Walrus Audio releases the Fable Granular Soundscape Generator Delay and Reverb in the same format as its recent Lore

Walrus Audio certainly seem to be on an innovative roll these days with another cool experimental pedal based on the same template as its Lore Reverse Delay and Reverb.

You have the same number of controls but with somewhat different parameters and a new set of 5 smart Modes / Programs.

At its core there are Dual Analog Feedback Paths controlled in turn by the Feedback and Regen knobs, and then loaded with granular delay algorithms - which also combine Modulation, Pitch-Shifting and Reverb.

To my mind this sort of puts this device into competition with the Red Panda Particle, and the Hologram Microcosm in particular - while both those devices have full stereo ins and outs, as well as onboard presets.

Controls - Feedback (1st Feedback Stage Gain), Regen (2nd Feedback Stage Gain), Mod (Wet Signal Modulation), Dry > Wet Mix, X : Grain Size / Pitch Shift Change Rate (Program V), Time : Delay Time / Granular Buffer Size, Tone (Low Pass Filter), Program : I - V, Bypass / Engage Footswitch (Trails on power-up), Tap Tempo Footswitch (Hold for Dive / Rise Clockrate).

Program / Mode :

• I. Reverse Delay into Reverse Granular
• II. Forward Delay into Octave Up Granular
• III. Analog-Style Delay into Octave Down Granular
• IV. Multi-Tap Granular into Multi-Tap Granular (Grain-Verb)
• V. Forward Delay into Randomized Pitch Granular

There’s much to like about the Fable - and Walrus Audio are exceptional at finding clever and highly musical combinations of algorithms - meaning this is very much its own thing really.

Its $299 price tag is close enough to the Red Panda Particle 2 which also has something of a size advantage.

It’s interesting that inside the pedal you have two parallel Feedback Paths - which then get combined at the end - meaning that stereo output should not be too hard as a future update.

For Glitch / Granular pedals - where a lot of what they do is pure texture - meaning I don’t so much mind that they’re mono only - as usually my Delays and Reverbs have to be full stereo. The lack of presets here for storing your favourite sweet-spots is a bit of a miss for me though.

Overal I’m really impressed with the soundscapes that come out of this pedal - and had there been stereo and onboard presets I would likely have been straight in there, as is - it’s more of a nice to have for me rather than an essential. I have other preferred pedals in this kind of category - while the Fable is definitely still very much on the radar.

I know a lot of you really enjoyed the Lore, and I’m pretty sure it’s going to be the same again with the Fable - 5 more great algorithms of a slightly different sort.

Which of you are tempted?