As narrated by John Snyder (presumably) :
"The Prismatic Wall emulates the Resonance of Sympathetic Strings, producing an effect which is somewhere between a synthesizer and reverb... The Prismatic Wall is what’s known as a Physical Modelling Synthesizer - a type of audio processor that emulates the vibrations of real objects. Here we’re using a variation on a technique called Karplus-Strong Synthesis - which uses a filtered delay line fed back upon itself to recreate the behaviour of a vibrating string. In the original Karplus-Strong Algorithm, a small burst of noise is used to effectively pluck this virtual string. Prismatic Wall contains a whole bank of these strings, and they’re set up so that any audio signal can excite them into sympathetic resonance. This is a reactive, tactile quasi-physical effect - that feels like an extension of your instrument."
You have 7 knobs and 3 push-button option sections with different modes to allow you to get a vast variety of metallic-edged, and more organic sounds. Including the 4 Tuning Modes - Single + Overtone, Natural Stacked Thirds, Stacked Fifths, and ’Chromatic’ which contains 12 voicings.
Moreover you have 3 onboard presets, and a total of 16 available via MIDI.
This is rather unique style of modulation, which I’m not aware of having been in a stompbox pedal previously - do correct me if I’m wrong on that.
In any case props to John Snyder for taking us down this incredibly intriguing tangent. This is the kind of effect I would more likely expect to come from Fairfield Circuitry or Glou-Glou even - while John really has done a superb job on this - that man is talented!
Controls - Tune (select Pitch across 4 Octaves), Mix : 100% Dry > 100% Wet, Drive (Resonator Sensitivity Saturation), Damping (Highs Roll-off CCW), Decay (Sustain), LFO Rate (Speed), LFO Amount (Intensity), Aux [Hold: Alt] : Morph 2 Settings / Scroll Presets, Tuning Mode : Single + Overtone / Stacked Natural Thirds / Stacked Fifths / Chromatic x12, Wave (Waveform) [Hold: Mod] : Periodic / Random, Presets : 1-3, Aux Footswitch, Engage Footswitch.
I feel these are well priced at $399 for such a unique effect. It’s the kind of pedal that you need to explore under your own steam as such, and find your own favourite sounds really. It is capable of being full-on and full-flavoured, as well as really subtle and delicate.
Available for preorders from the Electronic Audio Experiments Webstore - just a handful remaining in the first batch as of my writing this up. I will definitely look to get one of these in at some stage - it’s really intriguing for me - and gives me access to a whole new library of sounds! Looks like it’s already out of stock at Joe’s Pedals - where it’s priced at £429, I will have to wait until it’s back in stock then!