DigiTech DROP Compact Polyphonic Drop Tune Pitch-Shifter

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 seconds I 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?

This is a great product for guitar, but is not good for bass. I play bass in a band where the guitar player uses this, and it sounds great. It was a big improvement over a tuned-down guitar. So I decided to try it for bass. We have several songs that require a full step down for our vocals. But for the bass, the drop pedal just does not sound good, and the latency is notable in the rhythm of the groove. I was able to compensate for the latency by playing ahead of the beat, but the drop tune just turned the low-end notes into mud, and even affected the feel of the groove in more ways than just the rhythm of the latency. It makes sense if you think about the shorter frequency cycles of the low end and having to extend them to pitch shift to even slower cycles. I still give it five stars because it is an excellent pedal for guitar and really does sound great for that.

A fantastic addition to my pedalboard that allows me to play songs in other tunings instantly just by stepping on it!

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.

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

the pedal itself came with a power supply adaptor, the box looked like it was breached open by a dog though, the box was OPENED and even worse it was opened incorrectly, it literally was just cut open even though there was one simple way to open it, I don't know how they got that wrong but alright. The pedal works so does the power adaptor, it sounded awesome, it does what it does. But still, the box, how could someone fail to open that one thing? And why was it open in the first place. TL;DR: Pedal and power supply adaptor was good, and I hope new but it does look new. Would give 5 stars if the box weren't open nor slashed open incorrectly.

半音下げチューニングにおいて最強の友

This arrived with a multi-plug power supply to suit your local power point style. This pedal allows me to explore low drop tunings on my guitar without having to do a lot of messing around with extra-heavy string gauges, adjusting my truss rod, re-cutting the nut and having to retune so much between different songs. With The Drop - I stick my guitar in and easy DropD - then can do everything between that and DropA with the turn of a knob. The only "downside" is I need to have the amp up loud enough to cover the acoustic sound of the strings/guitar. But if you are into low tunings, I don't see that as being a major problem. (Or use headphones from your amp)

This is a surprisingly good stomp box. Well packaged, very well priced, sturdy construction, easy to use, and comes with its own 2A, 9V DC power pack. This is useful given that the Drop draws a fair amount of current; although sitting in Position 2 on my pedal board, directly after my Boss Tuner, the TU-3 can provide the Drop with the required power. Oh, yeah; and it's also a true bypass pedal i.e., it will sit connected on a pedal board with no power and still allow a signal to pass clean through it, unprocessed of course. As one of a range of Digitech "whammy" pedals, the Drop seems to be the best option for a guitarist (or bassist) who needs to detune to a lower standard tuning, quickly and easily, whilst, of course, not actually retuning their guitar (or bass). I've now had the opportunity to test the pedal extensively and, as a guitarist and bass player, I can provide the following assessment; all based on a lot of Rockdown home use and at a series of band rehearsals. First up, it's not for those who expect sound perfection (and neither you should at this price). I found that the Drop can transpose pristine clean guitar and bass tones but, if you listen closely, there is definitely a loss of sound quality. However, this varies depending on the sound. I think that this is a matter of personal taste but IMHO such expectations should be aligned with significantly more expensive equipment. Indeed, as the Drop has no perceptible latency, some sound deterioration is inevitable and, from what I can tell, "Nobody Knows" you are even digitally dropping on the fly (just you!). However, the chances are that you are a guitarist (or bassist) who is playing with a certain degree of bite, grit, dirt, overdrive, distortion, "scream", fuzz, etc. If so, this little stomp box will probably exceed your expectations; as it certainly did mine. Simply put, in terms of sound quality, I could Drop my guitar by a semitone (Eb) or a tone (D) and the "new" standard tuning sounded great. Then it was down to C and "baritone" B, again with very satisfying results. It goes a lot further but I can't say that I tested these lower registers to any great degree (although I am sure that they will be fine). Note: the Drop allows you to change standard tunings (e.g., E standard to Eb standard, etc.), but will not cope with alternate tuning changes (e.g., E standard to the equivalent Drop D). If that's what you need, buy a Variax. Finally, and being a bass player, first and foremost, the most impressive aspect that I have encountered to date, was during my band's final pre-pandemic rehearsal in 2o2o. To the best of my knowledge, the Drop is intended for use with a guitar, not a bass (for which there is a blue Whammy). However, on this particular occasion, the Drop was playing host to my bass playing (which, being "rock" influenced, has a little dirt in its tone). In essence, I decided to Drop a few tones, on the fly, and play, as if tuned to my usual E standard. Hence, I played a couple of tracks in "D" and finally in "C". Not only did my fellow band members fail to notice anything "out of the ordinary" but personally, I was seriously (and I mean seriously) impressed with my bass tone. In summary, unless you are a perfectionist (in which case you are looking way below the required price point), this is a remarkable little pedal; if, that is, your requirements, as a guitarist, are to Drop a standard tuning both quickly and easily. And, as above, if you are a bass player with similar requirements, then this is a stomp box that is well worth looking at. In summary, HIGHLY recommended. ~ Notes ~ [1]: IMHO, the Drop is for use in a live environment where on the fly standard tuning changes are required. [2]: However, I wouldn't use it to record and it is certainly not a substitute for carrying say three quitars tuned to E, Eb and D standard. [3]: Similarly, if you are constantly playing in lower registers e.g. Eb standard down to B standard, get yourself a 5-String bass or a Baritone guitar (as needs must).

Top Gerät, in gewohnter Digitech Qualität. Keine Latenz. Man merkt halt doch das Firma Harman dahinter steckt. Kein lästiges Umstimmen oder Gitarrenwechsel mehr nötig, wenn man Songs mal ne Etage tiefer spielen will. Kein Umgewöhnen von Riffs oder Solis auf der Gitarre mehr. Super Erleichterung. Man sollte allerdings beachten, das die Verstärker Lautstärke so hoch ist, das man die original gespielten Töne nicht mehr hört, sonst klingt es ein wenig nach Kakophonie, das wäre gewöhnungsbedürftig und stört das Feeling.