TC Electronic Brainwaves VS EHX Pitch Fork | Shootout Madness! 

I won't be getting rid of my Pitch Fork any time soon.

I prefer the EHX.And I'm not forking around.

I think the Pitchfork sounded *slightly* better, but the added features of the Brainwaves make it a winner for me.

I'm really into the pink brainy personality of the brainwaves. I'm also a knob twiddler so I love the added features. STILL the sheer sound of the pitchfork is tracking a little better to my ears

if only the pitchfork came in pink.

Just ordered a Pitchfork last night. This video made me even more confident in my purchase! Thanks Bill!

Hey man just want to let you know that you have a fan all the way on the other side of the planet, in India. Your music is gorgeous, your tones are stellar, your advice and opinions are highly educative and well articulated. Also, your voice is quite calming too, sometimes I watch your videos when I'm stressed just to hear someone talk sense for 10 minutes straight, lol. Anyhow, you're awesome, all the best with the channel and the music. Cheers.

Brainwaves for Zappa, Queen & stereo, Pitchfork for everything else.

I have the Pitchfork and to me, it was clearly the better sounding, cleaner and more distinct. But I do like the features on the Brainwaves, especially the stereo.

I’m only 5 minutes in and I already wanna sell my brainwaves and look into getting the pitchfork

I recently tried a couple of multifx pedals together, and made a pitch shifter comparison video with the Line 6 HX Stomp, Eventide H9 and Zoom MS-70CDR. You're right that they are not very good. Pitch Fork seems to be the best but Brainwaves is definitely good as well.

Wow. Pitchfork hands down win, by quite a margin. Gonna get mine soon....

Both sound great and I think that the warm low end on the Brainwaves would have been more prominent, if the Mix dial had been set to around noon. Just like on the Pitch Fork to the right.

Personally, I preferred the Brainwaves. I know I am clearly in the minority haha. But tone wise, I just thought the Brainwaves sounded more trebly and less dirt as the Pitch Fork which I prefer on the larger stage I play on. I also don’t like my effects pedals to give my dry signal a boost. I respect your opinion though sir 🙏🏽

I have a Pitchfork which I use in conjunction with an expression pedal. You really need the expression pedal to get full use out of it in my opinion. Overall I love it, especially the octave below with some overdrive sounds killer - the only negative I would have is that in dual mode (both octave above and below) you can’t dial in your preferred blend of each octave. Personally I’d like to have the octave below up more with just a little bit of the octave above (because in my opinion it sounds tinny and horrible mixed in too much). As for the comparison here, I think the Pitchfork sounds nicer.

Well, in large they seem to come pretty close for polyphonic pitch shifting. Seems to me that the pitch fork retains more of the original tone in the pitch shifted signal and thus sounds a little brighter. The brainwaves, to me, seems to have mostly a single sine or perhaps square wave in the pitch shifted signal and therefore a much darker overall sound. Great comparison video!

I can imagine some people preferring the more aggressive, unnatural sound of the brainwaves (and obviously more features), but wow does that pitchfork sound great to me.

I like noises! Weird, sweet, abundant sounds that make you feel good. I love experimenting with things, so the brainwaves is what’s gonna occupy my board, while everyone else can have the basic brightness! Hipster musician here here 🖐🏾 going against the norm! Thanks for the video Bill!

Got the EHX Micro POG and TC Electronics Brainwaves, best of both worlds.

Pitch Fork is the winner to my ears. For me personally, companies like EH and MXR are about making time tested and rocker tested sounds, without all of the expensive gimmicks of the boutique brands or the bland tones of the multi-effects processor brands (TC, Boss, Digitech).

I go back and forth between 6 string guitars and an 8 string guitar for ambient stuff. You're playing a 7 string in this genre. SUBSCRIBED.

"Do one thing. Do it well."

Thanks for doing this comparison! To my ears, the Pitchfork sounded more "natural?" or, "pleasing?" 9 times out of 10.

