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Pitch-shift me like one of your French girls (Boss PS-5)
Posted: Thu Dec 03, 2015 10:21 pm
by casecandy
Really freakin' love it!
In the immortal words of Patrick Stickles, "I only like it when it's dimed out!"
All the way down or all the way up.
I turned on my AB Synth and my Hyper Fuzz at the same time and went all the way up... sounds like a freaking rocket taking off!
Plus I can do the thing OBNE does in their song for the Procession, full stop like a tape stopping or something.
Love it
So tell me about pitch shifters, this is my first one!
Is there one that just keeps going up up up or down down down?
LOL I'm really childish right now, I'll check out the other modes. Eventually.
Re: Pitch-shift me like one of your French girls
Posted: Thu Dec 03, 2015 11:02 pm
by neonblack
What pedal are you talking about?
Re: Pitch-shift me like one of your French girls
Posted: Thu Dec 03, 2015 11:18 pm
by fcknoise
^ having the same question. Saying that, I dig the pitch shifter on the Bitquest. Usually I find pitch shifters to sound very artificial, and that's why I ultimately flipped the POG 2, whatever you put through it it always sounded pretty much the same.
Re: Pitch-shift me like one of your French girls
Posted: Thu Dec 03, 2015 11:27 pm
by ThurberMingus
This is my quick list of "must try/own at least once" list from a seasoned pitch shifting aficionado:
Boss PS-5 (haven't tried 6, I assume it's as good or better) - really fun and useful. The "Whammy" setting is awesome for instantaneous jumps ala Tera Melos. You can also use it as a fake trem bar for those MBV dips. The other uses are great to. I'd like to get another as an auxiliary pitch shifter.
POG - nothing sounds as big and nasty as the old school POG. Miss mine every day.
Whammy 4 - sick glitches. Tons o fun!
Whammy 5 - clean and slick. Doesn't glitch quite like the 4, but does everything else 10x better. If I was starting over, this would be where I would start. If you can only get one, get this.
PS-2/3 - Good glitches. My favorite part was actually the delay!
PitchFactor - if you want to say fuck everything and buy this, you can. It is now my only pitch pedal, due to board space and budget, but it does everything I want from a pitch pedal and more. It is the most inspirational pedal I've ever used.
There are still a bunch I'd like to try, like The Great Divide, Wizard of Pitch, OC-2, and a HOG, but I'm in no hurry to replace my PitchFactor any time soon.
Honorary mention goes out to the Count to Five, but it's more of a looper than a pitcher.
Re: Pitch-shift me like one of your French girls
Posted: Thu Dec 03, 2015 11:37 pm
by Gone Fission
For cascading shifts, a delay with pitch shifting could do you. Vox Delaylab will do you--there's a video someone put on YT lately with 18 non-delay uses that show off the shifter functions. If you want a pretty deep set of possibilities without delving balls deep to an Eventide complexity, you can sometimes find a Digitech IPS-33B (the B is important) or DHP-33 or -55 rack harmonizer for the price of not-too expensive pedal--nice stepped shifting and arpeggiators. Boss PS-5 is relatively bare bones for a harmonizer, but sounds good, tracks well, and does some tricks that work really well in a compact pedal.
Re: Pitch-shift me like one of your French girls
Posted: Fri Dec 04, 2015 12:03 am
by casecandy
LOL! I edited the pedal out of the title, woops
It's the Boss PS-5
Re: Pitch-shift me like one of your French girls (Boss PS-5)
Posted: Fri Dec 04, 2015 1:55 am
by rfurtkamp
casecandy wrote:
Is there one that just keeps going up up up or down down down?
Look for ones with a feedback control. It'll keep on chirping until the end of the feedback (like delay) is reached.
Re: Pitch-shift me like one of your French girls (Boss PS-5)
Posted: Fri Dec 04, 2015 9:50 am
by Gone Fission
rfurtkamp wrote:casecandy wrote:
Is there one that just keeps going up up up or down down down?
Look for ones with a feedback control. It'll keep on chirping until the end of the feedback (like delay) is reached.
