I can admit when I'm wrong. (Virtual Capo content)

Ugly Bunny

Ugly Bunny

Power User
So when the VC was recently updated/released (I forget which), I tried it out and was let down. I went on and on about how I was getting 35-45ms latency and how unusable it was.

I don't know what I'm doing differently now, but playing with it again tuned a half step up, I'm loving it. It sounds good, the latency is virtually un-noticeable, and I can jam to standard-tuned songs on my half-step-down-tuned guitar.

My settings in the pitch block are "Virtual Capo" (obviously), no detune, detector source at Input 1, poly, and tracking at 0.

Again, it ain't perfect, but in a full band situation, it's perfectly usable. I'm jamming along to the Foo Fighters' All My Life without any issues. It's only a little distracting because I'm not playing loud enough to cover up the sound of my strings' acoustic sound.

So, yeah. i was wrong. The virtual capo is a pretty cool tool and I can't imagine another polyphonic pitch shifter doing this job any better. Now, I haven't tried extreme settings, except for cranking the tracking, which introduces more latency and artifacts, but damned if I'm not satisfied with it for a half-step here and there :)

My apologies, Cliff and team.
 
Using the VC instead of a capo for one of our tunes (half a step up).
Great because tuning is always a bit wonky when I use a real capo.
Works great.
 
About 1/4 of our songs are in Eb, so one of the guitars I bring to gigs is tuned down a half step. But we also play one song in F, and I think I'll give the Virtual Capo a try for that one just to give me some open string options on it.
 
TG3K said:
About 1/4 of our songs are in Eb, so one of the guitars I bring to gigs is tuned down a half step. But we also play one song in F, and I think I'll give the Virtual Capo a try for that one just to give me some open string options on it.
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About half the songs my band plays are Eb. I don't use a guitar just for that. P.I.T.A sometimes as one of us occasionally forgets to hit the detune button.
 
Surprised you run tracking at zero. I often run it between 4-6 with little defects. I also run a vol block in parallel tied to a very short ADSR for an open unpitched attack blip.
 
the virtual capo works really well but i don't use it because it stills "sounds" too different to me, even at 1/2 step. if formant shifting ever becomes a reality...
 
∞Fractals said:
I also run a vol block in parallel tied to a very short ADSR for an open unpitched attack blip.
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I've seen this mentioned before but I'm not quite sure I understand. I understand how/why it's necessary, just not how to configure it. I'll dig a little deeper this evening. Thanks! And yeah, I could probably bump tracking up a bit, but I was just testing for the lowest amount of latency possible ;)
 
clusterDuck said:
I am having some huge issues with latency. I have tried to adjust the tracking but it does not do it for me.
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How much are you changing tune? 1/2 step, whole? More? Up or down? For one tune or many?

Also, look up the vol block trick for adding in the attack transient unpitched via a very short adsr.

Like 1,1,3,1 ms, lvl 100%, and threshold to match ( for me between -24 to -15 dB depending on guitar choice).

Frankly imo, the virtual capo is just as good as any other product out there including the drop by Digitech. However I am never really dropping lower than a whole step.
 
clusterDuck said:
I am having some huge issues with latency. I have tried to adjust the tracking but it does not do it for me.
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Honestly, I don't know what I did differently than when I first tried out the VC. My tests were pretty rigorous - just a Input, VC, Amp, Cab, Output block for the test preset, then a Input, Delay, Amp, Cab, Output block for the control preset. And I was legitimately getting 35-45ms.

Maybe show us a preset or setting that's giving you issue; Like I said, I turned tracking way down and, while it still tracks well, it decreased latency. Are you fully updated to most recent firmware? How much latency are you getting? (I tested this by setting the delay block in the control preset to fully wet, minimal repeats, then to the time that felt exactly like the Virtual Capo; for me it came to about 45ms).
 
Decreebass makes a point; there is always some lag for any pitch change. The computer has to listen to a sample first and then convert it (think polyphonic), then output.

All of that takes some time. I don’t know if it’s 45ms, however Cliff has written a few responses here on the forum where you can get the straight skinny from the man himself.

Some folks just can’t ever deal with any latency. Pitch shifting like this ain’t for them.

Real capos and real drops are likely the route if you cannot hang with some of the artifacts and latency.
 
I've started using the virtual capo on a couple of songs our band plays in F. (I "capo" up 1/2 step and it saves my tired old left hand a boatload of barre chords.) Yes, I can feel a bit of latency, but for the songs in question it's not noticeable in the mix at all. That said, I play a Roland GR-55 on other songs, so I've learned to deal with occasional latency. My advice to anyone thinking about using the virtual capo is to try it on specific songs in a band setting, and see how it works in the mix.

We also do a number of songs in Eb, and on some of them, I really don't want any latency at all, so I'll continue to bring an Eb guitar to use for those songs.
 
Yeah. The VC is probably not the tool you want to use to practice 64th note sweeps at 170bpm - but in a full-band context it can work well.
 
ducmike said:
I use it for a 1/2 step down for a couple songs. Works perfectly for me.
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I also use it full step down for Motley Crue songs - sometimes it bugs me when I'm practicing, but I've never had an issue with the band at full volume.
 
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