THANKS FOR ALL YOUR INFO PAL!

To my ears, the Pitchfork wins out. Not that I consider the Brainwaves poor by comparison, but it has a glitchy sounding attack I find less appealing compared to the Pitchfork's softer attack. I own a Pitchfork so might be biased, but it has a tone an functionality that I like. Great shootout Bill.

The downfall of the brainwaves is that you can hear a significant ring modulation sound on it, which might have been the intent of TC Electronic, but it ends up making it sound like it just can't keep up with the tracking like the Pitchfork can.

Whoa. In the clean sounds it just feels the Brainwaves is a bit more trebly, which is a matter of preference. But with distortion... the Pitchfork just executes it. Wow.

Thanks for the detailed and honest constructive criticism of these pedals Bill. Too many 'reviews' on YT are merely demos that deliberately avoid reaching a verdict either way. I agree with you here, the Pitchfork does have the edge when it comes to pure pitch shifting and, of course, it also has the expression pedal input for controlled whammy effects.

Love both pedals, but the pitch fork doesn't do a minor third, kinda weird leaving that out.

The pitch fork has a far nicer cleaner tone and is nice and natural. But the brainwaves has a bit of synthy sound to it at times which I really liked. I personally prefer the brainwaves as it sounds less natural which I like

This is a great video. For the no frills kind of guy the pitch fork is perfect and it has that EHX sound, its great, but for the experimental the BW is immense. Using the PRS for this test makes it all the more real life actual.

EHX is still top of the class with their polyphonic tracking and pitch technology. Definitely more digital artifacts in the Brainwaves and I wouldn’t want to use it for clean sounds. However, I actually preferred the Brainwaves on some of the distorted sounds. The dirtiness of it made for a more gnarly aggressive sound.

Proper comparison. This saves much time and money !!

Both a strong contenders. To my ears, it seems like the Brainwaves is coloring the tone a little, while the Pitchfork seems to be a little more transparent? But that may just be RU-vid compression playing with my ears.

I just ordered the brainwaves, I’m not really looking to use it extensively just mainly as a replacement for a digitech whammy and also for the drop time capabilities, also stereo is a must have for me since I run a dual amp setup. I loved this review! Edit: I also play with drives and stacked gains and I found the pitchfork doesn’t like my setup

Thank you for this demo. I own the Pitchfork and I think I like it better for the actual tracking. I don't NEED to have a stereo pitch pedal because my stereo signal splits at my Strymon Deco and through my effects loops of both amps via-my electro Harmonix Oceans-12. But I DO really like the extra options that the Brainwaves gives you... But Electro Harmonix is putting out the PITCHFORK+ very soon. It's TWO pitch shifters in one dual pedal with a digital read out and PRE-set capabilities! Thanx again I hope my input is helpful!

Pitch Fork for me.. Great demo 👌🏼👌🏼

The brainwaves sounds much brighter and clearer with gain, but the pitchfork tracks better, particularly with chords. Both have their strengths and weaknesses.

It was the Brainwaves for me - the depth of this pedal if you take the time to explore it is incredible and the mash/whammy function and TonePrint made it a no brainer for the money. I’d point out that I’m rarely using it for chords of more than two notes so do not experience the glitch issues noted in the review.

I would say go with the Pitch Fork +. A little more money but it’s got a lot of options! I like both of these pedals though, may have to order the Brainwaves

Interesting how you were more confident in trying more complicated passages on the Pitch Fork. You would try things on the Pitch Fork and would only then follow up on the Brainwaves. I think that says a LOT about your preference .... and I have to say that from this demo I agree. More accurate pitch shifting and less likelihood of non-musical artefacts. Well done EHX. Another fine review Bill - thankyou.

I think the Pitchfork sounds somewhat more natural and "organic". The Brainwaves doesn't track quite as tightly. It'd be interesting to compare them to the Electro Harmonix Nano POG, which I find sounds even nicer (only does +/- 1 octave and no other intervals though).

