# Ricochet and Pitchfork



## neldom (Apr 29, 2009)

Haven't really posted in approximately forever or so, and just had some musings to share, so I figured why not.

I recently replaced the Digitech Ricochet on my board with an EHX Pitchfork.
I'm not a power Whammy user by any means, I like to do some simple stuff and just use it for some thickening once in a while.
I've been a die hard in the Whammy camp over the EHX stuff ever since I had the chance to directly shoot out the Whammy against a Micro POG. It was never a tracking issue with me, or anything so definable, it was just side by side the Whammy had decidedly more "punch" to it, for lack of a better term. Ever since then I didn't want to go the EHX route.
That was until this last round, while the sonic qualities of the Ricochet are great, and the pedal itself is a beautiful looking and built pedal, one thing that Digitech continues to omit is a blend option. I just found the lack of the blend was keeping me from using the pedal as often as I'd like, so I decided to move on to the Pitchfork.
While I do like the Pitchfork, I noticed last night as I have it on it's own loop before my fuzzes, in case I want to remove a buffer in the signal, the Pitchfork buffer adds noticeable colouration. Which really surprised me, I thought at this point in the game that the big boys had gotten their games down as far as buffers and they should all be totally transparent, well I'm here to tell you, that's not the case.
I also have a SuperEgo further down the chain, not on a loop, and it has me wondering if I oughtn't check into that one as well...

Like I said, it was just musings, not really going anywhere, so don't say I didn't warn you before you invested all the time reading through that.


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## Cups (Jan 5, 2010)

Most pedals add a sound or colour. 
I've heard tone change in many pedals. The only one that bothered me was a Line 6 DL4. Felt like the whole signal went quieter by 10 db when I stepped on it


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

certainly not every pedal with please every person, and we sometimes change over time.
So I like to try out a pedal before i buy it.
Some were fun to try, but I didn't buy it because I wasn't convinced it would work for me, or that I would really use it that much.

I've never tried the Ricochet, but I have tried the Pitchfork more than once.
It does some things very well, but it wasn't quite the pedal for me--but certainly it is one I could recommend someone check out if it fits what they are looking for.
I stopped looking after trying out the TC Electronics Sub N Up pedal--it fit what I wanted better--but the Pitchfork did come close...

ANd I am okay with people using different pedals--makes for more variety.


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

They are two different pedals though, no?

The Richochet does what the whammy does - slides up and down from a predetermined pitch. The Pitchfork will simply add an octave up or down.


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## neldom (Apr 29, 2009)

The Pitchfork will also glissando between notes, it allows the use of an expression pedal for that function, or you can use the momentary footswitch, which does it a predetermined 60ms rate.
They are very similar in function, the Ricochet does allow for an adjustable glissando time on both shift and return, but lacks the blend function.


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

And now I've learned something about the pedals.


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

Budda said:


> They are two different pedals though, no?
> 
> The Richochet does what the whammy does - slides up and down from a predetermined pitch. The Pitchfork will simply add an octave up or down.


The Pitchfork will also do certain intervals-& while it doesn't have the autotune whine--there is a bit of something going on like that--depending what you're playing you may not notice it as much.

Each Octave type pedal does something a it different--except maybe if it's a faithful clone...
It's a matter of finding the one that fits what you want to do with it--and being inspired by what it does to make up stuff for that as well...


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