TC Electronic Brainwaves Pitch Shifter

The Brainwaves is a pitch shifter that packs two independent voices into one compact enclosure. Each voice shifts from unison up to two octaves higher or lower, and it uses polyphonic pitch shifting, so chords stay usable too. The pedal can produce a Whammy-style octave up, but also a slight detune for a thicker, almost ambient sound. Players who combine it with a violin or a five-string instrument call the tracking excellent, comparable to what Electro-Harmonix does.

The distinctive part is the MASH switch. It is meant for expression: it bends the shifted notes, much like an expression pedal. You can assign it to almost any parameter. On top of that, the free TonePrint editor and app let you decide for yourself what the pedal does, and there is room for three custom presets. Inside are small switches for extra configuration, for instance to turn off the touch-tone function of the footswitch if you only want to use it to switch the effect on and off. The pedal has true bypass, fits on any pedalboard and draws very little power.

Then the shortcomings. The editor is powerful but not friendly: there is hardly any explanation, and TonePrints you make yourself cannot be shared. There is no separate balance between dry and wet for each voice, and you cannot set the volume of the individual octaves separately. The pedal is also not truly stereo: if you feed different signals to left and right, they come out mixed.

It suits anyone looking for a compact Whammy replacement, who wants to layer harmonies or who would rather make strange sounds than a tidy octave. If you simply want a fixed extra voice without fuss, a simpler pedal will do.