All-Pedal Unleashes the Extraordinarily Colourful Macrodose Ultimate Envelope Filter
There has been a slew of attractive pedals being launched recently, but none I dare say quite as striking as this colourful concoction from All-Pedal. I always thought the Subdecay Prometheus DLX was the reigning king of the category - in terms of full-range envlelope filter coverage - and this has some obvious functional and topological similarities to that with still a few more options and additional controls.
I had thought my Preferred Filter Pedal selection somewhat complete by now - until presented with this new contender. I must say overall I’m really quite taken by it. The design of graphics and how they contextualise with the controls is pure genius, and this is about as comprehensive a feature set you could expect from a filter pedal - all in the optimal format - or circa vertical BB-enclosure.
If you’re wondering about the similarity to the Subdecay Prometheus DLX - that’s probably because Mr Subdecay himself - Brian Marshall - collaborated on the pedal design. It all makes sense now! Very generous and selfless of him to provide All-Pedal with an enhanced version of his own Prometheus!
Key Controls are - Warp, Frequency, Resonance, Depth, Blend, Volume, Shape and Mode - where Shape and Mode have multiple options as detailed below. Then Filter Options : Low Pass, Band Pass, High Pass. You also have dual-footswitches - including Tap-Tempo and Hold/Freeze!
There are 9 Waveform Shapes as such :
ANALOG ENVELOPE [forward & reverse]
STEP FILTER [tap tempo step filter based on 7 LFO shapes]
TRIGGER LFO [tap to trigger one LFO cycle]
MANUAL LFO [manually control LFO speed]
WARP LFO [tap tempo LFO speed with wave shape warp]
PIXILATED ENVELOPE [sample/hold envelope control]
ENVELOPE TRIGGER [envelope triggers LFO]
ENVELOPE –> LFO MANUAL [envelope drives LFO speed. Fixed sensitivity]
ENVELOPE –> LFO [envelope drives LFO speed. Variable sensitivity]
And a variety of Playback Modes
PIXELATED [Step] : 1x | 2x | 3x | 4x
TRIGGER [LFO]
MANUAL [LFO]
SLOW [Warp LFO] : 1/8 | 1/4
MEDIUM [Warp LFO] : 1/2 | 1x
FAST [Warp LFO] : 2x
Key Features & Specs
- Analog Filter with Digital Controls, Blend and Volume
- MOSFET Power Protection - optimised for 9V, but can take 18V also
- Active Volume Control - for complementing and compensating for the powerful Blend control
- Blend Control - proprietary clean boost circuit for panning between Dry and Wet Signal
- Nine Basic Shapes - Analog Envelope, Step Filter, Trigger LFO, Manual LFO, Warp LFO, Pixelated Envelope, Envelope into LFO w/ fixed Sensitivity, and Envelope into LFO w/ variable Sensitivity
- Mode Modfiers - Pixelated, Trigger, Manual, Slow, Medium, Fast
- Expression Input - Can be used with any non-envelope functions - dependent on Shape and Mode
- Tap-Tempo and Hold Footswitch
- True Bypass Footswitch
- Input Impedance 260K
- Current Draw - 60mA @ 9C DC [-]
- RRP - $325
Demos
Final Thoughts
I only got the Subdecay Prometheus DLX this year - evidently a little prematurely - as I think I would have got the Macrodose in its stead had it been available then. To my mind the Macrodose is a marginally souped up and enhanced Prometheus DLX with a much prettier 'skin'!
I think I will probably be getting the Macrodose too as the combination of aesthetics and extended range functionality really appeal to me - and I feel that a Blend Control and Active Volume are actually really decent upgrades and would make a significant difference to how I deploy the pedal.
Lack of a Volume control on a Modulation pedal often causes me problems - particularly when trying to do more experimental and unusual things - as you often get extensive volume drop under certain conditions - so the ability to fully mitigate that is essential. It's the reason why I never switched over from my CBA Warped Vinyl MKII - as I felt the Volume control was more important than the Lag that replaced it on the Hi-Fi edition - for my usage at least.
Price-point is identical for the Prometheus DLX and Macrodose at $325 - so Brian will likely be cannibalising his own output. I would certainly get the Macrodose over the Prometheus. While I'm not sure I can justify the move just yet! I do really want one though!
The Macrodose is also available from Reverb.com where it's being significantly promoted at the moment!
What do you think?
