So Fractal Audio Systems has thrown its hat in the ring with its first non-modelling device / unit - the VP4 Virtual Pedalboard Multi-FX Processor - which is quite a departure for the brand.

It’s obviously gunning for Line 6 and Eventide in particular, but also looking to knock out Boss and Strymon Workstation pedals. It has several of its own advantages, but with a number of caveats too. Overall it’s well priced for what it delivers - but for my own preferences it’s still somewhat over-...

Readers of this site will know that I’ve long admired the extraordinary sound-design talents of Cohen Hartman - who’s best known through his SpiralCaster Plays Pedals YouTube Channel. In my opinion he is one of the very finest pedal demo artists there ever was. He has a way of teasing out some truly unique tones and textures from most pedals - and taking them places where others just don’t or can’t seem to venture.

He did a slew of particularly brilliant demos in the lead up to my February ...

As soon as I saw this intriguing new Artifakt format I immediately thought that it looked like some sort of hybrid crossover between Chase Bliss and Red Panda Labs. Source Audio has really gone to town here - covering off all the essential Lo-Fi manipulation elements in a single pedal - and in Stereo too! So it obviously gets a lot of love from me.

There are 7 different Effects Engines - where you really need a manual on hand for this pedal as there is so much going on, and most of the ...

There’s a reason why the above background is purple - for it indicates the provenance of this particular pedal - which is sort of based on Tom Majeski’s long discontinued Cooper FX Outward pedal - where the ONWARD extrapolates and expands on the Envelope-based sampling prowess of that device.

This is one of the simplest Chase Bliss pedals to deconstruct / decipher - while as always there are some smart hidden options and secret modes to be found here.

In effect this is a Dynamic ...

You very rarely see a Tremolo pedal without a Rate / Speed function - yet here we have exactly one such variant.

As Tremolos go this is about as simple as it gets, with just 3 simple controls at your command :

Controls - Level, Depth, Shape : Sine > Square Wave.

I can’t help thinking that this pedal could do with one or two more controls. As it is, it’s a really cool effect - but really very one note - as all you can really do here is vary the intensity of the effect.

You can ...

An interesting fact is that this collaboration almost happened several years ago, but evidently the timing wasn’t right then for various reasons. This time around though there was an added ingredient in the mix - ’Yours Truly!’ - and I was somewhat instrumental in bringing the two sides together and finally making this happen!

It’s great news for us Brits - as these Lastgasp Art Laboratories Pedals have always been somewhat beyond our reach until now.

I obviously recently covered my 9 ...

A collaboration between AC Noises and Andrea Degli Esposti from BunkerNoise using a powerful modular synth DSP for AC Noises’ first ever stereo pedal.

This is a unique confection of conventional reverb with diffused and reflected grains - essentially adding further texture and dimension to the Reverb ambience.

The clear knobs are the conventional reverb, and the mini black ones control various aspects of the Grains. That mini-knob row is then  followed by 3 switches - which set further ...

I’ve followed tkog / The King of Gear for many years now - and have had the Mini Glitch in the reference collection for quite a while - a really cool and relatively simple but impactful Micro-Sampler. I believe that first materialised properly in 2018 - where I’m aware there were a few earlier sort of prototype versions before then - while I think the final design occurred some time in and around 2018.

Around a year later, tkog then introduced its Oxford Drive - which I understand is an ...

The final arrangement for the year - all the pedals that impressed the most!