I concur with the findings - the basic pitch shifting algorithm is cleaner and more precise on the the Pitchfork, while the Brainwaves has all the extra features - including the really useful Whammy effect. If all you want is the pitch-shifting then go with the Pitchfork - although via the TC Electronics TonePrint feature - you can probably tune and improve your favourite settings to be closer to what you want. Possibly the Brainwaves needs a patch release fine-tune or two to come up to spec - I recall something similar happened to the now excellent Mimiq Doubler.

I didn’t like my pitchfork until I hooked it up through the effects loop, after I did that it sounded like a true harmonizer, the difference was huge... it sounds like you don’t have it set up that way. I’m thinking of getting the brainwaves and using both, I run stereo and this could be fun.

Yaaaaa Bill. You made this video already! Can't wait to watch later today. Thanks man!

2:14 Yep, that's a wrap on this shoot-out. EHX all the way.

I'm actually shocked that I prefer the pitch fork.

I have owned a EHX Pitchfork for a little over a year now, and I love it. After just a few minutes into this comparison video, what I heard confirmed why I love it so much. It sounds so much cleaner than the Brainwaves, with much better tracking. In fact, I was amazed how 'distorted' the Brainwaves was in comparison to the Pitchfork. The Brainwaves may have more features, but I'll stick with my Pitchfork.

Pitchfork by a mile. The Brainwave has tons of intermodulation.

At some points, I felt that the pitchfork sounded better and less artificial, but the Brainwaves sounded better at other points. It's a hard decision. I would go with brainwaves for being cheaper and for me, just playing at home, recording simple songs to Spotify, and practicing with a looper. That's why I would choose Brainwaves for my scenario.

Fantastic demo and review. Thank you!

You had me in the first test. I’ve been trying to decide on these for a while and this is the best comparison video for these 🙂 Pitchfork for me btw 🙂

Damnit. I'm supposed to buy a Brainwaves tomorrow.

PF sounds like more narrow frequency orientated...but i like it more. More of a synthi sound. The TC sounds more broad frequency and open but its sounds too digital harsh and upper frequencies. The best would be a Pitchfork with all the Brainwaves possibilities.

The pitch fork sounds richer and less noisy in each case while the brainwaves sounds thinner and more noisy, sustain is enhanced by the pitch fork but percussion stands out for the brains waves. I assume this is most likely because the high frequency filters for the pitch fork cut off more of the highs than do the filters of the brainwaves which allow more highs through. This means that the pitch fork sounds richer, but less intense, while the brainwaves sounds more intense but less rich., conservative taste would more likely favor the pitch fork, but adventurous taste would more likely favor the brainwaves.

Damn hard to tell with differernt volumes. I personally prefer the brainwaves with distortion and would use both without.

To me it sounds like an almost minute layer of static under the signal of the Brain Waves pedal that isn't there with the Pitch Fork.

Thank you!!! I guess I'm going to be the odd man out and say the Brainwaves wins, although they're very very close.

Excellent comparision, I agree with your conclusion that the EHX has the better overall sound. I am very satisfied with mine. Magnet draw day from dark, sun zoom spark. p.s. Mooer pedals also prone to volume drop.

Thank you for the comparison. You immensely narrowed my search for a pitch shifter, as I've been pondering too many monophonics, e.g., Meris Hedra and Quintessence. Although the EHX Pitch Fork is apparently audibly superior, because I have a 12-string stereo guitar that's rhythm-distinctive, I have to go for the Brainwaves. Not a major downfall, though, as your video demonstrates, and I'd probably use "Wet" sparingly. I anticipate sonic artifacts on a guitar that already has octave courses, but curiosity reigns.

Really not fair with the volume drop. The Brainwave has a crispy boxiness that might actually sound good if it were boosted and then compared to the midrange fullness of the Pitchfork.

