The Digitech Drop is amazing. I did a comparison of a 6 string baritone, and using this pedal dropped to B standard on a regular 6 string. Very similar, and even the sound waves looked nearly identical on a recording.
This is one of the few pitch shifter demos that actually demonstrates more complicated intervals. Plenty of pitch shifters can handle power chords easy but then crap out on major 7ths, it's important to test this out.
One hundred percent, yes. At this point I've had so many pitch shifters fall apart doing 7ths and other intervals, that I basically have a Test List of three or four riffs that I immediately try out on any new octave pedal, and I don't waste my time if it fails on those.
far and away the best comparison of these two pedals I’ve ever seen. thank you, i knew I was in the right place when you use a telecaster with p90s to check the “metal” tones. 😅
I like how you were giving us a play by play on how you were feeling about the pedals as you went. So many people on these "challenge" videos just play the pedals and don't ever give their opinions until the end, and I feel like this format is much better so we have a better insight to what you're thinking while we are forming our own opinions.
Thanks! Yeah half of these videos are just things I’m wondering about myself, so I use the video as an excuse to try stuff and document my conclusions.
I love your playing. I'm with you - often times the goal is for players to be able to transpose to all keys... though because of the nature of the guitar and your style that has cool open notes solutions ilike these allow you to do your thing without compromising. I've long been a fan of the Boss PS6 - though truth be told all of this time I think the Pitchfork is more my style and I may need to pull the trigger on one. Thank you for your content.
I have a similar-ish situation. Recently started doing open mic cover sets with a few other people and we're covering a wide range of stuff. I don't wanna retune ANY of my guitars let alone cart a bunch of different ones around for a couple performances a month that aren't that serious. I'd rather just alter the pitch of one guitar. Everything is being run through impulse responses straight through a PA anyway 😂.
I could have definitely used a drop on a few Sundays! Some things just don't sound right played higher or when moved down a string because of switching keys from Male/Female lead vocals. I'm gonna look into it for sure!
It’s terrific for short distances - when a vocalist needs something in F# or Db or whatever and you can just go down a half step or so. I did record a metal song this month by taking my Tele down to drop-C but I probably wouldn’t try going down a fifth or anything
Join the master race and tune open D for church... then you have the opposite problem like me... sometimes I need to go up AND down to accommodate different transpositions! I like the sound of the drop but I do need an up half/whole feature and I’ll have to go the pitchfork route until digitech figures out they like money...
How would this go on an app that says the song has a non-standard tuning, either a little up or down from 440hz, but a capo doesnt fit the bill? Can I use these instead of a capo? I agree that sometimes a little higher via capo doesnt sound best.
Hmm. These are only in half- and whole-note increments, they wouldn't help with getting a song to be 'in between' notes so to speak, like a tuning other than 440. I don't think there's anything that would do that other than just tuning the guitar itself differently.
Two things I would like to see/hear (and I'm not even half way through the video, so maybe I'll be surprised) are: both pedals at once, one fully panned left and the other right; pedals used in combination, to drop an already dropped pitch, such as beyond the Drop's 7th selection. I'm also curious what they sound like with the human voice.
In person, do you ever hear any digital artifacts or sterility in either? I’m interested to know so I can avoid it. In my experience EHX digital isn’t as good as others like Boss or Digitech. Looking for experienced opinions. Regards.
I bought 3 of the drop pedals and every one I got started off great but after a couple months the doubler feature starts to bleed into drop portion. If they fix that it would be priceless,taking one or two guitars instead of 4 or 5 to a gig is way better. Help Digitech please
Pitch Fork is good at what it does but isn't all that great as a detuning pedal. Not because it doesn't sound decent doing it, but because it has limited drop intervals. The fact that you can't go down a minor 3rd is the most annoying.
Makes sense. I always just capo for that - but Digitech did an AMA over on the gear forum this week and a few people were asking for precisely this. It’d be interesting to see if they come up with something eventually that can go up as well.
