Deli #54 - Bodega, Brooklyn Stompbox Exhibit and Synth Expo 2018

Brooklyn Pedal and Synth Expo 

the deli 

nyc emerging bands and gear 

Issue #54 Vol. #3 Spring 2018 thedelimag.com 

June 9-10, 2018 

BODEGA

The Deli Magazine is a trademark of The Deli Magazine, LLC, Brooklyn & Mother West, NYC. All contents ©2018 The Deli Magazine. All rights reserved. 

the deli 

nyc emerging bands and gear 

Issue #54 Vol. #3 Spring 2018 thedelimag.com 

EDITor IN ChIEf / PuBLIshEr 

Paolo De GreGorio 

fouNDEr 

Charles NewmaN 

ArT DIrECTor 

Kaz Yabe ( WWW.kAzYABE.CoM) 

ExECuTIVE EDITor 

quaNG D. traN 

CoVEr IMAGE 

boDeGa, beN Davis & 

CoreY eiseNberG 

hIP-hoP EDITor 

JasoN Grimste (aKa broKemC) 

WEB DEVELoPEr 

biNoD lamsal 

ExTrA EDITING 

ChristoPher sCaPelliti 

CoNTrIBuTING WrITErs 

ethaN ames 

beN aPatoff 

CameroN Carr 

Dave Cromwell 

GeeNa KloePPel 

lillY milmaN 

amaNDa oGea 

william sissKiND 

heNrY solotaroff-webber 

ThE kITChEN 

ChristoPher sCaPelliti 

braNDoN stoNer 

PuBLIshErs 

the Deli maGaziNe, llC 

mother west, NYC 

Advertising Inquiries: 

paolo.dg@thedelimag.com 

Press Inquiries: 

info@thedelimagazine.com 

Table of C onTenTs 

p8. Fresh buzz 

p.10 Records of the Month 

p.12 boDeGa 

p.14 bands + Gear 

p.24 Feature: The synthesizer 

That ate the Guitar Pedal 

p.30 Delicious audio’s shopping Guide 

p.33 bKlYn stompbox exhibit 2018 

p.43 bKlYn synth expo 2018 

The Deli is a labor of love for the most exciting 

music scene in the world, and since 

2011 our events for musicians have helped 

keep the print edition alive. This year we 

decided to consolidate our pedal and synth 

events into a bigger expo, and while we 

were at it, we even threw a new Vintage 

Guitar Exchange into the mix! 

All our events for musicians are free, just like 

the magazine. If you are into synths, pedals 

or guitars, show your face on June 9-10. 

There will be discounts, vouchers, manufacturer 

reps, and a lot of toys to play with! 

Paolo De Gregorio 

Editor in Chief 

t 

his year, the Brooklyn 

stompbox Exhibit will 

have for the first time a 

vintage Guitar exchange 

component to it. used and 

vintage guitars will be bought, 

sold and exchanged by ten 

NYC area stores that specialize 

in vintage guitars—so if you are 

looking to sell or buy something 

special, this is the stop for you! 

The stores involved in the 

exchange are: 

30th street Guitar 

Chelsea Guitars 

Guitar Center 

my Generation Guitar 

Pentatonic Guitar 

rivington Guitars 

rudy’s music 

southside Guitars 

vintage Guitar Gallery

Fresh Buzz | New NYC Artists 

Billy Woods 

Uni 

Glam 

8 the deli Spring 2018 

Hip Hop 

Sur Back 

Avant-Pop 

Beechwood 

Psych Rock 

Sultry and confident, in their latest video for 

single “DDt”, New York’s alt-rock trio Uni 

makes good use of a mix of vaguely S&M 

imagery, glam-rock sartorial choices and the 

fetishization of all the iconography it portrays. 

the song itself is lumbering and heavy, with 

swelling organs, crunchy guitar riffs and powerful 

lead vocals by Nico Fuzz. Glam rock 

had roots in NYC with the New York Dolls and 

David Bowie’s formative years; times seems 

ripe for a revival in the city. (EthAN AMES) 

Billy Woods still won’t show his face. 

Even as one of the forerunners of Brooklyn’s 

Indieground, he remains cloaked in mystery 

and blunt smoke. In the video for “Keloid” 

from his most recent LP Known Unknowns, 

Woods is a stark silhouette against an antiseptic 

backdrop. In a world that gets scarier 

with greater exposure to the evils at play behind 

the curtains, we all wish we had a “clean 

room” to escape the radioactivity and radio 

activity. For a stream-of-consciousness MC 

whose consciousness is more finely attuned 

than most could hope for, I imagine Woods’ 

brain is his clean room. Let’s hope he keeps 

scribbling away. (BroKEMC) 

In her new EP Kitsch II, New York avantpop 

artist Sur Back—real name Caroline 

Sans—deeply mines the esoteric, incorporating 

obscure facets of many different 

genres into the record’s four tracks. It’s part 

baroque-pop, part new wave, and extremely 

avant-garde. An artist able to synthesize 

complexity, structure and melody into music 

that’s relevant and current, Sur Back can at 

times also be sweet and melancholic, with 

unconventional string orchestration and an 

abundance of compelling, unexpected melodic 

twists. (EthAN AMES) 

Building on a reputation for reckless and 

disorderly behavior, NYC rockers Beechwood 

deliver a sound that draws equally 

from the psych, punk and glam rock realms, 

with stylistic elements of both Marc Bolan 

and Daniel Ash (in particular his soft vocal 

style) audible in many of their tracks. thickly 

layered background voices often juxtapose 

against garagey drums and guitars, leading to 

frequent psych-out jams. Single “C F” makes 

full use of all these aspects while adding slide 

guitar and keyboards into the mix, while more 

aggressive party numbers like “I Don’t Wanna 

Be the one You Love” walk the line between 

Sonic Youth and rockabilly. (DAvE CroMWELL)

Records of the Month 

fortH WandererS 

Self-Titled 

Forth Wanderers’ new self-titled album, 

their Sub Pop debut, is symphonic and 

rollicking. the band’s songwriting duo— 

Ben Guterl on guitar and Ava trilling penning 

lyrics—are perpetually in sync, despite 

often writing at a physical distance. 

the album is a triumph, bursting with 

angst and dissonance while maintaining 

an innate pop appeal. the five-piece 

band’s members are rarely in the same 

place at once (they’re all college students 

in Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey 

and ohio, respectively). Despite this, their 

chemistry and synchronization as a band 

is abundantly evident on this release. 

this album has something for just about 

everyone who has an ear for pop music— 

it’s bright and jangly at times, distorted 

and gnashing at others, and it always has 

something to say. (EthAN AMES) 

Half Waif 

Lavender 

Nandi rose Plunkett’s singing is deliberate. 

her voice moves slowly, with seeming 

ease, as if each line is a response 

in real time, never rushed but carefully 

thought out and confident. the music 

Plunkett makes under the half Waif 

moniker is equally precise, particularly 

on the group’s latest album, Lavender. 

though often meditative in its ambience 

and melodic complexities, half Waif flexes 

a knowledge of pop that brings the 

music to sweeping highs. throughout, 

Plunkett contemplates womanhood and 

the distance accompanied by travel, 

perhaps best summarized in the opening 

track’s description of a visit with her 

grandmother. Both musically and lyrically, 

Lavender makes for a thoroughly 

engaging and ambitious addition to the 

half Waif catalog. (CAMEroN CArr) 

Katie Von ScHleicHer 

Shitty Hits 

Late in 2017, NYC based singer-songwriter 

(and vocalist for Wilder Maker) 

Katie von Schleicher came out with a 

poignant and plaintive album with the 

not-so-poetic title Shitty Hits. From 

the very beginning, opener the Image 

treats the listener to von Schleicher’s 

unusual, yet elegant melodies, supported 

by an unexpectedly noisy production 

based on an original and intriguing approach 

to loud/quiet/loud. the results 

are spectacular. the perfectly controlled, 

vaguely industrial clangor keeps 

coming in the following tracks, together 

with Katie’s incredibly beautiful vocal 

lines, forging a record that’s as unique 

as it is enjoyable and moving. Perhaps 

it’s true, these songs aren’t hits, but, on 

the other hand, they are definitely art. 

(PAoLo DE GrEGorIo) 

10 the deli Spring 2018

Feature | Cover Artist 

BODEGA 

Rockers in the bubble 

Wri tten by Graham D Johnson 

ThE LIGhtS ArE DIM and the band 

members’ silhouettes soft against 

Brooklyn Bazaar’s trademark 

stained glass as Bodega starts their 

set. Frontwoman Nikki Belfiglio plays 

a converted computer keyboard as 

percussion before bite-smooching 

frontman Ben hozie’s cheek. 

