What do 'tracking' means?

[BrandonBass]

I see the term used pretty freqeuntly, so what does it mean

[Diddii]

you've proboly seen this used when TBers talk about Octave pedals, what tracking means is that when you play a note is how well the pedal will track that note.

Digital octave pedals are often better at tracking but some people like that "digital" sound and want some muddyness to their sound.

Tracking may also be used when talking about delay and that is how well the pedal will "clone" your note and play it back for you.

I hope this helps

[BrandonBass]

ah, i get it thanks.

so, by poor 'tracking' they can mean a delayed note sounding crappy?

[T.A.P Bass]

That is correct, Brandon

[TheMutt]

Essentially, most tracking issues come in the form of high latency - relatively long times between the note you have played, and the note that the pedal plays, which can throw all sense of your timing out the window

or they are glitches - The note that you are trying to play has many overtones in addition to the root. The pedal may try to track these overtones if your technique is sloppy, or if the note is simply too low for the pedal to track, in the case of analog octave pedals. This will result in glitchy notes being thrown out by the pedal which may have little to do with the note that you originally played, jump octaves, or just result in noise. This can, however, be used to great effect in certain genres of music.

[fokof]

Tracking; The ability of the processor to "understand" what note is played and what dynamic is played

Latency: The time taken by the processor to create the sound

[NateS]

Originally Posted by TheMutt

or they are glitches - The note that you are trying to play has many overtones in addition to the root. The pedal may try to track these overtones if your technique is sloppy, or if the note is simply too low for the pedal to track, in the case of analog octave pedals. This will result in glitchy notes being thrown out by the pedal which may have little to do with the note that you originally played, jump octaves, or just result in noise. This can, however, be used to great effect in certain genres of music.

i want....tracking glitches for dayyss..

it's important to remember that it isn't only technique that affects octave pedals. you hinted on it, but it bears to state again - lower notes have much more powerful harmonics than the fundamental, so the octaver doubles or divides all of those powerful harmonics, which then interferes with the clean sound coming out and causes all sorts of interesting sounds.

at least, that's my understanding of how to describe what happens. correct me if i'm wrong...

[BrandonBass]

ok thanks guys. got it now

[BrandonBass]

also, is there a case of 'good pedals but with poor tracking'?

examples?

[cheapbasslovin]

The boss SYBs are known for poor tracking and the OC-2s biggest complaint from most is how difficult it is to get it to track. Few complain about the tone of the OC-2, though.