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Anything else like the whammy?

N

Nyarlathotep

Inactive
Feb 5, 2006
8,987
10
43
West Coast of Canada
www.soundclick.com
#1
After looking at the "post your board" thread I realize that I have no pitch bending!

The unfortunate thing is that the whammy is so much more than just a pitch shifter, and it's a harmonizer as well, which I'm not sure will sound good running onto fuzz.

So is there anything that is good at pitch bending, and really does nothing else but pitch bend?

EDIT: I'm only looking for down-bending, as up bending is easily achieved through actual string bending ;) :D
 
#2
You don't have to use the harmonizer on the Whammy if you don't want to. You can use it as a straight shifter.

Down shifting doesn't really sound all exciting when you're playing with the other guys. All it does is increase the mud present. Unless you play everything an octave higher while down shifted. Up shifting a full octave is actually cool because it really stands out as a strange sounding guitar accompanying the bass.
 
#4
DanielTulip said:
After looking at the "post your board" thread I realize that I have no pitch bending!

The unfortunate thing is that the whammy is so much more than just a pitch shifter, and it's a harmonizer as well, which I'm not sure will sound good running onto fuzz.

So is there anything that is good at pitch bending, and really does nothing else but pitch bend?

EDIT: I'm only looking for down-bending, as up bending is easily achieved through actual string bending ;) :D
Click to expand...

I love the harmonizer on the whammy personally, but the pitch bending is the main glory of the effect

also, its kinda hard to bend a pitch up 2 octaves with your hand...

i agree with what the other guys said though
 
#6
When I bought my Whammy, I bought it for the pitch shifting. I thought it would be oh-so-awesome and was thinking all the ways I could emulate Tom Morello on my bass, etc. I didn't think much of the harmonizing functions though.

Well, all that's true about how cool the pitch shifting is. But the harmonizing functions turned out to be far more musically useful, in ways I'd never thought of before (even for noise stuff!).

So my advice is to not discount the Whammy just yet. I'm pretty sure you'll actually be rather happy with the harmonizing modes, even if you have to run it before the fuzz :)

-Dash
 
#9
I rarely used the whammy function on my Bass Whammy for active pitch shifting. Mainly it was for +2/-2 steps up or down to simulate fretless slides, -2 for "virtual dropped-D", -4 steps down for "virtual five string", and an octave down which at the time it was the epitome of tracking besides an Eventide. I also used the Harmonizer a great deal until my band gained a second guitarist and there was far less need to fill in the sonic gaps. However, as the technology has greatly increased I sold mine and use the Suboctave on my Mini Mo' and my POG for greatly increased quality octave effects. I can't say "I miss it" considering the price I got for it on the used market, but I certainly appreciate the abilities it gave me back in the day.

One thing I think it's overlooked for is it's Chorus effect - one of the better ones in it's time, as well as the ability to increase and decrease the depth with the pedal.
 
#11
Sir Edward V said:
the sweet thing about getting a whammy for me is that I have a pog, it would make for such sweet sound possibilities...
Click to expand...

Sweet indeed! I have this set up. I thought that the POG would be able to replace the Whammy, and although I do not care for the overall tone of the Whammy, for noise stuff it produces some unexpected results used in conjunction with the POG. Interesting enough to change my decision to sell it.
 
#12
Don't worry about pitch shifter >> fuzz, it sounds amazing. The Whammy looks/feels like overkill for a while, but once you get into it, you can't figure out how you played without it. I don't know about the Boss (haven't tried it), but I expect it to be good if not excellent (especially with an attached expression pedal).
 
#13
Just had a great thought! Ian Perge mentioned the chorus, and just thought that that's exactly what chorus is: pitch bending. It's just controlled by an occillator which generates a sine wave bassed on depth and rate. The pitch bend just follows the wave.

What about a chorus controlled by an exp pedal. Entirely replace the occillator, and have is bend the note down based on the exp position. There would be no "rate" (no need for it), and the depth is controlled (in real time) by the exp.

That would perfect for what I want. Just have a knob to controll the max depth, say from no detune to 2 octs of detune. Then you could have it detune a little, or a lot!

:hmm:
 
#14
DanielTulip said:
Just had a great thought! Ian Perge mentioned the chorus, and just thought that that's exactly what chorus is: pitch bending. It's just controlled by an occillator which generates a sine wave bassed on depth and rate. The pitch bend just follows the wave.

What about a chorus controlled by an exp pedal. Entirely replace the occillator, and have is bend the note down based on the exp position. There would be no "rate" (no need for it), and the depth is controlled (in real time) by the exp.

That would perfect for what I want. Just have a knob to controll the max depth, say from no detune to 2 octs of detune. Then you could have it detune a little, or a lot!

:hmm:
Click to expand...

Well, one can essentially do that on a Whammy. There's 2 DETUNE settings, SHALLOW and DEEP. With the pedal up, it really isn't chorused at all, but as you push it down, it gets more chorused.
 
#18
bongomania said:
This is like the whammy, yet more so:
http://cgi.ebay.com/DIGITECH-XP-400...ryZ41419QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Interesting, no? (Not my auction, and I don't know anything more about it or the seller.)
Click to expand...

i asked him about it.. it does seem really interesting, i wouldnt take it on stage thoug, unless i played with it for a long time off stage to know its stable enough, and also to switch between each whammy, u need to unplug it and plug it back in each time so the presets can load into the ram
jetpackbassist said:
... and before anyone asks, i am not the seller.
Click to expand...

lol, i see your taking precautions from when i asked u :p
 
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#19
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