pitch shift pedals
A pitch-shifting guitar/bass pedal is a stompbox unit that affects the pitch (frequencies and note value) of the input signal. The pedal may output the shifted signal or a mix of the direct signal and shifted signal(s). These pedals read the harmonic content of the input and shift it accordingly.
Musical pitch is a perceptual property of sound that allows listeners to qualify different sounds as being higher or lower in terms of musical notation. This auditory sensation allows us to relate the positions of different notes within the context of a musical melody.
Superball Pitch Shifting
Whammy Ricochet Guitar Pitch
Musical pitch and notation are related to frequency, though not entirely linked. The fundamental frequency (the lowest frequency of a note being played by a tuned instrument) is generally the most linked to musical pitch.
A note with a higher fundamental frequency will be higher in pitch. A note with a lower fundamental frequency will be lower in pitch.
Note that pitch is truly only applicable to tuned instruments. Percussive instruments like cymbals and drums can be “tuned” but typically lack a distinct musical pitch. Noise also has no pitch, generally speaking.
Marshmallow Artificial Sweetener Pitch Shifter
Rainbow Machine V2 Pitch-Shifting
While pitch alterations are obviously possible on tuned instruments, pitch-shifting is a purely electrical occurrence where an audio signal is manipulated to sound higher or lower in pitch.
The easiest way to achieve pitch-shifting is by speeding up or slowing down audio. This pitch-shifting is a by-product of time-shifting and is often referred to as “pitch controlling”.
This can be done by playing an audio file at a different speed than it was recorded. For instance, we could change the sample rate of a digital audio workstation from the sample rate the audio was recorded in. Another example would be to adjust the motor speed of a reel-to-reel tape recorder.
QUINT-MACHINE Pitch
Processor Pitch Correction Pedal
Electro Harmonix Pitch Fork
Big Dipper Pitch Shifter
Note that time stretching is the process of changing the speed/duration of an audio signal without altering the pitch. Pitch scaling is the process of changing the pitch without altering the speed.
Pitch-shifters can be monophonic or polyphonic.
Monophonic pedals can only affect one note at a given time and are easily overloaded if any additional frequency information is included in the input signal.
Polyphonic pedals can distinguish between notes in a given signal (between fundamental frequencies of certain notes and harmonics from other notes) and affect more than one note at a time, allowing chords to be pitch-shifted up or down.
DigiTech Whammy Pitch-shift Bundle
Arpanoid V2 Polyphonic Pitch
Some pitch-shifters will only output the shifted/affected signal. Others can output a blend of the pitch-shifted and direct signal, allowing for harmonization with the input notes. Some other pedals can produce multiple copies of the input signal and pitch-shift these copies differently.
Simple octave pedal circuits can be produced via analog circuits that alter the frequency and filter the signal to attain the desired effect. These analog circuits are monophonic.
Analog octave circuits may also sound noisy and “warbly” as they attempt to track the input signal.
Today, many octave pedals and practically all pitch-shifting pedals (including pitch-bending, harmonizing and transposition-type pedals) achieve their effect via digital signal processing (DSP).
Drop Tune Pitch-Shifter
BRAINWAVES PITCH SHIFTER
The DSP within pitch-shifter pedals typically utilizes frequency-domain shifting based on phase vocoder techniques and algorithms based on short-time Fourier transform (STFT). These processes allow the pitch to be changed in real-time and are relatively simple compared to many time-domain shifting processes.
The 4 main types of pitch-shifters are: octave, harmonizer, transposition, and pitch bending.
Pitch-bending pedals bring time into the equation and can gradually shift the pitch of a note from one pitch to another.
Recommended Pitch Shifter Pedals
DigiTech Whammy
The legendary Whammy pedal is the premier pitch-shifting pedal for any guitarist’s board, and it only gets better with time. In addition to the classic Whammy sound, we’ve added chordal Whammy pitch-shifting and true bypass.
DigiTech DROP Tune Pitch-Shifter
The digitech DROP is a dedicated polyphonic DROP tune pedal that allows you to DROP your tuning from one semitone all the way down to a full octave. Get down-tuned Chunk without having to change guitars! The DROP also features a momentary/latching switch.
Red Panda Raster 2
The Raster is a digital delay with a pitch and frequency shifter integrated into the feedback loop. Forward or reverse delay can be shifted once or have continuously shifted repeats. It delivers a wide range of sounds including modulated and harmonized delays, reverse delays, chorus, arpeggios, infinite descents, chaotic self-oscillation, and continuously evolving soundscapes.
Electro-Harmonix Ravish Sitar
The Electro-Harmonix Ravish Sitar Synthesizer Guitar Effects Pedal has polyphonic lead voice and tunable sympathetic string drones that react to your playing. Create your own custom scales for the sympathetic strings while you set the decay time for the lead voice.
Eventide PitchFactor
PitchFactor features Eventide’s 10 best pitch+delay effects without compromising quality OR flexibility. Now, for the first time, these effects are portable AND affordable.
Pitch-shifter pedals sound best at the front of the pedal chain. This typically means putting the pedal before any other effects, including distortion and overdrive, and putting the pedal before the amp input rather than in the amp’s effects loop.
If your pedal setup is clean, and you’re running a clean guitar signal through a delay or reverb, try sending the direct out to one amp or input and the wet signal into a pitch-shifter. This will yield a neat shimmer effect with, perhaps, some extra functionality.
Earthquaker Devices Data Corrupterz
MOOER Guitar Pedal Pitch Step
Remember that pitch-shifting guitar or bass pedals obtain all their information from the input signal. A clean guitar signal will present the pedal with the cleanest possible information since these pedals are designed to “look for” the harmonic content of a guitar (or bass) signal to discern individual notes.
Time-based effects (delay and reverb) should also come after pitch-shifters since these effects will also trip up the pitch-shifter’s input tracking.
