Electro-Harmonix Pitch Fork

The Electro-Harmonix Pitch Fork is a polyphonic pitch shifter pedal that has earned a place on countless pedalboards as the affordable, reliable answer to a complex problem: tracking pitch-shifted intervals on full chords without the artefacts that plagued earlier polyphonic pitch shifters. Released in 2014, the Pitch Fork delivers clean, musical pitch transposition across a three-octave range with a deliberately simple interface that makes it easy to dial in the most useful intervals quickly.

The pitch range covers up to three octaves in either direction, with 11 selectable intervals: detune (17 cents), minor 2nd, major 2nd, major 3rd, perfect 4th, perfect 5th, major 6th, minor 7th, one octave, two octaves, and three octaves. The Shift knob steps through these intervals, the Blend knob mixes dry and pitch-shifted signal, and a mode toggle selects between Up, Down, or Dual mode. Up and Down transpose the input signal in one direction at the selected interval. Dual mode outputs two pitch-shifted signals simultaneously at fixed combinations — major 3rd up plus perfect 5th up (chord harmonisation), perfect 5th up plus one octave down (a classic Hendrix-style detuned shimmer), and one octave up plus one octave down (a hugely thick triple-octave effect popular for synth-style guitar parts).

The expression pedal input is where the Pitch Fork gets really versatile. With a TRS expression pedal connected, you can sweep the pitch continuously from unison up to the selected Shift interval — Whammy-pedal style — or use a control voltage source from a synth or modular rig. The Latch / Momentary button changes how the footswitch behaves: in Latch mode the pedal toggles on and off as expected, with the expression sweep providing continuous pitch control while engaged. In Momentary mode, the effect engages only while the footswitch is held down, with the expression input then controlling glissando time from 4ms (instant) to 2 seconds (slow slides). This makes the Pitch Fork capable of pedal-steel-style swells, dive-bomb effects, and other expressive techniques without needing a separate Whammy pedal.

The pedal uses a digital pitch-shifting algorithm with buffered bypass, mono I/O, and runs on the included 9.6VDC 200mA adapter or a 9V battery (30mA current draw). The chassis is the standard EHX nano format at 4.5" × 2.75" × 2.1" — compact enough to fit on any pedalboard.

Who Is This For? The Pitch Fork suits guitarists who want polyphonic pitch shifting at a price well below dedicated Whammy or harmoniser pedals. It is particularly useful for adding chord harmonies, octave doubling for thicker rhythm tones, three-octave-up shimmer effects, dive-bomb effects via expression pedal, and synth-style triple-octave effects. The strong tracking on full chords (a weak point of older pitch shifters) makes it well-suited to lead playing, ambient passages, and effect-heavy parts. Bass players also use it for octave doubling — adding an octave-up signal blended underneath the dry bass for fuller tone. Players wanting deeper algorithmic pitch shifting with smooth tracking on individual notes might consider an EHX Whammy or Digitech Drop instead, but for most pitch-shifting needs the Pitch Fork delivers excellent value.