Demystifying Octave Pedal Terms + Recs

[nholley]

Hi everyone, I’ve been playing bass for a good while now but have never really delved into pedals until recently. I’ve done some research and was hoping someone could connect the dots for these terms that keep popping up around octave pedals: Polyphonic, Monophonic, Analog, Digital

The “best” ones that I keep see popping up are the MXR Bass Octave Deluxe, Boss OC-2, and Micro POG/Nano POG. I also discovered the MXR Poly Blue Octave which appears to be unique in having Polyphonic and Monophonic modes and also have octave up and down capabilities? How are these all different/special?
Thanks!

 

[sloppy_phil]

Hey there @nholley , and welcome to the community! Happy to help get you caught up to speed on the 'lingo' round these here parts haha.

Polyphonic- the pedal can track multiple notes (ie: chords) cleanly

Monophonic- the pedal can only track single notes cleanly. Any extra notes ringing out will cause glitches

Analog pedals are made strictly from 'old school' electrical circuit components; capacitors, resistors etc. Digital pedals can contain computer-like processors and chips in their circuits. The general consensus (though it will vary from pedal-to-pedal) is that analog pedals track your notes 'better' ie: faster. The response to your playing from the pedal is immediate. Some of the processors in digital pedals can introduce latency, which means you may not hear/feel the note as immediately after playing it. Not ideal.

However, analog pedals are often less forgiving with your playing, since they are almost always monophonic. They can't track more than a single tone, so if you accidentally let strings ring out, or don't fret/pluck your note cleanly, your playing will cause the tracking to glitch out. Also not ideal! Digital pedals are often polyphonic, so in that regard can handle less precise playing technique better. Plus, they're polyphonic, which in itself is a huge plus.

Bottom line is, pick your poison! LOL. Of the ones you've mentioned, the MXR Bass Octave Deluxe (as well as their Vintage Bass Octave), and Boss OC-2 are analog. The OC-2 is, for many, the gold standard of octave-down tones. And many companies base/begin their circuit off the Boss design. It's got a lotta babies! The POGs are digital.

Hope some of that is helpful for you. I absolutely LOVE octave-down pedals, and that deep sub n' dub bass. There are so many to choose from now, whether analog or digital, big name brands, or small builders. Good luck on your journey!

 

[nholley]

Hey there @nholley , and welcome to the community! Happy to help get you caught up to speed on the 'lingo' round these here parts haha.

Polyphonic- the pedal can track multiple notes (ie: chords) cleanly

Monophonic- the pedal can only track single notes cleanly. Any extra notes ringing out will cause glitches

Analog pedals are made strictly from 'old school' electrical circuit components; capacitors, resistors etc. Digital pedals can contain computer-like processors and chips in their circuits. The general consensus (though it will vary from pedal-to-pedal) is that analog pedals track your notes 'better' ie: faster. The response to your playing from the pedal is immediate. Some of the processors in digital pedals can introduce latency, which means you may not hear/feel the note as immediately after playing it. Not ideal.

However, analog pedals are often less forgiving with your playing, since they are almost always monophonic. They can't track more than a single tone, so if you accidentally let strings ring out, or don't fret/pluck your note cleanly, your playing will cause the tracking to glitch out. Also not ideal! Digital pedals are often polyphonic, so in that regard can handle less precise playing technique better. Plus, they're polyphonic, which in itself is a huge plus.

Bottom line is, pick your poison! LOL. Of the ones you've mentioned, the MXR Bass Octave Deluxe (as well as their Vintage Bass Octave), and Boss OC-2 are analog. The OC-2 is, for many, the gold standard of octave-down tones. And many companies base/begin their circuit off the Boss design. It's got a lotta babies! The POGs are digital.

Hope some of that is helpful for you. I absolutely LOVE octave-down pedals, and that deep sub n' dub bass. There are so many to choose from now, whether analog or digital, big name brands, or small builders. Good luck on your journey!

Thank you @sloppy_phil that’s all very helpful! It was my understanding that analog pedals (Boss OC-2, MXR BOD, Foxrox Octron) give a warmer, truer bass sound at the but are often worse at tracking and suffer with rough technique but digital pedals have flawless, accurate, and user-friendly tracking but a more artificial tone. Does this go against your knowledge?

