Polyphonic pitch. Perception is everything I guess

[Kruegmeister]

Helix's Poly Capo is fantastic; the only issue is that it eats up a lot of DSP - which is particularly a problem if you're using a Stomp.

IIRC it can take up +50% of a single Helix core.

Yes it's 49% say, which might as well be 50 cause there is no 1% fx...
I had a Helix a while back I used for a number of months between FM3s
Now I keep a Stomp as an Emergency Backup unless my QC is backing up an Actual Tube Amp & on all of my Stomp Presets that I copied to do in case of Needing to drop a 1/2 step have to be quite barebones.
I had a WhammyDT, EHX Pitchfork, FM3 Pre & Post Fixed version, had FM9 Turbo & a Mooer Pitchbox
But the PolyCapo is The best to my ears. The QC one is quite good at Capo, but not PolyCapo good.

TLDR: Yep

 

[Foxmeister]

The QC one is quite good at Capo, but not PolyCapo good.

Has the QC pitch block improved since launch? I found it a warbley mess on chords with clean and overdriven tones, but if you play with a lot of gain, many of the artefacts were masked by the gain.

 

[pipelineaudio]

If you want to feel pain, try the shifter in the Boss GT1000

 

[la szum]

Honestly? I don't like ANY poly pitch effects. They all sound bad to me, across the board. I like monophonic whammy sounds more.

I agree, in theory. I just think for those who do cover gigs sometimes we have to swallow our ideals and compromise.

Especially in a Modern Rock/Metal setting where you may have to do everything from E to Eb to D to C# to C to B.

 

[la szum]

You used to be able to order a body from Warmoth pre-routed for Variax 300 guts. Unfortunately they dropped that option rather than designing anything suited to JTV parts. (The 300 was a much easier transplant because all of the brains were enclosed in a little aluminum box. You could pull that, and the bridge off of a V300, drop it in the Warmoth body, plug in some ribbon cables, and be done.)

Thanks for that. I knew I couldn't be dreaming that shit up. Nice to know my memory
is not always as bad as old me assumes it must be.

 

[mbenigni]

Thanks for that. I knew I couldn't be dreaming that s**t up. Nice to know my memory
is not always as bad as old me assumes it must be.

This reply says terrifying things about my own age. I built one of those guitars and eventually sold it, and all of that feels relatively "recent" to me. To think that it's already "vintage" gear history, getting hazy in other players minds...

 

[la szum]

That's nuts! Pretty sure my first Variax was 2006-7ish. I hated the way it played and was going
drop it (guts) in a nicer guitar.

Wasn't there an actual Forum dedicated to those pursuits, too? Or is that where my memory
is failing me?

 

[mbenigni]

That's nuts! Pretty sure my first Variax was 2006-7ish. I hated the way it played and was going
drop it (guts) in a nicer guitar.

Wasn't there an actual Forum dedicated to those pursuits, too? Or is that where my memory
is failing me?

Yeah, probably more than one. I got (and shared) most of my Variax info from VGuitar forums back then.

 

[mbenigni]

That's nuts! Pretty sure my first Variax was 2006-7ish. I hated the way it played and was going
drop it (guts) in a nicer guitar.

Wasn't there an actual Forum dedicated to those pursuits, too? Or is that where my memory
is failing me?

Turns out I still have a post on Imgur from when I painted and assembled that Variax transplant. Shows the rout, etc. very clearly. I was (as usual) foolish to sell this one.



I still have a Variax 500 that I had someone transplant into a Parker NiteFly (before I had any idea how valuable NiteFly’s would get - Doh!) But I took it apart to try and fix the trem bar mount (they always crack), accidentally bought a non-piezo bridge (wow, what a deal lol) to replace the old one, and wound up with a pile of guitar parts in a gig bag. That’s the guitar in my avatar pic, actually.

 

[Kruegmeister]

Has the QC pitch block improved since launch? I found it a warbley mess on chords with clean and overdriven tones, but if you play with a lot of gain, many of the artefacts were masked by the gain.

Not certain, only used typically for 1/2 Step. It sounded good on its own Clean, which is the true test for me. I have no need in my current band tho

 

[Alex Kenivel]

I had a nice Variax 700 years ago,

Dam u old

Helix Poly Pitch set to Fast ain't so bad. You just gotta start with that block first and build your tone around it to compensate for the tone shift

 

[la szum]

Turns out I still have a post on Imgur from when I painted and assembled that Variax transplant. Shows the rout, etc. very clearly. I was (as usual) foolish to sell this one.



I still have a Variax 500 that I had someone transplant into a Parker NiteFly (before I had any idea how valuable NiteFly’s would get - Doh!) But I took it apart to try and fix the trem bar mount (they always crack), accidentally bought a non-piezo bridge (wow, what a deal lol) to replace the old one, and wound up with a pile of guitar parts in a gig bag. That’s the guitar in my avatar pic, actually.

That's awesome. I am glad I brought up the whole transplant thing---even if it doesn't work for Bob. Led back
in time to some cool memories and cooler pics and stories.

 

[Bob Zaod]

Dam u old

Helix Poly Pitch set to Fast ain't so bad. You just gotta start with that block first and build your tone around it to compensate for the tone shift

Yep I find a simple EQ with a 2db bump at 2k is sufficient for when the poly capo engages. I'm sure it could be fixed even better messing with a parametric eq but I dont have that kind of patience.

 

[DrewJD82]

You can do bends on the Evertune, but even right on the cusp of zone 2>3 .... it still feels a bit different. Like there is a bit of resistance when you first start the bend. Like the bridge is a stoner, finally realising he isn't welcome anymore and it's time to go home.

...okay, that analogy might not work here. Lot of Californians.

This is true and what causes a lot of people to go on the “Evertunes negatively effect bending” trips when all they have to do is turn the f*cking tuning peg an 1/8th of a turn to put it, properly, in zone 2. This is also why I always stress to new Evertune users “Don’t listen to any nonsense about not needing to stretch your strings, you still have to do that”

I think it was in one of the FB groups I’m in, some dudes gets an Evertune and the first days he’s all excitedly posting about how you don’t need to stretch the strings. A week later he’s posting about how he’s selling the guitar because the Evertune sucks and f*cks with bending.

 

[bdrepko]

Same experience here. Which begs the question, why do some say it's terrible? I think it's it's user error.

There are a lot of people using it at low volume where they hear both the down-tuned note and the original note at the same time. As you may guess, this does not sound good. You have to have enough volume so that you dont hear the guitar itself.

 

[Bob Zaod]

There are a lot of people using it at low volume where they hear both the down-tuned note and the original note at the same time. As you may guess, this does not sound good. You have to have enough volume so that you dont hear the guitar itself.

yep even if it's not clearly audible, any hint of the original tuning will make it sound weird.