The Pitch Fork sounded better to me, but I would still love to see you compare it to the Whammy 5! However, the Brainwaves has so many cool functions, so I'll have to try it.

For having tried the Brainwaves, I can tell that the tracking is far from being perfect, and as a professional musician, there's no way I'm bringing this pedal on stage. I never tried the Pitchfork, but I own the TC Electronic Quintessence (monophonic harmonizer), and by comparison to the Brainwaves, the tracking is perfect and reliable. It's disappointing because the way the Brainwaves has been thought is very cool, and easy to understand (the Quintessence is a bit more complicated as you need to know about modes, keys and harmony). But the latency that we hear, though it is not huge, is too important and unfortunately I'll return it just because of that.

When you talk ONLY about basic pitch shiter... yeah i agree with you but as you mensioned the brainwaves hás more features and i like it better when you add the distortion. So adding to your final thoughts i would say < if you want Basic pitch shiter go to Pitchfork. If you want distorted tone and any of the features rather than the Basic go to the brainwaves>

Brainwaves kills the Pitchfork for me, and I own the Pitchfork right now!

Pitch Fork sounds much smoother. Better for clean stuff. But the Brainwaves sounds way better with distortion. Looks like I'm gonna need both 🤷🏿‍♂️

Like most everyone else, I preferred the Pitchfork. I am biased, however, as I have owned the Pitchfork for some time, and have been very happy with the results I get from it. And, I don't even use the expression pedal feature.

these 2 pedals are way different to me now that you have given a varied demo of both. I think the EHX has a cleaner algorithm and generally is more musical.. However, if we are talking EFFECTS pedal, then the crazy harmonics being accentuated, the crazy adjustments and tweaks, and the overall fuzzier sound of the TCE is cool sounding. In the long run for me, the TCE would probably end up being a "gadget" pedal and the EHX would be the daily workhorse. BTW, IMO (being somewhat of an EXH fan) just like they did with the canyon delay-looper, they upgraded it into the grand canyon, notably adding the stereo outs and added everyone else's delay ideas, but at 1/2 the price, I will sit on the fence and watch for the upgraded version of the pitchfork. and you watch, it will rule for $249 US sweetwater, et al...price. Also looking forward to EHX's new crazy super-verb, something like a: super-duper 3-engine-matrix reverb unit ....for $249.....heh. dear EHX, $500 of your money is in my pocket waiting for your super pitchfork AND your super-duper multi-engine reverb (like i'm thinking everything ventris, neunaber and strymon ever did PLUS new tweaks and the triple engine threat with full routing like:parallel or series or both) edit: I have a Lexicon mx400 dual-stereo reverb unit. It has fully flexible effects engine routing and both halves can be linked for basically a 4-engine effects matrix. you can quickly get into outer space just using stock patches, so I think a flexible routing matrix would be a huge plus for a digital multi-engine pedal too. BTW, you can get these used for $150-$200. they are awesome for all the basic effects, just in a small 19" rack case(110VAC power too fwiw)

I think the pitch fork just does a slightly better job when it comes to chords. The brain waves on the other hand sounds a lot better paired with distortion compared to the pitch fork. I've been using the pitch fork on bass for a while and what I've found is that is makes the highest frequencies sound too harsh if I don't turn down the tone on my bass. the brain waves seens to suffer less from this issue.

I prefer the EHX pitchfork ; plus add the expression pedal for whammy. Thank you for this demo

EHX for smoother clean pitchshifting. TC for nice noise and synth sound. I am also curious of the whammy comparison between a Ricochet and Brainwaves. Pitchfork can half wham too with the momentary switch and EXxp pedal. ..

