Pitch Shifter Shootout + Opinion: PICO POG vs. NANO POG vs. PITCH FORK vs. RICOCHET vs. DROP vs OC-5

This is Part 1 of a shootout between 6 different Pitch Shifters slash Octave Pedals slash Wammy Pedals.
Featuring (from top left to bottom right):
Electro Harmonix Nano Pog, Electro Harmonix Pico Pog, Electro Harmonic Pitch Fork Pitch Shifter, Digitech Pitch Shifter Whammy Ricochet, Digitech The Drop, Boss Octave OC-5
Please subscribe and hit the notification bell ;-)

[@sevendorval4441]

Excellent shoutout, thanks a lot! Nice to hear your feedback about the tracking while you're playing. Based on other YT tests I hadn't figured out that the Pico Pog was so off compared to its Nano older brother (at least to my ears, it sounds like a contrebass). The Digitecs sound real good too, pity there's no way to have down+up at the same time. The MXR poly blue would have been a great add to this shootout but I guess you can't get all the pedals on the market. Again, great comparison.

[@MadebyMiike]

Thank you! 🙂

[@MeatCatCheesyBlaster]

The drop sounds the best to my ears in most of the scenarios

[@Liam94Smith]

The boss pedal is like a mute switch 😂

[@LeviBulger]

Because he didn't know how to use it, as pointed out in other comments. It is by far the best tracking pedal of all these in my experience

[@gudjen]

Hi, nice video! In which mode ricochet is? To change between Classic and Chords modes, follow these steps: 1. Set the MOMENTARY switch to the OFF position. 2. Press and hold the FOOTSWITCH for at least 3 seconds. The default mode out of the box is Chords and the top 6 TRAJECTORY LEDs will light. 3. While still holding the FOOTSWITCH, move the RANGE switch to either the down position to change to Classic mode (single TRAJECTORY LED lit) or move it to the up position to change to Chords mode (top 6 TRAJECTORY LEDs lit). If the FOOTSWITCH is released before changing modes, the effect will just remain enabled with no change to the mode. 4. Once the mode change is selected, release the FOOTSWITCH. The pedal will return to normal operation and the effect will be enabled in the selected mode.

[@EzyoMusic]

Great video. I'm quite surprised I like the OC-5 as much as I do!

[@erik_210]

The boss would have performed better if you turned the right knob up in poly mode otherwise it tries to track the lowest note and has delay

[@mrholmesly]

Nice! This is exactly the type of video i was searching for! Which one did you like the best? Cheers!

[@matrixstar2767]

Thanks for this. I'm debating this same question. Interesting time stamp for Digitech & EHX 6:11 & 7:13 (where they both struggle) Although, I'm starting to think Digitech makes a more realistic bassy sound. The POGs seem to change the sound too much for what i'm looking for.

[@lewiswilliams344]

Thank you..such an informative and helpful video🤘

[@gwEmbassy]

thanks for the video

[@shaft9000]

Cool...:) EDIT: I'll wait for part 2 nefore impressions/feedback Too bad this just missed the release of the new _ALABS Orbital._ For ~$110 it seems to sound closer in some respects to the H3000 I had than any of these quite get to.

[@CS10015]

Thank you for the video! I was interested in the guitar as bass scenario and it sounds like between the Nano and Pico the Nano doesn't have the upper harmonic that makes it sound more organ-like. You mentioned in part 2 that you would keep the Pico for the better tracking and tone/filter functionality, but I couldn't really tell that the tracking was off on the Nano - is it quite noticeable when you compare the two?

[@MadebyMiike]

So for guitar as bass I would definitely go with the Pico. Not even because the tracking is a little bit better (it is), but because the tone knob is very powerful when you want to shape the sound of your guitar (cut some highs, peak the Bass etc.). For "guitar as Bass" the Pico is the best imo! Thanks for watching!🙂

[@jeant9946]

Hi,which one do you think feels more natural when playing clean or arpeggio?thanks

[@christopherkang5707]

The ricochet has two modes. One for single note(old software) and one for chords(new software) (as long as I know). Which mode did you have it on?

[@Dibdibber]

Thanks :) Best latency ?

[@brozio77]

you may have benn included mooer pitch shifter is not that bad, better than boss for sure in mimiking bass.

[@Channel-io1di]

Why does the boss sound so horrible compared to the other ones and compared to the other videos I've seen on youtube? It doesn't sound like a bass at all.

[@MadebyMiike]

Because other people on YT are trying to sell stuff and they put a lot of effort into making it sound awesome.

[@krispwnsu]

He doesn’t understand what the lowest feature does. It only plays the lowest note in a chord as an octave lower. To get just the single octave down you need to set the dial a little past that point.

[@StephenSmithson]

The way that -2 knob (aka Range when in Poly mode) was set wasn't ideal for most of the sounds. It needs to be set much higher (but not too high, IMO) to sound good. Here's a description of the -2 knob when in Poly mode from the manual: Operates as the RANGE knob. Adjusts the bandwidth of the -1OCT effect. As you turn this knob toward the right, the effect applies to a wider range of frequencies from low to high. As you turn this knob toward the left, the effect is limited to the low-frequency range. If this knob is turned all the way to the left, the effect applies only to the lowest note of the chord.

[@LeviBulger]

​@@MadebyMiikeNo, it's because you don't know how to use it. C'mon man. Way to lose credibility. The Boss has the most realistic bass tone and BY FAR the best tracking ability of all pedals on the market in this realm.

[@thos1618]

What if I told you none of these pedals have any "tracking"?

[@chinmeysway]

i would say “alright e then”

[@thos1618]

@@chinmeysway Well it's true. The way digital pitch shifting is done is more akin to a modulation effect. It's recording while playing back at 2x or 0.5x speed. Much higher latency than analog, but no tracking and therefore polyphonic. When people comment about the 'tracking' on these effects, they usually mean that the fidelity is good, latency feels low and artifacts are tolerable.

[@chinmeysway]

@@thos1618 makes sense! thankyou but one thing dont u mean monophonic? i thought if tracking or whatever you call it is about polyphonic. if that is never quite a thing then ok, seems true far as can tell, but then just one note at a time is possible (without digital artifacts)

[@thos1618]

​@@chinmeysway Most "monophonic" pedals are doing tracking. Most "polyphonic" pedals are not. There are some exceptions though. Most reviewers compliment polyphonic pedals by saying "incredible tracking", when the algorithm is doing no such thing, and it sort of ingrains this "but how's the tracking" question in guitarists heads. With digital pitch shifting pedals, it's really about, how apparent is the latency, what is the fidelity of the resulting sound, do they filter it to sound musical, are the artifacts well hidden? If good, guitarist says "good tracking". If bad, guitarist say "bad tracking".

[@thos1618]

@@slmnv5 That's true. I typed up a long paragraph on Boss' DSP capabilities but then deleted it because it's all conjecture. The others I've owned and I'd bet money they're doing the 'crossfade between two delay lines played back and a modified speed'. They all have the latency and characteristic warble you'd expect from that method. I've had a Drop on my board for a couple years and while it's functional, it's not amazing. The latency and warble are greatly reduced, but still there. The signal is filtered so much it loses a lot of character.