NAMM 2024: This year has already witnessed the launch of some imaginatively spec’d guitar effects pedals – hello, Keeley Muse Driver, we’re looking at you – but Aviate Audio might just have pushed the envelope a little further with the unveiling of the Multiverse Player Edition Pedal.
This is a different kettle of fish, a digital pedal that allows players to customise their electric guitar sounds via Aviate’s Audio Shop, creating their own sounds and uploading them to the pedal, or downloading third-party digital effects created by other users and developers.
It’s as though the open-source model has come for your pedalboard, and why not? Digitalisation is a rising tide that is becoming impossible to resist. The pedal follows in the wake of the Developer Edition Pedal, and is presents the Multiverse concept at a more consumer-friendly price point, with an updated enclosure and refreshed software.
“Our Multiverse pedal release in 2024 takes everything that was accomplished on the platform so far, and delivers the Multiverse experience in a package designed for all players,” said Shane Nolan, CEO, Aviate Audio.
Players can create, control and edit their digital effects on the Multiverse via the bundled Aviate Audio Effect Creator app. The pedal itself applies the DSP muscle to keep the sounds all in check, and presents you with various signal routing options – the Multiverse, for instance, can be run in stereo.
The matte black enclosure has Gain and Level dials, plus four programmable rotary controls. It’s a compact unit, but it does make room for a 1.3” OLED display – which should be bright enough to be seen under challenging stage lighting – and there are also two programmable footswitches.
What do these do? Well, they do what you tell them to do. The two LEDs on the unit are also user-assignable. Think of this as a platform for digital effects management, one that you can stick on your ‘board.
Use the accompanying software to control the effects in real-time and save presets to the pedal. The unit has MIDI and USB connections, and there are a pair of expression pedal inputs with TRS connections. A recommended MIDI adaptor is sold separately.
Aviate will launch the Multiverse Designer v1.3.0 software in February 2024, which adds IR support for players to manage their cabinet emulations. Players can browse effects over at the Audio Shop at Aviate Audio.The unit is powered by pedalboard power supply or USB. And it is priced £360/$349, available now. See Aviate Audio for more details.
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