Post-Punk 


hozie’s reading from the biography of French film critic Éric 

rohmer: “A classicism among the ruins… the cinema is definitely 

invested with a redemptive mission… [empowered by] 

the impartiality of the movie camera and the limits it imposes on 

human intervention.” Consider this the band’s ethos, alongside 

a motto inscribed in the lyric book of their forthcoming debut 

Endless Scroll: “the best critique is self-critique.” 

But there’s an irony to the rohmer quote: no one could seriously 

claim the camera and the screen as “objective” or limiting 

“human intervention” in 2018, year of the DeepFake (which 

followed 2017, year of Fake News). hozie knows better than to 

sell cinema’s impartiality with a straight face, which is why on 

Scroll’s closing track, “truth Is Not Punishment,” hozie shouts 

out the tv as the fulfillment of writing’s “porcupine dream… / 

where a man and his dream, let loose on caffeine, see it only 

one way.” Like everyone else, Bodega’s stuck inside a perspective 

and ideology. the question Endless Scroll can’t stop 

posing is: What happens when you’re aware of this stuckness? 

What are the limits and liberations of self-knowledge? 

Bodega used to be Bodega Bay, back before they broke up, 

played a final show to a desperate sweaty crowd, then pulled 

an LCD and were born again. the new record is being released 

on What’s Yr rapture, the same label that puts out Bodega’s 

post-punk peers Parquet Courts. It’s more traditional than former 

Bodega Bay’s eccentric thirty-three-track Our Brand Could 

Be Your Life. But the never-say-die mode of “can’t go on, I’ll go 

on,” of trying to slip serious engagement into knowing snark, 

is standard practice for hozie and Belfiglio, the two holdovers 

from Bodega’s previous incarnation. their projects have always 

focused on the hypocrisy and self-oriented pragmatism that 

characterize political and moral life — hozie makes full-length 

films in his free time, most recently The Lion’s Den, which took 

time out, Peter Singer-style, to examine the nuanced ethical 

trade-offs involved when consumption is framed as a zero-sum 

game: spend it on yourself, or spend it on others. 

the band’s biggest influence is, as it has been from the start, 

New York (“an island of blue / a nipple in water”). Wilson Ave 

venue Alphaville is a home base for the group, and hozie and 

Belfiglio are regulars in Bushwick’s weeknight scene. the constant 

set-up and erosion of class oppositions, and the selfaware 

disparagement of yuppies is vintage Whit Stillman updated 

for the iPhone bourgeoise. 

that’s always been the conflict, right? Yuppies vs. Yuckies 

(aka Young Creatives). they used to fight over Downtown real 

estate but the suits won so the bands packed up for Brooklyn. 

Now the Yupsters have landed on the waterfront, set up 

a beachhead at the vice Media offices. It’s no coincidence 

that vice is the conflict’s ultimate go-between, an intermediary 

agent with a history of swapping sides as is convenient. 

In his essay “Joe Chip, What’s on Your iPod?” tom Ewing 

compares the death of rock, and the New York DIY scene by 

extension, to the “shrinking reality bubble” of half-life in Philip 

K. Dick’s Ubik: 

Within the bubble we listen to what we always did, we 

talk to people who listen to that stuff too, we enjoy the 

unspoken shared experience. But outside the bubble, 

that experience is irrelevant or forgotten... radio stations 

change format... mailing lists sputter out; fellow 

fans move away and are not replaced. 

Ben hozie is the rocker in the bubble who’s also read the think 

pieces written about the bubble. the political analogy is quick 

at hand, Bodega’s point of departure: for the man in a bubble 

aware of the bubble, what options are left? If you’re implicated, 

and you know you’re implicated, are you redeemed? 

Ultimately, self-knowledge is not just limited, it’s limiting. Accepting 

your slivered access to the truth, digging into your own 

moral impurities and hypocrisies, can be as paralyzing as it is 

necessary. Where to go after self-revelation’s incapacitation? 

Paraphrasing rohmer, you return to the past to find a classicism 

among the ruins, look to the history books as navigation. 

Cue Montana Simone, drums, standing up behind a cymbal, 

tom, and snare à la Moe tucker. Bodega is cratedigging 

through the archives, reincorporating discoveries and walking 

backwards as a way to move forward. In the end, well, there is 

no end — but perhaps it’ll work. d 

Bodega’s Stompboxes 

[Top] Madison’s Pedalboard: TC Electronic Echobrain 

/ MXR Analog Chorus / Fulltone OCD / MXR 

Dyna Comp / BOSS NS-2 

[Bottom] Ben’s Pedalboard: BOSS BF-3 / Cusack Music 

More Louder / Wampler Velvet Fuzz / BOSS TU-2 

the deli Spring 2018 13

ands + Gear 

Read the full features on 

Delicious-Audio.com 

Vlad Holiday 

Indie Rock 

New York’s indie-pop sensation vlad holiday is a force to be 

reckoned with. Just take one of his latest single, the ambient 

and melancholic “Children”—channeling the likes of M. Ward 

and the National; holiday waxes nostalgic for simpler days 

and laments a certain loss of innocence that comes with the 

territory of growing up. Moreover, he seems to long for the 

kind of blind optimism that drives so many of us to plunge 

headlong into life and love, for better or worse. (EthAN AMES) 

Your family moved to the US from Bucharest when you were 

10 for political reasons, how did the passion for rock’n’roll 

manifest itself? 

I fell in love with music right around the time I moved to the US. I 

was a bit of an outcast coming from a country no one had heard 

of (as 10-year-olds) and barely speaking English, so I found an 

escape through music and learning the guitar. I was in my own 

world and no one was judging. that ended up defining who I’d 

become in every way. 

Photo: Lisa verberght 

Klon Clone / ZVEX Instant Lo-Fi Junkie / Strymon Flint / BOSS DD-3 / 

Malekko Omicron Fuzz / Fulltone OCD / KORG Pitchblack Tuner 

Your singles, “Quit Playing Cool” and “Children” both seem 

tinged with irony. What purpose does irony serve in your lyrics? 

It’s the realist in me fighting the dreamer. For example, the line in 

Children, “Lie and say this world is fine, that we will be alright,” (to 

me) acknowledges the reality of life but also that you can’t focus 

on the negativity 24/7 and lead a sane life. 

Your tracks have a lot of interesting and varied guitar sounds. 

Tell us about the pedals that were the most utilized during the 

recordings. 

ZvEX Instant Lo-Fi junkie was a key ingredient, as well as the 

Chase Bliss Warped vinyl. Strymon Flint for all reverb/tremolo, 

that might be my favorite, it does those two staple effects just 

so well. EarthQuaker Devices Bit Commander for the crazy fuzz 

parts and EarthQuaker Devices Bellows with the drive on 1 to add 

a bit more body to certain parts. I have a Klon clone for leads and 

a Malekko fuzz I got as a gift from a fan. All running through my 

Analog outfitters Sarge class A tube amp. 

What else do you have on your board these days? 

the BoSS DD-3 is cool for certain things, including crazy digital 

stutter effects, but my little EhX Memory toy does slap-back a 

lot better. ZvEX is for all the tape warble lead parts which are 

sprinkled throughout basically every song. Fulltone oCD is on 

there now with the drive set to 0 (it still ads just a tiny bit of dirt), 

for when I need a bit more breakup. Also recently got this tweed 

Blues Junior equipped with a Jensen from Fender, sounds great, 

cool spring verb and that classic fender tube crunch. 


ProMiSeland 

All you really need to know is that you want to see Promiseland’s 

tear-yourself-apart, no-limits live performances. 

the project’s industrial-techno tracks sound like they 

could come from a secret warehouse rave on the edge of 

the city, but Australian-born Johann rashid’s vocals are 

straight from the realm of punk. Collectively, it makes for an 

intense, nightmarish experience, which coupled with the 

performance aspect, becomes simply jarring - in a good 

way (if you can take it). those in need of a cathartic ritual 

that’s at once cerebral and wild are warned. (CAMEroN CArr) 

Industrial rock is a tough genre to pull off, how did it all start? 

Johann: Promiseland has many moving parts. one is the live 

show. It’s loud, aggressive and really has its own energy. Behind 

the scenes there is a lot going on in terms of production 

and collaboration. It began when I approached Melbourne 

producer harmon with a few demos. he was able to take my 

sounds and song ideas and ultimately structure a sound I feel 

is ever changing. though the two singles that are out lean more 

into the industrial world the other songs move through many 

different vibes, slower tempo dub vibes, some experimental female 

vox and a general exploration of collaboration. 

[Top] Yamaha PortaSound Voice Bank PSS-270 

[Bottom] Yamaha DX21 

Industrial Electro-Rock 

What personality traits do you think are necessary to make 

this kind of music? 

I think one needs the ability to feel tense and physical. one 

needs to trust in subverting images and sounds into any environment. 

Like throwing your body around, clenching your teeth 

and really destroying something uncontrollably. Acting out destruction 

through schizophrenic thoughts and actions. Letting 

the mind travel anywhere and become anything and also having 

some sort of enjoyment doing that. 

