Digitech FreqOut Reviews

Not quite realistic, but that can be a good thing

I'm a home music producer working in a variety of styles. I have, in the past, had setups where I could record with real acoustic feedback but it can be hard to get exactly what you want. The FreqOut can get very close to sounding realistic and with a lot more control.

The unit feels like a quality piece of equipment, even though it has a folded metal construction rather than diecast. The control are small but smooth and work well, giving a reasonable range of control. I would have liked, perhaps a 4th harmonic and maybe a "Natural Wide-Range" setting but that's a bit picky.

The sound can be a bit "fluty" through a clean channel but feedback is usually for higher-gain situations where the distortion in the channel gives it a more natural tone. I have also used it for ambient guitar work and it works surprisingly well. It seems to handle chords by selecting one note to feedback. This is more like real feedback but I sometimes wish it could be used to sustain a chord the way it can a single note. Again I'm being incredibly picky here.

My perfect version of this would be a bit bigger with bigger controls for live use, more harmonic options including a bit less predictability and maybe a chord sustain mode (though that is a different pedal function.

As it is I find it useful and, with a bit of care, near enough to realistic not to sound wrong

Genious

This is a great pedal, you can literally get freaked out with the sounds coming out of it.

Fun for hours

Sound --

This pedal delivers the sound exactly as promised. The feedback created by this pedal sounds amazing.

Operation --

At first try the operation can be a bit clumsy. The UX isn't as straightforward as you might think it would be. Nevertheless it doesn't take a lot of time to learn to operate with it properly.

Build quality --

Robust and sturdy

Summary --

Great sound, clumsy UI

Fun sounding effect

Nothing like the real thing but it sounds pretty close before it cuts off suddenly after 6 or so seconds.

inspirational

It's a very well made pedal that can be used in so many ways. I tested various settings and was enough to make me happy:

1 - The dry signal turns off the guitar sound and keeps the feedback on, it sounds like a theremin, which gave me plenty of ideas. although i recommend a loud guitar signal before going to the pedal to get more sustain or else the feedback would die off.

2 - I played rhythm guitar with the 2nd type setting, dry signal off, and gain at 8 o'clock, and sounded like there is a voice that is singing along with the guitar. it's very inspirational.

Pros:

- The feedback is as close as you can get, it feels more like a Fernandes sustainer than an Ebow

- true bypass

- option to change harmonics

Cons:

- Be careful on cranking the gain knob when playing on the high notes, it can deliver a loud high pitched shriek even at low volumes.

it's a good pedal that i'll definitely keep in my collection. I recommend anybody to try this pedal and give their own opinion about it.

And thanks to Digitech for making this wonderful pedal.

8.5/10

It does what it promises !!!

not as good as expected

not as good as expected.

Great pedal for a great price

The Freqout is a great pedal that gives you the feedback that you get from a cranked AMP when you get your pickups too close to the speaker, without needing to go to war with the neighbors and without destroying your ears.

You can use it for long sustain and even like an Ebow.

It's great for an ambient sound and for some deep feel solos.

The pedal is easy to use and should go to the frond of your effects chain, I use it to enhance drones with my Fuzz and Reverb.

The controls are very simple and it's easy to figure everything out right out of the box.

-The "Momentary" switch, controls what the mail bypass switch does, switching from a simple push and play to sort of an expression pedal.

-The "Dry" switches the dry signal of your instrument on and off, meaning you can switch it off and get only the feedback, this in my opinion is the most fun feature of the Freqout as it makes for some great experimentation with different pedals.

-The range knob controls the onset of the feedback and the overall gain.

-The Type knob controls the type of feedback you can get from the pedal, from a sub octave, 1st to 5th, and a natural high and low sounds.

This pedal is actual true bypass, as opposed to older Digitech products and it sounds great. It's also, like older Digitech producs, built like a tank and looks like it will serve you for years to come.

The only issue that I found with the pedal is when you switch it to momentary mode, it seems like the pedal squashes the sound a little bit and brings the volume down slightly.

Digitech Freq-Out

This is a weird one - in many ways ! First off - I put this on my pedalboard in place of a compressor / sustain (only ever used in sustain mode). Nothing happened - it didn't even light up any LED's no matter how much I tried pressing the button ! Have I got a dud ? - THINK ! - read the spec. - this requires 235mA of current at 9V. I checked the power leads back from my power supply (now THAT isn't lacking in current !) and found I was only giving it 100mA - far too little. - Just swapped over to an output giving 250mA - I could have used one of the 400mA outputs just as easily. Now everything was working fine. Don't return your pedal - Check your power is sufficient first !

