Our first foray into the world of Discomfort Designs was their 1981 DRV-inspired Spectrum Overdrive, which we were extremely impressed with. Today, we’ve got another pedal from their lineup, one that takes overdrive, delay, bit crushing and general noise, wraps them all up into one wild package and unleashes it on the universe. The Glow Cloud Toxic Delay Device is not going to be for everyone, but for us and those of you who like to have fun and experiment….just you wait.
The Glow Cloud is not an easy machine to categorize: it will process external signals like guitars, keyboards, microphones, and drum machines or it can create complex sounds on its own. It is equal parts melodic and chaotic. Analog style, lo-fi and borderline anti-fidelity delays (courtesy of the infamous PT2399 chip) sewer pipe echoes, eerie bit-crusher memories, and tectonic disturbance noise chaos. Oh, and also some short and resonant lo-fi reverb.
The noise/oscillation features are the wildest things Glow Cloud has to offer. The echo time sweep has been set much lower than the standard delay pedal. When the Shmog control is turned up, the sound breaks up into blipping squeals and screeches. Combine this with distortion and feedback tones and a reverse decay setting and you’ve got a huge gamut and range of complex drone power.
If you’re looking for a plug-and-play type of effect, this one might not be for you. While you can make noise with it instantly, it takes a bit of finesse and patience to coax out some great sounds, especially when you mix in other pedals with it. Of course, you can also just say fuck it, plug it on and go nuts – we absolutely approve of that method as well. The sky’s the limit here with the Discomfort Designs Glow Cloud Toxic Delay Device – you’re not gonna want to miss this one in action, so be sure to check out our demo below. More info and ordering on the Discomfort Designs website as well…cheers!
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