What are the pieces of gear central to your sound? 

Johann: the energy of where I am and whom I get to jam with is 

at the centre of the sound. When I left for New York I didn’t bring 

anything with me. I borrowed a Yamaha DX21 and a Yamaha Portasound 

PSS-270, which I still use to record a lot of home demos. 

Harmon: We like to change things up from song to song and do 

a lot of gear borrowing. My go to outboard instruments are my 

Gibson bass and guitar and Yamaha sk20, as well as the kaos 

pads. I like playing around with reverbs and delays a lot. I will 

spend most of my time getting these sounds right. Some of the 

new tracks feature things like the Pro 2, korg mono/poly, ms10, 

Juno 6, tr 707 drum machine. We really just love getting into the 

studio firing up what we can and record as much as we can. 





ellen o 

Chillwave Avant-Pop 

Ellen o synthesizes her training as a classical pianist with an 

affinity for hip hop and trap to forge a fresh sounding chillwave 

blend. the artist’s experimental fusion creates a soundscape 

of eerie synthesizers driven by a future bass aesthetic, 

all of which forms the perfect background for her smoky 

vocals. Ellen o’s second and most recent album You/Sonata 

features artists Smoke DZA, ShrAF, and Khallee, as well as 

a more mature vision of her unique aesthetic. (AMANDA oGEA) 

How and when did you start producing your own music? 

I started producing music in 2012 after I moved to NYC and finished 

grad school at Brooklyn College. I bought a synthesizer and drum 

machine and realized that it was more inspiring and interesting for me 

to produce and write songs than composing for acoustic instruments. 

What do you find most rewarding and challenging about being 

your own producer? 

It’s most rewarding to be independent and being able to directly 

articulate the exact sound and feel I’m looking for. Being independent 

can simultaneously be isolating at times, but I have found 

that it’s very important for me to continue to collaborate with other 

artists via features on my music or by doing features with vocals/ 

instrumentals on other producers’ tracks. 

Your music is at once atmospheric, intimate and playful, do 

you have a method to your songwriting process? 

I start by finding and sculpting a patch on synthesizer, then I make 

sketches of chords and progressions that will make up different 

sections of the song. Next I use my MPC for sampling and sequencing 

the beat. Words and melodies usually come to me last 

by improvising and humming over the chords and beat. the last 

step is figuring out the form of the song. 

[Top] Roland Juno-106 [Bottom] Waldorf Blofeld 

What are your other essential songwriting tools and sound 

sources? 

I use the Akai MPC 1000 for sampling and sequencing. I usually 

use a foundation of roland tr-808 and tr-606 drum machine 

samples for the drum sounds. I make beats using the live performance 

sequencer on the MPC. I love the 16 levels function which 

allows you to map out a sample with a parameter like pitch, velocity 

etc. over the 16 pads. I love the roland Juno 106’s full, lush and 

pillowy beds of sound, in particular the string patches with chorus. 

I tend to use this synthesizer as a more static pad like texture. I was 

drawn to the Waldorf Blofeld for its more digital sounds that are 

contrasting to the analog sound of the Juno 106. this synthesizer 

is a great tool for making glassy FM like patches, and it also has an 

arpeggiator which add a more rhythmic melodic element. 


HUNTER & 

WOLFE 

TWIGA




cool company 

Cool Company’s 2016 album, Slice of Paradise, is a salient 

and smooth piece of R&B/neo soul and hip-hop fusion. 

Each song is rife with enticing percussion, hypnotic melodies 

and deceptively intricate, jazz-like chord progressions. 

The album is appealing and original, a testament to 

Cool Company’s potential for greatness. It did so well that, 

in 2017, they released a Remixed version of it. (ETHAn AmES) 

Your breakout 2016 single “Beneath the Lights” features a 

distinct sound, with a very lo-fi Ukulele creating the foundation 

of the track’s otherwise electronic arrangement. 

How did that part happen? 

Fat Matt: We were just chilling in the backyard of my parent’s 

house in new Jersey when it came together. It was a beautiful 

day and I had my laptop outside with us. I came up with the 

ukulele riff, and instead of going into the basement to record it 

on my mic like I’d usually do, I just used the laptop microphone 

outside, which picked up the crickets, birds and car sounds 

that gave it that summery, Lo-Fi feel. We added a few more layers 

on the laptop mic like finger snaps and our buddy michael 

rubbing his hands together to make the shaker sound. After 

that, we brought it inside and recorded the bass and vocals in 

our regular fashion. 

Photo: Ben Benson 

[Top] Ableton Live 10 

[Bottom] Ableton Analog 

Soul-Pop Electro-Soul 

What’s the set up as far as synth and recording gear/software? 

Fat Matt: We use Ableton for every song. The synth I use most 

is Ableton’s “Analog”. It’s got 2 oscillators and lots of options 

for filtering, pitch shifting, and lfo. I usually end up running it 

through several effects afterward, and often bounce it to audio 

and warp/ sample it. I record guitar and bass direct in and do a 

lot of percussion by striking or tapping random objects. I also 

try to use Yan’s voice as an instrument as much as possible. 

For each song, I try to develop a new technique or a new way of 

approaching the process, to keep my production from feeling 

stale. I’m most inspired when I feel like I’m discovering something 

new as I write. 

How is your songwriting process? Do you compose your 

songs before recording, or do songs ever evolve in the 

DAW during the recording process? 

Fat Matt: For us, recording and composing are always intertwined. 

We rarely write more than a few parts before recording, 

to keep our ideas organized, and because we work simultaneously. 

Ideally, I’m usually still working on the production while 

Yan’s writing, and since the ideas are developing simultaneously, 

the vocals and production are more connected than songs 

I’ve done where the beat or song was completed first. 





deal casino 

Indie Rock Avant-Pop 

Already proven adept at hook-heavy alt-pop/ 

rock, in their new EP Isadora Duncan, Deal Casino 

progresses their sound into more nuanced 

sonic territories. The tempos drop considerably, 

opening up space for a more atmospheric production 

where synthesizers challenge the edgy 

guitar parts, while vocals double up in intensity, 

for a more mature and powerful listening experience. 

(CAmEROn CARR) 

What feelings, events, people and/or records 

worked as a source of inspiration for your first 

two records? 

You try things. Sometimes they work out and sometimes 

they don’t. We tried to make an honest record, 

committing to a lot of (somewhat silly) minimalist 

principles like single tracking all guitars, getting every 

take live, not overdubbing anything, recording certain 

songs with no click etc, but we thought that record fell 

a bit short of our own expectations. After that, we realized 

we wanted a more original vibe, with derivative 

tones for guitars and keys. By expanding our palette 

of sounds with synthesizers, vocal effects, and drum 

machines, we had a much easier time developing initial 

concepts for pieces that we found interesting. 

What are the crucial pedals on your boards? 

Vibrato was a key effect on the new material for essentially 

every instrument, so Joe P has gone through 

a bunch of vibrato pedals: he tried a Behringer UV300, 

ZVEX Lo-Fi Junky, and a BOSS VB-2. Joe P now has 

a vocal pedal board, in addition to his guitar one. He 

uses an Eventide mixing Link to send his mic line 

through guitar pedals and then back out to the frontof-house. 

It helps bring the effects we got in the studio 

to the live setting. The JHS Colour Box adds some dirt, 

the BOSS Space Echo pedal adds delay, the mooer 

ShimVerb Pro adds nice reverb, and that other pedal 

controls his Space Echo for guitar. On his guitar board 

he has two memory Boy Deluxe pedals for different 

delay types, a TC Electronic Hall of Fame mini, the Xotic 

EP booster, and an EQD Tentacle for really crushing 

the guitar tone. Joe C has a Strymon Sunset drive, 

malekko spring reverb, and the Strymon El Capistan, 

which he uses for a really cool dirty chorus effect. 

[Top Left] Joe C’s Modular Synth 

[Top Right] Joe P’s Vocal Pedalboard: 

Eventide Mixing Link / 

Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2 Plus 

/ Mooer ShimVerb Pro / JHS 

Colour Box / BOSS RE-20 

[Bottom] Joe P’s Guitar Pedalboard: 

TC Electronic PolyTune 

2 Noir / Roland Volume Pedal / 

(2x) EHX Memory Boy Deluxe / 

TC Electronic Hall of Fame Mini / 

Xotic EP Booster / EQD Tentacle 

/ BOSS VB-2w 





maybird 

maybird is a band that finds itself in the middle of the intersection 

of vintage psychedelia and modern alt pop. While 

by no means following in the direct veins of those rock 

forebearers, the manipulated guitars and electronics found 

throughout the band’s music keep an eye on psychedelics 

as inspiration far more than most alt-pop peers. Live, maybird 

captures its sound by frequently bringing along pedal 

steel guitar, saxophone, and even incorporating an unusual 

overhanded guitar playing technique. (CAmEROn CARR) 

How did your creative process change since your 2013 

debut LP? 