On another note… are most analog pedals made for only octave up or only octave down or can some do both (I don’t necessarily mean at the same time I just mean you could at least switch between)? I’m pretty sure the Micro POG can do both (nearly everything, in fact) but of course it’s digital so I’m wondering about the analog ones. I’ve heard of one called the TC Sub ’n’ Up (which I think is analog)… hence the name, might it be capable of up and down respectively? Aren’t the Boss OC-2, MXR BOD, and Foxrox Octron solely Octave DOWN pedals? Don’t some people say that analog octave down pedals are limited in how far down the note/tracking can reach whereas digital ones don’t have this restriction?

Sorry for so many questions!

 

[sloppy_phil]

Thank you @sloppy_phil that’s all very helpful! It was my understanding that analog pedals (Boss OC-2, MXR BOD, Foxrox Octron) give a warmer, truer bass sound at the but are often worse at tracking and suffer with rough technique but digital pedals have flawless, accurate, and user-friendly tracking but a more artificial tone. Does this go against your knowledge?

On another note… are most analog pedals made for only octave up or only octave down or can some do both (I don’t necessarily mean at the same time I just mean you could at least switch between)? I’m pretty sure the Micro POG can do both (nearly everything, in fact) but of course it’s digital so I’m wondering about the analog ones. I’ve heard of one called the TC Sub ’n’ Up (which I think is analog)… hence the name, might it be capable of up and down respectively? Aren’t the Boss OC-2, MXR BOD, and Foxrox Octron solely Octave DOWN pedals? Don’t some people say that analog octave down pedals are limited in how far down the note/tracking can reach whereas digital ones don’t have this restriction?

Sorry for so many questions!

No need to apologize; it's a deep dive into this whole world! I think analog octavers get a bad rap for tracking because they are harder to use well. In my experience, the best tracking octaves I've used are all analog; Iron Ether Subterranea, Aguilar Octamizer, and a later-era Boss OC-2. I can play really fast stuff and none of them show any lag, plus I can get them to all track cleanly down to F on the E-string. IMHO it stops sounding musical below a B, but the notes don't glitch out. You've just gotta practice the technique til you get it.

You are right about the Boss and MXR pedals being solely octave down!

The Foxrox is actually analog, if memory serves. It does technically both octave down and up, but the up is more of a fuzz-like circuit in unison with your clean tone than a true octave up sound. Any pedal offering a true octave up sound is digital. All of them that I've tried (various POGs as well as a Digitech Whammy) displayed too much latency, except for the TC Sub n Up. Despite being digital, it basically tracked as fast an analog pedal!

 

[GMC]

If you want an analogue octaver to track well (or best that it can) on bass in the lower registers then a clean stacatto playing technique goes a long way to support this. Playing near the bridge helps a lot too. Keeping string and fret noise to a mimimum also contributes to the tracking.
So does string choice....if you use "dead in the grave" old flats...they tend to track best of all.
With an analogue octaver, a compressor can really help by evening out the notes hitting the octaver.

Generally, analogue octavers sound best but digital octavers track better. Digital octavers usually have a specific sound that you either love or hate and don't sound like an analogue octaver at all. Pedals like the EHX POG / HOG series, Eventide's H9/H90 typify this particaulr effect type.
Analogue octavers have their own sound that is the "Go to" for many bassists. With Analogue, there's typically three specific dial in sounds: 50:50 blend, 75:25 blend and then fully wet (fat synth sound). The latter really does sound nice on analgue octavers, but not so much on the digital octaver where the sub tone is a harmonised note. Some of the older digital units have a slight latency between the pure bass source and the maths generated note.

In recent years, there's been a few digital octavers that perfectly (or near as poss) mimic / recreate the classic OC2 / analogue octave sound. This was pioneered by the amazing Source Audio Spectrum Filter / C4 pedal and some use this pedal just for that sound. Then along came the Boss OC-5 which is an offical Boss digital model of an OC2.
Personally, I use a H9, Hog2 and a C4. The C4 is my goto analogue octave sound. But there's a few nice octave sounds in my H9 that I like and there's a few unique things that I like on my Hog2.

 

[DBA23]

I considered a lot of these and demoed what I could. I picked up a used OC-5 at GC online and I love its sound and flexibility. I usually keep the -2 level at 0, especially with my 5 string

 

[sunbeast]

Thank you @sloppy_phil that’s all very helpful! It was my understanding that analog pedals (Boss OC-2, MXR BOD, Foxrox Octron) give a warmer, truer bass sound at the but are often worse at tracking and suffer with rough technique but digital pedals have flawless, accurate, and user-friendly tracking but a more artificial tone. Does this go against your knowledge?

