New Boss Pitch Shifter (XS-1)

Daiganzen

DiscoStu said:

The mighty Whammy V might be leaving my board...
Having a Whammy AND a pitchshifter in the same footprint makes the XS-100 a winner.


The Whammy will always look cool AF though so wonder if Digitech will come back fighting with the rumoured Whammy VI?

I hope they release a Drop Mini and possibly a Whammy 6 in a smaller form factor that would be great

EricTheWeary

monquixote said:

EricTheWeary said:

monquixote said:

Devil#20 said:

What does it do that the EHX Pitch Fork doesn't?

Be reliable.

I watched the first half of the Andertons video this morning and this was hinted at.

monquixote said:

It's such a brilliant interface. 

Two knobs, two switches and everything you could possibly want.
Easy enough you don't need a manual.

Yes the XS-1 looks really straightforward, plug in an expression pedal or extra switch to do more stuff if you want. 

Not really any idea what I would do with one but if I did I think they've nailed this. 

For me it would be the capo pedal.

I always used to do a few songs where the singer would want to do them in Eb for example because it's a bit high and this would make it easier or where you have a fight because the keys and brass want to do superstition in Eb, but the guitar and bass want to do it in E.

I think for home use the hearing the strings and hearing the pitch shifted notes through the amp might blow my mind. In that sense easier to use in a loud environment (or through headphones). 
I think as you say as a reverse capo or for harmonised solos,etc. Not a cheap pedal but probably cheaper than buying a guitar you keep in Eb for one song. 

tekbow

So this can work in cents too?

I saw a vid of someone knocking it down a tone, then up so many cents to replicate those in-between intervals used by pamtera etc.

Weird, because I had literally nearly convinced myself to buy a full digitech.

PolarityMan

Haven't seen a good demo of it used in context yet but this has definitely piqued my interest. Looks a good bit smaller than my whammy DT....although it will have to be pretty great to replace it because I love that pedal.

matt_sefton

My XS-1 arrived on Saturday. It works fantastically well and the tracking is spot on. It’s also a very pleasing shade of blue which naturally makes it sound better.

I’m running it right at the start of my chain.

earwighoney

It sounds pretty good, well the XS-100 does

matt_sefton

I just discovered that putting the detune switch in the middle position of the XS-1 you can alter the pitch up + or - 20 cents so you can get chorusing sounds with the balance knob. Should have read the manual 

Winny_Pooh

It looks cute, have to say though... £195? For a single effect Boss pedal? It makes my recent order of a CB lost & found look like a relative bargain. 

midlifecrisis

For the couple of songs i play live where i need to drop down a tone or two ive been getting away with using the pitch shifter effect on my ancient (15 year old) zoom G3. Its not too bad sounding by the time the rest of the band are playing but i accept this boss or digitech thing must be better, but cant bring myself to splash £200 on one though.

matt_sefton

Winny_Pooh said:

It looks cute, have to say though... £195? For a single effect Boss pedal? It makes my recent order of a CB lost & found look like a relative bargain. 

It’s 2025 - I would say that’s about normal price for a decent pedal new. And it’s Boss so it’ll still be working after being hit by an intercontinental ballistic missile. Lots of people on here pay double that for an overdrive pedal :-)

TTBZ

Wondering how this compares to the Digitech Drop. I've been using my Drop for years as I just have the one guitar that I keep in standard/drop D, then detune as necessary depending what I'm playing. Keeps a consistent setup/string tension and saves the hassle of retuning. It works well but playing through headphones I notice the latency/stacked latency with other digital devices, so wondering how the Boss compares in this regard. 

I don't really see the point in the balance knob though except for the octave, surely you want it 100% wet all the time.

monquixote

TTBZ said:

Wondering how this compares to the Digitech Drop. I've been using my Drop for years as I just have the one guitar that I keep in standard/drop D, then detune as necessary depending what I'm playing. Keeps a consistent setup/string tension and saves the hassle of retuning. It works well but playing through headphones I notice the latency/stacked latency with other digital devices, so wondering how the Boss compares in this regard. 

I don't really see the point in the balance knob though except for the octave, surely you want it 100% wet all the time.

