“Complex chords and sustained lead tones are reproduced with stunning clarity”: With an 8-octave range, real-time control, has Boss raised the standard for pitch-shifting pedals with the XS Poly Shifter series?

Boss X-100 and XS-1 Poly Shifter: the treadle-equipped XS-100 and Compact Series XS-1 pedal are photographed against an industrial-looking floor.

Boss is promising “a new era in pitch shifting” with a pair of pedals for electric guitar and bass that present players with real-time control over the tuning of their instrument and some of the craziest, most expressive sounds you can eke out from your pedalboard.

The XS-100 is describes as a “pitch-shifting workstation” and it appropriately stacks the features high, with an onboard expression pedal (plus the option to hook up two external footswitches or another expression pedal) and an incredible eight-octave range, 30 user memory slots for saving your go-to settings, MIDI connectivity, and an integrated toe switch for performing momentary pitch-shifts.