On another note… are most analog pedals made for only octave up or only octave down or can some do both (I don’t necessarily mean at the same time I just mean you could at least switch between)? I’m pretty sure the Micro POG can do both (nearly everything, in fact) but of course it’s digital so I’m wondering about the analog ones. I’ve heard of one called the TC Sub ’n’ Up (which I think is analog)… hence the name, might it be capable of up and down respectively? Aren’t the Boss OC-2, MXR BOD, and Foxrox Octron solely Octave DOWN pedals? Don’t some people say that analog octave down pedals are limited in how far down the note/tracking can reach whereas digital ones don’t have this restriction?

Sorry for so many questions!

To add some detail to other answers posted above:

Analog octavers are using direct manipulation of your input signal in real-time to drop it down an octave. This means there is basically no lag between when you play and when the octave sounds, which is IMO the best part of the analog approach- you retain punchy hits that align with your playing perfectly. This process is always monophonic (can only track a single note, not chords). Part of the analog circuit involves the need to differentiate the fundamental of the note being played vs the 1st harmonic, and this is where glitching can occur with these pedals- if you hit notes where the fundamental isn't strong enough then the note can hop up an octave. Spend enough time with an analog octaver and you learn different ways to play to the octave pedal (both the tone of your input signal and your approach to voicing and plucking while playing) and these glitches are minimized. While it may seem that this approach to octave generation would sound like your input tone, in fact the manipulation done to the input tone tends to make it sound quite different (though still closer than most digital octaves in my experience).

Digital octaves use a few different approaches to creating an octave, but the majority of them rely on some sort of pitch-detection algorithm that is then used to trigger some internally saved sound. The problem with this approach is that pitch-detection always means latency, and this latency is frequency-dependent (the algorithm has to see at least a full waveform of the input signal before it can determine the note being played). Add on all the other digital processing latency and the total latency between input tone and octaved tone can have a very noticeable lag- on some older pedals it could be heard (ie lots of latency), while many newer designs have dropped the latency to the point that often times it can only really be felt (ie your groove pocket is just a little off from your fingers). Some digital pitch-shifters use I believe a sample-rate manipulation technique that minimizes latency though (my Boss SY-1000 and Roland GR55 have little perceivable latency when changing tunings internally, something I've never experienced in a stand-alone digital octaver but may well be out there at this point). Tone of digital octavers can be all over the place since it is usually some internal programed sound. Digital octaves can be either monophonic or polyphonic, usually the poly modes sound more synthetic and have more latency(there is extra processing needed to dissect the chords)

 

[MultiScaleMale]

IMO, if you want a starter octave pedal that sounds good and doesn't cost boutique dollars, look at a used Boss OC-3. Put it in POLY mode, use the GUITAR input and set the Range knob straight up. That will give an octave for anything at about the G string (I know, ha ha) 12th fret and below. So you won't get glitches from string noise or even slap / pop. Is it the best sounding? Probably not, but it's not very far off. That's my choice for a live pedalboard octave pedal. For studio, go with an OC-2 for it's classic goodness, but in the studio you can redo if it glitches.

 

[sloppy_phil]

IMO, if you want a starter octave pedal that sounds good and doesn't cost boutique dollars, look at a used Boss OC-3. Put it in POLY mode, use the GUITAR input and set the Range knob straight up. That will give an octave for anything at about the G string (I know, ha ha) 12th fret and below. So you won't get glitches from string noise or even slap / pop. Is it the best sounding? Probably not, but it's not very far off. That's my choice for a live pedalboard octave pedal. For studio, go with an OC-2 for it's classic goodness, but in the studio you can redo if it glitches.

I think you mean OC-5? I had an OC-3 for years, and it ain't got a Range knob

 

[HelpImaRock]

The Foxrox Octron is analog and based on the DOD Octoplus with an added octave up. The octave up uses germanium diodes so it's definitely a fuzzy sound. The newest version has a "bright/pure" switch that helps bring down the fuzz and get a cleaner octave up.

So long as you're spending in this range, you might want to look at an older used Eventide Pitchfactor. It's a big digital pedal, but it does a lot and you can set the harmonies for straight octaves. In my opinion, it's still better than many of the newer digital pedals. Just make sure you get one with an original power supply as mine does weird things when I connect it to my pedalboard power supply.

