The pedal industry has reached new heights in the last decade. Where's it going next? Learn More on Reverb : bit.ly/3fSCvHa Rent or Buy The Pedal Movie: bit.ly/2RsiYEo Check out The Official Pedal Movie Reverb Shop: bit.ly/3wXO2uJ
One of the more outstanding trends in pedals is what I like to describe as real-time post-production effects. In other words, effects that allow for players to do in real-time and even while gigging, what they used to only be able to do in post-production. So, for instance, a reverb wash that only came in as a chord or note died out, would necessarily be a post-production effect, 20 years ago. But now it's a simple matter of plugging an expression pedal into a reverb pedal so one can do on-stage what used to be ONLY in the studio.
I've been following the pedal industry since Craig Anderton's column first appeared in Guitar Player, around 45 years ago. It was an absolute delight to meet and chat with him at Summer NAMM a few summers back. What is fairly clear is that, where a "pedalboard" used to be a free-standing wah, fuzz, and Univibe sitting on the floor, powered by batteries, it is now much larger, more complex, requiring a substantial multi-output power supply, and often some sort of relay-based switching unit. As much as Jamie Stillman is somewhat correct in his assertion that many musicians wish they could just turn one knob and get the sound they want, the reality is that the sounds they imagine getting often involve the joint functioning of more than one device. In that spirit, I think the "future of pedals" will involve more multi-pedal coordination. Some years back, the ill-fated MODFX series from Alesis provided a common bus across that pedal line, which allowed for synchronous modulation. I think that was a good idea, if a bit too early. But I think we might expect to see "expression thru" jacks on pedals, such that a player can work the one "knob" in the expression pedal, but use it to control multiple parameters on several pedals. The Chase Bliss dipswitch bank, or the apps from Source Audio and TC, are another example of allowing controls to be altered with respect to what the user wants them to do. The stompswitch is not likely to change dimensions as target for one's foot. But it wouldn't surprise me in the least if the industry collectively washes its hands of the 1/4" phone plug/jack, in an effort to fit more stuff, as well as ins and outs, into pedals. Once upon a time, we thought those Dan Armstrong extruded aluminum boxes were as small as things could ever get, but now nearly EVERYBODY has pedals in those Hammond 1590A-sized enclosures (and Henretta has gone even smaller!) We have seen multiple attempts at modular systems (I just bought an old Korg PME 40-X a few weeks back) that failed, largely because they all used proprietary buses and form factors, and declined to co-ordinate across multiple manufacturers. If company X didn't include an effect module of a certain category (e.g., phaser, distortion) that you liked enough to buy, you were kind of stuck, because nothing else commercially available would go in that slot. Again, players want complexity and comprehensiveness, but they don't want bulkiness and problematic interfaces. Perhaps the pedal industry will move towards something like Eurorack, which has thrived because multiple manufacturers have adopted the standard and no one "owns" it. Naturally, live performance can NOT use patch cables, so I would expect effect modules to adopt some sort of arrangement that allows for small in/out jacks and easy connection to a master switching controller. There will still be things on the floor, but I expect more players to use raised multi-effect racks, at waist height or higher, with programmable switch controllers.
Hi Mark, Late last year I was looking at a pedal and thinking “why 1/4”?...with 1/8” we could get so many more inputs, outputs, patch mixing, and other expression parameters in the one box,” and I was thinking all analog as well. Take the original EH Micro Synthesizer, if that used 1/8” jacks you could fit enough DPDT jacks in it for every slider pot to be controlled via expression, or multiple via dual gang expression pedals with mini external knobs to pre-set sweeps and parameters etc. As it is you could fit about four more in it on the back panel with traditional 1/4”. Theres still much to be done with traditional analog in my opinion, and I’m no electronics super genius.
@@Wolf_K Neither am I, but I slug away nonetheless. And yes, 1/8" jacks work fine for Eurorack, so why not for effects? A decade or more back, a now-defunct surplus place in town was selling these sweet black anodized 2-1/2" x 4" aluminum plates with pre-drilled holes in the corners, four for a dollar. I thought I might be able to do something with them, so I snagged a pile. Fast forward, and I made my own modular system, 12 modules to a chassis, with 4 chassis and counting. Because it's MINE, I could use whatever format I want. Moreover, because I'm an avid DIY-er, I sidestepped the traditional concerns about commercial modular systems, because I could make whatever module I wanted. If a 7th different fuzz was warranted, then a 7th fuzz got built. Using 1/8" in/out jacks and a simple DPDT toggle for bypass allows me to fit a lot of stuff on and behind each panel. It's not infinite space, but I can fit five of the 12mm Alpha pots and two toggles, on top of the in/out jacks and bypass toggle, which permits a wide-enough variety of effects to be used within the form-factor. I suppose if I wasn't so cheap, I could use those 9mm pots with the little green backs and fit even more in a module. Switching is done by non-dedicated relay switching modules with remote actuation, and several of the modules are splitter/mixers to allow for parallel processing. Naturally, patching is done via the same sort of cables one sees on Eurorack systems. The only thing stopping the industry from implementing something like this is a willingness to agree on a standard. Perhaps Eurorack has led the way.
