Octaver

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An octave is an effects unit for electric guitar and electric bass in the pedal board a rig that the sound one or more octaves added above or below this tone. Roger Mayer developed the effects device, which was used for the first time in 1967 by the guitarist Jimi Hendrix . The Tycobrahe company launched the device as the Tycobrahe Octavia .

functionality

Double frequency through rectification

Higher octaves are analogous usually by using a bridge rectifier or half-wave rectifier achieved. The rectification causes the negative half-oscillation of the signal to “move up”. The newly created signal can be reinterpreted as a direct voltage with a superimposed alternating voltage , which has twice the frequency of the original signal .

In a classic analog Octavers for lower octaves converts a Schmitt trigger the sinusoidal tones of the signal into a square-wave signal to the frequency of then with a flip-flop - frequency divider is halved or quartered. Divided at a ratio of 2: 1, the effect produces the first sub-octave and divided at a ratio of 4: 1, the second sub-octave.

These procedures are simpler than that of a digital pitch shifter , because with this the signal must first pass through the read pointer, which takes samples and then sets them higher or lower; this means that the original signal and the added octave sound slightly offset in time. On the other hand, if you play it accurately, the added octave will sound almost at the same time as the original note with analog octaves. Analog octavers are monophonic , which means that only individual tones can be octaved, not intervals and chords . With newer, digital devices like the BOSS OC-3 or the Electro Harmonix POG, however, polyphonic playing styles are possible.

Examples of the use of an octaver

Electric guitar

Jimi Hendrix was the first to use an octaver for guitars in 1967. In the pieces Purple Haze and Fire , a prototype developed by Roger Mayer in collaboration with Hendrix was used, which generated an octave above the note played. Jeff Beck and Jack White (e.g. Seven Nation Army ) are also well known guitarists who have used octavers.

Electric bass

Pino Palladino is a well-known user of octavers, e.g. E.g. in I'm Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down by Paul Young . Guy Pratt used an octaver for the bass solo in Like a Prayer by Madonna and in the Earth Song by Michael Jackson . At Tony Levin's bass sound to Sledgehammer by Peter Gabriel is next to an extremely adjusted compressor and one with plectrum played fretless bass one octave involved.

Known devices

literature

  • Dave Hunter: Guitar Effects Pedals the Practical Handbook . Backbeat Books, 2004, ISBN 0-87930-806-0 , pp. 84 : "Roger Mayer's Octavia had never been available on the market, but after a broken Hendrix unit found its way to Tycobrahe engineers for repair ... hey, it soon was"

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Octavia. roger-mayer.co.uk, accessed January 10, 2011 .
  2. ↑ Hunter 2004, p. 84
  3. ↑ Patent US3564295 : Frequency Doubling Circuit. Published February 16, 1971 , inventor: Mathew A. Slaats. ‌
  4. ↑ a b Frank Pieper: The Effects Practice Book . GCCarstensen, 2004, ISBN 3-910098-27-4 .
  5. ↑ Chris Vinnicombe: FIRST LOOK: Electro-Harmonix POG2. musicradar.com, accessed January 10, 2011 .