Octave Pedals

[BlackhawkRise]

In general do more psychadelic tracks use octave down or octave up?

I know Prince used a lot of octave down, but I'm looking for an analog octave pedal and don't know how much I'll need a +1 octave.

 

[hamerfan]

I can‘t tell you but my impression was that i gel more with an octave down that with ups. Since they often sound like a synth, some people use it with a fuzz.
I tend to buy a cheaper flexible multimode pedal like a Mooer Pure Octave before i settle to a specialised pedal. Just a thought.

 

[jeremy]

i have one of each, both cool, but obviously pretty different. the boss oc2 is one or two octaves down with some synthy qualities. cool for fat solos. the silver fox is a foxx machine type thing so fuzz plus octave up. not for the faint of heart but can really liven up solos. neither is great for more than one or two notes at once. the oc2 doesnt track well with more than single notes and the silver foxx will make a horrendous noise if you try and play to many notes at once.

 

[beaubrummels]

Analog octave down always sounded bad to me; the tracking wasn't good and the resulting sound warbled and sounded like pig farts in mud.

Just like how quality goes down when you slow down a record, but quality goes up if you speed up a record. Digital can recreate the longer wave with higher quality/fidelity.

 

[Mincer]

Traditional tracks were mostly +1. But these days, get a smart pitch shifting pedal because it can do so much more.

 

[BlackhawkRise]

Any good examples of psychadelic songs that used them in particular prominence? Both octave up and down?

I'm borrowing a friend's OC-5 for now, but I can't quite figure out what the best playing style for it is.

 

[Ascension]

Not cheap not analog and much more than just an octave pedal the best I have ever heard at octaves by far is the Neunaber Illunine.
Demo and these pedals are awesome!!

 

[Chistopher]

Now that is a cool looking pedal. Great sounding too. How much does one set you back?

I'd say a OC-5 is more than easy enough to experiment with at most guitar stores. Try one out in both vintage and poly mode.

 

[akozols]

I just got a Digitech Ricochet last week. It has an many intervals including oct up and oct -12 and -24. It has a latch mode where you hold the pitch when you hit the footswitch and have to hit the switch again to return to normal pitch. This mode has true bypass.

The other mode is where the footswitch will go to the selected pitch for as long as you hold the footswitch down. This mode has some pros and cons. The pro is that you can get the cool.whammy effects. The con is that even when the effect is not engaged, the normal note sounds digital. It's sounds like that in this mode, everything gets put through digital processing. It does not do this in the latch mode.

I decided to keep the unit and run it only in latch mode. I've gotten pretty good at getting the whammy sounds by hitting the switch twice.

Any questions, feel free to ask.

 

[jeremy]

i think the neunaber is like $480 street price new?

 

[beaubrummels]

Any good examples of psychadelic songs that used them in particular prominence? Both octave up and down?

I'm borrowing a friend's OC-5 for now, but I can't quite figure out what the best playing style for it is.

Good examples aren't always psychedelic, but here you go...

Octave down. Start at 3:50

Octave up. Start at 1:20. (The other parts that aren't the solo where you hear octaves are him playing octaves, not an effect.)