MusicRadar Verdict
Eventide's expertise with pitch-based effects shines through here. It's pricey but it's worth it.
Pros
- +
Sturdy build. Lots of control available by hand or foot. High quality sonics and effects throughout.
Cons
- -
Not a great deal.
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The Pitch Factor is a stereo-capable FX box that utilises Eventide's high-end effect algorithms, coupled with MIDI (for program changes, clock/tempo sync and control of many front panel parameters) and USB (for software upgrades). It has a simple, clear and uncluttered interface and is built into the same sturdy enclosure as the rest of the Eventide pedal range.
The Pitch Factor can operate at line or amp level and it's a breeze to use. Plus, the display is large enough to read from a distance, very handy when you're on stage. The general feeling here is high quality throughout.
A quick tour round the interface shows that there's plenty of hands on and foot control available, with 11 dials in total, plus three tough-metal stomp switches for active/bypass, tap tempo and bank/preset selection. Further to this, the middle footswitch labelled Flex/Learn adds control over key parameters depending on the mode selected.
Most of the main parameters within each effect can also be expression- or switch-controlled by foot using the expression pedal and aux switch inputs. This enables you to keep both hands on your instrument while tweaking/switching the effects and saves your back too! This is a very versatile box indeed.
There's a huge number of tweakable parameters onboard, ranging from wet/dry mix, pitch for left and right channels, keys/scales/modes and effect depth, to fuzz/octave blend for the octaver, filter cutoff and resonance, delay times, feedback, wave shapes, arpeggiator modes/patterns, beat divisions and speeds, reverb depth for the synthonizer - the list goes on.
Summary
But it's truly a great pleasure getting lost in the sounds this box can provide - you'll soon be transforming a mundane single note into an ethereal and trippy soundscape. Or you can simply beef up and twist monophonic sounds with some of the best harmony/octave/rhythmic-based effects available in a stompbox.
Importantly, the note-tracking is spot on with no glitching or delay between instrument and effect and the effects are as smooth as you like, with none of that awful wobble you sometimes get with inferior pitch-shifting effects. All the effect modes are very impressive sonically, but it's the octaver/ synth and harmodulator/arpeggiator modes that really do it for us.
In particular, the octaver is one of the best we've heard and also doubles as a mean bass guitar synth with a great fuzz built in too. We recommend that any bassists/guitarists check this box out for this feature alone!
Rest assured, though, that there is something to inspire everyone here - there's much more than meets the ear (and the eye) crammed into this box. Eventide has done it once again.
Hear what Pitch Factor can do to a bass sound:
Synthonizer
Harmodulator
Octaver
Quadravox
Diatonic
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