Best option for transparent harmonies?

[maddnotez]

Not really much of a pedal guy. I use the basic boost, eq and gate so im not well versed in this stuff.

There are a couple of parts in the set where I would like to harmonize a specific riff. 1 guitar band but record with 2 guitar parts for harmonies.

Was looking at an Octave pedal then someone mentioned a Harmonizer pedal.

They both seem like they could get the job done?

Was looking at Boss OC2 or PS6. From the videos I saw the PS6 seemed fitting but not sure.

I dont need any extra options or noises. I just want my same exact tone (hi gain distortion), unaltered as much as possible with an octave or a harmony.

 

[Fishbulb]

Last year I filled in on some shows for my friends’ band - the guitarist recorded a lot of parts using a Whammy pedal for a harmonizer. I didn’t want to drag my Whammy around for this so I got the PS6 thinking it would do the trick.

Honestly I ended up not using it - the harmony it added in Pitch Shift mode always sounded slightly flat to me. I checked with a tuner behind it and sure enough, it was actually a little flat. S Bend is cool for classic Whammy type stuff in a smaller box, and there are the cool pitch detune 80s sounds in there though. Not sure if I got a bad one and others are fine or what.

OC2 is just gonna give you two options as far as one or two octaves down rather than much in the way of different harmonies. It doesn’t track super great either. I had one of these years ago, let someone borrow it and never got it back. People are into them for the glitchy synth sounds you can get out of them (especially on bass) more so than clean octave tracking. I’ve got an OC3 that I used in my bass rig for a long time that tracks way better, but again it’s still just low octaves.

If I cared to look into this much more I’d probably check out the EH Pitch Fork, or maybe some of the smaller Digitech options have this kind of thing, not sure. Polyphonic pitch stuff has certainly come a long way recently. I had dreams of adding all the weird Vai and Holdsworth sounds to my leads, but the PS6 just didn’t cut it for me.

 

[maddnotez]

Last year I filled in on some shows for my friends’ band - the guitarist recorded a lot of parts using a Whammy pedal for a harmonizer. I didn’t want to drag my Whammy around for this so I got the PS6 thinking it would do the trick.

Honestly I ended up not using it - the harmony it added in Pitch Shift mode always sounded slightly flat to me. I checked with a tuner behind it and sure enough, it was actually a little flat. S Bend is cool for classic Whammy type stuff in a smaller box, and there are the cool pitch detune 80s sounds in there though. Not sure if I got a bad one and others are fine or what.

OC2 is just gonna give you two options as far as one or two octaves down rather than much in the way of different harmonies. It doesn’t track super great either. I had one of these years ago, let someone borrow it and never got it back. People are into them for the glitchy synth sounds you can get out of them (especially on bass) more so than clean octave tracking. I’ve got an OC3 that I used in my bass rig for a long time that tracks way better, but again it’s still just low octaves.

If I cared to look into this much more I’d probably check out the EH Pitch Fork, or maybe some of the smaller Digitech options have this kind of thing, not sure. Polyphonic pitch stuff has certainly come a long way recently. I had dreams of adding all the weird Vai and Holdsworth sounds to my leads, but the PS6 just didn’t cut it for me.

This is what makes me want the PS6

 

[DrewJD82]

This is what makes me want the PS6

I’m not too aware of what else is out there for pitch shifting stuff that’s not getting into Eventide/Fractal stuff, but the Digitech Whammy has a bunch of harmonies on it and you can use the treadle to glide between them. There’s a bunch of different harmony settings. The tracking is great and you also get a Whammy in the process!

Vai used the 4th/5th setting on this tune-



There’s a bunch of other shit on that guitar, that’s not the Whammy making it sound synthy, it’s transparent.

 

[maddnotez]

I’m not too aware of what else is out there for pitch shifting stuff that’s not getting into Eventide/Fractal stuff, but the Digitech Whammy has a bunch of harmonies on it and you can use the treadle to glide between them. There’s a bunch of different harmony settings. The tracking is great and you also get a Whammy in the process!

Vai used the 4th/5th setting on this tune-



There’s a bunch of other shit on that guitar, that’s not the Whammy making it sound synthy, it’s transparent.

Thanks, appreciate the feedback and I didn't know the pedal could do all that. Would consider it but it's just way too large for my board, need a regular sized pedal.

 

[DrewJD82]

Thanks, appreciate the feedback and I didn't know the pedal could do all that. Would consider it but it's just way too large for my board, need a regular sized pedal.

It's pretty surprising they've never made a treade-less version with just the harmony stuff on it. They probably figure the juice isn't worth the squeeze in that the build costs them the same whether they're making a Whammy or a non-treadle version but the market would be pissed to pay the same amount for both pedals due to one lacking features.

 

[Skwizzerjumbs]

The HX One is very capable of doing what you want. There are two-part and three-part harmony presets, and pitch shift can do Whammy slides very well with an expression pedal. There's also a footswitch-actuated ramp option, like the Ricochet. MIDI as well, of course. I had one in the loop of my HX Stomp, and sold it because it was feeling redundant. I regret that decision.

Here's a demo: