Discomfort Designs unleashes fantastic Phantom Limb 9 x Simultaneous Randomized Microloopers and Multimode Delay Multi FX pedal

On first seeing this striking pedal you get instant Chase Bliss vibes - while this is an entirely new incredibly creative sort of glitchy circuit which Microlooper-style records its input into a buffer - where 9 x ’Playback Operators’ grab snippets from a 15 second Buffer and randomly play those back at different speeds and in different vector directions. The randomisation hits once per second where the 5 Playback Operator types get fired off randomly - i.e. some are played, some are not, and every second the direction of playback flip-flops between Forward and Reverse - that is the gist of the Loop side of the pedal - while you can also press-hold that footswitch for an upto 10 second Freeze hold.

9 x Simultaneous Playback Operator Randomized Microloopers :

• 2 @ 1 x Speed
• 2 @ 2 x Speed
• 2 @ 1/2 Speed
• 2 @ Harmonic 5th
• 1 @ 4 x Speed

Once per Second a random selection of those is fired off  (some are activated, some not), and Once per second the direction flip-flops between Reverse and Forward playback - all entirely randomly of course!

The Length knob controls how much of the Buffer you access, the ’Chance’ control is kind of the random selection knob - where the more you turn it up - the more distant past (older) the snippet that gets grabbed from the buffer. For the Freeze function you can also use ’Chance’ to scan within the Buffer for interesting snippets, finally the x2 / x1 / x4 Multiplier switch allows you to extend the Buffer playback from 15 to 30, and 60 seconds.

Generally it’s the kind of effect you need to feel and experiment with - find your own path / groove in essence. There is scant documentation beyond a sort of deep dive demo - while that still doesn’t dive particularly deep into all the options - I feel it’s a device that you just need to experience and you will soon figure out mostly how it reacts - and how you can turn that into beautiful musical accompaniment! Much as you do for devices like the Chase Bliss Mood and Hologram Microcosm.

The randomized 9 x Microloopers output then gets summed and aggregated - and fed into the left-hand Digital Delay side - which has 3 different Delay Modes - Modulation, Clean Digital Delay, and continuously upward Pitch-Shifting Delay - that is controlled by Time (1 millisecond > 2000 milliseconds range), Regen (Feedback / Repeats) - and the M/C/P Mode switch. Press-holding the Delay footswitch clears out and resets the Buffer.

If you have Time under 50ms - so fairly CCW,  and are on Modulation Mode - you get really cool Chorus and Flanging type sounds!

Finally in the middle control section you have a Master Level Knob and a 3-way Band Pass / Low Pass / High Pass Filter - acting as an EQ and damping function - to help make the output more Lo-Fi and blurry essentially.

This differs from the recent Chase Bliss pedals in being a solely Mono affair (as far as I gather) - where it smartly sums and aggregates the output of the 9 Randomized Microloopers before sending that through to the Delay. And while there may be some further internal controls, - you certainly don’t get the Chase Bliss 16 x extended features and ramping dip-switches along the top edge. And so the Phantom Limb is a slightly simpler experience overall - but one with an exceptionally interesting output.

I see this Phantom Limb as being somewhat adjacent to the Chase Bliss Mood and Hologram Microcosm - and some of the Pladask Elektronisk and Drolo pedals even - and if you have and love those pedal brands - then you’re likely to love this one too.

There’s so much to like about this pedal - it’s lack of stereo ins and outs mean I would need to place it in a different position to where I have tended to deploy my Chase Bliss stereo pedals - while I’m a big fan of those sort of chirrupy-twittery-glitchy-granular sounds that the Phantom Limb generates - and this is surely a weapons grade addition into that category!

Controls - LOOP (9 x MICROLOOPERS) } Length (of Buffer < 15s), Chance (% Probability / Propensity of distant past playback, and Buffer scan), Multiplier / Extender : x2 / x1 / x4, Loop Footswitch, Press-Hold Loop Footswitch for up to 10s of Freeze); LEVEL & FILTER } Master Level, Filter Frequency, Filter Type : Band Pass / Low Pass / High Pass; DELAY } Delay Time (1ms > 2000ms), Regen / Feedback / Repeats, Delay Mode : Modulation / Clean Digital Delay / Upward Pitch-shifted Delay, Delay Footswitch, Press-Hold Delay Footswitch to clear buffer.

There’s a little more to this pedal, a few more nuances in function and playback - for which I would need to get some proper hands-on time to be able to report on it more fully. Where overall this delivers a great looking pedal with a pretty unique Multi-FX output - albeit entirely within the Mono realm.

I like everything I’ve seen and heard from this pedal to date - and will definitely be looking to get one of these in sometime soon. Oddly there are scant details on the actual Discomfort Designs website - where the main listing is on Discomfort Designs’ Reverb.com Store - where the Phantom Limb retails for $295 - with additional $45 shipping cost to the UK - plus import duties and taxes of course!

Thank you do my friend Henry Kaiser for first putting me onto this one - it’s taken a little longer than intended to fit it into the schedule, but now is as good a time as any, as they’ve just been recently re-stocked - but then gain they are in high demand!

I’ve made contact with Justin of Discomfort Designs now - and I will be looking to get one of these in, and to report on it in more detail in the not too distant future! The pedal definitely deserves a proper deep-dive write-up! While hopefully I’ve done enough here to whet your appetite!