Sam: Working with a producer definitely was eye opening, as I 

imagine it generally is for bands and artists that are for the most 

part self produced. 

The record has a lot of interesting and varied guitar sounds, 

tell us about the pedals that were the most utilized during 

the recordings. 

Josh: We tracked most of this EP with Patrick Carney in his 

nashville studio. He has every EarthQuaker Devices pedal 

[Top] Josh’s Pedalboard: BOSS BF-3 / TC Electronic 

Flashback / BOSS DM-3 / Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 

2 Plus / Mooer Pitch Box / Whirlwind Orange Box 

Phaser / BOSS TU-2 / Way Huge Green Rhino MkII 

[Bottom] Sam’s Pedalboard: BOSS PH-2 / EHX Stereo 

Electric Mistress / BOSS RE-20 / Xotic AC Booster / 

Ibanez ES2 / JHS Crayon / BOSS CE-3 / BOSS PS-5 / 

BOSS CS-3 / Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2 Plus / MXR 

Mini Phase 95 

Psych Pop Indie Rock 

known to human-kind. We ran plenty of things through those. 

Sam: I REALLY enjoyed using the Jext Telez fuzz that Pat had 

(It may have been a Dizzy Tone?). At the time I was still trying to 

sort out my own board, and I’m just an avid collector of pedals, 

so it was a dream for me. 

What do you have on your board these days? 

Sam: I use the Ibanez Delay on just about everything, and I’m 

constantly bending down adjusting stuff on it. One of the big 

ones on the record is the EQD Sea machine, which belonged to 

Pat. I also used the JHS Crayon a bunch, Pat and I must have 

auditioned 20 different fuzz pedals for different things. 

Josh: The BOSS BF-3 Flanger is the first pedal I ever bought. I 

use it for sentimentality and ultra-flange. The BOSS DD-3 delay 

was given to me by my history teacher from middle school and 

high school. mr. Jones. We used to jam. Love that guy. It’s my 

favorite delay pedal. green Rhino is just a good fuzz for rhythm 

guitar. It’s also got a bass boost that adds to its crushingness. 

The Pitch Box is Sam’s, I use it as a chorus pedal but it also 

changes pitch, and sometimes that aspect of it surprises me 

during live performances. 


Feature | Gear Trends 

The 

SynTheSizer 

ThaT aTe 

The 

GuiTar Pedal 

Are Stompboxes 

Turning Into 

Little Synths? 

written By Christopher Scapelliti 

Synth Illustration by Amy Walters 

(poster prints at amywalters.com) 


It's a good time to be a sonically adventurous guitarist. 

The market is flooded with effect pedals from 

manufacturers big and small, and the range of tones 

and processing power on offer is nothing short of jaw 

dropping. Stomp boxes are no longer limited to one or two 

decent-sounding effects and a few knobs and switches. Digital 

signal processing (DSP) has made it possible to pack 

high-fidelity sounds and features once reserved for studio-quality 

rack gear into even the most compact of pedals. 

The further we go down this road, the more guitar effect pedals 

are becoming, both literally and figuratively, like synthesizers. 

Literally, because many tone-bending features once 

reserved for synthesists, like arpeggiation, bit crushing and 

mIDI functionality, are now available to guitarists in stomp 

boxes. Figuratively, because an increasing number of pedal 

makers are creating products with deep feature sets and 

highly tweakable functions that put them on par with patchable 

modular synthesizers. 

Consider Chase Bliss Audio, makers of distortion, delay, 

phaser, chorus, tremolo and EQ pedals: not only are the 

company’s stompboxes studded with control knobs and 

switches that can route the circuits in dozens of ways, they’re 

even outfitted with external DIP switches that allow the user 

to customize a host of parameters. 

Perhaps the only question is “What took so long?” This day 

has been coming ever since the transistor revolutionized 

electronics in the 1960s. That innovation gave birth almost 

simultaneously to small and affordable effect pedals and the 

electronic synthesizer. The timing of these developments 

may have been coincidental, but there’s no denying that the 

two industries have fed from the same trough and enjoyed a 

mutually beneficial association. 

guitar effect pedals and synthesizers have more in common 

than you may think. The groundbreaking synths that Bob 

moog introduced in the 1960s had many features that eventually 

worked their way over to the effect pedal community. The 

novelty of moog’s devices is that he used voltage control to 

tell the synth what note to play, to trigger the envelopes that 

determined how the filter’s cutoff frequency and amplitude 

changed over time, and to create effects like vibrato, wah 

and tremolo. Together, the components of his voltage-controlled 

system formed the basis for subtractive synthesis, 

in which a harmonically rich waveform is passed through a 

resonant filter and treated with envelopes and low-frequency 

oscillators, or LFOs, which produce wavelengths below the 

audible range. It’s called “subtractive” because the filter is 

applied in a way that removes some of the waveform’s character 

in order to alter its timbre. 

many early guitar effects used elements of subtractive synthesis 

as well as voltage control. Consider the wah pedal, a highly 

resonant filter whose cutoff frequency is swept manually by the 

user, or the auto wah, a voltage-controlled filter whose cutoff 

frequency is controlled by an envelope that’s triggered by an 

audio signal. As for tremolo pedals and vibrato boxes—they’re 

nothing more than tiny circuits that apply a sine or triangle 

LFO waveform to an input signal. Under the circumstances, 

it shouldn’t be surprising to learn that synth maker Oberheim 

briefly produced the Voltage Controlled Filter auto-wah for 

guitarists in the 1970s, or that effect maker Electro-Harmonix 

created the 1980 mini-Synthesizer keyboard. Though product 

crossovers like these were uncommon, the shared technologies 

of the effect and synth industries made them possible. 

Of course, guitarists have been using distortion, overdrive 

and fuzz for longer than synthesizers have been around. As it 

happens, all of these are forms of distortion synthesis, which 

creates complex timbres from relatively simple waveforms. 

For that matter, when you run a fuzz pedal into a wah, you’re 

combining distortion synthesis with subtractive synthesis. 

And let’s not forget additive synthesis, the technique of combining 

the fundamental tone with its harmonic partials. This is 

how pipe organs and electronic organs synthesize complex 

sounds. An octave pedal is a simple form of additive synthesis 

that uses frequency dividers or doublers to create a synthesized 

version of the original note. Dividing that signal produces 

a tone one or two octaves below the fundamental, while 


doubling it creates a new tone one or two octaves 

higher. In recent years, Electro-Harmonix has made 

more complex forms of additive synthesis available to 

guitarists with its HOg Harmonic Octave generator 

pedal and POg Polyphonic Octave generator. 

For all their similarities, synthesizers and guitar pedals 

differ in many ways, not the least of which is their audio 

source. Traditional synthesizers use raw sine, triangle, 

sawtooth, ramp and square waveforms. As tones 

go, they’re about as generic as you can get. guitars, 

on the other hand, use strings and always sound like 

guitars. To give guitarists synthesizing power equal to that of a keyboard, 

you have to get the instrument’s “guitarness” out of the way. 

In 1977, Roland did just that with its gR500 guitar synthesizer. 

The gR500 featured a hexaphonic pickup with six outputs, one 

for each of the instrument’s strings. This connected to a converter 

that extracted the pitch of each string to drive the unit’s internal 

voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO). It also turned note on/off data 

into gates that could control envelopes, trigger LFOs and perform 

other functions associated with voltage-controlled synthesis. In 

essence, the guitar became a controller to play the internal synthesizer’s 

waveforms, triggers its envelopes and so on. mind you, 

this was well before the advent of mIDI in the early 1980s. 

PedalS WiTh 

SynTh feaTureS 

Wah Wah 

Pedal (1966) 

An example of “subtractive 

synthesis,” the wah is a highly 

resonant filter whose cutoff 

frequency is swept manually 

with a pedal. 

oberheim 

Auto-WAh 

(1976) 

The short-lived Oberheim 

Voltage Controlled Filter 

pedal is early proof of the 

cross-pollination potential 

between synths and 

stompboxes. 

Roland has continued to develop its guitar synth line. The gR- 

55, its latest mIDI-based device, even has samples as digital audio 

sources for the guitarist to trigger. But the company has also 

pursued traditional subtractive synthesis for the guitar through its 

subsidiary BOSS, which makes the SY-300 guitar synthesizer. The 

SY-300 requires no special pickup—just plug in your instrument 

and start playing. The unit uses DSP to extract from your audio 

signal the information it needs to drive the SY-300’s polyphonic 

synth engine. In effect, the SY-300, like the gR-55, gets your guitar 

tone out of the picture, allowing you to create synth tones just 

as a musician does using a traditional keyboard synthesizer. 

The SY-300 is a deep machine, but many guitar effect pedals are 

now packing similar features into the standard stomp-box format. 