@@markhammer643 That sounds great, Mark. I bet that would be a lot of fun! Those 9mm pots are great; the first time I saw them was on a Zvex pedal. The only DIY place that started to stock them back then was smallbear. Mouser had them, of course. The things you can do with those little 9mm pots is amazing. It opens up so many possibilities. With the Euroracks I think I’d spend more time playing the effects than the guitar and would likely just use a looped guitar phrase as a signal. Haha
@@armara70 Micheal Angelo Batio signature distortion is an awesome pedal made by Toms line and when it came out it was only like $35 now it is $45 or about. It replaces Tube Screamer totally
If the future is digital with no analog dry thru, it would be nice if pedals could have digital ins and outs (perhaps SPDIF protocol but with smaller jacks), so that only one AD/DA conversion happens before it hits your amp. Also, we need extremely fast audio chips so that total latency can be brought down to well below 1 ms. Finally, the digital headroom should be essentially infinite and oversampling should be standard practice to keep the audio pristine, even if you're completely destroying the signal with your effects :-)
I think you missed something here, the interface pedals like Singular Sound 'Aeros Loop Studio', and Poly Effects 'Beebo', are a new paradigm, or the weird Rainger FX like the 'Drone Rainger' which have gimmicks but they're mutable gimmicks often very musical and left field, and where you could trigger arpeggios with the Bananana Effects - 'Tararira', things you could only do in a DAW before. So suddenly a guitarist is able to play effects previously only available in Cycling Max ( A visual audio coding language) as effects to use in DAWS, so the bar hasn't been lowered, it has been transformed, and the new kids on the block will get their influences from DAWS and from old tech' and gaming soundtracks. It's a nice evolution.
The Pedal Industry has peaked...There's 10 of every combination of: Overdrive/Boost/Distortion/Reverb/Delay/Fuzz/Modulation. But two things that are really cool and unique are the Microcosm and EHX POG...in my opinion.
For me in music the past and the future can live together, you always reach the past in technology or inspiration and bring it to the present and you can mix it with "future" things, i love that.
i love the variety and novelty of different pedals and their variations, how they interact with each other, moving them around, turning knobs. as soon as a menu or computer is involved i’m out.
Me too! Pretty much the best thing ever. If you haven't heard the Lovepedal Rubber Chicken, it gets a crazy sweet Jerry Garcia envelope filter tone, there are some good demos of it on YT.
It could be where you have a multi-fx unit like the Helix/Axe-FX/Quad Cortex and it’s got a standard set of amps, cabs, and effects. But, it’s got room for expansion with an equal plugin like Helix does, where it’s seamless to transfer presets.The company will want you to go and buy your own additional amps, cabs and effects. You’ll have a calculator as far as how much space each one takes up so you’ll know your limit, like a hard drive. In a way like Amplitube or THu-Overloud and Helix combined. But there will still be plenty of people who love a traditional pedal board and the freedom to mix any brands they want.
Is there really no part for analogue in the future ? I dont know. Behringer still manages to make some very cheap analogue pedals. I liked EQD ' vision especially. Simplicity and smart design is very important.
we need 500 series effects units for guitar. I love rack gear but it's expensive and heavy af. It would be great to have effects I can thrown in a lunchbox with a preamp/compressor.
I think that smartphone apps will eventually be the norm. They’ll develop ones that are high-quality, modular and user friendly. Every effect/amp configuration you could possibly imagine all in your pocket.
Digitally. That's where it's predominantly going, like it or not. Modelling amps, multi-effects and DSPs in general have gotten pretty decent for quality these days (I too remember the older Line6 amps, the Helix lineup was a huge upgrade and the biggest complaint I've experienced or heard about them is people getting paralysed for choice with all of the options it has to adjust your sound rather than the sound recreation not being too great) and are only ever getting better at recreating sounds we know, in addition to that if you're interested in making your own effects it's arguably easier to experiment as you're not relying on theory or having to build a physical prototype to test, you're just adjusting code. Don't get me wrong, there's always gonna be some old school pedals as long as people can source the parts to keep 'em going or make new ones but I think the industry is going to go digital and I'm not entirely against it, I like my Helix LT.
