Eventide Pitchfactor Review. The answer to the Bass Whammy substitute?

[Adamixoye]

I read through and found a little bit about the polyphony, someone demo-ed it but the link was dead.

I am now curious to know if there have been any firmware upgrades and if anybody found that the tracking was improved.

Originally Posted by Adamixoye

Zombie thread alert...

I was wondering, without going through all 15 pages, if anyone can comment on the polyphonic capabilities of the Pitchfactor. Would love to use for both bass and g***** and maybe even replace my Morpheus Droptune (which doesn't work on bass).

[jeffbonny]

Quite frankly I think the thing tracks very well with bass in the polyphonic modes. It's not perfect but clean, crisp technique goes a very long way. Compared to the analog pedals I've got some experience with like the Boss OC-2 and EHX Micro Synth the Pitch Factor is waaaaaay faster and more accurate. To get significantly better tracking I think you'd have to go to a peizo/synth module system.

[Bryan R. Tyler]

You can't expect analog octavers to be a comparable item though- they're not designed for polyphonic tracking at all. The Pitchfactor is not particularly good with polyphonic tracking on certain intervals- I was the one who posted the polyphonic sound sample (it still works, btw). The Axe-FX rack units are significantly better with polyphonic tracking at any interval, but it's a big step up in price. The POG2 and other EHX octavers are a fair bit better polyphonically as well, but they don't offer all the interesting options the Pitchfactor has.

[jeffbonny]

Originally Posted by Bryan R. Tyler

You can't expect analog octavers to be a comparable item though- they're not designed for polyphonic tracking at all. The Pitchfactor is not particularly good with polyphonic tracking on certain intervals- I was the one who posted the polyphonic sound sample (it still works, btw). The Axe-FX rack units are significantly better with polyphonic tracking at any interval, but it's a big step up in price. The POG2 and other EHX octavers are a fair bit better polyphonically as well, but they don't offer all the interesting options the Pitchfactor has.

You've summed it up well. The reason I made the unfair comparison to those analog pedals is that the Pitch Factor has pretty much replaced both of what those were doing for me.

I guess I made friends pretty quickly with the Pitch Factor and in real music making situations probably haven't asked it to do many things it doesn't want to. For the wide variety of sounds it's capable of compared to a POG2 I can slow down to accommodate its imperfections if I need to. To be honest though I haven't had to do that anytime it really mattered. Note that I'm drawing a distinct line between using it to achieve a specific musical goal and just messing around with it to see what it will and won't do.

It's good to read what other people's experience with it is but I'd highly recommend a thorough test drive before deciding. It's a lot of money to spend to be disappointed if it won't do what you're expecting but it's a real lot lot of bang for the buck if it does.

[Adamixoye]

It timed out for me yesterday at one point but it worked when I tried again. I definitely heard the issues, what mode were you using?

Originally Posted by Bryan R. Tyler

You can't expect analog octavers to be a comparable item though- they're not designed for polyphonic tracking at all. The Pitchfactor is not particularly good with polyphonic tracking on certain intervals- I was the one who posted the polyphonic sound sample (it still works, btw). The Axe-FX rack units are significantly better with polyphonic tracking at any interval, but it's a big step up in price. The POG2 and other EHX octavers are a fair bit better polyphonically as well, but they don't offer all the interesting options the Pitchfactor has.

[Bryan R. Tyler]

I don't remember (it was years ago now), but it was one of the two that Eventide suggested for the best polyphonic tracking. It would have been with whatever settings I found optimal for the best tracking as I wanted to show Eventide that even at it's best, it needed a lot of work in the tracking department. They didn't care so much

One idea I had was an adjustable initial delay after the note input but before the pitched note kicked in. I've owned some older Boss gear that had this and adding a millisecond or two for gave the unit enough time to recognize the note better and give a more accurate reproduction, but they didn't want to implement it.

[Adamixoye]

Okay, I landed one of these bad boys. I am a combo bass/g***** player (I have a longer history with, and am better at, bass, but I do both). I love this thing, despite a few imperfections.

I have two questions that I'd like people to chime in on:

(1) The manual says to put it AFTER other effects. This seems counterintuitive to everything I know about pitch shifting effects---like with bass synths, they should always be first, after compression if anything.

(2) Can anyone give recommendations on good but cheap options for the expression pedal and external switch? I really want to get everything I can out of this. I'm aware of the this1smyne switch---it's probably at the top of my list. The question I have about it is, would it be compatible with a GT-10B? If I can get dual-use out of it, then I would do that.

[DeltaPhoenix]

I use a digitech fs-3x for the footswitch and I use a Moog EP2 expression pedal.

I run the PF 2nd to last in my chain, before delay.
The arpegiator and harmodulator sound great with effects (synthy ones especially). Pitchshifting sounds fine with effects too.

[fasto]

would it be worth selling the blue/original Digitech Bass Whammy for a Pitchfactor?

[Adamixoye]

So glad I posted in this thread. I happened to be at Guitar Center and FS-3X's were on clearance...