DigiTech’s Dirty Robot stereo mini-synth pedal has a synth voice 

and a vocal formant voice for talk box and vocoder-like emulations, 

as well as filter modulation and even chorus and vibrato effects. 

The Pigtronix mothership 2 is a three-voice synth with a sub- 

roland 

Gr500 

(1977) 

The first device to give 

guitarists access to true 

synthesis. A special 

pickup/converter transformed 

the guitar’s output 

into pitch and note 

on-off information that 

was then used to drive 

a synthesizer. 

ElEctroharmonix 

hoG (2006) 

An example of additive 

synthesis, the EHX Harmonic 

Octave generator 

produces sounds one or 

two octaves above and 

below the guitarist’s original 

notes.

Eventide is a registered trademark of Eventide Inc. © 2017 Eventide Inc.

oscillator for subharmonic tones, a sync mode that slaves the VCO 

to the input signal for complex overtones, and even portamento to 

create those wild Keith Emerson “Lucky man” pitch swoops. 

And traditional waveforms aren’t the only options available when 

it comes to a synthesizer’s voices. A number of pedals today, 

like the Red Panda Particle and Electro-Harmonix Super Ego, 

make use of granular synthesis, which chops the input signal into 

tiny snippets, or grains. Heard in isolation, one grain wouldn’t be 

recognizable as a guitar tone, but when time-stretched or combined 

with other grains, it becomes a malleable material for creating 

new sounds based on your guitar’s own tone. 

Even guitarists who prefer the sound of their own instrument to that 

of a synth might enjoy adding some “Baba O’Riley”-style arpeggiation 

and sequencing to their fretwork. For that there’s the Alexander 

Colour Theory, a versatile eight-step sequencer and effect 

processor that creates rhythmic combinations and tones previously 

heard only from synths. Other contenders include the meris Ottobit 

Jr., which combines sequencing, stutter effects and bit-crushing to 

create tones reminiscent of arcade games, and EarthQuaker Devices’ 

Arpanoid, a polyphonic pitch arpeggiator that transforms whatever 

you play into an adjustable ascending or descending scale. 

It was probably inevitable that greater degrees of synthesizer 

functionality would come to guitar pedals once technology made 

it feasible. But what’s surprising is how a sort of synthesist mentality 

is taking root in the industry, even with pedals that aren’t 

synth effects. The Chase Bliss pedals are perhaps the most obvious 

manifestation of a growing movement to give players deep 

control over sound creation within the realm of traditional effects. 

Taking matters to an extreme, Empress Effects’ upcoming Zoia 

(featured on page 31) pedal employs a modular approach to creating 

everything from effects and utilities to instruments. Its 8x5 grid 

of pushbuttons can be programmed in seemingly limitless ways. 

All of which begs the question, Will this hyper-functionality serve 

us, or will the trend toward complexity pass and we’ll once again 

gravitate toward the simplicity of single-function pedals and the 

familiar tones of the electric guitar? Time will tell, but both approaches 

have their own fans. What’s undeniable is that guitarists 

will continue to have a new and ever-expanding world of tone to 

explore, while synth players will find in guitar pedals new effects 

regular synths don’t provide. d 

red Panda 

ParTiCle (2013) 

Using “granular synthesis,” the 

Particle chops an input signal into 

tiny snippets, or grains, that can 

be time-stretched and/or combined 

with other grains to forge 

new sounds. 

ChaSe bliSS 

audio 

Thermae (2018) 

Like little synths, Chase Bliss 

Audio’s stompboxes are studded 

with control knobs and 

switches that can route the circuits 

in dozens of ways—they’re 

even outfitted with external DIP 

switches that allow the user to 

customize a host of parameters. 

zVex 

rinGTone (2008) 

The successor to the ZVEX Seek 

Wah, which was the first guitar 

pedal to feature a very simple step 

sequencer. The Ringtone lets guitarists 

produce textural rhythmic 

patterns, ranging from the intriguing 

to the atonal. 

diGiTeCh 

dirTy roboT (2017) 

A stereo mini-synth pedal with a synth 

voice and a vocal formant voice for talk 

box and vocoder-like emulations, as well 

as filter modulation and even chorus and 

vibrato effects. 



delicious-audio.com 

Pedal Shopping Guides 

What’s Up 

Pedal-Possessed 

Creatures! 

Have you had a chance to check out our pedal blog and 

aggregator Delicious Audio yet? It’s all about stompboxes, 

featuring news, videos, advice, and also uber-thorough 

shopping guides organized by specific effect! 

Here are a few of the ones we posted recently. 

BEST AMBIENT/SHOEGAZER PEDALS 

Once upon a shoe-gazing time, guitarists had few choices when it came to stompboxes that 

could create washes of ambiance. Many players used multiple delay and reverb pedals at the 

end of their signal chains to generate deep, blooming and lingering soundscapes. These days, 

thanks to advances in digital signal processing chips, pedal makers can create stompboxes 

dedicated to this particular brand of reverb, and as it happens, these kind of effects are all the 

rage right now. We’ve spent some time with the current crop of offerings and have collected 

18 that we consider the best. All of the pedals listed in this article will allow you to create cavernous 

reverbs with lingering tails, shimmer effects, delay, modulation and much more. Which 

is not to say they’re all one-trick ponies. Many of these entrants can cover a range of reverb 

densities and tail lengths, making them rather useful for other musical styles as well. 

Google “Best Ambient/Shoegazer Pedals” to find the article by Christopher Scapelliti. 

BEST GLITCH/STUTTER/GRANULAR PEDALS 

The music genre known as “glitch” has been around since the late ’90s. It embraces all sorts 

of electronic noises that are typically produced through error, such as the skipping of portable 

CD players and the stuttering of damaged digital audio formats, as well as lo-fi sounds like 

bit-rate reduction, sampling artifacts, and extreme time stretching and compression. 

Traditionally, musical artists have created glitch effects in computer audio workstations by 

manipulating samples. In recent years, however, advances in digital signal processing have 

made it possible to replicate the sounds of the genre just by hooking up to a stompbox. And 

in the spirit of stutter-guitar pioneers like Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood, players have begun 

to embrace these extraordinary sounds, as well as tape-speed effects, audio blurring and 

stretching, and many other tones associated with glitch. 

If you’re looking for a pedal that’s built for the sole purpose of generating great glitch sounds, 

there are numerous units out there worth checking out, and in this article, we’ve collected 16 

of the best glitch stompboxes currently on the market. 

Google “Best Glitch Pedals” to find the article by Christopher Scapelliti. 


Tech 21 Fly Rigs are pro units armed with sweet analog 

tones. In the footprint of a pixie, each embodies an 

entire, multi-application “rig,” so you can rule the road, 

rehearsal or recording gig. Choose from the 

Richie Kotzen RK5 Signature Fly Rig for guitar, 

the Bass Fly Rig, and the Acoustic Fly Rig. 

NEW: dUg Pinnick Signature DP-3X 

Tech 21 delivers 

consistent quality 

sound 

studio to studio, 

club to club, 

arena to arena. 

Choose yours today. 

tech21nyc.com

The Pedals of the 

bklyn stompbox exhibit 2018 

FREE! 

June 9:12pm – 7pm / June 10:10am – 5pm 

Absurd Conclave (360 Jefferson St. Lower Level) 

Overdrive 

BOSS JB-2 

Angry Driver 

• A dual-mode drive engineered in 

collaboration with JHS Pedals. 

• It pairs the tones of the BOSS 

BD-2 Blues Driver with JHS 

Pedals’ popular Angry Charlie. 

• Dual-concentric knobs provide 

independent drive, tone, and level 

control for each overdrive type. 

• A six-position mode selector, 

lets you use each overdrive independently, 

or combine them 

together in series and parallel. 

6 Degrees FX 

Amplitude Eleven 

• Super flexible 2 Channel Class A overdrive. 

• Blue Channel has 2 gain stages acting 

as gains 1 - 2 on some vintage amps, 

producing crunchy tone with a natural 

tube-like clipping. 

• RED channel is a 4-gain stage high 

gain channel that gives you saturated 

drive for both rhythm and lead. 

• G.A.S. mode delivers Germanium 

fuzzy clipping texture. 

EarthQuaker Devices 

Westwood 

• Overdrive pedal with a powerful 

EQ section (20dB of cut and/or 

boost at 80Hz and 2kHz). 

• Designed to work with low wattage 

amps, pushing them into 

anything from cutting, edge-ofbreakup 

rhythm tones, all the 

way to articulate, singing lead 

tones stacked high with pleasing 

even-order harmonics and 

sweet sustain. 

JHS Pedals 

Bonsai 

• Utilizes a rotary knob to switch 

through nine replications of classic, 

vintage, rare, or hard to find 

variations of the Tube Screamer. 

• Two mods included in the replication: 

Keeley’s 2002 “Mod Plus” 

and JHS’s own “Strong Mod”. 

