Who here is a regular user of Granular Synthesis? Exactly. No one. Well, the Particle Granular Delay/Pitch Shifter pedal from Red Panda wants you to know all about it, and (try) to use it to your advantage in your guitar playing.
This is one of those pedals that is a bit tricky to describe on paper, as the sounds that come out of it are very rarely repeated, leading to a vast amount of random sonic gooeyness. Let’s start at the beginning: granular synthesis, as I understand it, basically takes your guitar signal, chops it into a gajillion small pieces, then re-combines them and spits them back out as different sounds. These range from smooth delays to choppy, robot-like sounds to echoey soundscapes to bass-heavy pitch shifting…and that’s just part of it. You have the ability with this thing to modulate your delay tone, produce lush, shimmering repeats, massive electronic-stutter noises…and more.
Now for the controls: The Blend, Feedback and Delay/Pitch knobs are pretty straightforward, the rest of the knobs are not. The Chop knob adjusts the length or size of the grains being chopped, while the Parameter knob controls grain density, LFO speed, direction probability, pitch shift range, time randomization and detune range, depending which mode you happen to be in. The 8 different modes you can select from make the possibilities here endless (x2). The Delay side features Density, LFO, Reverse, Pitch Shift and Random modes, while the Pitch Shift sides sports D-Tune, LFO and Density controls of its own. There’s also an Expression Pedal jack, controlled by a toggle switch which allows you to select Delay/Pitch when its in the UP position, or Parameter when its DOWN.
The Particle is an awesome sonic adventure, one that will take you to space + beyond + more space = where the hell am I? I seriously think it would be difficult to reproduce the same exact sound twice with this pedal, with all of the mode choices and the randomness of the sounds it emits. If you’ve got the cash, and want to go on a tripped-out musical journey, the Particle Granular Delay / Pitch Shifter from Red Panda is right up your alley.
Specs:
True bypass switching
Analog dry signal
Mono in/out
24 bit A/D and D/A converters
Combination of surface mount and through-hole components
White powder coated enclosure with two color screen printing
Requires 9V center negative 100 mA power supply (not included). Does not take batteries
Size: 3.7″ wide x 4.7″ long x 2.3″ tall (with knobs)
Made in USA, from circuit boards to final assembly
Submitted by Mike B, Website
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