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

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.
28 the deli Spring 2018