Look for simple octave down circuit

[Atk]

Can you help me?

Ola

[strungout]

Oy.

Well, simplest octave down I've seen is the mxr blue box (caja azul) project from tonepad (googgle..). I've built it and it sound very nice, and you get one or two octave down. And just like any octaver up or down I've tried so far, better tracking the fatter the signal is (from your guitar) and playing above the 12th frett.

Ciao.

[DDD]

It's a pity, but there are no any really good analog octave-down devices in the whole world. Maybe digital ones are better...
What about Blue Box - it's quite simple and effective. The other pedals are too much more complicated while not as good as one can expect due to their comlexity.

[Jason Stout]

How about the Shocktave?
http://www.diystompboxes.com/analogalchemy/pedals/shocktave.html

RDV did a sound sample.
http://mysite.verizon.net/res0o2zg/id11.html

[petemoore]

How about the Shocktave?
http://www.diystompboxes.com/analogalchemy/pedals/shocktave.html

RDV did a sound sample.
http://mysite.verizon.net/res0o2zg/id11.html

How about it? I did one a couple days ago, and it works great !!
 Depending on how 'perfect' and clean an octave you want. It sounds like a Tuba, a MetalBand Bass Solo, very nice effect and quite good single note tracking.
 Another one that does Huge Octave Down [when dialed in] is the Ugly Face. More fiercely Fuzzed or OD'd though.
 Either of these are not 'super hard, both get you down an Octave. Plus I like 'em...lol.

[petemoore]

How about the Shocktave?
http://www.diystompboxes.com/analogalchemy/pedals/shocktave.html

RDV did a sound sample.
http://mysite.verizon.net/res0o2zg/id11.html

How about it? I did one a couple days ago, and it works great !!
 Depending on how 'perfect' and clean an octave you want. It sounds like a Tuba, a MetalBand Bass Solo, very nice effect and quite good single note tracking.
 Another one that does Huge Octave Down [when dialed in] is the Ugly Face. More fiercely Fuzzed or OD'd though.
 Either of these are not 'super hard, both get you down an Octave. Plus I like 'em...lol...I used to have one of those Boss Octave pedals, tracking wasn't much improved really even with all that....it could get touches of 2 Octaves Down...

[Mark Hammer]

It's a bit like saying "I would like a car that is amazingly comfortable to drive, can accelerate very quickly, and has the best gas mileage available....but it can't have any fancy engine, and it has to be cheap".  It is VERY difficult to make an octave divider that is as easy to use as a fuzz.

Octave dividers can *always* be accurate....IF you are willing to compromise your playing: play THESE notes (one at a time) on THIS pickup with THAT tone setting and THIS picking style with THOSE strings at THAT speed.  If you do not want to compromise your playing, however, the design starts to become more complicated as the pedal starts to anticipate notes of different volumes, notes with different pitches, and so on.  It can be as simple as the demands you place upon the design...or as complex.

[puretube]

which reminds me of a saying of an old Electric Ladyland technician:
"...each time he got a new effect, he started playing a new, different style, or even composed a new song around it..."

[jmusser]

A fairly simple circuit that is not advertised as an octave down, is John Hollises Crash Sync. It tracks one and two octaves down with your guitar tone controls backed all the way off, and the pickup selector in the neck position. I used a TL082 chip and an NE555 timer in it. Not only do you get a very nice octave down, you get one of the very best circuits ever made by anyone, anywhere, at any time. You can hit a note, go on vacation, and when you come back, the notes is still ringing. Run the timer pot through an expression pedal and it gives you some sort of Star Wars light saber sounds. I wrote a couple posts on it awhile back. As you can tell, I'm really impressed by this circuit.

[DDD]

Mark,
great!

[JimRayden]

I might as well use this thread for asking, do the Schocktave's oscillator part also lets the original signal through? I mean, if to turn the mix pot all the way clockwise, does it output the octave lower part alone or is the pot merely for blending between totally clean and their 50:50 mix?


------------
Jimbo

[RDV]

I might as well use this thread for asking, do the Schocktave's oscillator part also lets the original signal through? I mean, if to turn the mix pot all the way clockwise, does it output the octave lower part alone or is the pot merely for blending between totally clean and their 50:50 mix?

You can go all clean or all octave or anywhere between.

RDV

[JimRayden]

Thanks.

It seems that the octave down part is a bit fuzzy indeed... But the very clean part compensates that alot.

-----------
Jimbo

[Joe Davisson]

The input booster distorts some, and the oscillator is a square-waver so it tends to sound fuzzy. But that type of oscillator has the advantage of having a wide frequency range with the same capacitor values, helping it work better with the full range of notes.

I've been working on a somewhat similar circuit for octave-up, in hopes that I could eventually combine the two. It uses a full-wave version of the charge-pump to produce clear triggered pulses, but no oscillator.  Sounds great above the 12th fret, but weak below. Why does the full-wave rectifier only really work above the 12th fret?

[DDD]

Joe,
very interesting approach and schematic!
Could you please tell us are there any sound samples of the Shocktave?

[Jason Stout]

How about the Shocktave?
http://www.diystompboxes.com/analogalchemy/pedals/shocktave.html

RDV did a sound sample.
http://mysite.verizon.net/res0o2zg/id11.html

DDD, pick on the second link.