Rocktron Intellipitch

I bought this used so it came with lots of good presets from the previous owner (thanks Rudi). Editing is completed with the usual Rocktron ease and takes very little learning - the only thing you need to learn is what the various parameters mean in terms of the sound out of your speakers (use your ears!).

I use this with a Rocktron Piranha, Xpression and 300G compressor - this all runs in to a Rivera TBR-3 amp and custom Celestion Modern Lead 80 speakers. I use a range of guitars - a Yamaha RGX820z (piezo and seymour duncan loaded bolt-on), an Ibanez Blazer II strat copy, a Hohner 12-string Tele copy and others. I play in a covers band with a set list of over 100 songs from 5 decades, I can get a great range of sounds from this unit. I had adolescent fantasies of being an 80's rock god and this delivers that. It emulates plenty of the Vai and Satriani sounds (Ballerina, I believe, Flying in a blue dream etc.) which suits me fine. Pitch shift does sound quite 'processed' but this is par for the course.

This is Rocktron, I own 7 different units by them and they all deliver with no problems at all - no crashes and no failures. I have said it before on this site, I can't understand how Rocktron can make bombproof units and still survive (surely they will put themselves out of business if nothing ever needs replacing?).

Every time I have emailed Rocktron with a query I have had a rapid, good reply (thanks Jim Chowning) - top marks

Having reviewed on these pages numerous times I know that reviews tend to suggest the product is either fantastic or rubbish. I realise that this review seems to suggest the former, it isn't! This is a balanced appraisal based on using ART, Digitech, Korg, Hafler and Boss products. This is a great effects unit - an Intellifex (one of the best pedigrees around) with extra features, what more could you ask?

I play a bit of everything and this delivers most of the sounds I need. The reverb, chorus and delay are outstanding. The intelligent harmoniser is the reason I bought the unit and it delivered everything I expected. I am fairly capable with the technology, MIDI setups are fine for me and so this is comfortable to use. I have to admit to having wanted one of these since the 90's and so I am fulfilling a dream in some respects, having said this I am a little more mature now and I do recognise the shortcomings of the format (I have a lot of gear to lug around to gigs) and the sound (pitch shift does sound a little 'munchkinised') but I still have a smile on my face every time I kick in the 8-voice chorus or intelligent harmony.

If this were stolen, I would search high and low for another; it is an integral part of my sound now and I would have a hard time learning to live without it

It's quite easy to operate

The reverb and the chorus sounds fantastic. Good reflections. The rest of the unit sounds good too. There was a fault in the intelligent pitch though. When using the harmonic C-minor, the unit insisted on playing an "A" instead of "Ab" whe I was playing "F".

Works without trouble

Sucks. I emailed Rocktron about 25 times about the Pitch problem and never got an answer

Very nice unit, except for the pitch problem

This is the pitch-friendly brother of the Intellifex. Standard 3-knob Rocktron interface. I bought it as a Demo with manual, but I've rarely needed to open the book. I like the way the display leads you with text. Occasionally, you'll grab the wrong knob - which will briefly annoy you. But, for the most part, it saves you from digging through pages of menus. Which I appreciate. Besides, it's still much friendlier and straightforward than most processors that I've worked with.

I use it as an effects send for a mix of guitar pre-amps. As the guy said below, it's not an Eventide pitch processor (I don't even know anyone that actually owns one). It does pitch with excellence, but affordable microprocessors are only so fast. There is a small latency. I run my pre-amps dry into two cabs and effects into two other cabs, so it doesn't bother me. Maybe a 15ms delay. The other effects are fine. I hate chorus regardless, but the ducking delays rule. And reverse pitch has given me a few new tools. I can generate some freaky LFO-type waveforms that collapse in the background due to the ducker. It is totally quiet in my rack. Also, with a continous-control pedal, the pitch responds without any zipper noise.The only thing that I could wish for is a rudimentry eq or high-pass filter to shape the looping effects. And, unless I've lost my computation ability, more accurate delay times in milliseconds.

I don't buy "back-ups". But, I've never had any weirdness with this unit. Never had it shut-down or freeze, even with several controllers working at once. If it died, Hey, I'd bypass it.