• The three other knobs also replicate 

the response of the original 

units. 

distortion 

Mod Kits DIY 

Persuader Tube Drive 

One Control 

Baby Blue OD 

Outlaw Effects 

Cactus Juice 

Deep Space Devices 

Golem 

• You’ve got to build this one yourself! 

• Darlington preamp pushes cascaded 

triode vacuum tubes into distortion. 

• Four dual triode vacuum tubes are 

included with each kit (JJ5751, 

12AX7B China, JJ12AU7 and a 

NOS USA made 12AT7). 

• A boost switch provides an 

additional layer of flexibility. 

• A straight forward three knob 

pedal based on a discrete circuit 

that combines dynamic 

overdrive and fuzz. 

• Delivers quality tone both at 

reduced volumes as well as at 

cranked-up lead output. 

• A take on the Tube Screamer 

clone with two separate overdrive 

modes. 

• “Normal” mode offers warm and 

creamy breakup, great for rhythm 

parts, blues guitars. 

• “Juiced” mode increases the gain 

dosage to extra strength, and lets 

you tear through denser mixes. 

• A seriously deep analog distortion 

pedal with tons of tonal options. 

• The “Tremble” toggle switch reconfigures 

the placement of the 

silicon and germanium diodes. 

• “Form” and “Shift” knobs affect 

the tone’s EQ, while “Rage” and 

“Power” govern volume and gain. 




FREE! 



delay 

Hotone 

Binary Eko 

Malekko 

Thicken 

• A multi-tap delay/chorus with two 

modes: Exponential and Random. 

• In the former, the Spread knob exponentially 

widens the delay times. 

• In the latter, both the short delay 

and the long delay are randomly 

selected within a time “range”, at a 

fixed rate, and they keep changing 

randomly within the long or short 

length set by the Spread knob. 

Stacks FX 

Thsee Anomaly 

• An optically controlled delay with a 

fully featured LFO section with 8 different 

waveforms to choose from. 

• Tap tempo, six multipliers and Swell 

function controlled both through a 

footswitch and a knob. 

• The LFO section can produce anything 

from lush chorus and vibrato 

to wild rising swells and “falling 

star”–like tones. 

Floating Forest 

Drifter 

• A delay with an embedded photocell-controlled 

tremolo. 

• The bottom right switch gets the 

tremolo controlled by the photocell 

(rather than the regular LFO). 

• It comes with a USB light that can 

be plugged into the USB plug on 

the side of the pedal, which features 

a rate control. 

• When the mix knob is around 75% 

you can engage the momentary 

switch (center footswitch). 

• An affordable but extremely 

powerful digital delay based 

on a dual-DSP platform and a 

modeling system. 

• Features 17 high-quality delay 

effects types including analog, 

digital, tape, dual, ping pong, 

filtered, modulated, slap back. 

• Stereo I/O and expression pedal 

support. 

PREAMP 

Walrus Audio 

Arp-87 

• A compact and feature-rich 

multi-function delay with tap tempo 

and optional trails mode. 

• Four algorhythms: digital, analog, lofi, 

and slap-back. 

• The X knob changes functions depending 

on which Algorithm you are using. 

• Bypass footswitch double as a momentary 

swell when held. 


Wilson Effects 

Slapback 

• Dual, digital PT2399 based delay 

with 700ms delay per channel and 

uniquely flexible routing features. 

• The two separate delay circuits are 

internally cascaded into one another, 

but can be separated using the routing 

jacks on the top of the pedal. 

• Oscillation, triggered by the middle 

footswitch, can be applied to either 

channel through a toggle switch. 

Tomkat 

Super Day Dreamer 

• A delay/reverb with simple and interactive 

controls and self-oscillation 

mode (holding footswitch). 

• Bright sounding medium length 

reverb (spring/hall) with slight 

modulation. 

• “Regen” and “Time” control the 

delay’s feedback and delay time. 

• Features tap tempo, subdivision, 

and modulation options. 

API 

TranZformer GT 

• A 3 band EQ/Compressor 

from the legendary console 

manufacturer. 

• Input Gain control with 

+30dB of gain. 

• Separate footswitch for 

compressor and EQ.

Pedal/Synth cross-pollination will take place in all its glory at the upcoming 8th Brooklyn 

Stompbox Exhibit! Yes, because this year this event will happen in the same space as the 

Synth Expo, on the same weekend! As always, BRING YOUR GUITAR! 

phaser 

tremolo 

Earthquaker Devices 

Pyramids 

Old Blood Noise 

Flat Light 

• Generates original sounding 

effects from flanging. 

• Three modes: Detune 

(shimmering pitch shift), 

Resonate (highly resonant 

multiflange), and Echo (reverb-like 

delay). 

• Tilt footswitch momentarily 

maximizes Rate or Shift 

controls. 

Rabbit Hole FX 

Phaser 

• An 8-stage analog Phaser with a 

rich sound that’s uncharacteristically 

large. 

• Can deliver anything from soft 

character to chaotic phasing 

insanity. 

Mastro Valvola 

LFO Tremolo 

• Vintage sounding optical tremolo 

with a range of feature you won’t 

find in vintage units of the ’60s. 

• 16 different waveforms with Symmetry 

control to alter their shape. 

• Tap Tempo with 3 selectable 

divisions. 

• A Stereo Flanging Device with five 

presets, eight modes, tap tempo, 

tap subdivision and variable Mix 

control. 

• Modify control affects different 

settings depending on the selected 

Mode. 

• Right footswitch works as tap tempo 

and re-trigger of the LFO cycle. 

synth 

glitch 

Empress Effects 

Zoia 

• Described as “a compact grid of musical 

anything.” 

• Modules are used to build instruments, 

and each block in the grid can become 

a varying piece of your patch like an 

effect or a function or an oscillator. 

• Patches can then be saved in presets. 

TWA 

Dynamorph 

• A filter + distortion pedal with 

an envelope-detection circuit 

that interacts with the player’s 

performance. 

• Features a series of obscurely 

named switches and knobs that 

open a sea of sonic possibilities. 

• Mode switch selects between 

two different overall EQ settings. 

The King of Gear 

Mini Glitch 

• Inspired by Jonny Greenwood’s 

random Max/MSP “stutter” effect. 

• It does more than that, through three 

“glitch triggering mechanisms”: 

Random, Switched and Threshold. 

• The glitching sample can be set 

to a fixed length or randomized, 

while the Dry-Path switch can remove 

altogether the original dry 

signal when glitching is active. 

Red Panda 

Tensor 

• Gives you live reverse and tape stop 

effects, pitch shifting, time stretching 

and hold functions you can 

combine in creative ways. 

• Slow down, speed up and rewind in 

real time. 

• Stretch or compress time with no pitch 

change. Loop, overdub, and randomly 

slice phrases up to 4.8 seconds. 




FREE! 



fuzz 

Animals Pedal 

Rover 

BAE Audio 

Hot Fuzz 

Death By Audio 

Absolute Destruction 

Farm Pedals 

Sweet Leaf 

• A modern and versatile take on 

the Tone Bender fuzz. 

• The “Wool” control allows to 

get the compressed vintage 

sound or a more tight and articulate 

one. 

• Adjustable distortion, level & EQ. 

• A single stage high frequency 

boost + triple stage English 

70s-style fuzz box by an established 

builder of Pro Audio gear. 

• The two effects can be used in 

series or independently. 

• Individual gain pots for each 

section. Fuzz section also has 

control pots for Juice, Bass, 

and Treble. 

• A glarly fuzz with a twist. 

• The two horizontal sliders 

(“Overload” and “Gain”) interact 

with each other to push and 

/or starve the pedal’s circuit 

with unpredictable results. 

• A knobless fuzz, what else can 

we say? 

• Internal trim pot allows to dial 

the volume back or turn it up 

a little. 

Fuzzrocious 

Grey Stache + Octave Jawn 

Main Ace FX 

Navigator 

Pelican NoiseWorks 

Half Horse 

SolidGoldFX 

76 Octave Fuzz 

• Good for both guitar and bass, it’s 

based upon the GGG-tuned and 

Civil War versions of a muff fuzz. 

• Separate Tone and Mids controls 

make it extremely versatile in the 

mid-range (scoop/flat/boost). 

• Dialing back the sustain delivers a 

sound more similar to an overdrive. 


• Boost + Fuzz producing classic 

fuzz tones until you hit the 

Double switch - then it can “rip 

apart your soul with devastating 

fuzzy agony.” 

• Dialing down Bias and Fuzz 

controls starves it into a buzzing 

crackle. 

• “Tone” and “Spice” toggle 

switches add extra tonal flavor. 

• A dynamic JFET based fuzz 

originating from half of the 

company’s signature pedal 

The Pelitaur. 

• “Grain” knob controls the 

gain, while “Sound” is basically 

a tone knob. 

• A multi-voiced germanium octave 

fuzz that can deliver many 

fuzz flavors. 

• The three-way “Color” switch 

combined with the “Texture” 

control provide infinite midrange 

options. 

