Octaver before or after envelope filter?

[Djadja]

I know where I want my other pedals but which of those would you put before the other - octaver or envelope filter?

 

[WillyW]

I have always put my envelope immediately after my tuna.

 

[cheapbasslovin]

If you have a filter with an effects loop, put the octave in there. Otherwise, I'd put the filter after the octave.

 

[Aloe]

classic sound is octave before. analog octaves track better first in chain (or just after a compressor, but no other effects).

try both anyway.

 

[Inconnu]

Analog octave won’t track well after an envelope from my experience. Digital octave don’t care and sounds great (better?) after. YMMV, try both.

 

[jbybj]

I know where I want my other pedals but which of those would you put before the other - octaver or envelope filter?

Do you already own these pedals? If so, have you not tried both options already? If so, which do you prefer?

 

[mouthmw]

I would definitely put octaver before envelope filter, even a digital one. But that's just me. I like my octaver first in chain (right after tuner). I also prefer my envelope filter after dirt pedals.

 

[HolmeBass]

I do octaver before filter on my boards. That is CW and mimics analog subtractive synthesis.

But you could try it both ways on your board.

I have to put my octaver first, even before my compressor.

 

[dBChad]

My setup is a bit weird, as I get away with a lot being in a 3 piece. I use a Soul POG (Mini POG + Soul Food Klon clone), with the dry out going into a Source Audio Soundblox Pro into a Sparkle Drive into a Sonic Stomp into my bass rig. I send the wet (octave up only) into a Vox Mystic Edge (AC30 style preamp pedal) into an EHX 44Mag (pedal size amplifier) into a 1x12 guitar cab. This sort of simulates a rhythm guitarist playing along with me without the filter modulation on that part, although when I play very low notes there's a noticeable delay for the octave to track. Still a cool sound that juices up our mix.

May not be what you're after, but it's an interesting sound that works in a small band.

 

[Nephilymbass]

If you only plan to use them one at a time it really doesn’t matter. If you're specifically stacking to create synth sounds I recommend compressor(if you’re even using one) into octave into any dirt (overdrives/fuzz) into filter, then into any modulation if any. There are certain orders that work better imo because of how they sound going into each other. A compresser before octave can often help the octave track better because it gets a more consistent signal. You probably don’t want an octave after anything that will make it struggle to track well. Filters sound better after dirt imo compared to going into dirt. But if you’re not using any dirt pedals I’d put the filter right after the octave.

 

[camerondye]

I like my envelope filters right after the tuner because they are responding to your dynamics and Octavers and compressors round off your dynamics

 

[Raoul_Duke]

More funny stuff will happen if you run the filter into the octaver, but that can be a good or bad thing depending on how you like both options.

Try both and let us know which you preferred!

 

[Bryan R. Tyler]

I have always put my envelope immediately after my tuna.

It must be an awful experience to receive letters from you.

 

[MultiScaleMale]

Unless you are looking for some kind of unique effect, the octave should go as early in the chain as possible. It needs a clean signal to track well. I am running compressor -> octave -> autowah -> chorus -> tuner -> noble DI. The tuner used to be first, but I placed it last before the DI in the event there are any noise issues or failures with any of my pedals. I can just mute with the tuner, unplug the cable into the tuner, plug into it and keep rocking after just a few seconds of down time. Just need to remember to turn off the effects when I'm tuning and they default to "On" when power is applied. Hate that. Octaves all behave differently and digital can track better if you can live with the tone, but placed after a compressor with non-effect settings will give you the cleanest, most consistent tone and help the octave do its job better. And you need to still play cleanly.

 

[BaileyMan]

I run octave --> envelope --> chorus --> compressor. My reasoning is that the octave is more finicky when it comes to tracking so I want a clean signal.

 

[mcnach]

I know where I want my other pedals but which of those would you put before the other - octaver or envelope filter?

Try and see what you prefer!

Chances are you'd like better first octave and then envelope filter, but you never know! For extra synth-like fun, add an overdrive there and experiment, but I tend to prefer octave -> overdrive -> envelope filter

 

[Medicine Man]

I do: comp->octave->filter->dirt but recently started just doing comp->C4->dirt. In the C4, the sub octave wave is routed into the filter. So about the same. I feel like you just get better tracking having the octave earlier.

 

[Djadja]

Thanks all. You’ve been very helpful.

I intuited that octave at the beginning of the chain, following my compressor made the most sense, but envelope filters can be twitchy as well depending upon the input signal.

I hadn’t thought about dirt before the filter but I’ll try that today. I was listening/watching/reading Ian Allison’s Scott’s Bass Lessons piece on playing synth bass lines and he does that. It looks as if he sometimes places chorus before the dirt… that was a surprise to me. My lower gain dirt option comes from the 2nd channel of my amp (Genzler 800) so that will by definition come last. I’ll be trying my fuzz both before and after the filter.

If you’ve not seen that video, here it is.

 

[BassikLee]

Yes.

 

[Michedelic]

I can’t imagine a filter before octave very useful or efficient. It would impede the way your octave unit reads/senses the notes, cluttering the signal up. The only thing I ever put before any kind of octave/pitchshifter would be mild compression, to help facilitate the ‘grabbing’ of the note. To me, use of an octave box is to create the illusion of an extra course or two of strings, it’s part of the instrument’s personality(I only do octave up for an 8 string bass effect). Then you can add all the other funny stuff. I put dirt before filter for any faux synth potential.
However, I could see trying a fuzz before octave, in order to imitate a square wave oscillator, with the octave becoming a second one(and then filter, chorus, etc)but the end result depends on the units being used, and how nicely they play together.