Alexander Pedals' 4th Leap Series Edition is the expansive 10-Mode Dynaflanger Model 213

It’s somewhat interesting that with every new Leap Series release we’re getting diminishing returns on the pedal graphics. Where the #1 Space Force looked great, the Rewind was still kind of on point, and the Luminous Phase-shifter cooly wavy and glowing - for the Dynaflanger we get a tiny 4 bar strip of colour - what!

Everything else is as before - the cool little screen and 4 variable parameter knobs, 32 Presets, TRS Stereo in, Multijack action and Footswitch Ramping. A really elegant and easily controllable unit - packed with features.

I wish that its graphics weren’t quite so dull - would have been better if that block of 4 would have been extended into a sort of racing stripe. This is is not the first mis-step Alexander have made for me - I felt the Fever Pitch was incredibly dull looks-wise compared to the vibrant Syntax Error 2 - in fact I typically associate Alexander with more vibrant and colourful enclosures - but hey enough of that!

The important bit is what Flanger Algoritms we have, how they compare to the previous F.13 and F.13N editions, and how they shape up overall :

10 FLANGER ENGINES

AUTO : Deluxe automatic flanger with all of the bells and whistles. Features a wide-ranging sweep, manual control of delay time for chorus and doubling effects, and a second delay line for through-zero flanging (TZF.)

DYNA : Volume envelope controlled flanger that reacts to your playing dynamics. Envelope detector features a selectable filter to accentuate highs, lows, or full-range input. Independent soft and loud sweep controls allow for fast tweaking

DUAL AUTO : What could be better than one flanger? Two flangers of course! Dual independent units with their own sweep generators - that may be locked together or set opposite from each other using RAT2. Use MONO into one amp or STER into two

DUAL DYNA : Inspired by a certain ’pillowy sound’ - this mode connects twin flangers to the dynamic envelope sensor. One flanger sweeps up while the other sweeps down, with controls for the range of each. Use MONO into one amp or STER into two

SPIRAL : FOUR synchronized flangers that each spiral up or down forever, creating an auditory illusion like a never-ending staircase - a sort of enhanced Shepard Tone effect. Try a very slow sweep with the RESO turned way up for maximum anxiety

STEP :  Rhythmic step-sequenced flanger with eight selectable patterns. Sounds like a transforming robot toy TV show. Use MIDI commands to edit Pattern 8 and save in your presets

ECHO FLANGER : You might also call this one a poly-chorus. Up to 800ms of echo wrapped into a versatile flanger, resulting in a very radio friendly unit shifter. Flange may be placed either before or after the echo for genius tom-tom sounds

FLERB : Large hall reverb feeding into our automatic flanger. This one is great for lush dream-pop or shoegaze tones, like you might hear in a four-calendar café

FILTER SAMPLE HOLD : Flanger feeding a randomized filter for the classic 1970’s ’sample and hold’ effects. Alexander put this mode in the pedal for a very specific type of user, and you folks know who you are. Ship ahoy!

TURBO : You may notice that extreme settings of this pedal result in ’choppy’ audio, which sounded so cool that Alexander built a whole mode around it! This one runs a flanger through a variable-wave amplifier, for fade, chop, and tremolo effects. And if you don’t like the choppy audio in the other modes, turn the RESO knob down a little

So overall everything you might need from a flanger - weirdly expect a specific ’Jet’ Flanger mode - which I would have thought would have been one of the more obvious ones!

All the Leap series pedals are cool - while the aesthetics of this particular edition are a little behind the curve for me!