Pedal Pitch
With the Pedal Pitch effect, you can use an expression pedal for the famous WhammyTM effect, using the KEMPER advanced pitch shifting technology. Set “Heel Pitch” and “Toe Pitch” as the start and end points for your pedal sweep. You might want to keep “Heel Pitch” at the zero setting to ensure your instrument is in the original key when the pedal is in the zero position.
You can also use the Pedal Pitch to create harmonies for advanced soloing. Try setting the pitches to continuously slide from a third to a fifth interval, then use the “Mix” control to balance the original signal with the shifted voice.
The pitch shifter in Pedal Pitch will add no latency, when no pitch shift is applied. Thus, there is no need to switch off the Pedal Pitch at zero position. Also, you won’t get any phasing when you mix the direct signal to the pitch-shifted signal at zero position.
The Pedal Pitch works with a dedicated expression pedal. However, it can be linked to the Wah Pedal or the Morph Pedal. Please refer to chapter Expression Pedals and Foot Switches in this manual for more details.
Press the soft button labelled “Freeze Formants” to activate the Formant Shifter, that defeats the chipmunk effect and keeps the original formants independent from the pitch. No matter where you set the “Heel Pitch” or the pedal now, the characteristic formants of your instrument will be preserved. You will notice that the WhammyTM effect loses some intensity and sounds gentler. This is because the character of your instrument stays the same, and only the pitch changes.
The “Formant Shift” soft knob becomes available when “Freeze Formants” is active. It shifts the formants up or down from the original level when moved from the middle position, thus changing the character of your instrument, when moved from the middle position. This even works when you don’t use the pedal, making “Formant Shift” a powerful creative tool. At the middle position of “Formant Shift” you’ll hear the formants at their original frequency.
Please be aware that when “Freeze Formants” is active, the effect only works with single notes. Chords will sound odd in most cases.