As a guy who runs both a Helix and analog pedals, I can honestly say that modeling is 98% of the way there in terms of sound. What I like about my analog pedals more is that I can tweak them on the go without having to get into menus and presets, but I can pretty accurately replicate them with the Helix. In terms of feel, it’s hit and miss honestly. Some models feel pretty close to the real thing, but others feel wrong. Nothing to do with sound, but the way they react to your playing and other pedals. In terms of amp modeling, the Helix can sound like a great amp, but it doesn’t capture the feel and the way that amp reacts to both playing and pedals. The Strymon Iridium, another digital amp, on the other hand feels just as good as an amp and reacts just as an amp would and a part of that I think has to do with the analog jfet front end. This is where I think we’re going to be headed when it comes to amp modeling and drive/distortion/fuzz pedals, a mix of analog and digital. Imagine a fuzz face without any of the common issues such as not playing nice with buffers and not reacting well to a guitar with a treble bleed knob, maybe someone can replicate that with analog but I haven’t seen it. With digital or a mix of digital and analog I can it see it happening
@@mohammedfarija8758 Great points, one thing to note about the Helix or any modelling amp is that each of the individual effects are forever being improved upon - eventually I think we'll get there with all-digital which is why I said that's where I think the pedal world is going in the end, although I completely agree with you that we're going to see plenty of hybrid approaches until we're at that point. (I'm actually doing that with my setup now as my russian Big Muff Pi still sounds meatier for the bass stuff I play than anything in my Helix) One thing that absolutely needs improvement for modelling amps is the interfaces for adjusting them, there's only so much you can do in a pedal format for something so complex inside and that's understandable but even when you plug 'em into a PC and have the GUI controls it's still not the greatest thing to work with.
@@TheDemocrab oh I don’t think the pedal world is going to end. Yes there’s going to be a lot of do everything modelers, but I’m sure there will also be plenty of DSP based pedals coming that do one thing really well (eg the Strymon Flint is completely DSP and wipes the floor with anything in the helix). There’s going to more to choose from and designers are going to be looking to modeling to replicate components that become harder and harder to find (eg in a King Of Tone). Plus the guitar community will always have its purists who want an all analog rig. What I’m saying is I think there’s going to be more of everything, nothing is being thrown out the window. Yes certain pedals will no longer exist but distortion pedals will always have a market demand and where there is demand, surely supply will follow. In terms of the ease of use, most modelers have a long way to go, you can make an amp sound great in minutes but can tweak an amp in the helix for hours and still not get the tone you want.
Digital allows for pedals to be more feature-rich, without having to resort to a larger footprint. It also allows for some kinds of tricks that are nigh impossible to do in the analog domain, or at least require a LOT more stuff to do. People should check out the old A/DA Harmony Synthesizer ( www.premierguitar.com/gear/inside-the-a-da-harmony-synthesizer ). Forty-two chips and 14 trimmers. I had a nice chat with Christoph Kemper at NAMM a few summers back, and expressed my view that, while digital had everything else well in hand, I didn't think digital was *quite* there when it came to modelling distortion and drive. Chris disagreed, and felt it WAS there. I asked him what drive pedal he found trickiest to model. Understand that he has a GREAT poker-face, so I don't know if he was serious, jerking me around, or if he misheard the question amid the usual NAMM noise. But his answer surprised me: the Tube Screamer.
@@markhammer643 tube screamer?! well that makes a hell of a lot of sense to me. Every time I tried to copy the sound of my tube screamer with my preferred settings it just sounded wrong. I managed to ‘clone’ my Paul C Timmy, MK1 Bluesbreaker, and a Klon clone pretty well in the Helix. They sound 98% similar with the settings I use, but to me at least there’s still a feel and reactivity thing that’s still not quite there. It’s something that a player feels but a listener might not even notice. For my uses, having both an analog and a digital rig works as I use the real pedals in my home studio but I can just take the Helix with me when I gig and still get my tones without putting my pedals at risk. I do think that digital right now is fully capable of modeling an analog pedal though, but I’ve personally only seen it once. The only digital drive pedal model that I’ve played that completely nails both the tone and that elusive feel thing has been the Helix’s new Rat model, so much so that I threw my Rat off the board and replaced it with another pedal.