@@LeFeversAudio The Whammy DT has those same 7 semitones both up and down, but that pedal is BIG because of all the Whammy stuff. So if you don’t need that you’re giving up a lot of pedalboard real estate to get the ability to transpose up or down
I have a Pitch Fork+ and while using it for dropping pitch, I didn’t like the chorus sound that seems to accompany the higher notes. After watching all these UA-cam videos of people saying the Drop was superior, I bought one to replace my PF. Plugged it in both before and after drives and guess what? Still had the same annoying chorus sound on the high notes. Huge disappointment. Low notes tracked well and sounds marginally tighter but not enough to to lose out on the octave up and whammy capabilities of the PF+. Debating whether or not to send back the Drop or just keep it for another board.
Huh - I haven’t had a sound I’d describe as chorus-like with either one. But certainly lots of octave pedals can have a warble to them of the tracking gets dicey, and the pitch fork sounded almost as if it was degrading the signal.
No Expression control on the Digitech, so it's instantly disqualified.The PF has some issues, but they remain a very functional live tool; the bypass isn't great on either design. There are a ton of baritone guitars out there now, and a pedal really doesn't do the sound justice.
There's no circumstance where I'd want to expression-control a detuner like this, but to each their own. I definitely agree that neither pedal sounds particularly close to just having a second guitar, if you can swing it. I don't have a bari but I try to always keep one in at least drop C.
Oh, for sure. Here I'm exclusively interested in lowering the pitch to play in different keys, so I didn't mess with several of the Pitch Fork's features. I just set out to find out which was better at transposing.
Also the Drop is more expensive that the Pitchfork. You should actually compare the Drop with the Pitchfork+ which is the big brother of the Pitchfork and is roughly the same price as the Drop and does a ton more stuff than either pedal and also has the expression pedal option.
I agree, I felt it more as high end bite but drive is a good way to put it too. The Drop sounds better to me and I bet I could make up some of that difference by turning up the drive or the treble on my overdrive or amp, but... if there’s one thing I liked about the Pitch Fork it was that edge it has to it.
Hmm. There's not a lot to the pedal, I just select that first glowing light (the "1") and then make sure the switch isn't set to momentary and the pedal is engaged.
I know this is an old review but it's still a very helpful tool. I was in the market for one of these and there's a distinct difference between them. The Drop to my ears is a way nicer sounding pedal. It's a brighter and cleaner tone, the Pitchfork is definitely a darker sounding pedal, and not as clean and clear. It almost sounds like it's muffled a bit. I went with the Drop by Digitech for the better selection of semitone features, it's clean and clearer overall tone.
@@LeFeversAudio I will be running a Spector NS-2 through it. I know its easy enough to detune a bass but if I don't have to anymore then that's one less thing on a gig to do. I didn't see many good bass reviews for the pedal so I'm wondering how well it will work and if it affects my tone that much. Hmm, I should do my own review.
You’re not wrong, each one definitely has a ‘sound’. The Drop has fewer artifacts but seems a little dull or like it’s losing some high mids or brightness.
Pitchfork is better solely because I just bought one and want to make myself feel better about my purchase.
Honestly that checks out. 👍
Seems to retain the highs (and to a lesser extent gain) a bit better tbh
Haha
I love mine. Getting an EHX expression pedal for it.
Literally me hahaha I’m so happy with it especially the latch function !
Thank you for showing the chart on the interval comparison between the 2 pedals! No other comparison video did this.
Thanks! Honestly I needed to write it up like that to get my head around it myself.
The Digitech Drop is amazing. I did a comparison of a 6 string baritone, and using this pedal dropped to B standard on a regular 6 string. Very similar, and even the sound waves looked nearly identical on a recording.
This is one of the few pitch shifter demos that actually demonstrates more complicated intervals. Plenty of pitch shifters can handle power chords easy but then crap out on major 7ths, it's important to test this out.
One hundred percent, yes. At this point I've had so many pitch shifters fall apart doing 7ths and other intervals, that I basically have a Test List of three or four riffs that I immediately try out on any new octave pedal, and I don't waste my time if it fails on those.
@@LeFeversAudiocurious as to which pedal(s) you ended up with? !
