The original Pitch Fork, reviewed back in June 2015, now has a more grown‑up sibling, the Pitch Fork+. It offers dual pitch shifts of up to ±3 octaves each, as well as cent‑accurate detuning and a host of features not found on the original. Three black knobs provide separate level control for the dry and the two shifted sounds, and a further knob is used for data entry or saving presets. Yes, you can save up to 100 presets, and the 10 factory ones give a good account of the pedal’s capabilities. Most parameter selection is done using the eight buttons below the LED display so there are no arcane menus, but you’ll need the manual to understand some less obvious functions, such as parameter assignment to switches and pedals.
The Pitch Fork+ takes a mono input but has both a Main and an Aux output, and there are several options for routing the dry and shifted sounds, including splitting the shifted sounds for stereo. The EXP input caters for an expression pedal, which can be set to control pitch‑glide effects amongst other things. An EXT jack allows a footswitch to control a further assignable function, and this can support a triple footswitch if you have more sophisticated control requirements. The Bypass switch can be set to be latching or momentary and may also be used to initiate pitch glides if you don’t want to connect a pedal. The User footswitch can be programmed to access a range of functions when the User LED is active.
If subtle isn’t your thing, you might like the X‑Mod mode.
Familiar fare such as octaves and parallel harmonies are all possible, but the Pitch Fork+ also works well for subtle detuning. If subtle isn’t your thing, you might enjoy the X‑Mod mode. This adds cross modulation, for results not unlike FM: new harmonic complexity, which depends on the relationship between the shifted frequencies, is added.
As with the original Pitch Fork, the quality of pitch‑shifting is rather better than you might expect for the price, with even polyphonic inputs being treated ‘kindly’. Even without the dry sound, the shifted sounds are perfectly usable within a ±1 octave range for faux bass or extreme capo sounds, while adding the dry can give a good approximation of 12‑string sounds. Inevitably, metallic warble starts to creep in if you shift by much more, but the useful operating range is impressive.
There are so many applications for this pedal and not just for guitar players. In particular, I could imagine it finding a very happy home in a modular synth setup. It covers detuning and chorus‑like modulation, as well as the more obvious sub‑octaves or upper octaves. Those parallel harmonies can be useful too, though fourths and fifths tend to be the most musically useful of those. Pitch sweeps in the style of Digitech’s Whammy pedal work smoothly, while the X‑Mod options allows for some interesting textural changes. Given its very modest price, the Pitch Fork+ has much to commend it.