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New Boss OC-5 Octave

#181
sunbeast said:
The clips at the end where he directly compares them with bass loops they sound pretty dead on to me (especially considering that OC-2s all sound moderately different from each-other IME). This is an all digital pedal from my understanding (For one, it seems to track the whole bass neck unlike any analog octave I’ve ever heard of). Most of the literature and demos don’t make it clear, but I found a pretty extensive review talking about how they were originally planning a Waza analog OC-2 update but decided the digital tracking algorithms they had developed would be able to give them a far better update of the OC-2 sound for cheaper than a Waza (which are all analog reissues made in Japan) would have been. From what I can tell they were right, though there are always gonna be people that say the original is superior for this or that reason no matter what modern Boss puts out!

Apparently the -1 octave of the OC-5 can boost above unity (he shows that a bit throughout the video, and via the few on this thread that have one above). The poly voice does indeed seem to have issues with more complex chords from this video and some of the guitar ones I’ve seen, but doesn’t seem to have the same sub-octave latency as the EHX digital shifters so for my uses based on the demos it’s still a winner! I also definitely prefer the tone of the +1 octave in this video (at least in Vintage Mode) to the Micro Pog or Pitchfork. I will have to see for myself though, the price is certainly right.
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Good points and exactly my thoughts! I hope indeed that the soloed octave down is above unity. That volume drop on the OC-2 is really annoying. Those low octave notes soloed naturally don't speak as much or cut through as much as the direct sound. That's inherent to that square wave sound so it needs a boost.

I think this is serious contender for the much more expensive Octavbre pedal. And this Boss one is more versatile as well.
 
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#183
the low one said:
The volume drop is why I sold my OC2 years ago and bought the MXR BOD. The Growl knob is close enough to the OC2 for me, and the MXR is more versatile, though it would be good to try the OC5 at some point.
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I had a BOD and thought the tone and features were fantastic, but mine had super sensitive tracking- like any scratch of the strings or tap of the body would trigger a loud artifact. I never tried another to see if it was a fluke, but one of the beauties of the OC-2 is that it has a really strong and useful gate to it (you can tell by using a noisy single coil bass into it and soloing the -1 octave, it just gives you silence between notes). I never even noticed this until comparing to the MXR. I want to try their Vintage Octave because of the size and that cool midrange boost feature, but my experience with the BOD has made me wary
 
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#184
Les Fret said:
Good points and exactly my thoughts! I hope indeed that the soloed octave down is above unity. That volume drop on the OC-2 is really annoying. Those low octave notes soloed naturally don't speak as much or cut through as much as the direct sound. That's inherent to that square wave sound so it needs a boost.

I think this is serious contender for the much more expensive Octavbre pedal. And this Boss one is more versatile as well.
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Yeah I didn’t think I was in the market for it, but I’ve been watching videos and thinking of all these utilities for the Poly features (like acoustic guitar or dialing in to use on a Rhodes piano where the octave only tracks the bass notes?!!).
 
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#190
76jazzbass said:
Anyone seen gut shot yet? Wondering if it's actually analog for OC2 side or if it's all digital.
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I’m pretty sure it’s all digital, based on the “improved tracking technology” and how low it seems to track in demos. I think they just spent a lot of time getting the sound right. As often happens, the only places I’ve seen it described as analog are NOT from Boss. Pretty sure they’d scream it from the hills if it was since people love the idea of it.
 
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#191
sunbeast said:
I’m pretty sure it’s all digital, based on the “improved tracking technology” and how low it seems to track in demos. I think they just spent a lot of time getting the sound right. As often happens, the only places I’ve seen it described as analog are NOT from Boss. Pretty sure they’d scream it from the hills if it was since people love the idea of it.
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That's what I figured but still ordered one anyway. Demos sound good so I'm curious.
 
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#192
This just came in today!

580A867B-F6C0-4E55-B6E2-9573E5BC12AF.jpeg
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So far my thoughts on VINTAGE mode:
It sounds very close to its analog older brother. The +1 OCT is more subtle than I thought. It sounds a little weak by itself so definitely should be used with the dry signal or the -1 OCT. I like how the -2 OCT sounds like it gives the -1 OCT more beef rather than an actual 2 octaves down. On POLY mode, the -1 OCT alone sounds like a bass flute and has no front end. Not crazy about that part.

I’ll be using both this and the Digitech Ricochet for a bass solo I’m playing at my church for prelude music.
E65A6DFC-AEFD-4B86-99BA-14B309AA14FC.jpeg
 
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#195
Just bought one. Very cool pedal. Vintage mode sounds legit, Ive been comparing with my vintage OC2 and they’re pretty close.

Here’s what’s really cool: poly mode loses the Octave 2 but the octave 2 control becomes a filter or low pass or something for octave 1. Basically, it allows you to set what note the low octave comes in at, so you can have un-octaved high notes.
 
#197
Whi
eee said:
Here’s what’s really cool: poly mode loses the Octave 2 but the octave 2 control becomes a filter or low pass or something for octave 1. Basically, it allows you to set what note the low octave comes in at, so you can have un-octaved high notes.
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Which is perfect for guitarists wanting to have a bass line accompanying their low notes, but for us bassists we would typically want it the other way around: octave down on our high notes but no octave down, and therefore no polyphonic glitching, on the really low notes, particularly given that we can't actually physically hear too much below a low B (31Hz) anyway and very few cabs can produce any meaningfully powerful fundamentals below this frequency for us to hear in the first place.

However, I completely get that the guitarists buying this pedal are a bigger market for Boss, so it makes commercial sense to give them priority.

What would have been super cool: a bass mode switch that would allow this to be reversed and for only octave down above a certain note.
 
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#199
Les Fret said:
Haven’t read all pages but does the OC-5 really sounds like the classic OC-2? Is it spot on? Cause the OC-3 sounds nothing like the OC-2.

How is the tracking?
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sunbeast said:
You can tell as well as any of us since it is only just making it beyond the demo folks thus far. The few bass demos thus far seem quite convincing. This one has direct comparisons to both the OC-2 and OC-3 at the end of the video:
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I thought that was a really nice in-depth video. Always different from having hands-on experience though.

@Chace90 has had his OC-5 for a little bit and had a little time to compare vs. the OC-2 (and Octabvre)... maybe he's got some thoughts on tracking as well.

I noticed a bit of latency in the OC-3, I'd be interested to hear anyone's feedback on this area of the OC-5.

5sg.
 

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