This didn't really sound much like feedback to me - and it ONLY appears to work on single notes ! - If you play chords it latches on to the lowest bass note and creates harmonics from that. (looks like the same processing algorithm used in the Vocal Harmony effect !), Fine for soloing, but can be rather strange if you hit chords. The online demos appear to emphasise the non-latching mode a lot and it works well in this mode.

The low octave is particularly unususal and sounds very smooth, - almost a pure sine wave. This is the cleanest sub-octave I have ever encountered! - but only monophonic !

On a bass guitar this effect is in a class of its own and you need speakers that can handle it.

All the sounds are quite pleasant and musical - just not really "Proper" traditional sustain or feedback. Considering the price, I can't really complain, and this is an unusual, but musical effect. -

One or two part harmony, but adapted for guitar. It really ISN'T a sustain sound - its a SYNTH !

Very good at what it does

Background: I used to have a Jackson DK2S with the Sustainiac system and I was enjoying that very much. At some point I had to sell the guitar as it wasn't versatile enough but I always craved for a system that would replicate the Sustainiac's functionality. I have never used an ebow by the way.

Naturally, i was quite surprised and curious when i saw the FreqOut, so after reading the glowing reviews I went ahead and got it.

The build quality is really nice and it looks nothing like the older digitech pedals I had come across - thumbs up digitech!

Regarding the sound, which is what is important, I would say it is a very decent choice for a few things. There are a few shortcomings, like the inability to feedback on anything other than single notes (this is where you could go crazy with the sustainiac) and on some occasions, depending on the base sound, the feedback sound is not totally convincing. But overall, it is a step in the right direction for pedal-generated feedback and a very creative tool in the right hands and conditions.

Verdict: what it can do, it does it very convincingly but it cannot do everything. Approved

Fantastic device | 5+++

When a guitar becomes something truly great! :) It's difficult to explain how great device FreqOut is. Must have!

This pedal will make it possible to create that feedback effect that would be difficult to create specially at lower volumes but at must be maintained otherwise it will sound so fake and very unmusical.

You should try this one!

I?ve been investing infinite sustain at low volumes for over two decades now and I?m positive that this box is a wonder. Even when I distrust that this kind of thing could produce something organic and natural, that fear proven to be very wrong. I expected some refinement from the old Boss feedbacker/Distortion and ended up with something more close to a Fernandes Sustainer. If you manage to apply this tastefully, this might be the most interesting tool that I?ve found in many many years. Even when our choice of pickups and amp will affect the outcome (remember that this is not a mechanical device, so it depends on the vibration of the strings of your instrument to operate, not adding to that vibration -say like a Sustainer-), is not possible to say that the sound you?ll hear is bluntly artificial. Even when it moves a tad aloof from natural sounding, if that happens, it still sounds VERY musical. It even passed the tough test of playing clean with flying colors! If you are into infinite sustain (in a home studio environment in particular) this IS the effect to get! Flexibility of features is impressive (surpassing the Sustainer, the Sustainiac and everything else I own) and bulding quality is parallel to the best of stomp pedals (well, exception made by the traditional Boss). I could not be happier with this. Just get one as soon as you can!!!

Wow ...

It is it!!!

I was waiting fo that kind of product for a light years and I got it - perfect sounding effect, which can change everything in guitar playing ...

Unrealistic

I had high expectations for this pedal especially after watching lots of YouTube videos, such as the Pete Thorn demo.

However it falls short as the sound is just too 'flutey' and unrealistic.

Pros:

- Great build quality

- Looks and feels much better than pictures suggest

- Lots of harmonic options

Cons:

- False synth like sound

- Does not respond as expected, e.g. there is note 'drop off'

Summary:

Does not live up to the hype even though I so wanted to (and was even willing to look over minor shortfalls).

Horrible pedal - not even close to an Ebow sound

This was the most disappointing pedal I have every purchased.

It is supposed to sound like a cool Ebow - it is so far away from that sound it isn't funny. The tracking is wrong, I would have expected this to be amazing, sorry folks, I wouldn't recommend this pedal.

Excellent

This unit is exceptional in every way. The most fun I have had with a new pedal in many years.