Pitchfactor Ordered For “Modular” Bass Synth Rig – Effect and MIDI Questions

[jufros]

Hey there.  I'm new to this forum and will be a first-time Eventide owner as soon as my Pitchfactor is delivered.  I'm a bassist and for the most part I play live electronica, drum and bass, and hip hop music.  I realize that this post is excruciatingly long, but I like to be thorough.  If you only read one section, please check out question #4 about midi/usb syncing.  

I'm going to outline my rig to give you a better understanding of the context that I'm going to use Pitchfactor in.  Once I receive this pedal, this is what my effects rig will be:

Bass->Boss LS-2 #1 Input (runs either channels 1, 2, or 1 + 2 in a parallel mix)

LS-2 #1, Channel #1: MXR Bass Octave Deluxe (analog octaver) -> Pitchfactor -> Boss GEB-7 (EQ, almost exclusively used on very extreme settings, such as 50hz maxed and everything else fully cut for massive "dub" sounds)

LS-2 #1, Channel #2: Robot Factory Pulse Synth (pulse/square waveshaper) -> 4ms Nocto Loco (Octave down that can do a decent saw wave impersonation on some settings, has a built in frequency dependent tremolo that you can engage that gives you faster rates on higher notes and slower rates on lower ones)

LS-2 #1 Output ->  DIY Zvex Wooly Mammoth Clone w/ active sub frequency boost switch -> LS-2 #2 Input

LS-2 #2, Channel #1: Subdecay Noise Box (noisey envelope controlled synth) -> Copilot FX Orbit (gated fuzz w/ blendable VCO "ring mod") -> Chunk Systems Brown Dog (very versatile gated fuzz with clean blend) -> Robot Factory Photron Filter (Custom modded with CV control of cutoff, trigger in key for envelope, usually used with a midrange cutoff in either BP or LP mode, runs in parallel to MF-101 for dual filter stacking)

LS-2 #2, Channel #2: Moog MF-101 Filter (usually used as a static low pass on octaves or octave + Mammoth for resonant sub filtering)

LS-2 Output -> Modulation and Delay Pedals

Both filters are controlled by the Moog MP-201 via CV and I'm going to have the Pitchfactor connected to this controller as well via MIDI or USB (which works better for you guys?)

1) Octave Section – I'm very excited about the octave section of the Pitchfactor.  For a lot of my sounds, I start with a powerful synthy 1 octave down signal and run it 100% wet with no dry.  My most important question about the Pitchfactor octaver is: are the resonant filters bandpass or lowpass?  I'm curious as to how many solo -1 oct tones you can get out of the pitchfactor.  Does anyone have any sound clips?  With a low cutoff and medium-high resonance, how deep and punchy can you get?  Can you get a more aggressive sound with the cutoff wide open and no resonance or is the sound a little weak on that setting?  This is by far the most important effect for me.

2) Pitch Flex Section – Again, I'll likely be using this in 100% wet mode unless I'm running the Bass Octave Deluxe into the Pitchfactor.  Is there any point to stack both voices together?  I'm going to use this as a sort of keyboard pitch bend wheel effect for bending +/- whole steps and occasionally octaves.  From looking at the manual, I assume that there's no way to program this effect so that you can bend either up or down but it seems to be pretty easy to bend up and down simultaneously.  That's fine with me and I can definitely live with that compromise.  

3) Micro Pitch – How low can this effect track without glitching?  What I really need is a detuning "chorus" effect for dubby wet octave sounds before they get send to the filters.  I'm really hoping that this sounds is going to deliver.  What are the different ways that you can control the modulation of this effect?  I would really like to be able to vary how detuned each oscillator is with an LFO or envelope.

4) MIDI / USB Syncing – Ok here's the technical / more complicated part.  I'm already controlling my filters (the backbone of my rig) with the Moog MP-201.  The MP-201 the only expression controller out there that can convert MIDI -> CV, has tap tempo that can export midi clock data, 4 CV outs, MIDI IN/OUT, and USB.  When you select a patch on the MP-201, you can send CV voltage signals, up to 4 LFO's (1 per CV channel), MIDI IN/OUT data on up to 4 channels simultaneously, 1 MIDI CC message / channel, etc.  Anyway, what I first need to do is be able to scroll through CV presets and trigger presets on the Pitchfactor simultaneously.  Second, I need to figure out how to route the MP-201's expression pedal to control the Pitchfactor via MIDI at the same time as the filters via CV.  I assume that this is possible.  If I run the Pitchfactor on a different MP-201 channel than either of the filters, I should be able to engage/disengage expression control of the Pitchfactor by turning its channel on/off.  Third, and this is most important, can the Pitchfactor accurately receive MIDI Clock from the MP-201's tap tempo?  I'll need everything synced.  Unfortunately, the MP-201's biggest drawback is that even if you use tap tempo to export MIDI clock, you can't use that MIDI clock data to control LFO's on the MP-201 unless you route the data back into the MP-201's MIDI IN (annoying I know).  If I can get this to work with the Pitchfactor and MP-201, I'll almost definitely sell all of my modulation and delay pedals and buy the two other Eventide pedals.  I just really want to control everything from the MP-201 but I'm not sure how realistic this is.

[DGillespie]

Hi Jufros,

Here are some answers, let me know if you need clarification.

First, the usb port shows up to the computer as a midi device so in Factor land midi and usb are the same.  You can do anything you can do via either port.

1) Resonant filters are Lowpass, you can turn down the resonance and open them up for a very metal sound, turn up the resonance and close the for a very bassy sound or crank the resonance and use an envelope follower on the cutoff for a 303 sound.

2) If you'd like to bend up or down you can set the A voice to bend up, the B voice to bend down, then use an external switch to toggle the pitch mix between A and B.

3) The MicroPitch setting won't glitch for you at all.  You can modulate the voices with a random wave form.  You can set the number of cents detune for each voice independently, but the modulation is not independent.  You can get similar and more extreme sounds from H910/H949

4) I've not used an MP-201, but I have heard of several people who have used it with the pedals.  I'm not sure I understand what you mean by scroll through CV presets and trigger presets simultaneously.  However the PF does respond to midi program change messages, so as long as the MP-201 can send midi program change it will just be a matter of lining up your PF presets with your MP-201 presets.  Secondly, you can use midi CC messages to control expression pedal/whatever on the PF.  Any knob can be set to be controlled by midi CC.  Thirdly, the PF does receive and sync to Midi clock.

Good luck with your set up and let me know if you need any clarification.  Also, let us know how your adventures with the PF and MP-201 go.

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