The Brand New ALABS Audio Adam Adventures Series pedal range takes budget pedals into entirely new realms of quality and innovation
I’m really proud to be supporting a small fledgling audio products brand based in Singapore - which has only been around for a couple of years or so, and was originally known for making studio quality Microphones, Wooden Earcup Headphones and Mixing Consoles. ALABS Audio’s Jinbo Hui reached out to me back in September - to ask if I would want to support the launch of their new Adam Adventures Series pedal range - and I of course said I needed to be properly impressed by those pedals for me to want to participate.
I do sometimes get criticised for not featuring enough Budget Line Pedals on this site - while I’m all about innovation and quality here really - and I’m not simply about to feature a pedal or two - just because they are cheaper than the average. There has to be something special about those pedals for me to want to be involved.
And indeed here we have that super rare combination of supremely affordable - but also genuinely innovative - and incredibly high quality and detail-oriented for such a price point. I get contacted almost daily to feature this or that pedal on my site - while I’m extremely fussy as to what I let in. Guitar Pedal X is entirely curated by myself and I need to be properly impressed by a pedal in some way to want to feature it on my site. It needs to sound really special, look great, and be really well made among myriad practical, ergonomic and esoteric criteria.
And I think ALABS are setting a new benchmark with their China-made range of 4 pedals for what can be achieved at the budget level - where they combine some incredibly smart details and genuine innovation - with elements that you don’t often see on far more expensive models.
The opening range consists of 4 Stereo Pedals - based on ALABS’ proprietary W.A.V.E. Wizard Audio Virtual Engine DSP platform - that they developed in house, the range comprises of (in order of rough signal chain placement) :
- Orbital Pitch Shifter
- NovaDrift Modulator
- TimeSlip Delay
- Cetus Reverberator
Everything about these pedals positively shouts high quality - including its really attractive and well-though-out packaging :
(Note that there was a typo on my very early ’Orbital’ box (Ornital!) - which I’ve amended here for posterity’s sake)
Each of those pedals has the following 8 Key Features / Benefits in Common :
- 9 Studio Quality Effects / Modes per pedal
- W.A.V.E. Wizard Audio Virtual Engine
- Analog Dry Through with Zero Latency
- True Full Stereo In/Out Operation (except Orbital which is M.I.S.O.)
- 32-bit floating-point DSP
- Selectable highest quality relay-based true bypass with analog buffered bypass option
- Multi-Function / Multi-Mode Footswitch - including Tap Tempo, Freeze, Expression Ramping etc.
- Infinity '∞' Explore Mode - a 5 second Gesture Control / Expression Ramping of the 4 main parameters of that pedal
- 9V DC [-] 250mA Current Draw
Funnily it was the Orbital Pitch Shifter that took the longest time to perfect - which is why its price is a touch higher than the rest. It has some of the most nuanced output - in particularly when you get into the Infinity '∞' Explore Mode Gesture Control - the fluttery output that you can get from the pedal really sounds amazing and very unique.
The Explore Mode really allows you to cleverly and finely shape the 'movement' and pattern of the output - it's a feature rarely seen on pedals - and was actually a really big deal for the recently featured Hologram Chroma Console. While it's wholly unheard of that such a feature is to be found on a $99.99 Dollar budget pedal!
Note that these 4 pedals are currently just in stock on USA Amazon - while stock should be arriving in Europe, and UK in around a month or two - December / January. For Americans all 4 pedals are available now, and there's even an -20% Black Friday promotion on if you're quick enough - simply incredibly value!
- Orbital Amazon Listing ($109.99)
- NovaDrift Amazon Listing ($99.99)
- TimeSlip Amazon Listing ($99.99)
- Cetus Amazon Listing ($99.99)
I've had these pedals on the board for a few weeks now, and I'm genuinely taken by how great these sound and function - and how easy they are to dial-in - particularly the unique algorithms featured, and currently in particular the Cetus Reverb - which is my current favourite!
The Infinity '∞' Explore Mode takes a little getting used to - in tandem with the multi-function footswitch.
Note that this is just the initial summary range overview / introduction article - I will be following this - roughly one per week - with a more in-depth feature on each pedal!
Orbital Pitch Shifter - $109.99
Controls - Rate (Max 10Hz), Detune (+100 Cents L-out, -100 Cents R-out), Dry>Wet Mix, Modes : +Oct / +5th / +4th / +3rd / Root / -3rd / -4th / -5th / -Oct, Glide / Tone knob, Toggle switch : Glide | Momentary / Tone | Latching | ∞ Explore Mode 5s Gesture Control, Footswitch : ∞ + Hold activates Gesture Control for Rate, Detune, Mix, and Tone.
This is such a fantastic Pitch Shifter - mostly competes really well with my Boss PS-6 and DigiTech Whammy Ricochet - while it doesn't cover the classic Tom Morello +2 Octaves Interval. That would be my only quibble here - drop the Root Mode and have +2Oct instead.
The pedal's function though is nothing short of marvellous - particularly after I did my ∞ Explore Mode 5s Gesture Control - it has the most amazing detailed / fluttery harmonising climb-up Pitch Shift to +1 Octave. You really need to experience this pedal to get what's so special about it.
To be fair I've mostly been operating with the ± Octave interval - a lttle bit of ±5ths too - but really 99% full octave - and is sounds properly amazing. I would really love for it to have the +2 Octaves - that would really make the pedal perfect for my preferences. While it's already pretty phenomenal as is.
