Anasounds releases 3 New interelated Pedals for NAMM - the Ages Analog Harmonic Tremolo, Sliver Optical Tremolo and Spinner Expression Controller

Our pal Alexandre Ernandez and his team at Anasounds have come up with 3 very complementary pedals this year - all featuring some truly smart and elegant innovations and configured around the Tremolo effect. The flagship here has to be the Ages Analog Harmonic Tremolo - which has 5 controls alongside a second Tap-Tempo footswitch :

• Out (Volume)
• Depth
• Tone
• Tap-Divisions - 2/1, 4/4, 1/2, 1/3
• 2-way Rate/Depth Attack Follower switch

This is a highly dynamic Tremolo which is designed to respond to your playing dynamics - where the attack follower can either be set to impact the Rate or Depth of the Tremolo. As with all Anasounds pedals there are a number of internal trim-pots for further tweaking the pedal’s parameters.

The second Tremolo - the Sliver Optical Tremolo, is part of Anasounds’ DIY FX Teacher series, second after the Ego Driver - and where you can buy a ready-made example or assemble your own for less outlay. The Sliver has Tap-Tempo and many of the same controls as the Ages - including :

• Out (Volume)
• Rate
• Depth
• Tap-Divisions (2/1, 4/4, 1/2, 1/3)
• 3-way Wave Shape toggle working in tandem with internal switches / trim-pots

The Wave Shape Selector has 6 possibilities - including all the usual ones - Saw, Sine, Square etc. based on what you select on the internal switches and trimpots - which offer further tweaking of the output.

The final pedal is a totally new type/format of Expression Controller - seemingly somewhat based on a fidget-spinner - and where a sort of 3-bladed propellor with magnets in each blade interacts with sensors to define the control / pattern and rate of enabled devices - which in this case are the two tremolos released in tandem. There is a toggle switch at the top of the unit, along with a couple of trim-pot style screws on the surface for further tweaking the Sensor and Magnet - this is all very new, so I’m not sure of forward or outside compatibility - but I would have though this operated off a standard TRS cable like most other expression controllers. You operate the pedal essentially by kicking or striking the spinner and causing it to rotate - which sets the modulation pattern of the connected device. Build quality obviously needs to be fairly robust to sustain such prolonged application - I would imagine you would need to change ball-bearings at some stage!

All of these are actually really interesting propositions in and of themselves - and even though I have a number of favourite Tremolos already. There is something about the Ages I really like though - so we’ll see how I feel in a few weeks’ time - I’m already building up some heavy priorities for the year - meaning several of my acquisitions will need to be tactical!

In any case if you are looking for a new Tremolo you should be well served either way here.

Update! : There is some confusion as a number of the pre-production prototypes are labelled in different ways.The 4th knob will most definitely be an Envelope Detector selector with 4 positions:

• 0 = Envelope Attack Follower off
• R = Envelope Attack Follower impacts Rate (accelerates speed)
• D = Envelope Attack Follower impacts Depth (increases intensity)
• T = Envelope Attack Follower engages Envelope Filter

It’s currently not 100% clear what the central toggle switch will control - it’s variously labelled R/D (Rated/Depth), has Tap-Tempo Divisions listed or is referred to as a 3-way toggle for Waveform - Sine, Triangle, Square

We will find out when the first of the final production gets released. There will no doubt be last-minute tweaks - and I will do a follow up article then!