The future is digital, is it plugins, mini computers? No one knows but analog will die and the sad part about all this is that also means that stuff will become obsolete and vintage will be gone. Just like with computers, thing will stop running, die and be close to unfixable since the "standard" is an old design now unsupported by the new cpus, OS, or X digital components. I work in IT myself and anything programmed on hosted on a computer has an inherent entropy in how to make things, and as well as design wise. The second a pedal will not be fixable with a soldering iron by a human and require an army of programmers and/or a robot to do the soldering, pedals will become the "new computers" that will die over time, it will be a sad day for music and it is coming and we are almost there already.
@@luispereztasso I'm not against digital, but I'm phasing out everything digital up to the converters on my audio interface, personally. There's a reason people spend the bread on the real thing, it can't be beat. But financial elites are messing with the analog supply chain, because they want the population to live online, and be dependent on nothing but modern tech, and easily manipulated. May sound far fetched, but that's the "why" of it all. And I don't know any musician that would prefer a DSP version of something over an analog equivalent.
Exactly. Listening to these closet corporatist/technocrats blather on about how ‘it’s digital for us’ and “it’s more and more expensive, so really, digital is the future” and the rest of their bs is sickening. People REALLY don’t think these people will sell digital pedals at a similar price?? FOH. What’s actually necessary are businesses that make --- the various parts that, when incorporated together, produce analog pedals. What a fckin concept. But you know what the rub is?? Not only will the people we saw in this video freak TF out… but THE MUSIC MEDIA will actually leap to get behind them to talk shit and lies about “the environment” and “hidden costs” and if necessary, what “communist ogres” these dirty analog pedal makers truly are. Like SO much today, we’re being moved into a hyper-flattened reality where what’s real is only what, “name of computer corporation here” - quantum computers tell you it is. Welcome, to the machine p.s. when they talk about saving money, they’re really talking about--- is you and I and ours who would want to participate in such an endeavor as pedal making. It is ALWAYS employees that these people want out of their way. (DONT BELIEVE ME, PLEASE! For starters, search, “leans and mean” w/ regards to retail businesses).
@@41DegreesSouth Blame it on mobile phones. Typing out an articulate post, with background info, after having had time to reflect and edit, is NOT something one does on a phone. Whipping out an impulse-prompted decontextualized one-sentence zinger, on the other hand, IS something that phones lend themselves to quite nicely. Quite possible the same people, working on a laptop or desktop machine, could be more coherent than they appear here.
I consider "hardware Effects pedals" to be similar, to horses, rotary phones, firewood, bicycles, etc. In the proper, but limited setting, each one of those things can be quite useful. My HX Stomp came with over 225 Effects. They are quite good, if you spend a little time to learn how to use them. Advantages Software Effects: No wires, no parts to wear out, settings are easily saved/retrieved, they take up no space, they are "included" with Modelers, they can be updated, inexpensive/free, convenient, etc. Disadvantages to Hardware Effects: Prone to noise, wired connections, difficult to "retrieve" the same dialed in settings, breakage, size, weight, can be very expensive to purchase/repair, etc. User Interface: The ability to quickly turn physical knobs is a very big advantage of Hardware Pedals, that, and the ability to turn them on/off "Globally." It should be pretty clear that more and more, hardware is becoming software. It should also be clear that an easy to manipulate hardware user interface is a very satisfying and intuitive experience. If I were a Hardware Pedal Maker, I'd consider making a Global Hardware Pedal that could emulate all the knobs (6-10), dials, sliders found on 95%+ of pedals/effects, and have it interface via Wifi, USB, to modern Modelers, Cell Phones, and computers, such that any pedal that was selected would automatically load up and map its knobs, etc. to that "Global Hardware Pedal" interface. That's a pedal I would buy, since I already have a good Modeler.
can't beat analog ; digital is GREAT but a million options and tiny switches and mods and blah blah blah only creates paralysis. my suggestion? check out BEETRONICS!!!!!!!! my swarm is INCREDBLE, all analog. boom
@@JackNance22 Klaus talked about a "cyber pandemic" in his latest speech, so a fake hacking crisis is on the horizon. When elites use the world "pandemic", it means they're about to screw over the public big time, and jack up inflation to extract our wealth and subjugate us.
Uhhh....have ya noticed the F'n damage Germans have done throughout history!?! WW1/WW2/ the Catholic church/Germany-itself🙄/ world economic forum 💸 = THE GREAT RESET... 🇨🇳China 🖕F¥€KS the World 🌎 (but 🇩🇪draws up the plans....)
@@youeyeball Yep. We brought the worst of the Nazis to America after WWII and they started the CIA, look up "Operation Paperclip". The CIA are now the army of banking families who rule over us, hence the constant abuse of the public. Public schools, private businesses, and freedom are all going bye bye thanks to these psychopaths, and the public has been conditioned to question nothing. Sucks to say the least...