You might also take a look at the forthcoming Line 6 HX One. It's all digital and the newest Line 6 pitch algorithms are said to sound very good. I'm eyeing one for my nano board.

 

[MultiScaleMale]

I think you mean OC-5? I had an OC-3 for years, and it ain't got a Range knob

No, OC-3. Poly mode has a Range mode on the third knob:

It's designed for someone playing acoustic and only octaving the lower strings, keeping the chords clean on top.

 

[sloppy_phil]

@RichSnyder Welp... Goes to show it's never too late to learn something!

 

[MultiScaleMale]

@RichSnyder Welp... Goes to show it's never too late to learn something!

I had an OC-5 but didn't really care for it. Maybe I'll give it another shot.

 

[bassbrad]

Welcome @nholley to the vast land of TB opinions. I have a particular fondness for octavers and their various flavors, I have 5 on my board and probably a dozen others collected over the years. I would say to not get so caught up chasing the analog only solution as most of the digital based octavers offer just as good a sound often with capabilities that analog cannot ever match.

My two favorite octavers are the Source Audio Spectrum and TRex Quint Machine. The Spectrum is very versatile offering a wide range of octaves and the filter and other effects help to emulate other notable unicorns like Pearl, Yamaha, EHX Multiplexer and MXR Blue Box while also allowing me to create my own as well as a spot on for the OC2. The Spectrum is also capable of covering other roles as well as creating synth sounds since it is also an envelope follower, distortion as well as LFO sounds like phaser, vibrato and tremolo.
The TRex Quint Machine takes whatever it is fed and adds the octave up, down and fifth creating a massive power chord.

The TC Sub N Up is digital and sounds good but to me the added value are the various TonePrints some are quite interesting.

 

[nholley]

IMO, if you want a starter octave pedal that sounds good and doesn't cost boutique dollars, look at a used Boss OC-3. Put it in POLY mode, use the GUITAR input and set the Range knob straight up. That will give an octave for anything at about the G string (I know, ha ha) 12th fret and below. So you won't get glitches from string noise or even slap / pop. Is it the best sounding? Probably not, but it's not very far off. That's my choice for a live pedalboard octave pedal. For studio, go with an OC-2 for itsclassic goodness, but in the studio you can redo if it glitches.

i

I had an OC-5 but didn't really care for it. Maybe I'll give it another shot.

IMO, if you want a starter octave pedal that sounds good and doesn't cost boutique dollars, look at a used Boss OC-3. Put it in POLY mode, use the GUITAR input and set the Range knob straight up. That will give an octave for anything at about the G string (I know, ha ha) 12th fret and below. So you won't get glitches from string noise or even slap / pop. Is it the best sounding? Probably not, but it's not very far off. That's my choice for a live pedalboard octave pedal. For studio, go with an OC-2 for it's classic goodness, but in the studio you can redo if it glitches.

Interesting, thanks @RichSnyder. I’ve heard the OC-2 and OC-3 in comparison and they sound similar enough, even if the OC-2 does sound better. However can a pedal like the OC-3 be considered analog if it has polyphonic and monophonic modes? Doesn’t it also have octave up which wouldn’t really be analog? It’s weird because I’ve heard the MXR Poly Blue is technically analog but it has poly and mono modes and can do octaves down and up. Would both these pedals be considered digital? I know it’s okay to have a digital pedal but I want to be clear in differentiating them.

 

[nholley]

If you want an analogue octaver to track well (or best that it can) on bass in the lower registers then a clean stacatto playing technique goes a long way to support this. Playing near the bridge helps a lot too. Keeping string and fret noise to a mimimum also contributes to the tracking.
So does string choice....if you use "dead in the grave" old flats...they tend to track best of all.
With an analogue octaver, a compressor can really help by evening out the notes hitting the octaver.

Generally, analogue octavers sound best but digital octavers track better. Digital octavers usually have a specific sound that you either love or hate and don't sound like an analogue octaver at all. Pedals like the EHX POG / HOG series, Eventide's H9/H90 typify this particaulr effect type.
Analogue octavers have their own sound that is the "Go to" for many bassists. With Analogue, there's typically three specific dial in sounds: 50:50 blend, 75:25 blend and then fully wet (fat synth sound). The latter really does sound nice on analgue octavers, but not so much on the digital octaver where the sub tone is a harmonised note. Some of the older digital units have a slight latency between the pure bass source and the maths generated note.