Now frankly, to me the Brainwaves sounds way more clear and precise, but it's so damn clicky! I could go crazy... clickA clickC clickF :O

Here are my thoughts. Cut to the chase ... the PitchFork seems to track better and has a better sound for my ears. Here's a question for you. I play in a worship band at church. We are given sheet music, and then we can practice at home by watching worship bands playing the song. BUT ... Bands invariably play the song in a DIFFERENT key. It makes it impossible to truly practice the song (using the video) in the same way as practicing off the sheet music in a different key. My thinking ... use a pitch pedal to change the D major on the sheet music into the B major they're playing. Problem I see .. the PF pedal can't shift through all 11 steps of the major scale. If I buy a pedal I want to be able handle any shift necessary within the scale to compensate for what they're doing on the videos. So here's my solution .... buy two pedals. One PF takes the guitar signal and shifts. The output goes to PF #2 and shifts it. I'll have to investigate the pitch intervals that are allowed to see if the combination will cover all 11 intervals. Question for you .. do you see any flaws to my thinking? And, are there any other less expensive ways to solve my probleem? A capo doesn't cut it because it moves the location on the guitar. I want to be able to practice the song in the position dictated by the sheet music. If in key of D, I want to play a D on the 2nd fret. And a drop pedal won't cut it because it only goes down. Many times I have to go up. The pitch shifter pedal seems to be the best solution, but I don't know everything. Thanks so much for your help. As I said above, based on sound, the Pitch Fork seems to have the best sound.

Run both pedals at the same time! Haha. Nice video and nice guitar...thanks again. I'm a EHX freak so I like the Pitchfork. But on my board I have a DigiTech whammy 2 from the 1990's...looks like it's time for a Pitchfork.

I don't know. You can turn that momentary switch on the Pitch Fork and get that almost whammy sound. Sorta. . Sorry I'm biased. Love the Pitch Fork.

Have you tried rolling off the volume knob a bit, or trying it with single-coil pickups? I feel like maybe your signal was overdriving the Brainwaves a little bit; when you played quietly it seemed to do better. Could have been my imagination, though. Anyway, I guess I can do that test myself soon, because I'm getting one regardless! Great channel btw.

Great Vid, any chance you could compare the Digitech Whammy Ricochet as well ?

Dude! Great review. Helped me make a decision!!!

I own both and the Pitchfork sounds way better. There are ways to make the Brainwaves to sound less harsh and it does things the Pitchfork won’t like separate delays for each pitch.

Tone quality comes first in my signal chain. Winner… Pitch Fork. Will sit right next to my EHX Hot Tubes 😉

wow the pitchfork wins here in a head to head. as im a bass clarinet player ive not much need to use polyphony but i make loops and build chords so to add a PF into my chain might be pretty magical

Better is subjective. I found the pitchfork to be more pleasing to my ears. I perceive high-frequency distortion in the TC .... kinda buzzy. The pitchfork was a little rounder on the top end. Good stuff!

Tricky one, because I will use it in a wet dry wet rig and in the stereo part, so although your recording favours the Pitch Fork I am not sure it would in a WDW scenario. Stereo and toneprints and mash would probably persuade me to go with Brainwaves. I use triads a lot so probably be ok. There are a ton of toneprints including Andy summers, Steve Vai, Lari Basillio and David Walliman already. I also went into the toneprint editor where you can adjust the volumes. I am pretty sure I could go into the toneprint editor and match up the volumes. You have bought so might be interesting to do that and then come back on whether you can match the volumes with the PF. So given my other TC experience including the Quintessence I think the Brainwaves fills the gap the Quintessence leaves.

Pitchfork for tone and no SW updates necessary aka long term use. Brainwaves for short term use and extra features

Wow, I'm going contrarian to most of the comments here. Brainwaves sounds more natural and less processed to me. Also it's like the difference between a neck pickup (Brainwaves) and a bridge pickup (Pitch Fork). For ambient music the more mellow, less processed Brainwaves would do it for me. But the Pitch Fork would make a solo stand out in the mix. Although it's a somewhat different animal, the DigiTech Drop Pitch Shifter would make for an interesting comparison. Steve Stine says in his review that the DigiTech pedal tracks better than the Pitch Fork, FWIW.

