Let's devote a few moments to Boss Pitch Shifters

[Psyre]

Can we discuss the differences in the PS-2,3,5, and 6?

Also, is there a pitch shifter on the market that can get anywhere near the Eventide H910 or H949?

[D.o.S.]

The PS-2 and -3 have "character", in that they sound really fucking cool because of their quirks, particularly in manual mode. Jeff Caxide used a ton of PS-3 during his time with ISIS.

[Psyre]

How do the 2 and 3 compare?

[rfurtkamp]

I used a PS-2 back in the day largely because at the time a 2 second delay in a pedal wasn't a thing you could just normally get.

Pitch-shifting was ..synthetic.

And mostly a gimmick while recording.

[oscillateur]

I've got 3 PS-3s and I'm almost considering getting another one if I happen to find a cheap enough one. I don't use more than two on the same board though but they're useful for all kinds of setups so I like having them all over the place.

Good delays (with nice glitchy behaviour when you move the time knob), excellent chorus with the dual detune, cool reverse-ish delay in mode7 with no pitch shifting, and obviously very cool pitch shifting modes.

For pure pitch shifting, something like an EHX Pitchfork is probably better but the PS-3 is just full of interesting things, there's always a good way to use them in any setup...

[Hobbes96]

I'm still kicking myself over selling my PS-5. I really want one, but I also want to pay less than $60 for it. The PS-3 is also dope. I use mine on mode 6 for a kind of pog-ish synth organ sound. After reverb, it's basically a ghetto space station sound.

[fcknoise]

ghetto space station .

futuristisc hip-hop collective name

[sergiomunoz74]

I have 3 PS-2s and I prefer them for their glitchy weird pitchshifting but I do use their delay here and there. The shifting is very synthetic but thats the reason I love it so much, it has a really strange quality and usually have one or two in my setup at any time. I wanna buy a PS-3 someday if I ever see one for cheap though.

[greenmario]

I used to run an overdriven reverse delay into a PS5 and it would create these great crazy noises that sounded like mario getting high for the first time.

[Ghost Hip]

How do the 2 and 3 compare?

I tried typing something out but I just made a video instead!



and here is a more fun video of me making noisy loops with both of them.



I also would like to say these two pedals along with the digiverb really got me into sounding more digital and becoming less attached to sounding "analog" or "organic."

[Antlerface]

Cool vidja mang. Thanks for that!

[Pete]

Thanks for that video, PumpkinPieces! Cool stuff.

[mysteryroach]

I know this is a thread about Boss pitch-shifters, so sorry for the derail. But can anyone tell me if there's any other expression controlled pitch shifters apart from the Boss ones? Preferably with 1590b-sized with all top-jacks?

[ProCarsteNation]

recently favored for faux-bass on this very channel:

RAIIIIIL AWAY! DREAM YOUR DREAMS!!

pitch-fork.png (294.91 KiB) Viewed 2437 times

[onyxrhino]

How do the 2 and 3 compare?

I tried typing something out but I just made a video instead!

Awesome video! Very useful and informative.

I've owned (and sold) all the Boss Pitch Shifters. I miss the PS-2 the most. It had the coolest noise applications, but because the effects were so distinct/unique, it was tricky to work into songs. The PS-3, on the other hand, was a handy modulation tool all over the dial, but I found myself sounding a bit too predictably "ambient pretty" with it.

The annoying thing with Boss pitch shifters is that each one does something really cool that the others don't (and that is hard to find in any other pedal really). The PS-2 has the crazy digital noise oscillations and the weird laser sounds. The PS-3 does the reverse pitch shifter thing of course and other pretty stuff. The PS-5's latching tremolo is great for shoegaze chording. And the PS-6 has the those latching vibrato pitch dives that sound so cool. A Boss PS-20 that had all the modes from all the pitch shifters would be the coolest thing ever but will also never happen (because I'm guessing you would have to have a bunch of different chips and circuits inside to replicate everything).