Best effective solution for dropping pitch live....

[The_Kid]

I have an Axe FX Ultra and the pitch shifter allows me to shift without anything really noticeable to the crowd. I hear some issues, but in a full band mix, its not heard.

Anyway, My other guitar player has a G major and while the pitch shifter does it well for single notes, its quite warbly for any sort of chord handling. I looked into the Morpheus pedal and its discontinued at GC and MF.com's.

Are there any other options that I can look into for him?

We would like to not have the set list be limited by some of the tunings certain songs fall into, and there are some songs that unfortunately just have to be in drop C or Standard D to sound right.

Thanks ahead of time.

 

[gbsmusic]

Multiple guitars? Just have him bring a few.

 

[glassjaw7]

The pitch shifting in the POD HD and M series is actually really stable and works well. Better than the Morpheus IMO and I've used both. Just grab an M5 and you're set for cheap!

 

[The_Kid]

we already have multiple guitars for E and then Eb tuning. But for the couple tunes we want to do that are in standard D/Drop C, it doesnt pay to go buy a whole new axe for us weekend warriors. We dont make enough to support 3 guitars at a show. I will check the M5 solution as well...thanks.

any other suggestions?

 

[The_Kid]

Trying to find that M pedal...not finding it...what company is it by?

 

[crankyrayhanky]

even if it sounded good (which I don't think so), these pitch dropping devices would interfere with the guitar vibrations on my body. As long as there's no bar, you can tune a guitar up and down pretty fast during a show, just have to group similar tuned songs together on the set list

 

[The_Kid]

I understand that Cranky, and I've used mine with some pitch shifting and I know what you are referring to. But thats not enough of a detraction for what we are doing. Its a minimal amount of songs, and there isnt any 'controlled feedback' anyway. So really all I need is a good pitch shifting recommendation. I'm sure for the 50-100 people that attend most of the shows my band plays for, not many if any are going to really notice any sort of effects that may be associated with that.

I can research pedals all day, i'm merely looking for peoples experience with different ones to try and pick the best ones available as I dont have a big inventory around me to try out.

 

[richardt4520]

The pitch shifting in the POD HD and M series is actually really stable and works well. Better than the Morpheus IMO and I've used both. Just grab an M5 and you're set for cheap!

Totally true. I've dropped 6 strings down to B with both an M13 and an M9 and it sounded fine. Plus there are some great effects on board. The gtr synth sims are great.

 

[steve_k]

I opt to take 5 or 6 guitars to play live rather than digital down-tuning. We do quite a bit of SOAD, Soundgarden, Slipknot, QOTSA stuff and yeah, it's got to go down to sound right. the Axe II has an effective upgraded drop tune preset but there is still a bit of latency in it. I haven't tried it live though.

Steve

 

[Woodsie]

Digitech Whammy DT

 

[cujo]

Try that new guitar by peavey it does all kinds of tunings!

 

['63-Strat]

The morpheus droptune worked surprisingly well in my experience. I'm sure you could find one used?

 

[glassjaw7]

Try that new guitar by peavey it does all kinds of tunings!

Yup, the Peavey and the Line 6 Tyler Variax would cover it too, but remember, it's a simulated digital output. The actual 'physical' tuning doesn't change so it's pretty much the same as using one of the pitch dropping pedals.

OP, the M5 is made by Line6. The pitch effects are seriously on par with far more expensive units. Not nearly as glitchy as most.

Cranky, I agree about the vibrations thing, but at loud band volumes it's pretty much unnoticeable.

 

[eljodon]

I saw a video on youtube and this guy was doing a shoot out between the Morpheous a Boss and a Beheringer and the Beheriger did a better job than the Boss and it was very close to the Morpheous. I can't remember the model, but the Beheringer is cheap enough that you could try it. Having said that, I have the Morpheous and used it for awhile but I ended up bringing another guitar for D tuning because it just felt weird to me. Here is the video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vbxYnRW6lE

 

[Greazygeo]

Try that new guitar by peavey it does all kinds of tunings!

Yup, the Peavey and the Line 6 Tyler Variax would cover it too, but remember, it's a simulated digital output. The actual 'physical' tuning doesn't change so it's pretty much the same as using one of the pitch dropping pedals.

OP, the M5 is made by Line6. The pitch effects are seriously on par with far more expensive units. Not nearly as glitchy as most.

Cranky, I agree about the vibrations thing, but at loud band volumes it's pretty much unnoticeable.

We just got a few of those Peavey Auto Tune guitars in......Ive been goofing around with them. They actually work pretty well. If I was still gigging, I'd probably use one. The other thing that is nice is playing chords up high are always in tune.

 

[university81]

i use the M9 (larger version of the m5) , and have use the various pitch effects (pitch glide + bass octaver)

for single lines it's fine , but it tends to get a bit glitchy doing chords more than 2 notes or so, which can be a cool effect but i'm thinking that's not what you're after

i haven't tried the morpheus but it seems to be dedicated to exactly what you're after, otherwise i remember getting good results with the digitech gsp1101 to drop 1 step down with gainy stuff

one on ebay atm:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Morpheus-Drop-T ... 20ce7ed6d2

 

[university81]

i also own the behringer us600 and the boss ps-5 , i use them for whammy like effects in t-arm mode due to size constraint, one to go up and one to down,

the behringer pitch effect does sound better, could work i guess , to be fair i haven't tried the specific pitch shift models properly only the t-arm mode,

in this mode there's definite tone suckage with both pedals, the behringer has a slight volume loss which is ok, the boss on the other hand has this somewhat tinny thing going on

in a mix you probably won't notice, but it's apparent when playing alone , if i remember i'll try them out in -1 tone pitch shift down to see

 

[stratotone]

I was in a sabbath tribute, had to cover E, Eb, and C# tunings. Bought a morpheus, any of those devices are going to work the best the closer you are to the original pitch. I could do Eb with no big issues, but C# wasn't that great. It worked ok for an emergency, but sack up and just take three guitars. I wouldn't retune guitars on the fly either because your truss rod is going to move with the different tensions and so is your intonation. So I had a backup for each guitar I took six to the Sabbath trib gigs!

 

[50MkII]

About a week ago, I went in to see if my guitar that was being worked on was completed by my tech. We are always exchanging info back and forth. He showed me what Gibson has just come out with that will auto tune your guitar for you. It is not he same thing as the one they show with one of the tone pots being occupied by a tuning note selectable by the user. It goes on the back of the headstock placed between the tuners on each side of a an LP style guitar, for example. You would simply select the tuning you prefer (via button(s) ) and the tuners automatically tune themselves. You can see the tuners turning quickly as they make the adjustment and it takes all but a couple seconds to do. I am sure some people might baulk at the idea of placing it on the back of the headstock on some of their guitars which is what first went through my mind, but if it is of no concern to you it would seem to make sense to have one non-floating guitar set up this way just for your purpose if you care not to bring a few different guitars along. Spent some time online looking for it but it appears that it is not listed on Gibson's website and I could not find it. I did look at Peavey's one and it is not the same thing as what Gibson has. Good luck.

 

[Woodsie]

http://www2.gibson.com/min-etune/slide-1.html

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