DigiTech DROP Compact Polyphonic Drop Tune Pitch-Shifter

I play in two different bands that each play in several different tunings. This is the fastest, easiest and most convenient way to not lug multiple guitars to every practice or spend several minutes between songs tuning up or down.Extremely user friendly, much smaller than I anticipated. It works perfectly for dropping down several octaves instantly

Okay before I start this review let me tell you a little bit about who I am and what I do as a prefix on what I was looking for in this pedal. Also, it'll help you understand what considerations I've have taken while reviewing.Who I am very quickly:I'm a professional composer. I'm also a producer, mix engineer, and sound designer. I have been playing guitar for over a decade and I used to be active in bands and recorded various types of music. I also worked for an indie record label. These days I won't gig much but I work on writing new pieces and some production projects.Summary for those who do not want to read any further:This pedal is great. It is probably the best drop tuning pedal out there on the market. If you have some need for multiple tunings either because you play in bands that drop tune differently or you want to play along with your favorite bands by yourself at home, then get this pedal. Unless of course you have unlimited money and can afford a guitar for each drop tuning that you want. This pedal has great value for it's price. It is built solid and does exactly what it was made to do.Tone Issues:Unlike previous attempts at building a drop tune pedal, the Digitech Drop does not create an artificial sounding tone. If you change the pitch of your guitar either by detuning your strings, changing your strings entirely and getting it properly set up, or changing the pitch electronically (like through the pedal) you should expect a change in tone. The change in tone can be slight to barely noticeable. However, your tone changes - it's physics. In the past electronic pitch shifting, either up or down, used to create really artificial sounding tone. This applies to any instrument and voice. Nowadays, we have the tech in studios to change pitch without creating an artificial tone. When I engage the pedal, I can tell that the tone has slightly changed but it does not sound unnatural and artificial. Even when playing clean and dropping down to C or B it still doesn't sound unnatural to me. Once you get really low chords will sound muddy but that is expected (I will explain why). When you switch on the pedal, it will be like you suddenly magically have another guitar in your hand with a dropped tuning. The tone will be slightly different than having your strings actually detuned but I doubt anyone other than you will hear the difference. Also, thankfully this pedal is true bypass, I love my guitar's natural tone.Latency:Yes there is very slight latency in this guitar. It's most noticeable when you are playing fast runs. However, it's really a slight latency and you will get used to it quickly. A latency in a pitch shifting device is expected but this is not a nuisance at all. Honestly, you may not even notice it.Switch and Knob:The switch is non latching which make the momentary mode smooth. At first I though that I would like the reassuring sound and feel of a click but the red LED is bright and large enough. Also the knob does not lock, which makes changing the tuning while rolling your foot on the side of it easy. I can imaging this being super useful if you need different drop tunings while playing live.Does it work for Bass/ Is it muddy when it's low:Yes to both. This works on a bass but when you drop a bass down past B it does get a little muddy. Also for guitar open chords will start to sound muddy to if you drop it past C or more. This is because of the physics of sound. Go on a piano and play a C major chord on all of it's octaves, you will notice that chords on the bass notes start sounding muddy. The lowest audible frequency that most people can hear is 20 Hz. The lowest note on a piano is 27.5 Hz (low A). That is pretty close to the lowest possible pitch that most people can hear. The open E string on a bass is about 41Hz. Between 20 Hz and 40 Hz, sound is pretty rumbly. If your bass produced only sine waves for some unnatural reason, it would sound like sub basses in hip hop and dubstep. However, your bass being a physical instrument with acoustic properties does not produce sine waves so it can sound like mud if you drop it an octave. Well why does my bass sound better when I drop A with new strings you ask? Well, you most likely used a thicker string which changed up the acoustic properties of your bass. However, you can adjust with EQ on your bass and amp to try an clear up as much as you can when you drop using this pedal.Other things to consider:If you watch one of Mastodon's rig rundown videos on youtube you will find out that they used to use the Morpheus Drop pedal so that they can play all of their drop tunings without messing up their guitars on tour. My guess is more pros are starting to use drop pedals for purely economic reasons. Sure, they probably have a guitar and a back up for each tuning that they need. But sometimes it's just not practical to carry that around with you on the road. So get yourself a Drop pedal by Digitech. It's better than the Morpheus (obviously).This pedal does not take batteries.

PROS: plug & play, keep your ins & outs right and it's ready in 30 secondsI have perfect pitch and didn't hear any variation in the 1/2 step drop.Great for playing in Eb!!CONS: Not stereo, used with my Helix floor, had to run the entire set in Mono. Had to fix the Pan controls to balance the sound. Digitec should state that in the description. How do you run it in Stereo? I guess you'd have to buy two pedals?

I never knew what I was missing, this Drop Pedal is awesome. Tired of not being able to play along with recorded songs that are dropped down a half step or a whole step (I'm looking at you Motley Crue), or even more, all way down to a full octave? Sick of dragging 4 guitars around to gigs so you can have all the tunings you need ready to go? This is the pedal for you! Now lets be real, you're still probably gonna need 2 guitars, one in standard and one in an open tuning (like dropped D), because this pedal drops the entire guitar down, it has no way of dropping just one string, but given that limitation, you can drop those two tunings down as far as you want with the turn of a knob and click of a switch. The pedal tracks great, the lag is undetectable, and it sounds fan-freaking-tastic. I will say it sounds better on a dirty tone than a clean one, but clean still sounds good. If you need what this pedal does it's well worth the money. Not may pedals stay on my board but this one will for sure. A+

I got this for bass, and, while it got the job done, here are my concerns. Would I leave this in the on position through a whole gig? Probably not. I used it on a few covers with bass lines that were being played lower than original key and also required open bass strings for passing notes and what not. Given that it was already an unideal acoustic environment, it seemed like the notes were a little fluttery or chorusy. It all felt in tune, but I noticed that I had to compensate for this effect by playing with more separation or space between each note when possible.After playing with it at home, I noticed that if the pedal was the first thing in line, you had the best fidelity. Anywhere else, and it seemed to be taxed. In a quiet environment, you also have to factor in the sound produced by the string itself acoustically that your brain may try to correlate with the amp sound.For guitar, this was killer. It works great. You can’t ask for a simpler method to tune down without having to lose all of your string tension. I think once you get to the lowest keys, it starts to sound kind of unnatural. For your e flat or d tunings, I think it shines. But hey, even if this is just an octave pedal, it is pretty cool. The momentary switch is cool, but I don’t know that most people have a great demand for that effect. Overall, I think this should be 100. 149 is a little steep. But it did save me hours of relearning things.