The notion that electric guitars and synths don’t make for easy bedfellows is being challenged once again, this time by Keeley Electronics. Its new Synth-1 pedal was announced at The NAMM Show, but is now shipping.
What we’re looking at here is a guitar-triggered, single-note wave generator that can make your guitar sound like a dirty, fuzzy synth. The tone of the wave can be adjusted using the Filter control, with the lead-in time or swell dictated by the Attack knob setting. Use the Blend control to get rid of your guitar’s natural tone, and you’re good to go.
The Chaos switch enables you to thrown in more craziness, and you can also use an expression pedal to control the filter for wah-wah like control.
The Synth-1 costs $179 and can be ordered via the Keeley Electronics website, though it’s worth noting that it’s listed as ‘out of stock’ at the moment.
