Demiurge Instruments Perfects Aqueous Ambient Modulation with its New Compact Edition of The Great Sea Lo-Fi Modulator

I have always loved the sound of the Fairfield Circuitry Shallow Water style of Lo-Fi Modulation / Chorus - while that enclosure format was never going to be practical for use in my own pedal-chain. At the start of the year I acquired the Hungry Robot Wardenclyffe Mini - which is also superb in compact format enclosure. While I always wanted something also - more aligned to the specific Shallow Water style of modulation, and hence this version of The Great Sea is pretty much essential for me as it captures that self same atmospheric eerie aqueous ambience.

Joseph has done a quite superb job with the assembly here - and you can see just how packed the circuitboard is - where the core tone generation is courtesy of a MN3207 BBD Chip - which sounds tremendous here.

Controls - Rate, Depth, Slew, Level, Mix, Gate, Internal dip-switches : Boost (+6dB) | Pad (+6dB), Internal trim-pots for BBD and Gate.

This is a very specific style of chorusing effect which relies on the interplay of a few unusual controls. In fact on this occasion it’s necessary to have notes on each control :

• Rate : Rate of Modulation Change / Degree of Change
• Depth : Modulation Intensity
• Slew / Damp : Slope of the Modulation Signal, random pitch modulation CCW, slower and softer modulation CW
• Level : Output Volume - Unity around noon
• Mix : Dry to Wet Signal Mix
• Gate / LPG : Darker, choked and more subtle CCW, brighter, with more sustain CW, can produce some noise artefacts when fully CW

Boost and Pad Dip-switches : +6dB output for each switch - only really needed for lower output pickups, I have both switched off for my rig

BBD and Gate Trim-pots : BBD adjusts Chorusing Bias, while the Gate Trimpot adjusts the Low Pass Filter part of the Gate circuit - raising the sensitivity threshold

This effect is best described as a woozy and warbly sort of chorus - which you can actually clean up quite well and get a very traditional chorusing sound if you wish - while more fun is generally to be had in introducing more randomised movement and modulation. 

This really excels at eerie atmospheric tones - where you can go extremely sea-sick and disorienting with the output if you want to, or else clean it up for a more classic chorus sound.

Most of these Lo-Fi Modulators are chorusing derovatives and go in on that pedal slot for me (#33) - they can offer more interesting textural variations with some genuinely quirky modulations easily achieved.

Joseph’s preferred settings are Rate @ 3 o;c, Depth @ Max, Slew @ 2-3 o’c, Mix @ 12 o’c,Gate @ Max, and Level @ unity.

While for my preferences I have Rate at 10 o’c, Depth @ Max, Slew @ 4 o’c, Level @ 3 o’c, Mix @12 o’c, and Gate @ 2 o’c.

I feel this Great Sea and the Wardenclyffe Mini plus my existing choruses have me finally covered for this type of effect. Kudos to Joseph for making this as slick as it is. These are really intricate and complex builds and so the £220 price tag is really very reasonable. You need to message Joseph direct via his Instagram page if you’re interested in one of these - and he can include you for the next batch.

I obviously have an affinity with exceptional compact enclosure effects pedals - and his is one of the best in its respective modulation category - it really sounds superb!

Joseph built just 8 in this first batch, and I was lucky enough to snag one. Considering how quickly these got snapped up - I imagine more will appear soon enough. Joseph really has quite a number of amazing pedals on his roster now - and keeping up with all that demand will surely provide some interesting challenges. Highly recommended in any case!

Are any of you particular fans of Lo-Fi Modulation?

NOTE - that there is no YouTube demo for this pedal yet - so I’ve referenced Knobs’ Shallow Water and Wardenclyffe demos below as the sort of nearest match to this pedal’s output.