• Two internal DIP switches deliver 

extra tonal options.



FREE! 



reverb 

Jonny Rock Gear 

Moby Depth 

Meris 

Mercury7 

Source Audio 

Ventris Dual Reverb 

Wampler Pedals 

Reflection 

• A digital spring reverb with a 

series of tweakable settings. 

• The “Regen” knob regulates 

the amount of effected signal 

sent back in the Reverb (Feedback 

control). 

• Useful FX Loop (Send-Return). 

• A stereo digital reverb inspired 

by the reverbs used in the 

soundtrack of Blade Runner. 

• Extensive modulation capability, 

high & low frequency damping 

and auto swell envelope. 

• Selectable higher headroom 

signal path for Synthesizers. 

• Features two completely independent 

reverb processors, one 

entirely dedicated to the spring 

effect (True Spring Engine). 

• Seamless and unlimited “spillover” 

from one preset to the next. 

• 12 onboard reverb engines + expanding 

extras via the Neuro app. 

• Two reverbs (spring and 

plate) in one pedal. 

• Features the often overlooked 

pre-delay function, 

that leaves more room for the 

note’s attack. 

• Internal switches let you adjust 

the effect’s tails and dry 

signal to your liking. 

CAB SIMULATOR 

multi- effects 

looper 

Mooer 

Radar 

• 30 different speaker cab models 

with customizable EQ. 

• Capable of loading custom IRS. 

• Optional microphone (11 mic 

models) and power amp simulation. 

• Headphone and line outputs. 


Eventide 

H9 

• Runs all of Eventide’s stompbox 

effects. 

• Fully controllable through 

one knob user interface. 

• iOS/Android app allows 

managing presets, live control 

and algorithm purchases. 

bass 

Electro-Harmonix 

95000 

Tech 21 

DP-3X 

• An advanced “Performance 

Loop Laboratory” with six 

mono tracks and one stereo 

mix-down track per loop. 

• Tap, Quantize, Overdub, Reverse 

functionalities among 

many others. 

• Two ins/outs + monitor and 

headphones outs. 

• Optimized for boot floor and 

tabletop use. 

• A dUg Pinnick signature pedal 

(with built-in tuner) that’s an adaptation 

of his Tech 21 Ultra Bass 

1000 Signature head. 

• Also recreates the sound dUg developed 

in the ’80s merging highend 

distortion from a guitar amp 

with low-end bass from a bass amp. 

• It also provides more traditional 

bass tones through the drive, 

compressor and EQ sections optimized 

for bass.

The Deli’s Expos’ 

Sponsors 

DR Strings 

Founded by Mark Dronge, son of Guild 

Guitars founder Alfred Dronge, in 1989, New 

Jersey’s DR Strings re-introduced handmade 

round core string making to the general 

market. Although the process requires a lot of 

skill and time, the company felt it was worth 

it because the difference can be heard. The 

idea paid off, and today DR is a market leader 

in the string manufacturing field with dozen of 

string models that fit every player’s needs. 

Hosa Cables 

A leading supplier in analog 

and digital connectivity 

solutions, Hosa Technology 

is a favorite among those 

working within the musical 

instrument and professional 

audio industries. Always 

redefining and advancing 

what modern analog/digital 

connectivity should look like, 

Hosa Technology recently 

announced the introduction of 

their Hopscotch Patch cables, 

a unique, pigtail patch point 

ideal for modular synths. 

Strymon Zuma 

MONO Pedalboards 

Already an industry leader in the instrument case 

realm, MONO’s first line of pedalboards have 

been an immediate hit. Available in five different 

formats, the MONO boards are cut from a single 

piece of 3mm anodized aluminum, and feature 

cut-outs optimized to facilitate any kind of custom 

wiring. MONO offers these boards in either a flat 

or ten degree incline, and each one is shipped 

with 3M dual lock for attaching the pedals to it. 

The boards come with a sturdy padded soft case 

and are available in black or silver. 

Strymon has long been synonymous for studio quality stompboxes, 

but the company has recently entered the PSU market and it’s pushing 

the envelope with the release of the Zuma, the highest horsepower 

and most technologically advanced pedal power supply of its kind. 

The PSUl is designed with the modern player in mind, offering 500mA 

of current per output, and advanced, multistage filtering power that 

allows your pedals to have the best possible dynamic range. 

D’Angelico Guitars 

A guitar company whose name is 

synonymous with New York City, D’Angelico 

was founded in 1932 by Lower East Sideborn 

John D’Angelico. A talented luthier, 

he opened shop in the city’s Little Italy 

neighborhood, where he built his custom, 

hand-made archtop six-strings. D’Angelico’s 

guitars became soon extremely sought after, 

but John’s early death in 1964 put an end 

to the company’s first chapter. In 2011, the 

brand was relaunched through a new owner, 

who created a line of authentic reissues and 

introduced a solid-body collection, delivering 

D’Angelico quality at an affordable price. 

Big Thanks also to 

.com 

Since its 2013 launch, this online marketplace 

focusing on musical gear has quickly become one of 

the most popular sites for musicians. Reverb allows 

both dealers and individuals to create free listings for 

instruments and other equipment, charging a sale 

fee that’s a fraction compared to other generic online 

marketplaces. The platform also offers a useful price 

guide and a very popular news section featuring, 

among other things, video reviews, tutorials and 

interviews with artists and manufacturers. 


The synths of the 

bklyn synth expo 2018 

FREE! 



Arturia 

MatrixBrute 

• An incredibly powerful analog monophonic synthesizer. 

• Features the flexibility of modular systems but offers presets 

thanks to the Matrix concept. 

• Offers three Brute oscillators, a Steiner-Parker filter and 

a ladder filter, and five analog effects. 

Arturia 

MiniBrute 2S 

• A portable, semi-modular evolution of the super-successful 

MiniBrute, the 2S is designed with the sequencing 

player in mind, with pads instead of keys. 

• Unexpected features include a second VCO; a second 

LFO; new VCO and Filter frequency modulation possibilities; 

modifier-related modulation destinations; a brand 

new, loopable AD envelope. 

• Its CV/Gate patch bay lets you reinvent and restructure it. 

Critter & Guitari 

ETC Video Synthesizer 

• Reacts to sound/music/MIDI to create endlessly mesmerizing 

visuals. 

• Create and recall presets for performances, music 

videos, etc. 

• Programming is open source and accessible through the 

optional USB WiFi adapter. 

Dave Smith Instruments 

Prophet X 

• The first Prophet to fuse samples and synthesys. 

• It powers two16-bit, 48kHz sample-based instruments 

plus two high-resolution digital oscillators. 

• 150 GB of internal samples from sound developers 8Dio, 

including a collection of acoustic and electronic instruments 

as well as edgy ambient and cinematic effects. 

• Features new, 24 dB-per-octave resonant low-pass filters 

based on a vintage design, poly step sequencing 

and two effects per layer. 




FREE! 



Elektron 

Digitakt 

• A compact drum machine/sampler with a highly flexible 

sound engine, 8 internal audio tracks and 1GB of storage. 

• Features a live-friendly sequencer, 8 dedicated tracks for 

controlling external MIDI gear, and Overbridge support. 

• 1 filter, overdrive and LFO per track + delay and reverb 

Send FX. 

Elektron 

Digitone 

• Elektron’s first foray into FM synthesis combines FM sound 

generation with a classic subtractive synthesis signal flow. 

• Multiple FM algorithms, 8 voice polyphony, 1 arpeggiator 

per track + 4 synth and 4 MIDI tracks. 

• 1 filter, overdrive and base-width filter per voice + 2 assignable 

LFOs per voice. 

• 3 Send FX (chorus, delay, and reverb) and a master overdrive 

FX. 

Expressive E 

Touché 

• Touch controller with pressure and direction both adjusting 

the outputted control signals. 

• The controller is highly sensitive and has adjustable 

sensitivity. 

• The controller can be used to control external gear or 

paired with its Lie’ software counterpart. 

• Four CV outputs allow for connection with modular Eurorack 

equipment. 

IK Multimedia 

Uno 

• IK Multimedia’s entry in the hardware synthesizer world 

is a collaboration with Italian boutique synth-maker 

Soundmachines. 

• Portable, monophonic, true analog synth with 2 VCOs, 

noise generator, resonant multimode VCF and VCA. 

• 2-pole OTA-based analog resonant sweepable multimode 

filter with LPF, HPF and BPF. 

• Custom-designed, dual-stage overdrive and flexible LFO 

section. 


SYNTH GIVEAWAYS (worth thousands!) – Did you know that most companies participating in our Synth Expo 

also agree to do an online synth giveaway? You can find the full list here: bit.ly/BKGiveaways. 

KORG 

Prologue 

• Powerful polyphonic analog synthesizer with 8 or 16 

multitimbral voices and 49 or 61 keys options. 

