Re: Any difference between an octaver and a pitch shifter
There are several "octave" pedals. One like an Octavia or Foxx Tone Machine is an analog effect that uses a Ring Modulator to get one octave up, along with seom grit and fuzz. Think of the solo in "Purple Haze" at 1:15 and 1:23-1:35, and Kenny Wayne Sheppard's "Blue on Black" 2:45-3:55. It's a ver "organic" sound, you can hear the upper harmonic over the played note. If you play more than one note at once the ring mod goes nuts and you get a lot of sonic interference.
An analog octave down pedal like an MXR Blue Box or Boss Octave pedal doubles your playing one or two octaves down. Think Jimmy Page of Zeppelin's "Fool in the Rain". 3:52 through pretty much the end of the track.
Something like the Foxrox Octron does both, quite well. Wahwah here has posted a good clip of the Octron in use on his Soundclick account.
Then you have pitch shifters, which are digital. I think they made appearances in the early 80's? Some are "intelegent" and can give you twin lead sounds that follow a diatonic scale in harmony, others are not and always give you a specified interval. Think Yes' "Owner of a Lonely Heart" 2:33-3:02
Pitch shifters can output the original pitch (for harmony) or just the pitch shifted note. Boss has made some compact pedal pitch shifters like the PS-3 and PS-5, and HR-5 I think they are.
Then of course you've got a digital pitch shifter that can change the note with a pedal like the Digitech Whammy. Think Tom Morello in Rage Against the Machine's "Killing in the Name Of" 3:50-4:12.
Most of those only track well with single notes. There is a new range of digital pitch shifters that are polyphonic, they will track chords. Check out samples of the Electro Harmonix POG:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsjIJ_BIsbI
As you can see, there are many ways to make an octave, but none of them really sound alike...
