Pitch Wham Questions

[DarrellM5]

Recently I walked into the deal of a lifetime where I got the chance to buy a persons entire collection of guitar and bass equipment for an unbelievably low price.  Nothing super high-dollar but worth about 4x what he asked.  I've been going through and checking out all of the stuff to decide what to keep and what to sell.

 

One of the items is a mint condition Digitech Whammy 4V.  I've sort of always wanted one but I know that the Helix Pitch Wham effect is based on one of the Digitech Whammy models.  I spent some time tonight directly comparing the model to the real thing and Helix is spot on for the features that I understand.  Pitch shifting is new to me so I don't have a firm grasp of it yet.

 

My first question is can Helix do everything the pedal does (the Whammy, Harmony and Detune functions)?

 

Is there any reason to keep the Digitech given what Helix can do?

[aepoc]

Good question.  I'd like to know more on this too.

[GlennDeLaune]

It can do Octaver very well and whammy very well but not Detune because it doesn't have Micro increments or "Cents". it only goes by half steps. The M series and all the PODS could do the Micro tuning to get that 80's pitchshifted/chorusy tone but not Helix. They'll probably add that functionality later. You can use a Chorus at the very end of the chain with the depth all the way up and the rate just around 1 or 2% to create a sort of detuned effect.

[Joepeggio]

Its actually does detuning.  It was in a post a while ago. 

 

Put in a pitch wham block. 

Set -1 and +1 on the Heel and toe pitch respectively.

Mix 50% (equal amount of thru and detune signal) or to taste.

level - 0

 

The position knob above or below 50% will give you the % from 0 to -1 or +1 semitone.  2 cents per %

    If you want 1 cent per % you need to go from 0 to 1 or -1 to 0 instead if -1 to +1.

 

Unassign the expression pedal below.....

 

     Go to Footswitch Assign and turn dial to set "none"

     Go to  Controller Assign and â€‹set controller to "none"

 

Then I set a footswitch to turn effect on or off.

[retroLS1]

Its actually does detuning.  It was in a post a while ago. 

 

Put in a pitch wham block. 

Set -1 and +1 on the Heel and toe pitch respectively.

Mix 50% (equal amount of thru and detune signal) or to taste.

level - 0

 

The position knob above or below 50% will give you the % from 0 to -1 or +1 semitone.  2 cents per %

    If you want 1 cent per % you need to go from 0 to 1 or -1 to 0 instead if -1 to +1.

 

Unassign the expression pedal below.....

 

     Go to Footswitch Assign and turn dial to set "none"

     Go to  Controller Assign and â€‹set controller to "none"

 

Then I set a footswitch to turn effect on or off.

 

I have a footswitch set up for 1/2 step down and I have it set up -1 on both heel and toe, mix at 100%... I accidentally left it at 50% when I first made it and it sounded awful with half of the original signal coming through. Found out what I did and changed it to 100 and it works great. 

[Joepeggio]

I have a footswitch set up for 1/2 step down and I have it set up -1 on both heel and toe, mix at 100%... I accidentally left it at 50% when I first made it and it sounded awful with half of the original signal coming through. Found out what I did and changed it to 100 and it works great. 

 

This is a good point Retro, if being used as a key changer. 

In the scenario above, I am using the Pitch Wham to just shift (detune) the signal a few cents, creating a chorus like effect without the modulation.  Its gives a thicker tone like double tracking.

[retroLS1]

This is a good point Retro, if being used as a key changer. 

In the scenario above, I am using the Pitch Wham to just shift (detune) the signal a few cents, creating a chorus like effect without the modulation.  Its gives a thicker tone like double tracking.

 

Makes sense then! Great having the flexibility to do both (and much more) on the Helix. 

[DarrellM5]

Thanks for all the replies.  The Whammy 4V is now up for sale.