Down tuning with Pitch block, III vs. II

Roadrunner

Roadrunner

Power User
Hi all.

Until I will have the III, I got few question for those of you who use pitch block for down tuning the guitar.
How is the tracking compared to the II? Form my experience I’ve used it with the II many times, specially for live application, it works good enough for distorted sound but not so well for cleans, If you strum not so hard, you could actually here the note “breaking” in the middle as the machine was “hesitating” on the note it should play.

Another thing that interest me, since we have channels and scenes, can you use different pitch settings for each channel and scene on the same block?

Thanks.
 
I would be interested in what others think - but my opinion is that the pitch is the same on the III as on the II - usable but not great as you noted. Perhaps in future versions of the operating system they can get that better - EHX has cheap pedals that do the pitch thing way better with much less processing power than the FXIII. Regarding scenes - each scene has to have the same blocks - but any parameter inside a block can be changed by calling up different channels within the blocks. I didnt think this would be a big deal for me - but this arrangement is really fantastic! For the most part I only use ONE patch that has 8 scenes - the advantage over simply having 8 patches is that you can alter reverb or delay blocks and the changes apply to every scene within the patch and all scene names are displayed in the home screenn. It is very handy - I dont even use a footpedal any more- just scroll through the scene names displayed on the screen from the front panel. It will be even better when they implement a "performance mode" as has been talked about. Note that your limitation on how many pitch settings you can get will be the 4 channel limit - I got around it with the amp block by having two amp blocks in series in my patch with one - so one amp is always bypassed with the active amp giving 4 channels.
 
Even though the Axe Ii and III droptune sounds perfectly acceptable, I prefer using the DigiTech Drop pre-Axe at least for a 1/2 step drop down E to Eb. Yes, if you are playing with low volume you will hear the E tuning, but "pump up the volume" and no problem. Note - I'm not playing live so I may not be as critical.

I also use a Line6 M13 using the whammy as a droptune and again, works for me. I did set up the droptune feature in the Axe for some patches (usually the EVH stock or third-party) since I tune in standard. Took a while to figure out that block (I had to lower myself to RTFM), but sounds great as well.

Always a trade off between convenience and lugging another guitar to a gig.
 
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Still using the Digitech drop. The Axe down tuning is good in a pinch though. What a great marketing move if Fractal created a drop tuna block!
 
I didn't like the pitch transposing in the Axe FX II XL+ and didn't use it to down-tune. In the III, I think it is much improved as far as responsiveness goes. There is still some latency that you can feel, but you cannot hear. That is to say, I feel like I can hear it, but no one else can (other band members at rehearsal when asked to listen for it or friends/people at shows). I can't hear it in the video playback of gigs. So, I'm pretty sure it's psychosomatic.

I only drop a 1/2 step from Eb > D, so YMMV. I have been considering checking The Drop. I do hope Fractal discovers some way to perfect the whole downtuning/pitch-transposer thing with a future update.
 
I am not able to use it. I did a comparison of the between the pitch drop on the AXE3 and the Digitech "The Drop" pedal. I placed it first block in the chain as I do with The Drop. I tried during sound check at a show at stage volume. I was not able to get the AXE3 to sound as good. It may be possible, but I have not been able to.
 
Wasn't a fan with trying to use my AXEFXIII to drop the pitch of the whole guitar. I feel the latency, and it kills the vibe for me. I usually bring too many guitars to shows anyways, so it doesn't bother me to grab an extra one or two.
 
Thanks guys.

I play many low tuning so this is used often in my rig and on my old setup with the II, I had few presets dedicated to lower tuning only.
It works good enough in live situation when you have the volume up anyway…

Compering the sound I used to get from the II to the DigiTech drop, I think I can hear the same problem, its working nice for heavy distorted sounds but "breaks" on cleans, listen here on 03:10:



I can hear the "hesitance" that happens on cleans when you strum light, I don't think the drop is any better.
Probably will continue with the drop tuning "in the box" (III).
Heaving the option to change settings (tune) from scene to scene on the same block (pitch) is great.
 
For those missing the attack, use the VOL block trick for letting 2-3 ms of the unchanged (no pitch) attack through via a short adsr trigger on the VOL modifier. Brings back the immediacy to the drop-tune.

(Adjust threshold to get it working properly. For me, it’s somewhere a between -30 to -15 dB.)

I used to do it on two, and now I do it on the three. Solves that problem ASAP.
 
There are a lot of great things about the Axe FX 3 but the pitch block is not one of them. I was hoping to not need to add an H9 to my rig. Unfortunately I had to because the pitch block is pretty much useless for me.
 
gweston said:
There are a lot of great things about the Axe FX 3 but the pitch block is not one of them. I was hoping to not need to add an H9 to my rig. Unfortunately I had to because the pitch block is pretty much useless for me.
Click to expand...
Does the H9 do drop tuning well?
 
∞Fractals said:
For those missing the attack, use the VOL block trick for letting 2-3 ms of the unchanged (no pitch) attack through via a short adsr trigger on the VOL modifier. Brings back the immediacy to the drop-tune.

(Adjust threshold to get it working properly. For me, it’s somewhere a between -30 to -15 dB.)

I used to do it on two, and now I do it on the three. Solves that problem ASAP.
Click to expand...
Interesting, would you happen to have a patch that contained this setup? Thank very much!

D
 
While the Axe Fx III is superior in terms of raw amp sounds and most effects, the pitch block in competitors like the Kemper is much more appealing to me. I also can't find a difference between the II and III in this regards. YMMV.
 
Never liked the pitch block. I have an Eventide h8000 and nothing will touch it
at this point...I hope in the future that changes.
 
ColemanEuclid said:
Wasn't a fan with trying to use my AXEFXIII to drop the pitch of the whole guitar. I feel the latency, and it kills the vibe for me. I usually bring too many guitars to shows anyways, so it doesn't bother me to grab an extra one or two.
Click to expand...

Yeah, the latency is not enjoyable. We only do one song with the downtuning and I use guitars with floyds, I've been trying to avoid bringing two more guitars to every gig for one song. I have done the whole 'bring one more guitar, using the downtune patch as a backup in place of a second guitar' thing, and between inconveniences, just using the patch is the lesser of two evils for me. I'll probably reconsider, if we start doing more downtuned songs in the set.
 
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