweep the cutoff of the filter for synth sweeps.

If you have any reason to be near Nottingham soon you are more than welcome to come and spend an afternoon tweaking it in the studio.

Shep

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The thing with the Pitchfactor is you HAVE to get the bits to go with it. Expression pedal and auxiliary switches are a MUST. The Digitech aux switch box does the job and is proper cheap on places like Amazon and Thomann, I've got mine set to cycle up & down banks and the third switch is dedicated to activating the tuner. One stomp to tune, another to get back to effects.

You can even set the tuner so it either mutes your signal or allows it to pass through. This is the best pitch related pedal ever and it rendered my tuner obsolete!

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Maybe I need a few pointers then Shep.

I bought it for the arp function primarily - its the only pedal on the market which offers full arp but bafflingly, Eventide didn't provide access to full programmability! So if I want to replicate an arp setting off a song and run my Deep Impact through it, I'm screwed. The other annoying thing is that the pedal is being marketed squarely at guitarists if the patches are any indication. So this takes more fiddling about than should be necessary (for example - pitchshifting intervals).

I took it up with Eventide a year ago, who said they'll discuss it at their next roundtable but I've heard nothing back, despite chasing. Left me feeling a little disappointed to be honest.

The ironic thing is that this pedal's arpeggiator CAN be programmed via MIDI cc messages according to one of the users on the Eventide forum.

So it appears this pedal has so much potential for bass that THE DESIGNERS haven't realised yet. That's just slack in my book. It doesn't do the job I bought it for so I'm in two minds about whether to sell. Will make my mind up once I get my hands on it again.

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Kiwi.

The Arpeggiator, IMO is the weakest part of the pedal, and my least used part of the pedal, while it has some flexibility it is not 'fully programmable'. I have used it live on a couple of tunes and fed it some fuzz/filter synth combo's with no problem. I've done no MIDI cc work with the pedal at all though so can't comment either way, I just don't use MIDI like that. It seems pretty damn bang on for MIDI clock though, more accurate than most.

Aside the arpeggiator i don't use the synth section too much. It's great, but oddly labelled... It's basically an organ simulator with some nice effects. The sounds i consider to be 'synth' are accessible in the Octave section.

As for the input/guitar thing. I'm not so sure. Maybe in original conception, but since you can change the input to 'bass' &/or 'synth bass' in the menu (and I have noticed a difference to the response in doing so) I'd argue that it's been built with a range of applications in mind. Plus, one of the DSP engineers at Eventide (Russ) is a bass player, so it was designed with bass players in mind to some level.

All in all I'm very happy. Some sections require very fine tuning of the wet/dry mix to get them to cut through right, but all in all, I think it's stunning.

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[quote name='Dapper Bandit' timestamp='1371130233' post='2110188']
The thing with the Pitchfactor is you HAVE to get the bits to go with it. Expression pedal and auxiliary switches are a MUST. The Digitech aux switch box does the job and is proper cheap on places like Amazon and Thomann, I've got mine set to cycle up & down banks and the third switch is dedicated to activating the tuner. One stomp to tune, another to get back to effects.

You can even set the tuner so it either mutes your signal or allows it to pass through. This is the best pitch related pedal ever and it rendered my tuner obsolete!
[/quote]

I haven't kept up with this post - thanks for the reply. Questions though, So do you use this pedal live and use the Pitchfactor tuner - any issues? I could get the pedal sooner if I sell my tuner :)

Also, the auxiliary switch. I didn't realise that I'd need one. Looking at it though, I would have assumed you could use the Pitchfactor itself to move up and down the banks - or am I missing the point?

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[quote name='burno70' timestamp='1371409030' post='2113539']
I haven't kept up with this post - thanks for the reply. Questions though, So do you use this pedal live and use the Pitchfactor tuner - any issues? I could get the pedal sooner if I sell my tuner :)

Also, the auxiliary switch. I didn't realise that I'd need one. Looking at it though, I would have assumed you could use the Pitchfactor itself to move up and down the banks - or am I missing the point?
[/quote]

I don't use an Aux switch. It will allow you to access extra features that normally require additional presses etc (like getting to the tuner on one press and scrolling up & down in bank mode - without it you scroll up only, but as I only use 4 or 5 banks thats not an issue). It's not essential though!

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[quote name='pantherairsoft' timestamp='1371420822' post='2113817']
I don't use an Aux switch. It will allow you to access extra features that normally require additional presses etc (like getting to the tuner on one press and scrolling up & down in bank mode - without it you scroll up only, but as I only use 4 or 5 banks thats not an issue). It's not essential though!
[/quote]

Ace - thanks for the clarification!

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[quote name='pantherairsoft' timestamp='1371378915' post='2113061']
Kiwi.