In recent years, there's been a few digital octavers that perfectly (or near as poss) mimic / recreate the classic OC2 / analogue octave sound. This was pioneered by the amazing Source Audio Spectrum Filter / C4 pedal and some use this pedal just for that sound. Then along came the Boss OC-5 which is an offical Boss digital model of an OC2.
Personally, I use a H9, Hog2 and a C4. The C4 is my goto analogue octave sound. But there's a few nice octave sounds in my H9 that I like and there's a few unique things that I like on my Hog2.

@GMC Ohhh. That blend explanation helps a lot… so fully wet (aka dry turned off) means you would just be hearing the new down octave from the octave pedal? And more dry means you’re still hearing the original note being played? I was confused because sometimes I hear it like you said get turned on and a fully down synthy octave sound is played and sometimes it sounds more like a layered sound on top of the original note. For instance one of my favorite uses of an octave pedal is in this video of Pino playing this D’Angelo groove and he turns it on for just a sec. I’m guessing it’s a fully wet down octave sound?

The video is and he starts playing the groove around 1:20.

I would love to get this kind of sound and I’m guessing it’s something analog like an OC-2 or MXR Blue Octave Deluxe? I know he’s used those two at various times even if it wasn’t on that particular set.

 

[MultiScaleMale]

i



Interesting, thanks @RichSnyder. I’ve heard the OC-2 and OC-3 in comparison and they sound similar enough, even if the OC-2 does sound better. However can a pedal like the OC-3 be considered analog if it has polyphonic and monophonic modes? Doesn’t it also have octave up which wouldn’t really be analog? It’s weird because I’ve heard the MXR Poly Blue is technically analog but it has poly and mono modes and can do octaves down and up. Would both these pedals be considered digital? I know it’s okay to have a digital pedal but I want to be clear in differentiating them.

The OC-3 is digital, but not sure I'd call that a bad thing. Some pedals like the POG variants are very digital sounding to my ears and almost "chimey or "chorusy". Oh, and do you know about the "octave pedal trick"? Fret a Bb at the sixth fret on the E string. Now, pluck an octave up on the E string at the 18th fret. Don't tap like you would for a harmonic, just pluck like you would normally play. You get a ring-modulator type of octave sound that can be useful for longer sustained notes.

 

[Short4since64]

Have a microPOG. Digital, and of course tracks perfectly, but the latency is very noticeable and does sound like the octaves are being played on a synth. Has wet and dry outs, dry out is identical to input at a lower impedance and is always "live" Play biamped, dry output to an LPF at 400Hz, eq, compressor and poweramp, wet output to a combo guitar amp. Not trying to sound like Royal Blood - only use the effect for 16bar bass/drum solos in 2 songs, otherwise the pedal just passes the normal signal thru to the small amp for high end and dirt while keeping my bottom end solid - BUT... broke a tuning key on my bass at a gig, finished the night playing bass on a Strat thru octave down into my bass rig.

 

[arepa_funk]

What helps analog octave pedals track accurately ime is placing them early in the chain, using a passive bass, neck pickup on full, and gently plucking near or at the neck. Left hand technique helps too, where staccato playing and left hand muting more than notes of long duration.

Of the ones you mentioned or are similar, the MXR Vintage Bass Octave is great. It's an OC-2 clone with added mids and slight volume boost.

One I've been using lately is the Mutron Octavider+. Has analog octave down, ringer octave up circuit, and fuzz.

 

[sunbeast]

i



Interesting, thanks @RichSnyder. I’ve heard the OC-2 and OC-3 in comparison and they sound similar enough, even if the OC-2 does sound better. However can a pedal like the OC-3 be considered analog if it has polyphonic and monophonic modes? Doesn’t it also have octave up which wouldn’t really be analog? It’s weird because I’ve heard the MXR Poly Blue is technically analog but it has poly and mono modes and can do octaves down and up. Would both these pedals be considered digital? I know it’s okay to have a digital pedal but I want to be clear in differentiating them.

The MXR Poly Blue isn’t an analog octaver, the “Mono” mode is designed to emulate the sound of an analog octaver though (similar to the octave effect in the Source Audio Spectrum and C4 pedals). An analog octave can’t be polyphonic. Upper octave in the analog domain is made using fuzz, a clean upper octave can only be digital