Which is why I suggested the Delaylab. I'm pretty sure Rob's beloved TimeBender does the same, as should most modern everything and the kitchen sink types like, I suspect, the Timeline, DD-500, and Echolution. Pretty much if you have pitch in a delay-feedback architecture you should be able to step up or down, and with a very short delay time it ceases to sound so much like a delay.
Re: Pitch-shift me like one of your French girls (Boss PS-5)
Posted: Fri Dec 04, 2015 11:50 am
by ThurberMingus
All pitch pedals become magical in a feedback loop. Write that down.
Re: Pitch-shift me like one of your French girls (Boss PS-5)
Posted: Fri Dec 04, 2015 12:15 pm
by resincum
Gone Fission wrote:rfurtkamp wrote:casecandy wrote:
Is there one that just keeps going up up up or down down down?
Look for ones with a feedback control. It'll keep on chirping until the end of the feedback (like delay) is reached.
Which is why I suggested the Delaylab. I'm pretty sure Rob's beloved TimeBender does the same, as should most modern everything and the kitchen sink types like, I suspect, the Timeline, DD-500, and Echolution. Pretty much if you have pitch in a delay-feedback architecture you should be able to step up or down, and with a very short delay time it ceases to sound so much like a delay.
yeah you can get a reggie pitch shifter out of the delaylab! it can also do that ascending/descending pitch shift thing like in the raster/gb24/ct5. that box is so rad..I want to get one again every time it's brought up
Re: Pitch-shift me like one of your French girls (Boss PS-5)
Posted: Fri Dec 04, 2015 1:19 pm
by Dandolin
resincum wrote:yeah you can get a reggie pitch shifter out of the delaylab! it can also do that ascending/descending pitch shift thing like in the raster/gb24/ct5. that box is so rad..I want to get one again every time it's brought up
Yeah, I really want a DelayLab, even moreso now. Derail alert--but do you think anyone would trade a DelayLab for a DL-4, or would evaarbuddy be all "pfffft" ?
Re: Pitch-shift me like one of your French girls (Boss PS-5)
Posted: Fri Dec 04, 2015 1:28 pm
by resincum
I think so, the looper is different enough. if that's what they're after, for sure. I bet you can find one for $100 if you remain vigilant

(there's one up for bid right now )
Re: Pitch-shift me like one of your French girls (Boss PS-5)
Posted: Fri Dec 04, 2015 1:29 pm
by Dandolin
Thx--I'ma watchin'....
Re: Pitch-shift me like one of your French girls
Posted: Fri Dec 04, 2015 2:48 pm
by ognoy
ThurberMingus wrote:
PitchFactor - if you want to say fuck everything and buy this, you can. It is now my only pitch pedal, due to board space and budget, but it does everything I want from a pitch pedal and more. It is the most inspirational pedal I've ever used.
THIS!
I finally pulled the trigger and bought a Pitchfactor this summer, after GASing for years.
I was always thinking I didn't really need it("it's way overkill for what you do! get yourself together and enjoy your Micro POG dammit!!)
But when my band was recording our new album this last spring, we did a lot of overdubbing with synths, vibraphones, strings, etc,
so I used that as an excuse to get some new tricks up my sleeve.
After I got mine I was blown away by all the things I could do with it!
Some of the things I use mine for:
Pitch shifting: Octaves/fake POG-sounds, 12-string effect, down tuning my guitar
Delay: Clean digital delay, analog-ish slapback,pitch shifted delay, crystals("Ice" for Timeline-users), crescendo/cacophony-"looper"/infinate feedback, stutter. some sort of hazy reverse delay/guitar.
Mod: Chorus(not really using chorus, but I could I would need it), vibrato, choppy tremolo/slicer/glitch
Other: Fuzz, octave fuzz, clean boost, tuner, synth, reverb(both subtle and big and moody), arpegiator. With a exp-pedal I could use it as a volume-pedal as well.
After the latest software update I now use it both first AND last in my chain, running some presets(mostly straight pitch shifting) pre dirt and others(delays, reverbs, mods) post dirt.
Best piece of gear I have bought in years.
Re: Pitch-shift me like one of your French girls (Boss PS-5)
Posted: Fri Dec 04, 2015 2:52 pm
by friendship
I really liked the PS-5's whammy function, and using the detune mode was cool too, especially while turning the time knob while for glitchies.