custom tuning weirdness

[Indianrock2020]

I've noticed that if I put a variax model in my Hd500x patch and do a custom tuning like each string +2 semitones, sometimes it works and other days I get strange sounds almost like a six string model thinks it's a 12-string model.  Going to another setlist or restarting the POD seems to fix it.

 

Electric guitar models seem to do better with these "forced" custom tunings, except for 12 string models like the Chime.

 

For 12 string models I seem to be better off using a capo.

[silverhead]

The most common cause of hearing dissonance with custom tuning is that you are hearing two distinct tones from each string. You hear the alternate-tuned note from the modeling but you can also hear the natural acoustic vibration/pitch of the string without the piezo pickup and internal processing. Your ear is surprisingly good at hearing this natural pitch, and it is being produced/heard at a distance of usually less than two feet. The modeled guitar sound from your amp/speakers is normally much further away from your ears and has to be very loud in order to drown out the natural tone.

 

Not saying that this is necessarily the cause of what you are hearing but it's worth considering. A true test is to record the signal. If the playback of your recording is still dissonant then there is another cause. But if your recording only captures the alternate tuned sound with no double-tone then this is the explanation because the natural string vibration is not recorded.

[snhirsch]

I cannot tell you how many times I've been burned by leakage of the unaltered string sound.  At gigs, my IEM cuts down outside sound levels and I can sometimes hear the natural pitch by bone conduction if the guitar is touching a rib :-).