Catalinbread Effects has unveiled the Many Worlds Phaser, an eight-stage phaser pedal that offers players the services of six LFOs plus a pair of envelope-dependent phase shift setting that respond to your picking dynamics for some auto-wah funk guitar sounds.
There is a lot going on here. What started as a pedal inspired by by vintage ‘orange box’ phasers later became informed by Hugh Everette’s quantum mechanics and then, before you know it, the design process arrived at the Many Worlds Phaser.
Catalinbread promises “classic, swirly and rich, vibe-esque” phaser sounds, vintage chew and all that good stuff, but also some truly weird sounds and the ability to take the phaser off road and, well, somewhere out of this world.
“The idea for Many Worlds began when we were experimenting with different LFO shapes for a phaser project – initially starting with the core of the classic ‘orange box’ phaser but with a number of extra features,” says Catalinbread. “This LFO framework eventually led to experiments involving the modulation of one LFO by another.
“This is where the name Many Worlds comes from – the ‘Many Worlds’ interpretation of quantum mechanics is a theory by Hugh Everette which states that quantum wave function collapse is actually the superposition of quantum states built by the decoherence of independent wave functions.”
Pretty far out. But then, this is no ordinary phaser.
The typically striking enclosure features controls for Freq/Attack, Mix, Depth/Freq2/Sens, Feedback and an eight-way LFO rotary dial that selects from the six available LFO waveforms and the envelope up and down modes.
With some of those knobs pulling double shifts, their functions warrant further explanation. Freq/Attack adjusts the frequency of the LFO, while Attack controls the low pass filter frequency when in either of the two envelope modes.
Mix performs as expected, controlling the balance of wet/dry signal. As does Feedback, thus the further you turn it clockwise the more intense the effect becomes. Finally, the Depth/Freq2/Sens knob controls the amplitude of the LFO, or, as Sens, the input gain when in envelope mode is operational, while Freq2 controls the frequency of the second LFO when in Battle Mode.
Wait, Battle Mode? Indeed, that is one of our LFO options, and it pits two independently controllable sine waves against each other for control of the phase variable. Other LFO shapes include sine, square, saw, reverse saw and triangle.
The Many Worlds Phaser can be run on a 9V or 18V DC power supply and requires at least 100m, and it is available now, priced $199. See Catalinbread for more details.
