Electro-Harmonix Pitch Fork + Polyphonic
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Too often a recorded sound is not in A-440.
For example a Beatles/Ticket To Ride I've found to be 40 cents below 440 ... which I finally found out with a Peterson strobe tuner app ... free! ... which is yet another lifelong problem my iPhone has solved ... I constantly thought I could't tune! ... and the Shark tuner was wrong!
So I need an analog de-tuner ... and I found one! ...just released!!! ... Electro-Harmonix Pitch Fork + Polyphonic and not too soon! ... 15th September 2020 .. https://guitar.com/news/gear-news/electro-harmonix-pitch-fork-plus.
The Pitch Fork®+ features two independent pitch shifting engines with full control over each. Both will transpose your pitch up or down over a +/- three octave range and detune +/-99 cents. With rock solid tracking, an organic, musical tone and extensive control, it’s your ultimate harmonizer.
So the question is ... can this be a Spark Effect? ... happy to pay for it! $20 seems a good price point.
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Good to see some competition with Digitech, although it looks like this one is also in the US$200 range. Maybe still a bit too steep for my use. The BIAS-FX PitchShifter virtual pedal is decent enough for practicing/noodling w/Eb tuning, albeit with a bit of that nasal "wah" sound. For any final-stage recording, I still do real Eb tuning. But I keep looking at pedals like these more and more.
Too often a recorded sound is not in A-440.
For example a Beatles/Ticket To Ride I've found to be 40 cents below 440 ...
It isn't necessarily instruments being detuned during recording -- engineers (along with the artists) sometimes slightly speed-up/slow-down the master track in post-production to give a desired effect, which also results in the pitch changing slightly for everything. So the song may have been played in-tune, but the pitch for everything may have been changed during post-production -- not explicitly, but as a side effect of the track's speed change.
I know The Police sometimes sped-up tracks, giving them a more unique sound. Rick Beato mentions it in one of his song deep-dives on "Every Little Thing She Does is Magic", and how it's a few cents sharp (likely) because of speed-up, but I also remember reading something about it in a magazine back in the 80's. It wouldn't be too surprising if George Martin slowed-down "Ticket to Ride", since a slower effect suits the more somber track.
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@blueingreen Yes, I mean the track speed is changed. And Yes, Ticket to Ride does indeed lend itself to being slowed.
So does Don't Bother Me, Yesterday, just to name a few.
... and tabs and sheet music should note this ... Ticket to Ride sheet music is in A (maj). That may be what's PLAYED but it's not what is HEARD... the sheet music and tabs should say "minus 40 cents" so that you don't waste time reinventing that wheel if you're a mortal.
But regarding $200 price ... so what ... when you're done with it you'll sell it for $135-$150 ... it will cost you $50+ for 1-2-3? years usage.
And others think that way ... it's sold out everywhere I looked expect for Sweetwater and small shops on Reverb. I bought one minutes after I posted.
I only buy new pedals when a used one isn't available. Not too many moving parts ... I've never had a guitar, guitar pedal or golf club break.
Use and resell.
You want a $2500 guitar? Get it. In five years maybe you'll sell it for $1750 ... $750 for five years (60 months) is $12.50 a month ... call it $15 per month ... fifty cents a day ... which guitar dealer lets you rent a $2500 guitar for fifty cents a day?