There are quite a few comparisons on YT

I think it's 15ms rather than 16ms so still quite long if you are sensitive to latency.

It's not night and day better than the Drop to my ears, but I think it is better. 

To summarise if I was buying I'd get the Boss if I had a Drop I wouldn't bother selling it.

NickBotfield

TTBZ said:

Wondering how this compares to the Digitech Drop. I've been using my Drop for years as I just have the one guitar that I keep in standard/drop D, then detune as necessary depending what I'm playing. Keeps a consistent setup/string tension and saves the hassle of retuning. It works well but playing through headphones I notice the latency/stacked latency with other digital devices, so wondering how the Boss compares in this regard. 

I don't really see the point in the balance knob though except for the octave, surely you want it 100% wet all the time.

I've seen some demos where they're using it to detune by a few cents then using the blend knob to make it a kind of static chorus sound.

AntonHunter

NickBotfield said:

TTBZ said:

Wondering how this compares to the Digitech Drop. I've been using my Drop for years as I just have the one guitar that I keep in standard/drop D, then detune as necessary depending what I'm playing. Keeps a consistent setup/string tension and saves the hassle of retuning. It works well but playing through headphones I notice the latency/stacked latency with other digital devices, so wondering how the Boss compares in this regard. 

I don't really see the point in the balance knob though except for the octave, surely you want it 100% wet all the time.

I've seen some demos where they're using it to detune by a few cents then using the blend knob to make it a kind of static chorus sound.

Presumably like the chorus sounds in the Whammy then? I often prefer that when I'm going for a chorus anyway (yes, I'm trying to talk myself into buying it...)

roberty

DiscoStu said:

The mighty Whammy V might be leaving my board...
Having a Whammy AND a pitchshifter in the same footprint makes the XS-100 a winner.


The Whammy will always look cool AF though so wonder if Digitech will come back fighting with the rumoured Whammy VI?

Have you been able to compare?

I can never use the poly mode on the Whammy cos the latency kills me

I'm wondering how the Boss latency compares to Whammy 5 monophonic

Alterlifeson

I'm surprised it's taken this long for another company to grab some of the market share of the Digitech Drop, which feels like it's been around forever. Other than the blend control it seems to perform roughly the same too.

Kebabkid

monquixote said:

TTBZ said:

Wondering how this compares to the Digitech Drop. I've been using my Drop for years as I just have the one guitar that I keep in standard/drop D, then detune as necessary depending what I'm playing. Keeps a consistent setup/string tension and saves the hassle of retuning. It works well but playing through headphones I notice the latency/stacked latency with other digital devices, so wondering how the Boss compares in this regard. 

I don't really see the point in the balance knob though except for the octave, surely you want it 100% wet all the time.

There are quite a few comparisons on YT

I think it's 15ms rather than 16ms so still quite long if you are sensitive to latency.

It's not night and day better than the Drop to my ears, but I think it is better. 

To summarise if I was buying I'd get the Boss if I had a Drop I wouldn't bother selling it.

As Nick says, there have been quite a few comparisons on YT, and even comparing it to the ones built into the Fractal and Line 6 units. Listening to the John Cordy comparison, who also mentions the specific times of the latency which shows the Boss is faster, I can also hear that it's clearer and slightly brighter. 

To be honest, there isn't a huge difference and so I'll hang onto my Digitech Drop for now, but where it may show a noticeable difference is when using the Drop with a bass and I've known people to mention latency and glitching. I'm actually in the studio next week where where myself and the bassist will be using the Drop and the other guitarist has just bought the Boss, and so we'll see.

midlifecrisis

do i understand this correct, the digitech drop can only shift tones downwards,  but the boss can shift tones up or down?

matt_sefton

midlifecrisis said:

do i understand this correct, the digitech drop can only shift tones downwards,  but the boss can shift tones up or down?

Correct. The XS-1 can go 3 octaves up or down.

roberty

Alterlifeson said:

I'm surprised it's taken this long for another company to grab some of the market share of the Digitech Drop, which feels like it's been around forever. Other than the blend control it seems to perform roughly the same too.

There was a legal reason for it I last heard. Competitors could include an expression jack but not an integrated treadle