Do you Octave the Distortion or Distort the octaves?

[Thunderscreech]

I'm curious now. Those of you with octave dividing devices (say that 5 times fast), how do you do it?

Me, I have the microPOG with the XXL behind it, but I'm curious as to what would happen with the XXL in front.

But enough about me...

[RAM]

For my setup I use the distortion first. There's a general rule (which by far is no requirement) that preamp (style) boxes go first in the signal chain. Since distortion is essentially a preamp function, that's what I put first.

Each could produce interesting sounds, depending on your preference, and many would tell you to experiment to see what you like best. Honestly, for me, since I use my octave divider so infrequently, I probably wouldn't notice if you switched it without telling me...but I just don't spend enough time playing around with my pedals.

[warwick.hoy]

I have my octave 2nd past my tuner. I think it tracks a little better having it early in the chain but I could be wrong.

[ricknote]

I put my octave in front of everything.
It's purely an issue of tracking accuracy for me.
Distortions create nice overtones.
These overtones can confuse the Octave pedal slightly and make the tracking a little wiggly.
There are no rules though, so try it.
No harm, no foul.

Rick

[bigchiefbc]

I think it really depends on whether the octaver is polyphonic or monophonic. Because of all the rich harmonics in a distorted signal, a monophonic octaver may tend to get confused and warble/glitch a bit. However, a polyphonic octaver like the POG/HOG shouldn't have any trouble, and sounded pretty cool the one time I tried it (with a HOG).

[fightthepower]

I find that analog octavers can track gated fuzz's well, but generally they do not do well with your average fuzz. My HOG (as well as the micropog) can track anything, but I still prefer to put distortion after the octave; you can get octavers to track some dirt, but I prefer the sound of it afterwards in general.

For instance, the OC-2 tracks the Freqbox with a clean waveform, and the BrownDog with the gate on tight almost as well as a clean signal, though as you turn the gate control down/off tracking gets increasingly glitchy. Sound-wise there isn't much difference, just a little more texture. The xOG's on the other hand tracks every nuance of movement and tone, from your tone knob to filters and distortion, but it generally turns it into a comparatively lifeless digital version of what you run into it, so I only use this configuration on occasion, most often when making noise Im sure (starts with prunes&custard into hog).

[dannybuoy]

Fuzz (Supercollider) -> Octave (OC-2) for me

Because:

- The fuzz sounds better without having a buffer in front. Having the buffer in front increases noise and makes the pedal less responsive to controlling oscillation via the volume knob on the bass.

- Since the fuzz obliterates anything in it's path, it's hard to hear a well defined octave when you have octave before fuzz. It just makes everything a bit deeper and mushier.

- Since the OC-2 (like all analog octavers) blends in a clean synthesized sub bass tone, pitting the octave after the fuzz produces a clean octave underneath the filthy midrange / treble. It sounds much cleaner and punchier this way, as if it's 2 instruments layered together.

- The tracking is still very good all the way down to a low F on the E string (for me at least, I think I had a really good example of an OC-2 with better than average tracking!).

[groooooove]

Originally Posted by dannybuoy

Fuzz (Supercollider) -> Octave (OC-2) for me

Because:

- The fuzz sounds better without having a buffer in front. Having the buffer in front increases noise and makes the pedal less responsive to controlling oscillation via the volume knob on the bass.

- Since the fuzz obliterates anything in it's path, it's hard to hear a well defined octave when you have octave before fuzz. It just makes everything a bit deeper and mushier.

- Since the OC-2 (like all analog octavers) blends in a clean synthesized sub bass tone, pitting the octave after the fuzz produces a clean octave underneath the filthy midrange / treble. It sounds much cleaner and punchier this way, as if it's 2 instruments layered together.

- The tracking is still very good all the way down to a low F on the E string (for me at least, I think I had a really good example of an OC-2 with better than average tracking!).

thats interesting.. the sub-octave will still be clean with dirt before it. i never thought about this.

i always put my oc-2 first. it just seemed to make sence, the octave adds a note, so its as if its the signal from the instrument, so it goes before the effects that go on the instrument signal..

maybe i'll be suprised if i experiment.

[JimmyM]

Octave first, though I really don't think it matters except for tracking. I don't notice much difference swapping them around.

[duba]

Both:
ODB-3 -> Pitch Factor -> Green Big Muff

The sounds are so different and both are cool in its own way.
But most of the time I use a distortion before the octave because it sounds much clearer

[Swift713]

My micro pog is first in my chain. Mostly because I didn't like the way it sounded after the Q-tron and because the octave up sounds much better with effects on it.

[Swimming Bird]

Both for me as well. MXR Blue Box >> BYOC A-Twin >> PitchFactor* >> DODFX92 Bass Grunge

It's all about the shape of the attack envelope going into the octaver. I can get something fat and synthy with my BB, but it lacks some serious punch. On the other hand going A-Twin (with compressor and ringer on) I can tight lines get that almost-a-gate/almost-a-ring-mod sound.

Either before or after can tighten it up or fuzz it out depending on how you set your fuzz. When I use the grunge for a little distortion + some top boost after, the octaver gets super funky, versus a more BMP setting which outputs pure doom.

*Should note that for octaver stuff on the PF I'm using the whammy function (-1 oct/uni, full wet) and the harmodulator for a chorus + octave down (1/2 wet)

[Chris V.]

I found that any pitch shifting pedals should go before distortion, because the tracking system didn't work very well at all with the distorted tones.

[john turner]

generally, the cleaner the signal is that you feed the octaving unit, the better it's going to track the notes for conversion.

that being said, the glitchy mess that sometimes happens when a really distorted signal is passed through an octave unit can be really cool, depending on the application.

[zipflint]

I usually run the octave'd signal into the distortion/fuzz. That said, I'll enthusiastically second the notion of running the octave last. You get some neato randomness while the octaver tries to track.

[Mudfuzz]

Both.

[NickD]

Another one here for both methods.

Woolly Mammoth clone > EHX Octave Multiplexer > Qtron > Brassmaster clone

[Deluge Of Sound]

Octave-> Distortion.

[groooooove]

Originally Posted by john turner

generally, the cleaner the signal is that you feed the octaving unit, the better it's going to track the notes for conversion.

that being said, the glitchy mess that sometimes happens when a really distorted signal is passed through an octave unit can be really cool, depending on the application.

nobodys even mentioning that- everyone here seems to be saying it tracks better or just sounds better in genneral, with dirt before it.

i need to test this asap..

[fightthepower]

Originally Posted by groooooove

nobodys even mentioning that- everyone here seems to be saying it tracks better or just sounds better in genneral, with dirt before it.

i need to test this asap..

I haven't heard anyone say that; some people like the sound of dirt first though I'd say less than half for sure, but I don't think anyone is implying that octavers track dirty signals better. Some digital octavers, specifically the xOG variants, will track just about anything; Most analog octavers do not track dirty signals as well as clean ones, though certain dirty signals work better than others, ie gated fuzz's.