The new Old Blood Noise Endeavours Float pedal is such a labour of love it has a whole documentary to give us a background in the why and how. Then you hear it in the second half of the film and you understand why they have gone to the extra effort. This is looking like a filter pedal taken to the max of potential, and if you fall on the side of otherworldly with your pedal tone tastes, you will need to try this one.
Using parallel signals in a single effects pedal is a signature talent of the OBNE team and it's interesting to hear what they've done by applying it to the unsung world of filters effects here. And things can get crazy in a very good way.
Float's two filters are independently controllable with many ways to control their motion, with even harmonic tremolo and phaser sounds to be discovered. Using both filters together creates a stereo effect too. Synth players and guitarists alike can have a lot of fun here.
Each filter allows control over filter type, cutoff frequency, LFO rate, envelope sensitivity, LFO shape, resonance, and volume for a huge range of sounds to access with output in either true stereo, parallel mono, or series mono.
A minimum / maximum toggle for LFO and envelope range allows further shaping with a sync toggle to link the LFO or envelope elements of Filter 1 to Filter 2. There's even 'hidden' settings for LFO phase and envelope speed. Plus, an external expression pedal can externally control Cutoff or Rate for each of the filters.
The two independent filters can be set to either low pass, band pass or high pass. The Cutoff Frequency is the key to the action here though, which can be set to move via six different LFO shapes or through dynamic Envelope triggering.
OBNE says the sounds all this can access range from 'quacky auto-wahs, shooting sonic laser beams or organically rising and falling filter landscapes… plus a mind-bending modulation device that can become everything from a phaser, a harmonic tremolo, a choppy or bubbly step-filter or an automated synth-like sweeper'.
But there's more; if players bypass the modulation or envelope sections of Float they can focus on the dual sliders. The pedal becomes a dual-band EQ for subtle to abrupt tone shaping. Each filter has a resonance control to make things smooth or squelchy and all point in between.
A filter pedal has never sounded so exciting!
The Old Blood Noise Endeavours Float is £299 / $299. More info at oldbloodnoise.com