There is one big problem with the Brainwaves. I've had mine since early 2021, and I thought there was something wrong with it, so I contacted support. They couldn't replicate what I showed, so I sent it back and got a new one. And, would you imagine? It has the same peoblem! If you want to downtune/drop, it sounds a bit dissonant, especially on single note lines when you let the notes ring. The problem is when you have the mix at 100%, you get just a few milliseconds of the dry note at the attack when you pick the string, and that makes it unusable as a downtune/drop tool, because whatever you play will feel out of tune. The DigiTech Drop is infinitely better at that particular function. The Brainwaves is much fun with the mix at 50%, but it's absolutely unusable as a drop tool for me.

I have the pitch fork, will not be buying the brainwaves

Pitchfork hands down for me. Nice demo!

As a bassist in a duo without a guitarist, I prefer the accurate tracking of the Pitch Fork.

The brain waves definitely has a delay after the initial note. I have one and the low gain is very apparent, almost thin in sound. It’s great for a lot of things, but playing the pitched notes fully wet isn’t one of them. I tend to use it for thickening my sound in chords, as it tracks chords rather well (but don’t be surprised if it doesn’t do well with the 2nd octave). On the other hand, the pitchfork sounds great. It has a nice full sound to it, and the pitches have a more immediate effect after hitting the initial note. Personally, they both have their applications and sound great, but I’m sticking with the brainwaves because the Detune sounds oh so sweet and I like the options. The MASH feature opens up a lot of room for new sound, and makes me feel like I have multiple pedals in one.

Thank you for doing this video......I liked the sound of the pitch fork........it sounds better in my opinion....✌🏻❤

Braibwave has the function, probably needs to be followed by buffer or boost, but, really has a verge of tinny tone in many modes, a bit thin and the pitch fork is a fuller tone all th e way thru

Right out of the gate the Pitch Fork tracks better and sounds more realistic. I don’t think the Brain Waves is even in the same universe.

I like TC electronic stuff a lot ( amps, pedals and its toneprints) but I gotta say the winner of this match is the Pitch Fork

Pitchfork FTW

I think the Pitchfork have a more natural sound,besides the volume problem, but the brainwaves sound very good too, as you say for use the pitch shit capability my choice is the pirtchfork, but for a use like detune and all that the brainwaves is a good option

Thanks for an awesome video. I was so excited about the wild possibilities of the brainwaves and went for it right away. Having mild buyer’s remorse. I wanted it to replace my whammy V, however I noticed the tracking is slightly off in comparison. Too bad! I put my heavy whammy V back on the pedal board. Maybe the subnup would be a better smaller choice! Haha In fact the donner octave pedal I have tracks better than the brainwaves I think!

Bill can you compare Pitch fork, with a TC electronics harmonizer in polyphonic mode? I am really curious to see the difference between the pitchfork pitch shifting capabilities versus the TC electronics unit operating in polyphonic pitch shifting mode. That’s a mouthful. But it would be a cool comparison because the TC unit is supposed to be really really great because it’s a harmonizers and a Pitch shifter. So does it suck? MrMike from Philly ✌️👍🤘🙏

Brainwaves sounds better with distortion! Wow!!!

Curious what your thoughts are on latency of the brainwaves and quality of the sub octave sound. I use a pitch shifter for bass playing duties in my band @sirenintheatrium. I found the subnup added a bit of latency, and a short decay verb kind of artifact(or garbage as you say). The Bass9 adds the same verb artifact(even confirmed by ehx via email). The hotone harmony sounds decent, but there's also 25ms of latency. The Digitech Drop sounded good, but had terrible latency. Pitchfork and hog2 were the best both on latency and quality of pitch shifting. The hog2 has a little mid-range honk to it that needed to be eq'd out. Thoughts?