The Arpeggiator, IMO is the weakest part of the pedal, and my least used part of the pedal, while it has some flexibility it is not 'fully programmable'. I have used it live on a couple of tunes and fed it some fuzz/filter synth combo's with no problem. I've done no MIDI cc work with the pedal at all though so can't comment either way, I just don't use MIDI like that. It seems pretty damn bang on for MIDI clock though, more accurate than most.

Aside the arpeggiator i don't use the synth section too much. It's great, but oddly labelled... It's basically an organ simulator with some nice effects. The sounds i consider to be 'synth' are accessible in the Octave section.

As for the input/guitar thing. I'm not so sure. Maybe in original conception, but since you can change the input to 'bass' &/or 'synth bass' in the menu (and I have noticed a difference to the response in doing so) I'd argue that it's been built with a range of applications in mind. Plus, one of the DSP engineers at Eventide (Russ) is a bass player, so it was designed with bass players in mind to some level.
[/quote]

I'd suggest Russ needs more influence! The point I made to Eventide about this pedal was that is has so much potential as a stand-alone synth bass pedal for bassists.

The synthbass patches are a little weedy sounding compared to the Deep Impact but it tracks just as well if not better and it has more waveforms available. I like the octaver too, it also tracks really well and the chorus patches are very clear. As a (former) gigging player I don't need to be "creatively inspired" by shimmery stuff, harmonising and psychedelic warping. If they cut all that out it would make more room for bass synth and arpeggiator functionality.

I believe improving how the waveforms sound would make this pedal a Deep Impact beater by itself - add to that full arpeggiator programmability and I'm convinced would redefine the standards for synthbass pedals. As it stands maybe they're trying to please everyone Shep. But I've made my points to them already so it's their choice over whether to realise the potential of the technology specifically for bassists.

All it might need is a software update!

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[quote name='burno70' timestamp='1371409030' post='2113539']
I haven't kept up with this post - thanks for the reply. Questions though, So do you use this pedal live and use the Pitchfactor tuner - any issues? I could get the pedal sooner if I sell my tuner :)

Also, the auxiliary switch. I didn't realise that I'd need one. Looking at it though, I would have assumed you could use the Pitchfactor itself to move up and down the banks - or am I missing the point?
[/quote]

I use the pitchfactor live with all my additional gubbins and I haven't had a single issue. The tuner is slightly quicker than my Boss TU-2 and it only works in chromatic mode which is my personal preference so it was a win-win for me!

You certainly can use the pitchfactor on it's own, I did that when I initially got it but the expression pedal and auxiliary switches have really opened the pedal up for me personally.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Here's a quick one Shep, can I use a behringer fcb1010 to control the pitchfactor with midi, BUT ALSO control a strymon timeline using the same fcb1010 with midi thru?

...and assign one fcb1010 expression pedal to each effect pedal?

That would be good!

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I'm not a HUGE midi user, and don own that particular unit, but if you are usin the midi through then I would think that you would be sending the same signal and message to both unit.

I guess you 'could' (in theory). Assign some switches/pedal to send a CC that one pedal uses and the other ignores, and then the same for another set, but the chances of the 2 effects not sharing commands is unlikely.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

Resurrecting this thread, seriously considering getting one of these to replace my WH1.

I mainly use the -/+ 1 octave, 1 octave up and 5th/6th harmony settings on the whammy. I understand the PF will do this, along with a potential second harmony! This correct?

I have heard that the PF has a bit of latency however, and that it doesn't track amazingly well on fast runs...Can anyone corroborate?

Al

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[quote name='bakerster135' timestamp='1377861641' post='2192865']
Resurrecting this thread, seriously considering getting one of these to replace my WH1.

I mainly use the -/+ 1 octave, 1 octave up and 5th/6th harmony settings on the whammy. I understand the PF will do this, along with a potential second harmony! This correct?

I have heard that the PF has a bit of latency however, and that it doesn't track amazingly well on fast runs...Can anyone corroborate?

Al
[/quote]

Correct, do that stuff plus the 2nd Harmony on the PitchFlex setting. It has the same latency I found with the Whammy, tiny milisecond stuff that become non-noticeable after a day of use. It's so minor I honestly don't see why people have an issue with it. The tracing is not true polyphonic, so it tracks as well as any monophonic octaver does, though it will handle perfect 4th and 5th's during pitch shifting - you need to have a clean technique and not catch the open strings though.

If you want true polyphonic stuff then the EHX Micro Pog/Pog/Hog is the beast for you. Personally I have NEVER had any tracking issues with the Eventide.

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  • 4 months later...

OK I'm in to this as well - true bit of new year GAS for one of these - I'm into getting one but have so many extra outgoings this month that I can't contemplate purchasing for a few weeks at least - although I just had a tax rebate!

That aside I've also got a KMI Softstep and have a Korg EP2 expression pedal that works with that but I've been reading around the web that that pedal won't work with this - though I'm not keen to shell out another £100 for another expression pedal - I can probably exchange the one I have - but I will invest in a new one if there's one someone can recommend- so fire away...

Thanks guys

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