Spaceman Effects Launches Highly Controllable 7-Mode Artemis Variable-State Modulated Filter
Spaceman Launch Day is always a mix of excitement and trepidation. But truly I’ve been less afflicted since Zak started producing more readily available Standard production variants. I wasn’t aware until I saw the head-to-head of the Sputnik III insides as to what degree the Standard and Limited editions varied. Obviously the differences are somewhat significantly more than than the knobs and enclosure treatment - and in fact the Standard varieties tend to have more of the tiny SMT component alternatives - while they do also of course still contain the key full-size components.
So the new Artemis is an entirely new variety of effect for Spaceman - while it does very slightly overlap with the Explorer Deluxe - with a sort of Phasing as one of the possible outcomes here. There are essentially two halves to the pedal - with the left being the shaping aspect of the pedal via 3 filters which help you target specific frequency clusters for modulation.
The other 5 knobs - including Resonance - define how the resulting shaped frequency content is modulated. The mini Mode knob allows you to select 7 different Modulation / LFO Modes - where the functions of the Amount, Sensitivity and Frequency knobs vary for each Mode selected. Resonance remains consistent in its function throughout.
The pedal is/was offered in 3 editions - 2 Limited : Purple Sparkle and Uranium Green Sparkle @ $369 which were largely snapped up immediately - although there were a couple on Reverb.com when I last checked. There are of course plenty of Standard editions still available @ $299.
Controls are as follows :
- High - High Pass Filter
- Band - Band Pass Filter
- Low - Low Pass Filter
- Res - Filter Resonance
- Modes, along with variable Amount, Sensitivity and Frequency knob functions :
- 08:00 o’c - Envelope Up | Amount = Mod Depth | Sens = Picking Dynamic Sensitivity | Freq = Start point of sweep
- 09:15 o’c - Envelop Down | Amount = Mode Depth | Sens = Picking Dynamic Sensitivity | Freq = End point of sweep
- 10:30 o’c - LFO Triangle Wave | Amount = Mod Speed | Sens = Dynamic LFO Speed Modulation | Freq = Start point of sweep
- 12:00 o’c - LFO Ramp Up Wave | Amount = Mod Speed | Sens = Dynamic LFO Speed Modulation | Freq = Start point of sweep
- 01:30 o’c - LFO Ramp Down Wave | Amount = Mod Speed | Sens = Dynamic LFO Speed Modulation | Freq = Start point of sweep
- 02:45 o’c - LFO Random Wave | Amount = Mod Speed | Sens = Dynamic LFO Speed Modulation | Freq = Start point of sweep
- 04:00 o’c - Static | Amount = Disconnected | Sens = Disconnected | Freq = Manual Sweep
Final Thoughts
This is actually a really cool pedal with a lot of controllability onboard and some significant versatility courtesy of its 7 modes. Compared to my typical filter pedals of choice - it has an advantage too in having that extended Frequency Filtering Section in the left-half of the pedal.
SprialCaster - Cohen Hartman's above superb demo shows just what this pedal is capable of - and there are indeed some incredible tones onboard!
You do though need to factor in the Form Factor with its extended feature set vs already established favourites - Dr Scientist Dusk and Flower Pedals Hosta - I feel each of those has its advantages too.
Where my thinking is currently at is that the Artemis is right now a 'nice-to-have' for me. I still haven't got around to acquiring the Spaceman Apollo VII - which I probably put slightly ahead on the wishlist priorities due to its earlier release. I also think I would probably want to get the Flower Pedals Hosta in first as an alternative to my Dusk - and slightly ahead in the queue for the Artemis. While I do really like what the Artemis offers - but it doesn't quite have the neatness of Dusks' smart footswtich control and onboard user presets.
I'm already having issues with pedal-chain congestion in terms of somewhat struggling to fit in further larger sized pedals into the chain. I could probably just about accommodate the Artemis - but it would need a little re-jig of the chain.
So for sure an interesting and worthy addition to many an arsenal - while I still feel I would probably get a little more use out of the compact format varieties mentioned. What say all of you?
Key Demos