• Puts the analog circuits of the minilog through newly developed 

digital multi engine and powerful DSP-based effects. 

• Open Interface for user-created oscillators and effects, 

Bi-timbre support and flexible arpeggiator. 

KORG 

minilogue 

• Four-voice analog synth that delivers polyphony and full 

programmability at a very affordable price. 

• 16-step polyphonic note and motion sequencer. 

• Intuitive layout and inspiring effects section including a 

tape-style echo and ring modulator. 

Malekko 

Manther 

• A tabletop monosynth with an analog signal path, an 

advanced 64-step digital sequencer, and onboard delay. 

• The Source Mixer allows for total control over the 

Square, Triangle, Saw, Tri Shape, Noise and Sub levels 

and waveforms also include individual outputs. 

• Each step of the sequencer can be automated across 

all main features and all automation saved within a total 

of 64 presets. 

• An intuitive menu offers additional control and setup of 

the more complex features. 

MOOG 

GrandMother 

• New, semi-modular analog synth inspired by classic 

Moog designs of the ’60s and ’70s. 

• Features built-in arpeggiator, sequencer, and spring 

reverb tank. 

• 41 patch points, including input to process external sounds. 

• Beginner-proof intuitive when used without patches. 




FREE! 



Native Instruments 

Maschine MK3 

• A groove production control surface now sporting a 

24-bit/96kHz USB 2.0 audio interface with included 

sounds and samples. 

• User-friendly layout and seamless DAW integration. 

• MK3 has a more intuitive interface, larger pads, and it’s 

more expressive and fun with the Smart Strip function. 

Novation 

MiniNova 

• A tough and compact 37 key mini synth with 18 note 

polyphony. 

• 8 Animate buttons to trigger performance functions. 

• VocalTune Vocoder for robotic and iconic vocals. 

• 5 effects slot per voice with 20 digital waveforms and 

36 wavetables. 

Novation 

Circuit Mono Station 

• A powerful sequencer and synthesizer with a fully analog 

sound engine. 

• Three sequencer tracks and 32 velocity sensitive RGB pads. 

• Monophonic and paraphonic modes. 

• Adaptable modulation system with a 4x8 modulation 

matrix for complex alteration and routing. 

Novation 

Peak 

• 8-voice polyphonic synthesizer with three numerically 

controlled Oxford Oscillators. 

• Each oscillator has traditional wave shapes plus up to 17 

digital wavetables. 

• 16 slot modulation matrix plus 16 direct assignments 

controlled from the front panel. 

• Features a multi-mode filter, built in effects, arpeggiator, 

and CV input. 


The Organelle combines playful and 

intuitive controls with a powerful sound 

engine: perfect for experimenting with 

new ways of making music! 

The ETC reacts to music and MIDI 

to create mesmerizing visuals. 

It’s great for live visuals, music videos, 

and programming your own graphics! 

www.critterandguitari.com



FREE! 



Pioneer DJ 

Toraiz SP-16 Sampler 

• A sampler and step sequencer created with DJs and producers 

in mind. 

• It features analogue filters by the Dave Smith (the same 

found in the Prophet 6). 

• Powerful tool both in the studio and on a stage, thanks to 

its 16, multi-colored, velocity sensitive touch pads. 

Pioneer DJ 

Toraiz AS-1 

• A monophonic analog synthesizer with touchpad-style 

keyboard and slider. 

• Driven by a fully programmable, true analogue synthesis 

engine based on the circuitry in Dave Smith Instruments’ 

Prophet 6. 

• Features 7 on-board effects from the Prophet-6 synthand 

a brand new digital distortion. 

Roland 

SE-02 

• A vintage sounding synth designed in collaboration with 

US manufacturer Studio Electronics. 

• 3 voltage controlled oscillator analog monosynth module 

with discrete analog circuitry. 

• Voltage-controlled 24dB lowpass filter, and a dual-gainstage 

amplifier. 

• Lots of high-grade knobs and switches, plus a fully featured 

16-step sequencer. 

Roland 

TR-8S 

• Combines the best of Roland’s heritage with modern 

production techniques and professional sound design. 

• Features Roland’s iconic drum sounds but also allows to 

import custom samples. 

• Designed for live performance, features two new automatable 

fill sections per pattern and the ability to lock parameter 

values to individual steps. 

• Ample choice of percussion-tuned effects and dynamics 

editing tools. 




FREE! 



Teenage Engineering 

PO-20 Arcade 

• One of the most and musical fun Pocket Operators. 

• Arcade-style samples meet Omnichord-style chord 

changes and techno-style gateable drone. 

• 16 punch-in effects such as bit crush, stutter, and delay. 

Waldorf 

Quantum 

• A flexible digital synth featuring 3 Oscillators offering four 

synthesis algorithms each. 

• Generates a wide variety of sounds from classic analog 

to experimental sequenced clusters. 

• Color-lit knobs guide the user through complex settings. 

• Features the classic Waldorf Wavetables, Granular Sampler 

with multi sampling, and the Resonator for virtual 

sound sculpting. 

Yamaha 

Montage 7 

• A hybrid synthesizer built on the legacy of the DX and 

Motif series that combines subtractive synthesis and frequency 

modulation. 

• Motion Control uses Super Knob, Motion Sequence and 

Envelope Follower to facilitate evolving sound creation. 

• Seamless sound switching lets you change performances 

in realtime without any cut-off of envelopes or effects. 

Yamaha 

Reface CS 

• A portable 8-note polyphonic synth inspired by the legendary 

CS-80. 

• Features five types of synthesis, tons of tweakability and 

onboard effects. 

• Includes phrase looper to capture songs ideas, battery 

functionality, built in stero speakers. 


THE NEXT EVOLUTION OF THE PROPHET 

SAMPLES · S Y N T H E S I S · S T E R E O A N A L O G F I L T E R S · D U A L E F F E C T S 

www.davesmithinstruments.com 

Deli - Prophet X - FINAL.indd 1 

5/17/18 11:22 AM



Eurorack 

Eurorack Expo selection curated by Three Wave Music 

2hp 

Pluck 

Conjured Circuits 

Cloak & Dagger 

• Analog filter and distortion module 

based on the ARP 2600 “post-lawsuit” 

4-pole lowpass filter. 

• Two additional “attenuverting” CV inputs 

for controlling the cutoff frequency. 

• Two independent drive circuits can 

drive the input (“pre-filter”), output 

(“post-filter”), ot both. 

• 4 Voice physical 

modeling synth 

that uses the 

Karplus-Strong 

algorithm to create 

plucked string 

sounds. 

• Dampening control 

sets the size 

of the string and 

allows for dramatic 

timbral 

shifts. 

• Decay control 

changes note 

length from percussive 

transients 

to infinite 

harp sounds. 

EVENTIDE 

Euro DDL Delay 

• 10 seconds of pristine delay 

at a sample rate up to 

192 kHz. 

• Soft saturation clipping, low 

pass filter, feedback, insert 

loop, relay bypass, and +20 

dB boost are all analog. 

• Can do looping, and has 

reverse and tap tempo 

functions. 

Expert Sleepers 

FH-2 

• MIDI/USB Midi to CV conversion 

including polyphonic and MPE 

operation. 

• MINI/Analog Clock generation 

and synchronisation, including internal 

clock (BPM or Tap Tempo). 

• LFO generation (including tempo-synced 

LFOs), arpeggiator 

and Step sequencer. 

Mutable Instruments 

Stages 

• A “Modulation Construction 

Set” that allows you to build 

from scratch the behavior of 

your modulation. 

• ASR envelope, complex 6-stage 

envelope, LFO, 4-step sequence 

or switched LFO: Stages can be 

any kind of modulation. 

• Reconfigures itself according 

to which of its gate inputs are 

patched. 

Qu-Bit 

Nebulae V2 Granular Sampler 

• A granular sampler with 5 minute 

recording buffer and stereo 

ins and outs. 

• File playback from USB flash 

drive of wav, aif, ogg, and flac 

files. 

• Supports Pure Data, Csound, 

and SuperCollider alternate 

firmware files. 

Rossum Electro-Music 

Assimil8or 

• Powerful, flexible sampling engine 

with 8 separate channels 

of sampling at variable sound 

quality. 

• 24-bit A/D and D/A conversion 

with mono or stereo sampling 

and stereo mix out. 

• Unique timbral capabilities with 

the ability to phase modulate 

samples by external analog 

signals or by other samples. 

Strymon 

Magneto 

• A stereo multi-head tape delay 

that can do a lot of other things. 

• Can function as a looper, phrase 

sampler, vintage spring reverb 

unit, phase-aligned clock multiplier, 

chaotic oscillator, zero latency 

sub-oscillator and more. 

• Adds vintage character to the 

signal through Tape Age, Crinkle 

and Wow & Flutter Knobs.

Deli #54 - Bodega, Brooklyn Stompbox Exhibit and Synth Expo 2018

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