@@dillonlee7430 I went with the Drop, though I'm having regrets about it now since it died last year :(
far and away the best comparison of these two pedals I’ve ever seen. thank you, i knew I was in the right place when you use a telecaster with p90s to check the “metal” tones. 😅
Hahaha! Yeah not my normal heavy music guitar but it works… sorta.
I like how you were giving us a play by play on how you were feeling about the pedals as you went. So many people on these "challenge" videos just play the pedals and don't ever give their opinions until the end, and I feel like this format is much better so we have a better insight to what you're thinking while we are forming our own opinions.
Thanks! Yeah half of these videos are just things I’m wondering about myself, so I use the video as an excuse to try stuff and document my conclusions.
The drop is great! Love mine.
I’m keeping it for sure 👍🏻
Drop D far better. Do not make mistake and go for Pitch Fork. It's not even close if you have a chance to compare on nice studio headphones.
Agreed, much prefer the Drop myself
I love your playing. I'm with you - often times the goal is for players to be able to transpose to all keys... though because of the nature of the guitar and your style that has cool open notes solutions ilike these allow you to do your thing without compromising. I've long been a fan of the Boss PS6 - though truth be told all of this time I think the Pitchfork is more my style and I may need to pull the trigger on one. Thank you for your content.
I have a similar-ish situation. Recently started doing open mic cover sets with a few other people and we're covering a wide range of stuff. I don't wanna retune ANY of my guitars let alone cart a bunch of different ones around for a couple performances a month that aren't that serious. I'd rather just alter the pitch of one guitar. Everything is being run through impulse responses straight through a PA anyway 😂.
I sold my pitchfork when the blend was all the way up it seemed to drop the volume a lot
I like the drop better.
Same.
I could have definitely used a drop on a few Sundays! Some things just don't sound right played higher or when moved down a string because of switching keys from Male/Female lead vocals. I'm gonna look into it for sure!
It’s terrific for short distances - when a vocalist needs something in F# or Db or whatever and you can just go down a half step or so. I did record a metal song this month by taking my Tele down to drop-C but I probably wouldn’t try going down a fifth or anything
@@LeFeversAudio yep, sometimes I just need a step down to be able to play where I want on the fretboard!
Same!
Join the master race and tune open D for church... then you have the opposite problem like me... sometimes I need to go up AND down to accommodate different transpositions! I like the sound of the drop but I do need an up half/whole feature and I’ll have to go the pitchfork route until digitech figures out they like money...
I literally cannot wait to get the Digitech.
I used to own that same guitar… man do I miss it.
Just pay a little extra and get the Pitchfork+ that covers everything and more...
I wonder if it sounds better than this one; the artifacts and degradation on the small pitch fork are a turn off…
How would this go on an app that says the song has a non-standard tuning, either a little up or down from 440hz, but a capo doesnt fit the bill? Can I use these instead of a capo? I agree that sometimes a little higher via capo doesnt sound best.
Hmm. These are only in half- and whole-note increments, they wouldn't help with getting a song to be 'in between' notes so to speak, like a tuning other than 440. I don't think there's anything that would do that other than just tuning the guitar itself differently.
Two things I would like to see/hear (and I'm not even half way through the video, so maybe I'll be surprised) are: both pedals at once, one fully panned left and the other right; pedals used in combination, to drop an already dropped pitch, such as beyond the Drop's 7th selection. I'm also curious what they sound like with the human voice.
In person, do you ever hear any digital artifacts or sterility in either?
I’m interested to know so I can avoid it. In my experience EHX digital isn’t as good as others like Boss or Digitech.
Looking for experienced opinions.
Regards.
I bought 3 of the drop pedals and every one I got started off great but after a couple months the doubler feature starts to bleed into drop portion. If they fix that it would be priceless,taking one or two guitars instead of 4 or 5 to a gig is way better. Help Digitech please
Pitch Fork is good at what it does but isn't all that great as a detuning pedal. Not because it doesn't sound decent doing it, but because it has limited drop intervals. The fact that you can't go down a minor 3rd is the most annoying.
I would get the Drop, but I need something that will also go up a half step. I hope I don't regret getting the Pitchfork. 🤞
Makes sense. I always just capo for that - but Digitech did an AMA over on the gear forum this week and a few people were asking for precisely this. It’d be interesting to see if they come up with something eventually that can go up as well.
