Here’s the first teaser for our new Pitch Magpie pedal, a pitch shifter that aims to capture the best of the weirdest pitch shifters from the 90s…
Background
For the past couple years, we’ve been trying to make a delay-based pitch shifter that sounds good. It hasn’t been easy. There’s a reason that most pitch shifters have switched to FFT-based algorithms: latency. There’s a reason the monophonic Whammy is more popular than the delay-based PS3. Usually, to make a delay-based shifter sound decent, you need to use long delay times, which creates some serious latency. That’s fine for organ type effects, but it can be pretty limiting. In contrast, reduce that latency too much and you’ve got a metallic ring mod, especially on the lowest string of the guitar. But with some tweaking and some crossfade tricks, we think we’ve found the perfect middle ground. And although there’s still a tiny bit of lag, you probably won’t care once you add the filters or vibrato haha!
Why filters and vibrato? Well, when I have used those old delay-based shifters, I always thought they sounded best when combined with other pedals — especially for creating special effects! So I though: what if those effects were combined with the shifter? Not just slapped on after the pitch shifting circuit, but actually integrated into the circuit, so that turning up the feedback (“overtone”) effects the filter or the vibrato too. The results were even better than we hoped! Sure, it’s nice that the pedal can double as a random chorus or a modulated highpass with the pitch shifter section disabled. But turn on the pitch shifter, and the resonance of the filter and the overtones of the pitch shifter start to interact as you turn up the feedback. And if you set the shifter near minimum with high feedback, you get all sorts of comb filter effects. With just a few knobs, the possibilities are really surprising!
Features
It’s hard to express how many ideas and variables we packed into the Pitch Magpie. But the three modes are a start. Each is based around the same core pitch shifter, but each offers a unique effect:
- Glis Mode (“glissando”) generates an auto-slide, adding a pitch slide when the input signal goes over a certain threshold (think: Hounds). The slide time is controlled by the param knob, which also selects between two slide shapes (basic or U-shaped).
- Res Mode applies a resonant filter, selectable between lowpass and highpass with random modulation options. There’s always a bit of resonance, but turning up the overtone knob adds even more, with feedback and oscillation at extreme high settings.
- Vib Mode applies vibrato to the the wet signal. Setting the pitch knob to center bypasses the pitch shifter, allowing you to create chorus effects by blending the dry signal. It can even work as a random vibrato (tape warble) with the param knob at max.
With all of our pedals, we try to keep the controls as concise and performance-friendly as possible. We could easily make this kind of pedal with a ton of knobs. But we wanted to find sweet spots and make it quick to move between them. Though we also made sure to give enough adjustment for things to get weird!
The Pitch Magpie's Param knob on takes this idea to the extreme. The knob is most dramatic on the Res mode: left of center, it controls the frequency of a lowpass filter; right of center, it controls the frequency of a highpass filter. But set the knob to minimum and it randomly modulates the frequency of the lowpass. As maximum, it does the same for the highpass.
The Pitch knob is quantized to the semitone, offering 31 distinct settings. For continuous pitch control (for whammy-style effects or microtonal adjustments), the expression input can be used.
As on the Oxford Drive and EQ-201, the footswitch is configured for “flexible” bypass. Tap the switch briefly to turn the pedal on and off. But hold down the footswitch, and it was act as a momentary switch, keeping the pedal active until you release it. This seems particularly useful with this pedal, especially on more chaotic settings. You can also alternate the default bypass state of the pedal by holding down the footswitch while plugging in the power jack.