The October Audio F Division is a sub octave drive pedal: a device that mixes an overdrive circuit with not one but three switchable sub octaves. Delicious Audio's Paolo De Gregorio, announcing it in July 2023, called it "a monophonic sub octave synthesizer with ridiculous rump-shaking bass content!"1 It sits in the octave and pitch family alongside other octave and pitch pedals, but its focus is downward: everything it adds sits below your playing, not above it.
How it makes its octaves
Input signals are amplified and introduced to a CMOS counter/divider that divides by 2 at each step, cutting the previous octave down again, with three possible divisions. That is the classic divider approach to octave generation: the pedal tracks the pitch of your note and produces square-wave-like copies one, two and three octaves below it. Because it is a divider, it is monophonic, built around single notes rather than chords.1
The drive side is split from the CMOS input, so the overdrive and the sub octaves come from the same amplified signal but are shaped separately. On its own, De Gregorio described the drive as having "a crunchy, somewhat synthy sound."1
Controls
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Drive | One knob, from quiet overdriven to louder distorted tones; clean is not an option1 |
| Two mixer knobs | Set the ratio and overall volume of the sub and drive sound1 |
| Toggles 1, 2 and 3 | Each toggle is a sub octave and can be on or off in any combination1 |
The three toggles are the heart of the pedal. Toggle 1 gives you one octave down, toggle 2 two octaves down, and toggle 3 the lowest setting, transposing the signal three octaves lower. Any combination works, from a single sub voice to all three stacked.1
What it sounds like
Delicious Audio's description of the sub octaves alone: "The sub octaves alone sound like square wave bass fuzz and track all over the fretboard, with increasing glitchy-ness below the 5th fret."1
"By itself, it's a sputtering engine, like a muscle car parked on your pedalboard."
So the lowest octave is the wildest of the three, and the higher sub octaves give the mix something to sing against. The drive, blended underneath, keeps the effect anchored to your base tone1.
Suggested settings
The announcement includes four quick settings as starting points1:
- Implied upper octave: Octaves 1 and 3 on, sub and drive equal
- Saucy leads: Octave 1 on, sub about half volume of drive
- Synthetic chemistry: All octaves on, drive about half volume of sub
- Love dumpster: Octave 3 on, sub and drive equal
Notes for players
The Drive knob has no clean setting: it runs from quiet overdriven to louder distorted tones. If you want a clean signal under the sub octaves, that has to come from outside the pedal, such as a parallel blend.1
Because the divider is monophonic, it behaves best on single notes and riffs; playing below the 5th fret brings increasing glitchiness, which some players will treat as a feature rather than a flaw.1 For more on how divider octave pedals compare with polyphonic pitch shifters, see the octave and pitch pedals page, and for the drive half of the circuit, overdrive pedals.
Videos
Pedalboard of the Day
Matt Foy
Questions
Does the October Audio F Division have a clean option?
No. The Drive knob runs from quiet overdriven tones to louder distorted tones, and clean is not an option on the pedal itself. The workaround is to blend the drive down with the mixer knobs, or to run the pedal in a parallel setup so your clean signal sits underneath the sub octaves.
How many sub octaves does the F Division produce?
Three. Each is switched on or off with its own toggle, named 1, 2 and 3. The circuit divides the input signal by 2 at each step, so the lowest of the three transposes your signal three octaves down.
Can the F Division sub octaves be used together?
Yes. Each toggle is a sub octave and can be on or off in any combination with the others, so you can run one, two or all three at once. Two mixer knobs then set the ratio and overall volume of the sub sound against the drive.
What kind of circuit does the F Division use to make its octaves?
The input signal is amplified and fed to a CMOS counter/divider that divides by 2 at each step, cutting the previous octave down again, with three possible divisions. The drive side is split from the CMOS input, so the overdrive and the sub octaves come from the same amplified signal but are processed separately.
What does the third sub octave sound like?
Delicious Audio's Paolo De Gregorio described the third sub octave on its own as a sputtering engine, like a muscle car parked on your pedalboard. In combination with the other octaves, the base tone sings in contrast to it.
Sources (1)
- New Pedal: October Audio F Division Sub Octave Drive, Delicious Audio, 2023-07-07