Octave generator

OCTAVE GENERATOR An octave generator is a guitar effects unit that gives what sounds very much like bass guitar accompaniment. With relatively few people playing the bass guitar these days, this form of effects unit is, understandably, growing in popularity. The octave generator, or "octaver" as it is sometimes called, is unusual in that it does not use any of the normal types of processing such as filtering or distortion. Instead, a frequency divider system is used that generates outputs at a half and at one quarter of the input frequency, i.e. one and two octaves below the input frequency, and these signals are then mixed with the input signal. To work well, a unit of this type needs to be rather more complex than might be expected for reasons that will be explored shortly. Although the proposed design has been kept reasonably simple, it gives excellent results. The unit is constructed as a standard pedal type, with a footswitch enabling the effect to be switched in and out as d...