Let's talk pitch shifters

[Ordacleaphobia]

So I've never used any kind of pedal before since I could always get what I needed out of my AxeFX.
But there's a song I want to learn that has a couple of parts where they pitch shift down a full octave, which obviously I can't do in real time without some sort of pedal. This has got me scoping out pitch shifters since I've been curious about toying around with one of these for a while now as this is far from the first time I've ran into this.

But I have no idea what to look for, what to be wary of, etc, so I wanted to poll the group. From what I can tell, shifting pitch is usually pretty reliable for a couple of semitones but something like the full octave described above can be tricky for some units to handle, is that right? Is this a latency thing or a tone integrity thing? The DigiTech Whammy seems to be the go-to but I'm not sure if that's because of value proposition / quality dominance / name recognition etc. Pedals and effects are totally not my world.

So....what's your favorite pitch shifter? What made it good? What pitfalls did you run into, if any? Is this one of those things where cost really does buy quality, or are they all pretty much the same and it's down to a matter of build quality / form factor / branding?

 

[Crungy]

I'd take what the AxeFx can do over a pedal.

You'd just need controller of some kind... I think you'd be able to do that easily with your Axe. As far as which controller I'm not sure as I don't have one but would like to get one at some point.

 

[PuckishGuitar]

Pretty sure the Axe has a great block for pitch shifting, but I’d imagine it’s DSP heavy. Being able to run entirely independent of the Axe’s processor is probably the biggest advantage of a Digitech Whammy pedal. If it’s just a straight octave change then there may be simpler options also, and not need an expression pedal but just a scene change.

For an expression pedal though can try looking at Mission:
https://missionengineering.com/shop/sp-1/

 

[budda]

Get a latching switch to toggle on and off?

 

[Ordacleaphobia]

Get a latching switch to toggle on and off?

Yeah if the built-in shifter is as good as anything you'd find wrapped up in a pedal somewhere, it sounds like this may be the best option.
I've actually never toyed with it because I'm a "have a guitar set up for every tuning you play in" guy so without a pedal to toggle for realtime usage I never really had a reason to.

 

[budda]

Yeah if the built-in shifter is as good as anything you'd find wrapped up in a pedal somewhere, it sounds like this may be the best option.
I've actually never toyed with it because I'm a "have a guitar set up for every tuning you play in" guy so without a pedal to toggle for realtime usage I never really had a reason to.

Maybe try it first

 

[spawnofthesith]

I only have 6 strings these days, but my band has a few songs where I do fake drop E fakedjent parts using the poly capo on my HX stomp. Its surprisingly solid a full octave down. maybe some mild latency in tracking but not enough for it to be a problem. Does it sound as good as an actual 8 string? no but I find it to be good enough for live (its also in the HX one which isn't that much more expensive than a digitech drop and does a whole lote more)

 

[Jotun@]

I’ve used a Digitech whammy 3 and now use a boss harmonist 6. I like both, but definitely feel a deep digital aspect to the shifted tones. If used in the context of delays and reverbs, it actually works really well. I’d note I tend to use subtle settings on the boss, and feel it sounds the best this way. It doesn’t sub for like a drop shift style pedal like the whammy does as well. Also, it isn’t polyphonic on all settings.
The boss does a lot and pretty well, and is relatively cheap.
I’m interested in trying a pog2/3 and seeing how it stacks up.