Electro-Harmonix Pitch Fork

This crafty son of a pitch certainly knows how to make shift work
ELECTRO-HARMONIX
PITCH FORK
£113
EHX PITCH FORK
REVIEW
PITCH
shifting has
come a long
way. Back in the 80s, if you wanted
quality octaves or harmonisation,
you were looking at investing in a
bulky – and costly – rack unit, not
to mention whiling away a day or
two studying its accompanying
manual. But with the advent of the
DigiTech Whammy in the 90s, the
easy-to-use pedal fl oodgates were
blown wide open, eventually
culminating in polyphonic shifting,
courtesy of Electro-Harmonix’s
POG. Now, EHX has set out to cram
all its pitch-shifting knowhow into
one Nano-enclosured dreambox.
The Pitch Fork has a staggering
amount of potential, so we’ll start
with the basics: you get all
intervals between one octave up or
down, plus two and three octaves
either way, adjusted via the shift
control, while the blend knob
balances the shifted sound with
your signal. The lil’ toggle switch in
the middle, meanwhile, adjusts
between up, down and dual shifts.
You see, EHX has been clever, and
given each up-shifted interval a
‘musically useful’ dual option: for
example, 4th up and 5th down,
5th up and one octave up, and one
octave up and one octave down –
just like a POG.
Right across its interval range,
the Pitch Fork’s tracking is
damn-near infallible. It’ll handle
whatever fi nger-twisting chords
you throw at it, even on dual-
harmony mode. There are some
seriously useful sounds to be had,
too, from the tasty detuned chorus
modes up to the two octave up
plus one octave down fl ute-y synth
impressions. Admittedly, there are
some modes you’re unlikely to use
outside of torture and/or comedic
purposes (we’re looking at you,
EHX has given each interval a
‘musically useful’ dual option
FEATURES
SOUND QUALITY
VALUE FOR MONEY
BUILD QUALITY
USABILITY
OVERALL RATING
SUMMARY
three octaves up), but you’re
certainly not short on options. Let’s
not forget that with the blend all
the way up and the pitch set down,
you get instant drop tunings, too.
There’s a little – and we mean a
little – more latency than a
DigiTech Drop or Whammy and a
touch more hiss, too, but we’re
splitting hairs here. As ever, adding
drive after the shifted signal makes
it more convincing, however.
But how do you play Killing In
The Name on it? Well, a quick press
of the latch button converts the
Pitch Fork’s footswitch into a
momentary switch, giving you
ultra-fast pitch rises and glitchy
triggered shifts. However, if you
want more accuracy, plugging in
an expression pedal gives you full
control over your shift in non-
latched mode, while switching
back to latch allows you to set the
pitch rise – or drop – time of the
footswitch, depending on where
you set the treadle.
EHX has knocked it out of the
park with the Pitch Fork: the tonal
potential from such a tiny box is
damn near overwhelming,
especially considering the tracking
accuracy and overall tonality of the
shifts. Once you factor in the cost
of an expression pedal, it ends up
costing a little more than a
Whammy, but if dual harmonies,
form factor and battery operation
matter to you, it’s worth splashing
out to stick a Fork in your rig.
Michael Brown
79 MAY 2015
TYPE: Polyphonic pitch-
shifter pedal
CONTROLS: Blend, shift, up/dual/
down toggle switch, latch button
SOCKETS: Input, expression input,
output, power
BYPASS: Buffered
POWER: 9V battery, 9V power
supply (included)
CONTACT: Electro-Harmonix
www.ehx.com
AT A GLANCE
DUAL
THE Pitch Fork allows
you to double your
shifts with dual
harmonies, including a
POG-like one octave up
plus one octave down
EXPRESSION
ARMING yourself with an
external expression pedal
gives you full foot-based
control of the Pitch Fork’s
shifting abilities
LATCH
PRESS this button to
engage latching mode,
which serves up momentary
pitch stabs ’n’ shifts via the
pedal’s footswitch
TGR266.gear_ehx.indd 79 24/03/2015 15:13