So I bought a Digitech Drop...

ezvictor

ezvictor

Inspired
I primarily use it for 1/2 step/Eb tuning. Axe FX II mkII btw
After a few hours of A/B-ing the Fractal "Fixed Harmony" Pitch Block and the Digitech "Drop" pedal, I have come to the conclusion that the Drop does a better job. Both tone and feel are improved with the Drop pedal. This is good because I have never really been satisfied with the sound of the fixed harmony pitch block in the Axe Fx. At the same time its bad becuause now I have more gear I need to take care of and carry to and from gigs..AAAND the Drop requires a special power supply. meh
I hope future Axe FX firmware updates can resolve the latency and tone issues of the fixed harmony pitch block. I have tried various things to improve the sound of the axe fx pitch block but the Drop simply does a better job especially at cleans and mild overdriven sounds.

Sorry guys. But for those of you looking for a solution that doesn't involve having another guitar at the ready on stage, the Drop is a damned good solution.

I'll try and post an audio track when I get the computer again for more than 5 minutes... Darn family always using the computer.
 
ezvictor said:
I primarily use it for 1/2 step/Eb tuning. Axe FX II mkII btw
After a few hours of A/B-ing the Fractal "Fixed Harmony" Pitch Block and the Digitech "Drop" pedal, I have come to the conclusion that the Drop does a better job. Both tone and feel are improved with the Drop pedal. This is good because I have never really been satisfied with the sound of the fixed harmony pitch block in the Axe Fx. At the same time its bad becuause now I have more gear I need to take care of and carry to and from gigs..AAAND the Drop requires a special power supply. meh
I hope future Axe FX firmware updates can resolve the latency and tone issues of the fixed harmony pitch block. I have tried various things to improve the sound of the axe fx pitch block but the Drop simply does a better job especially at cleans and mild overdriven sounds.

Sorry guys. But for those of you looking for a solution that doesn't involve having another guitar at the ready on stage, the Drop is a damned good solution.

I'll try and post an audio track when I get the computer again for more than 5 minutes... Darn family always using the computer.
Click to expand...

Did you try using "local source" instead of "global" in the pitch block to reduce latency?
https://wiki.fractalaudio.com/axefx2/index.php?title=Pitch_block#Source:_Global_or_Local

I also use polyphonic tracking.

For me, the "local source" was a game changer.

I have a Digitech Whammy Drop Tune that I suppose to have the same sound as your drop pedal.
I've A/B'ed Digitech with Axe Fx 2 and couldn't tell which one was the best overall. They sound different from each other and both has some flaws. Digitech has less latency, but for me Axe has better sound. I decided to keep Axe and avoid the mess of extra PS and cabling for Digitech.

Maybe is just a matter of taste, but I was wondering if you tried to change the "source" setting.
 
George Koerich said:
Did you try using "local source" instead of "global" in the pitch block to reduce latency?
https://wiki.fractalaudio.com/axefx2/index.php?title=Pitch_block#Source:_Global_or_Local

I also use polyphonic tracking.

For me, the "local source" was a game changer.

I have a Digitech Whammy Drop Tune that I suppose to have the same sound as your drop pedal.
I've A/B'ed Digitech with Axe Fx 2 and couldn't tell which one was the best overall. They sound different from each other and both has some flaws. Digitech has less latency, but for me Axe has better sound. I decided to keep Axe and avoid the mess of extra PS and cabling for Digitech.

Maybe is just a matter of taste, but I was wondering if you tried to change the "source" setting.
Click to expand...
I have a Digi Drop and always favored it over the Fixed Harm Pitch. I didn't know about local vs global, and it DOES make a difference. Local is much tighter. I also didn't see that there is a high cut on that page that defaulted to 9k or so. When I kicked that up a bit the high that I was losing used the Pitch block was highly reduced. I also reduced the Track Adjustment and that made for a much more realistic drop tune. I gotta say, making those changes makes it very very close and in some applications, better. High gain stuff the difference isn't too big but now I favor the Pitch block for low gain and acoustic stuff. Thanks for the tip!!
 
I use a Trex fuel tank to power my drop, wireless receiver, tuner and A/B box on my pedal board.
It also did a bunch of pedals back in my pre-fractal days.
No special power needed for the drop, just make sure you have enough current available.

(Shure wireless I had to make a custom cable to reverse the polarity, and it runs on 12V output of the Trex classic)
 
You can hear it for yourself. The difference is most apparent on cleaner patches. This is a very basic Jcm800 patch with ML Brit Flattest Mix as the IR. ----PIT - AMP - CAB - REV---- No Gate No post Processing. Noise and all. I roll the guitar volume down a bit to clean up in the quack position (2) "Bridge/middle" of my suhr modern GG spec'd....

Obviously the first part is no Pitch effect.

 
Here is with the guitar's volume all the way...More gain.

Difference not as obvious.
And...as anyone who has messed around with either of these features will say...Its not so much the tone that is different especially between the fractal and the digitech, its the feel. The higher gain covers up some of the strange dissolve or fade away that the fractal has. IMHO
 
I recently picked up an Electro Harmonix Pitchfork and I like it a lot better than using a pitch block as well. It feels like there's a lot less latency. The pitchfork takes standard 9v centre negative power as an added bonus. My only annoyance with it is that it always power on in enabled state so I have to disable every time I power on. Not a major drama by any stretch.
 
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I have a whammy DT mounted and powered in my rack. It's midi so I just control it with the floor board I have.....not sure if just the drop pedal has midi to do it this way.
 
I'm guessing that the first tuned down part is Drop and the second are FRACTAL.

I'm using FRACTAL fixed harmony a lot, with some tweaking, it can be good enough for live situation.
The problem is that the sound / notes "lose power" as lower you go with the tuning / the cleanest you go.
I used to play Alice In Chains stuff and when played the clean parts, it always felt to me like I'm missing a note here and there, you actually need to strum hard to make it sound full in clean.
I was thinking to get the Drop or Pitchfork for long time but I carry no pedals and play wireless and adding a single pedal = mess with the setup again.
An option is maybe throw it in the back of the rack and insert it to the FX loop so I can kick it in the preset when I need it from the midi board, will see.
 
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