Possibly the least appealing of the 4 in some ways - but actually really magical in operation for what it does. Also the Stereo out is a little lost on me here with my circa 45 pedal chain with last 1/3 in stereo typically. The Orbital needs to be at or very near. the front of your signal chain for optimal tracking - so there's never going to be a chance for me to use it MISO style. For the Meris Hedra - that has full stereo in/out - and I was able to use that pedal at both ends of the chain - while the ALABS Orbital is very much front of chain for my setup!
NovaDrift Modulation - $99.99
Controls - Rate (Max 10Hz), Depth, Dry>Wet Mix, Mode : Vibe (X = Feedback) / Chorus (X = Delay) / Multi Chorus (X = Delay) / Phaser (X = Feedback) / Filter (X = Resonance) / Rotary (X = Drum Mix) / Flanger (X = Feedback) / Tremolo (X = Symmetry) / Ring (X = Wave Shape), X Param / Tone knob, Toggle switch : Tap = X Param / Tap Tempo | ∞ Explore Mode 5s Gesture Control, Footswitch Tap : Hold for Tap Tempo | Footswitch ∞ + Hold activates Gesture Control for Rate, Depth, Mix, and Tone.
Secondary Depth Param : Rotary = % Horn Size | Tremolo = Waveshape : Triangle>Sine>Square
A really cool Multi Modulator with almost the perfect mix of algorithms / Modes.
If I were to have this all my way - I would swap out the Multi Chorus for the Boss-style Dimension Chorus, and have Harmonic Tremolo in place of the classic Amplitude Tremolo currently in place.
It really covers all the main food groups here - and I'm delighted that it has Vibe (Uni-Vibe), Rotary and Flanger - which are probably me favourites here - while I really like the Phaser too. Never been a particular fan of Ring Modulation - but that's delivered quite nicely - so overall I have no quibbles.
A little more complex in use than the others - as you need to remember what Param X does for each Mode, and for a couple of Modes the Depth function is different too - as indicated.
The ∞ Explore Mode 5s Gesture Control really comes into its own here with some incredibly manipulation of the movement of each of those algorithms - really smart!
TimeSlip Delay - $99.99
Controls - Time (Short : 20ms-1100ms | Long : 40ms-2200ms), Repeat, Dry>Wet Mix, Mode : Tape / Digital / Analog / Reverse / Warp (Chorus + Pitch Modulation) / Granule (Grains / Glitch) / Octave / Sweeper (LPF + Mod) / Swell, Tone / Mod knob,Toggle switch : Tap = Tone / Tap Tempo | ∞ Explore Mode 5s Gesture Control, Footswitch Tap : Hold for Tap Tempo | Footswitch ∞ + Hold activates Gesture Control for Time, Repeat, Mix, and Mod.
Twin Stereo Modes : True Stereo | Ping-Pong Stereo
Beat / Tap Divisions : 1/4 | 3/8
A fantastic Multi-Mode-Delay - with all the food groups present - Tape, Digital, Analog, Reverse - while as same as for the Cetus Reverb - it's the more unique Algorithms here that really excel - Warp, Granule, Sweeper and Swell in particular.
It's of course nice to have all the basics in place - but the more fun elements here really make this pedal - and there are some really good takes on some of those genres - like the Granular Delay.
Of course the ∞ Explore Mode 5s Gesture Control really comes into its own here - with manipulation of Time, Repeats and Modulation in particular - for some incredibly cool expression ramping effects!
Cetus Reverb - $99.99
Controls - Decay (Trail Length), Bright, Dry>Wet Mix, Mode : Hall / Room / Church / Spring / Plate / Swell / Shimmer / Cloudy (Floating) / Wave (Lapping Sea Shore), PreDelay / Mod knob, Toggle switch : Freeze : PreDelay | Freeze / ∞ Explore Mode 5s Gesture Control, Footswitch Freeze : Hold for Freeze | Footswitch ∞ + Hold activates Gesture Control for Decay, Bright, Mix, and Mod.
My favourite of the set - the Cetus Reverb is quite brilliant really. As with all of these - they cover the basics really well. Sure the Spring Reverb isn't particularly Drippy - but the whole second half - Plate, Swell, Shimmer, Cloudy and Wave are all fantastic - and where I tend to operate.
The 'Wave' algorithm is so cool - the proper 'surf' or technically speaking 'susurration' sound - like waves gently lapping the shore!
You have a secondary Freeze function on the Footswitch - along with the superb ∞ Explore Mode 5s Gesture Control. All 4 pedals sound really great - but the Cetus Reverb is extra special for me - and the pick of the bunch therefore.Possibly just needs the tiniest tweak to get the perfect Drippy Spring Reverb - while everything else is killer - the ambience you can create with this pedal is extraordinary. This is the one that requires the least refinements - for each of the others I would make slight tweaks when iterating a V2 - the Cetus can mostly stay as is!
Recap
As mentioned preciously - these are currently all available on Amazon - but only the North American Amazon has any stock at the moment.
Stock will be coming into further territories - including Europe and the UK - later in December and early next year :
- Orbital Amazon Listing ($109.99)
- NovaDrift Amazon Listing ($99.99)
- TimeSlip Amazon Listing ($99.99)
- Cetus Amazon Listing ($99.99)
And you can of course read up on further detail and references on the ALABS Audio Website.
Note also that I will be following up this article with an in-depth feature on each of these pedals - most likely in the order listed here - and at the rate of one a week - or through most of the month of December.
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