# Is there a polyphonic pitchshifting software plugin (vs. Digitech Drop)?



## mrstacktrace (Apr 18, 2017)

Hi guys,
I'm a bedroom player (not in a band; don't play live), and I'm starting to get into home recording (mostly covers). I was considering getting a Digitech Drop pedal to handle all of the different tunings of the metal bands I listen to. Since I'll be recording direct to an interface anyway, I was wondering is there a plugin that will basically do what the Digitech drop pedal does (polyphonic pitch-shifting)? Even better, most DAWs have a built-in pitch-shifting plugin; do those suffice for tuning down?


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## Drew (Apr 18, 2017)

I'm not sure I understand the question - are you trying to get a pitch-shifter to shift the recordings up to the tuning you play in, to shift your guitar to the tuning that the bands use to record, or something else? 

You should be able to shift the recording to your tuning easily enough in Reaper or something, but if you're looking to get to the same tuning as a band you like to record covers, why not just record in your preferred tuning, regardless of what tuning a band originally used? If you're in B standard and they're in Bb, you can still cover the tune in B...


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## shnizzle (Apr 18, 2017)

the only thing that comes to mind that could perhaps pull it off is the full version of Melodyne. and that´s not cheap. otherwise, in my experience, no digital pitch shifting can shift polyphonic sources at all. there are always very obvious weird artifacts that totally mess everything up. it only really works on single notes. and for bass it´s also difficult because the register is so low. so for playing along i don´t see a real solution. for recording covers i´d switch strings and change the tuning from song to song.


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## TonyFlyingSquirrel (Apr 18, 2017)

There's something in Pro Tools called "Verify" but it time-stretchable too, so you can get those _record powered down_ kind of effects you hear in some Periphery songs, or most notably, Metallica's "I Disappear".


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## mrstacktrace (Apr 18, 2017)

Drew said:


> I'm not sure I understand the question - are you trying to get a pitch-shifter to shift the recordings up to the tuning you play in, to shift your guitar to the tuning that the bands use to record, or something else?
> 
> You should be able to shift the recording to your tuning easily enough in Reaper or something, but if you're looking to get to the same tuning as a band you like to record covers, why not just record in your preferred tuning, regardless of what tuning a band originally used? If you're in B standard and they're in Bb, you can still cover the tune in B...



I want to shift my guitar to the tuning on the recording. So if the recording is D Standard (1 step down), I want to record my guitar in E standard and shift it down post-recording.

Based on what you guys are saying, I think it might be better to go with the pedal and give that a try. Thanks for the replies.


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## Drew (Apr 20, 2017)

mrstacktrace said:


> I want to shift my guitar to the tuning on the recording. So if the recording is D Standard (1 step down), I want to record my guitar in E standard and shift it down post-recording.
> 
> Based on what you guys are saying, I think it might be better to go with the pedal and give that a try. Thanks for the replies.



Yeah, Digitech pretty much has a lock on that. Honestly, it might be easier to use something like Reaper to pitch-shift the recording to play in standard.


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