pitchfactor techniques?

[badmelonfarmer]

Hi all,

FINALLY got my hands on a pitchfactor after what seems a lifetime of GAS misery! LOL

Anyhoo… VERY impresive box and opens a ton of options ..BUT, having had a quick play it is clear that my style of playing is not really a great match for some of these presets so I need to have a bit more of a play and figure out whats what before I put it on my live rig.

the preset chart was fairly helpful with some sugestions as to how to get the best out of the presets, ie 1:2 try playing some octaves whilst rocking the expression pedal.

does anyone know of any guides or articles with some basic ideas and advice on playing with harmonizors / pitch shifting devices??

 cheers

BMF

[achaput]

Hi BMF,

I can tell you from my experience that there are two broad styles of harmonizer effects that may require different playing styles. These are delayed harmonies and non-delayed harmonies.  

An example of delayed harmonies is PitchFactor Factory preset 10:1, "VaiBallerina". This features a chromatic 6th and a chromatic 4th with different delay times. The idea is that you play in rhythm with these delays to create an illusion that you are in  fact playing all of the notes being heard when in reality you are playing only 1/3 of them! For the illusion to work you have to play a new note about at the same time that the second delayed harmony is heard. It's not unlike what U2's the Edge does a lot with regular delay, except in this case the delays are pitch-shifted.

You can hear this in the Eventide PitchFactor demo here

For more examples of this you could try searching YouTube for "Vai Ballerina." 

As for preset 1:2, if you play octave notes in the same ryhthm as the delays in that preset then as you rock the expression pedal back and forth you will hear variations in the pitches but with the same rhythm. Again, it comes down to playing in the rhythm of the delays to create the effect. 

The other style I mentioned, non-delayed harmonies, can be heard with PitchFactor factory preset 13:1, "Wyld Stallions Solo".  This type of effect imitates another guitar player playing the same lead line along with you in harmony. This style effect is best suited to solo-lead parts and does not depend on a particular rhythm.    

-Alan

 

[badmelonfarmer]

 Hi Alan,

thanks for taking the time to reply, I will check out your tips.

I have started to get a better grip of it, but it was fairly alien to me!

I guess one of the issues is guys like you make it look so easy in the demos! [:'(]

but seriously, it is an amazing box, in fact all of the factors are just stunning and are really becoming the main part of "my" sound.

keep up the good work guys and thanks again!

Cheers

BMF

[badmelonfarmer]

 ahh, ok just checked out the Vai example and preset 1.2 was one I had got my head round.

Having watched the Vai clip I can see why I was having issues, it is the complete oposite of my style LOL!

The Edge is more my cup of tea, i.e. less is more, so I can see where I need to head with that.

thanks again.

BMF

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