Digitech HarmonyMan -- 1st impressions

Hey all, today I tried out the new Digitech HarmonyMan (formerly known as the Triad).

First off, let me say that I was very disappointed in its range. It only does up to one octave up to two down (though only intervals from 0 to -1 oct, then -2 oct). I would've really liked 2 oct + 3rd harmony, etc, but it is intended for lead guitarists, so I suppose it makes sense that that isn't an option.

If you've read the literature, you'd have noticed that it mentions being specifically made for guitar and that is no joke -- anything below the second E is weird mud, which sounds interesting if not defined well enough to be usable.

Another disappointment: any time you want to set the key you're working in the harmony has to be off or your signal gets muted. I didn't try the 'rhythm guitar' sidechain, so that might work, but I'm not entirely sure.

musIQ (the thing that figures out what key you're in) has a terrible time with bass so I ended up fighting it every time I tried to use it. The other way of picking a key works a little better, but every time I used it I had to mute the whole signal for it to work.

The harmonies sounded good once I got into guitar range and it sounds absolutely fantastic with an ebow. I brought my bass (a Spalt Magma 601x fretless 6-string) to GC to try it, and it handled microtones and vibrato with grace.

Detune mode yields a fantastic chorus. Also, setting both voices to the same interval will get you a chorusing (nice touch) that sounds very good, particularly in the octave down mode.

There is no expression pedal control, so no whammy mode. It does have four preset slots though.

All said, I could find a place for it on my board, but that's because I have a huge setup with whammies on it already, so I could get the range I wanted quite easily. I noticed no tone changes/low end loss and it handled everything in the guitar range fantastically, but its main selling points fall horribly short for bass.

The word: In all, epic fail -- digitech aimed this one at a market that is very specifically not us. I might pick one up, but at $300 it isn't worth being able to use exactly half of the pedal. There's a chance using the side chain will allow better results, and the pedal sounds great. Also, I only spent an hour and a half with it, and I do have a little room for doubt. I give it a three out of five.