However, as with all things signal chain related, this is not a rule. This is because you want a clean signal going straight in to ensure the best note reproduction possible. It’s almost always best to have an octave pedal as your first in the chain. Where does my octave pedal go in the chain? This will only be a few milliseconds for the most part but can be a deal breaker depending on the type of music that you want to play. Typically in octave pedals, there’s a slight delay between your dry guitar sound and octave guitar sound due to the signal processing required. For a subset of players, the glitching type sound can be desirable, as it lends a very noisy, electronic quality to the guitar.Īnother factor in tracking is the timing. Notes interact with each other in different ways, so it’s not yet possible to algorithmically recreate things perfectly, but a lot of the pedals here do a phenomenal job, and you’ll have to push them pretty hard to get to this stage. This results in glitches or artifacts and happens on even the most expensive pedals when you start introducing complex chords. As these types of pedals digitally pitch your guitar’s tone up or down, and the guitar is a harmonically complex instrument, sometimes they don’t quite get it right. One of the biggest signals of an octave pedal’s quality is its ability to accurately track your playing. (Image credit: Future) What is octave pedal tracking? That said, some of the octave pedals on this list also give you the option to harmonize too, so if you’d like both features you can certainly get it. The second note is called a fifth because it is five notes away from your original, and due to the way frequencies work, lends it a certain sound that is rather pleasing to the human ear.Ī pitch shifter pedal will artificially reproduce notes of a particular interval, like the Digitech Whammy which can 3rd, 4th, 5th, and so on, whereas octave pedals generally only tend to reproduce octaves. The first note is your root, the second is a fifth, and the third note is an octave. We won’t get too deep into theory and intervals here, but a simplistic way to look at it is to first imagine playing a power chord. Pitch-shifting pedals are more difficult to utilize than octave pedals because you’ll need some knowledge of music theory to determine which notes fit together best. What is the difference between an octave pedal and a pitch shifter pedal?Īn octave pedal only creates a note that is exactly the same as the original pitched up or down, whereas a pitch shifter pedal can create notes that harmonize with one another, also pitched up or down. Most octave pedals will also allow you to blend your original signal with your octave sound, so you can have the sound of two guitars at once, or just fool everyone into thinking that you’re playing bass guitar. Some pedals do more than one octave up or down and some layer multiple octaves on top of one another to create those organ-type sounds you sometimes hear. An octave is an interval that is double the original’s frequency or put more simply – the exact same note but one octave lower or higher. How does an octave pedal work?Īn octave pedal works by taking your original guitar signal, shifting an octave up or down, then playing it alongside your original signal to create the effect of two guitars playing at once. Once you fatten up that heavy riff you’ve been playing it just won’t sound the same without it, and ditto for those tasty blues lead licks you’ve been working on.Īn octave pedal is a relatively simple thing, but there are definitely some aspects you’ll want to consider before purchasing, as each pedal will have its own voice and idiosyncrasies that make them particularly well suited to a certain playing style or genre. If you’re looking to buy your first octave pedal be warned – these things are addictive. Dependent on how you set the knob, the pedal will only add the octave to the lowest notes that you play, meaning you can keep things hefty when riffing hard, without having to add any notes to your chord stabs or lead work in the higher register. One of the most interesting features of this pedal though is the range mode. Switch to Poly and you get a more modern octave sound, tracking excellently no matter how complex your chords are. Vintage mode recreates the mono sound of the original OC-2, which means it’s great for single note lines, but gets confused if you try and add chords into the mix. The OC-5 has two modes for you to play with, vintage and poly. The original Boss OC-2 was loved by guitar and bass players alike, and this iteration keeps all that was good about it whilst adding some extra versatility. There are some intriguing features in the Boss OC-5 Octave, so much so that many guitar players are replacing traditional favorites with one of these brown bad boys.
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