Dreadbox Effects Pedals

fi eld of yawing and chiming. The
Feedback control can as easily render
the BBD into sharp metallic whines
as it can deliver that extra depth to
ring out the edges of the delays. The
40ms end of the delay range pushes
the effect into the audibly echoic, and
when served with subtly it can lift an
instrument like a short reverb, but of
course it can wreak havoc if that’s
what suits.
The LFO range is in the modular
synth bracket allowing for anything
from near-tectonic modulation rates
to full on FM ringing and zinging. The
CV inputs for the Static (delay time)
and (LFO) Rate expand the Komorebi
into a deeply useful and creative
modulation effect. This doesn’t have
to take the form of chaotic atonality;
with care it can create complex
choruses and rich fl anges that will
keep you coming back.
The triangle LFO waveform will
probably do most of the heavy lifting,
but ramp up and down settings can
controls to notch the source’s tone in
myriad ways, from the slight to the
mighty. Winding up the Amount knob
towards the LFO end slowly removes
the effect of the Manual control, but
between the two poles is a gorgeous
realm of swishy phasing, providing
the LFO isn’t racing away, with
opportunity for hands-on adjustments
to highlight phrases or rhythms.
Lethargy is in fact an able
machine that’s quick to veer from
classic phasing into the hinterlands
that obsess much of the modular
synthesis community. It can do
psychedelic for days, but kicking in
the square wave LFO and spinning it
up to the FM end allows it to go fully
‘bad trip’. As the manual says, it does
get clicky with the square wave so it
may spend less time in this mode but
it’s not to be underestimated,
especially when dealing with rhythmic
sources or overtly distorted ones, as
clicks are easily lost in a sea of
inharmonic crackling.
add pulsating modulations that can
have their inevitable clicky sharp edge
tempered by rolling back the Amount
knob towards ‘Static’. Up in the FM
range, the waveforms are worth
jumping between to conjure different
(in)harmonic tones. To ice the cake,
Dreadbox have given users the LFO as
a CV output for creating synchronised
effects, providing LFOs where there
are none (eg the Kinematic) and
re-modulating itself.
Lethargy
Providing the other modulation
staple, phase shifting, is Lethargy,
which is near identical in range and
operation as Komorebi: swap the
delay time for degrees of phase shift
(Manual) and the ramp waveforms for
a square wave. Of course it is a
different effect and is possessed of its
own character, but similarly this
character is multifaceted. With the
LFO out of the picture you can
handcrank the Manual and Feedback
THE ALTERNATIVES
Fairfi eld Circuitry
Long Life £299
An oddity, much like
the Kinematic,
which combines a
parametric EQ with a
tilt and CV inputs to
create tone-shaping
and full on wah-fi lter
stylings, and some
zener diode soft
clipping on the side
fairfi eldcircuitry.com
Mu-Tron Phasor
III $279
A modulation classic
resurrected by Mr
Mu-Tron, Mike
Beigel. 4- and
6-stage phasing with
a sine or square
wave LFO and CV/
expression I/O in a
compact enclosure
mu-tron.com
Chase Bliss Dark
World $349
It may be mono but
there are two reverbs
to blend, one dark/
shimmer style, the
other a spring/plate/
hall type. Flexible
programming options
with CV/expression
input, plus MIDI
chaseblissaudio.com
Reviews | Dreadbox Effects Pedals
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