@@LeFeversAudio The Whammy DT has those same 7 semitones both up and down, but that pedal is BIG because of all the Whammy stuff. So if you don’t need that you’re giving up a lot of pedalboard real estate to get the ability to transpose up or down
I have a Pitch Fork+ and while using it for dropping pitch, I didn’t like the chorus sound that seems to accompany the higher notes. After watching all these UA-cam videos of people saying the Drop was superior, I bought one to replace my PF. Plugged it in both before and after drives and guess what? Still had the same annoying chorus sound on the high notes. Huge disappointment. Low notes tracked well and sounds marginally tighter but not enough to to lose out on the octave up and whammy capabilities of the PF+. Debating whether or not to send back the Drop or just keep it for another board.
Huh - I haven’t had a sound I’d describe as chorus-like with either one. But certainly lots of octave pedals can have a warble to them of the tracking gets dicey, and the pitch fork sounded almost as if it was degrading the signal.
The biggest disappointment is none of them sounds like a guitar tuned to certain pitch
No Expression control on the Digitech, so it's instantly disqualified.The PF has some issues, but they remain a very functional live tool; the bypass isn't great on either design.
There are a ton of baritone guitars out there now, and a pedal really doesn't do the sound justice.
There's no circumstance where I'd want to expression-control a detuner like this, but to each their own. I definitely agree that neither pedal sounds particularly close to just having a second guitar, if you can swing it. I don't have a bari but I try to always keep one in at least drop C.
You can do a lot more with the Pitch Fork, for one thing you can add an expression pedal and use it as a whammy, the Drop does not have that option.
Oh, for sure. Here I'm exclusively interested in lowering the pitch to play in different keys, so I didn't mess with several of the Pitch Fork's features. I just set out to find out which was better at transposing.
So this pedal can make the tuning up? For example, i play drop C tuning want to change to Drop D. Can i use digitech drop?
I believe the Pitch Fork can go up. Digitech Drop only goes down, so it wouldn't help with going up from drop C to drop D.
How about the latency? I know the DROP has some latency, but usable. How about the Pitchfork one?
I haven't noticed much latency with the Pitchfork, it just has sort of an odd lo-fi sound to it sometimes. But tracking is okay, by and large.
Also the Drop is more expensive that the Pitchfork. You should actually compare the Drop with the Pitchfork+ which is the big brother of the Pitchfork and is roughly the same price as the Drop and does a ton more stuff than either pedal and also has the expression pedal option.
There seems to be more drive with the pitch fork. Or less with the drop! 😁
I agree, I felt it more as high end bite but drive is a good way to put it too. The Drop sounds better to me and I bet I could make up some of that difference by turning up the drive or the treble on my overdrive or amp, but... if there’s one thing I liked about the Pitch Fork it was that edge it has to it.
Can you show the settings for the pitchfork half step drop? I tried what was shown in the upper left but it didn't work for me.
Hmm. There's not a lot to the pedal, I just select that first glowing light (the "1") and then make sure the switch isn't set to momentary and the pedal is engaged.
I know this is an old review but it's still a very helpful tool. I was in the market for one of these and there's a distinct difference between them. The Drop to my ears is a way nicer sounding pedal. It's a brighter and cleaner tone, the Pitchfork is definitely a darker sounding pedal, and not as clean and clear. It almost sounds like it's muffled a bit. I went with the Drop by Digitech for the better selection of semitone features, it's clean and clearer overall tone.
Thanks! I agree with all of that. Neither sounds exactly the same as an unaffected guitar but I thought the Drop was much more natural.
@@LeFeversAudio I will be running a Spector NS-2 through it. I know its easy enough to detune a bass but if I don't have to anymore then that's one less thing on a gig to do. I didn't see many good bass reviews for the pedal so I'm wondering how well it will work and if it affects my tone that much. Hmm, I should do my own review.
Is it me or is there an interesting midrange difference between the two?
You’re not wrong, each one definitely has a ‘sound’. The Drop has fewer artifacts but seems a little dull or like it’s losing some high mids or brightness.