I own a total of TEN! various Rocktron units. And I've always got great support by picking up the phone. Compared to the other manufacturers that I've dealt with, I have zero complaints! Believe me, that's why I own 10 Rocktron products and I'll never buy a Gibson again.

I play anything from dry, straight rock to Stereolab/Medicine/My Bloody Valentine noise fests. I can really incorporate the Intellipitch in the latter. The loopy-type effects have saved me at least $1350.00 over the TC Electronics Fireworx (which I carry lust for) and I think it compares favorably with any dedicated ducking delay.

Well, I only played it in the store, and I had litlle tile to try the programming features. But it seems okay.

I tried it with the following setup:
- Ibanez RG
- Egnater preamp
- Intellipitch
- Solid state Power amp
I'm more of an all tubes kinda guy, but I must say that this setup sounded damn fine. The presets on the intellipitch were like a progressive dream come true, I tried all the technical tricks in the book and it didn't give one single flaw. A real winner.

I experienced no problems during the test. But as I said, I don't own one (yet).

This is my dream, it's the closest thing to a " sonic orgasm for my noisenick self" that I've found yet.
COOL

If you're used to using other Rocktron Processors, you'll be very familiar with the layout of the presets anf the general functionality. Since I am very familiar with Rocktron products, that brings the ease of use a little higher. With that said, if you aren't familiar, it may take a few minutes to lose the uncomfortability before you realize the trend of it's heirarchy.

My very specific goal for this processor WAS to be pitch shifting for guitar. I currently use a digitech tsr-12 specifically for pitch shifting duties, but due to it's GAPS in preset changes, I can only use one preset at a time without sounding like a total idiot in a live performance gapping during a preset change. When will manufacturers get a grip on reality and cut this crap out! My pitch settings are %100 wet and %0 direct. This means that the tracking and pitch better be great to keep up with medium to fast picking. I'm sorry to say that it failed miserably in the tracking department. I can't believe that the processor that I'm currently using, whose pitch effect (2 voices) isn't a priority for the processor, wins out over the Intellipitch. This processor is supposed to be totally devoted to the pitch shifting effect (tracking and quality) and has newer technology (Wave Mechanics) and boasts 4 voices of chromatic shifting, and 2 voices of intelligent shifting. What happened? The intelligent pitch function only operates and shifts notes according to the input notes. Therefore, with the %100 wet, %0 dry setup, the closest you're going to get without trying to just harmonize with your input note is a dual unison....THE SAME NOTE. Simply put, while setup the way I'm using my current cheapy processor, it's lag was too intolerable to be considered usable live. The good side is that the 8 voice chorusing sounds great, and most of the other effects/presets sounded spectacular and sometimes even inspirational. This is a great processor if you're the average joe guitar player who expects the unit to harmonize with your guitar. On another note, it seems that alot of the presets from the Intellifex unit were used as filler in this unit as well. I was hoping that Rocktron was going to pull through with this unit and give Eventide a reason to run for their money AND DROP THEIR PRICES. Not so, unfortunately. No gaps of course, this was to be expected from a Rocktron product though.

Rocktron has always been helpful, more specifically, Dave, their webmaster and artist relations guy. On this particular deal though, I had asked exactly what I needed to ask about this product before I bought it, and was given a quick response such as this: "...no pitch shifter is flawless..." and "...you'll find the preset changes to be of top notch quality..." It was a safe response, yet untelling. I had also left a message on their message forum board for other possible Intellipitch users to answer my questions. Nothing was answered, and I took the plunge and bought it. After using it, and coming to my conclusions that it was unusable for my needs, I felt it to be in the best interest of others to go ahead and reply to myself with questions that I now had answers to. It was written matter of factly, yet tactful and informative. A day later, both my question and reply were erased from the forum. So much for trying to help out other fellow musicians.

This whole deals leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Part of me feels that my expectations were too high due to my specific demands of the unit. Then again, it's a $700 processor with the word "PITCH" in the name and whose duties prioritized it's pitch shifting capabilities. You'd think that it would have beat out my $200 cheapy in that respect.