Digitech Drop Pedal

[chris5150]

Anyone tried one with the Axe 3?..I struggle with the VC block, seems to have a bit of a 'phasey' thing going on , esepcially upsets it when you have a 2nd pitch block in the preset for say a dual detune etc> I have many back tracks in Eb some in D etc, was thinking of going guitar-- digitech drop pedal---axe 3..
Anyone done this?.

 

[Budda]

Wouldnt vc or pedal still get the phasing with the dual detune?

 

[Ben Randolph]

The Virtual Capo makes the Drop redundant. I use my Drop with tube amps.

 

[My name is mud]

I use the whammy 5 to drop sometimes because it’s quick , but the sound got a small latency and is darker. It’s ok just to play a song at home or live . I don’t really prefer the virtual capo or the whammy for this application. Globally these tools are not perfect yet. The sound change and the latency yep.I prefer down tune a guitar in the end

 

[2dor]

Anyone tried one with the Axe 3?..I struggle with the VC block, seems to have a bit of a 'phasey' thing going on , esepcially upsets it when you have a 2nd pitch block in the preset for say a dual detune etc> I have many back tracks in Eb some in D etc, was thinking of going guitar-- digitech drop pedal---axe 3..
Anyone done this?.

I still do it but I'm a FM3 user & the Virtual Capo isn't up to the Axe 3's. The DROP does a decent enough job for the use cases you described (between half to 2 steps down). The drawback's that your signal gets digitalized by the Drop, then reconverted to analog (quality loss there because of the lower sample rate), then re-digitalized by the Fractal unit. Just going by this last observation, your best results would technically be by using the path with a minimum amount of digital->analog conversions (so straight into the Axe-Fx).
I'm pretty sure if you set the Tracking to 10 on the Axe-Fx & use a Filter block after (Tilt EQ) to shave of some of the extra low-end, you'll get very close (if not better) to the Drop.

 

[chris5150]

Will have a look at the way the VC is set in some of the new factory presets, I see you say set tracking to 10, I have it on 5, maybe I can improve my VC by messing about a bit with the settings. Never really quite understood why if I put the Pitch block right after the input,set to VC -1 then why would other blocks later in the chain effect it, surely coming out from that block is Eb, so if a later block uses pitch shift for say a chorus effect detune, dont get why it sounds phasey, my experience of VC is it works a lot better in a simple chain with limited effects..but from most of the feedback here there seems little to be gained by using an external drop pedal and I think I need to play with the Axe VC a little more, as I say the factory presets with the drop tuning hopefully will enlighten me thanks

 

[2dor]

Will have a look at the way the VC is set in some of the new factory presets, I see you say set tracking to 10, I have it on 5, maybe I can improve my VC by messing about a bit with the settings, from most of the feedback here there seems little to be gained by using an external drop pedal thanks

Bumping it to 10 will have a very noticeable effect on the quality of the "detune". It should be at least on par with the Digitech Drop.

 

[Dickie Fredericks]

I've done whole gigs with the VC engaged. I started tuning the guitars to Eb though so I could use the block for other stuff.

I find the VC should be as close to the beginning of the chain as possible and (I) put the other pitch block after the amp/cab for other stuff like harmony guitars.

 

[PrestonPrestige]

This is a total newb question, but what exactly does the tracking setting do? Higher setting equals better tracking quality? Does this have noticeable affects on other settings?

Are there ideal settings for the other parameters in the VC as well?

Thanks

 

[2dor]

This is a total newb question, but what exactly does the tracking setting do? Higher setting equals better tracking quality? Does this have noticeable affects on other settings?

Are there ideal settings for the other parameters in the VC as well?

Thanks

Tracking = quality. The higher it is, the better the quality but with a tradeoff in processing power &, on the FM3's earlier releases, increased latency.

 

[PrestonPrestige]

Tracking = quality. The higher it is, the better the quality but with a tradeoff in processing power &, on the FM3's earlier releases, increased latency.

Ah ok sweet I'll have to play around with VC more. I have a WhammyDT that I use for drop tuning and never really had any issues with it so I haven't experimented with replacing it with VC. I wasn't sure if the latency increased with tracking. Thanks

 

[6L6C]

The Virtual Capo makes the Drop redundant. I use my Drop with tube amps.

I do the same as Ben

 

[2dor]

Ah ok sweet I'll have to play around with VC more. I have a WhammyDT that I use for drop tuning and never really had any issues with it so I haven't experimented with replacing it with VC. I wasn't sure if the latency increased with tracking. Thanks

Well, on the latest FM3 release I can set Tracking on 10 and the latency is super manageable (hardly any to be honest, or at least as far as I can detect); the Pitch algorithm benefits from the Axe-Fx's power more than what the FM3's got so your results ought to be even better

 

[PBGas]

I have the Drop on my FM3 for some saving in processing power. I currently have another on my board with my FC12 and it runs into the front of the Axe III. At this point, I'm probably going to take it out of the line and use it with my Katana MKII head as it is my backup. The VC on the III is great!

You will always get some type of artifact because you are essentially sampling a sample of the tone in pitch and them resampling it back at a lower pitch.

 

[jin1995x]

in many cases for metal rhythm purposes i prefer the vc over actually tuning lower on thicker strings, theres just more clarity , on the thinner gauges, especially when you go in 7 -8 string territories like using a 54 and vc 'ing it to A versus using a 64 at A by tuning. it also helps if you prefer higher tension.

i have had cases, where people fail to make out in person or even hearing on camera audio that i am using a vc to play 8 string stuff on my 6 strings that i am actually not tuned so low.

Using axe as an interface it seems there's next to no latency ,felt when using vc first in the chain i also use it with brighter amps . In many cases peq'ing your DI into axe after the shift helps bring back the sparkle you may feel is missing when shifting lower, observing rta differences, between actually tuning low ad using vc on same guitar and try to dial in a curve thats as close as the real tuned thing,

The cleans could be better but thats the case with all technology available for this purpose.

if you tend to use a tonne of lead fx while using vc, 's it may not feel as natural, but again the issue is with , every solution for this. axe 3 pitch shifter is the best all rounder there is, in this regard, as against a physical pedal with very limited possibilities.

 

[jin1995x]

Ah ok sweet I'll have to play around with VC more. I have a WhammyDT that I use for drop tuning and never really had any issues with it so I haven't experimented with replacing it with VC. I wasn't sure if the latency increased with tracking. Thanks

at 10 tracking best quality but more latency, at 0 tracking, extremely low latency, but more artifacts. balance 5 is the best in my experience. but i use it for rhythms mainly.

 

[metallaholic]

Ah ok sweet I'll have to play around with VC more. I have a WhammyDT that I use for drop tuning and never really had any issues with it so I haven't experimented with replacing it with VC. I wasn't sure if the latency increased with tracking. Thanks

You won't miss it. I used the WhammyDT for almost a decade. Now I get by with a pitch block with VC for drop tuning and a second one for the whammy (using a volume curve trick with a pedal so its always on and i can tap the pedal to use with no gaps)