A Challenge to Pedal Makers Everywhere

[cssbass]

Dear pedal builders,

I have a proposition of for you. Isn't it about time some new effects were created? Not just new takes or versions on other effects, but a new kind of effect entirely. That means it can't be a flange, chorus, vibrato, phaser, delay, fuzz, overdrive, distortion, filter, delay, reverb, ring mod, octave, compressor or whatever. I want an entirely new kind of effect, something we've never seen before. I'm sure the guitar and bass community would appreciate you if you could do it.

Thank you,
A Bass Player

[insomniac2295]

You can only alter a sound wave so many ways. The key comes from different pedal combinations.

[bassbrad]

What's the prize?

[cssbass]

Originally Posted by bassbrad

What's the prize?

The admiration and purchases from builders and musicians the world over.

[wolffman]

red panda labs particle

[Jared Lash]

Originally Posted by cssbass

The admiration and purchases from builders and musicians the world over.

I understand this is a bit tongue in cheek, but there a couple harsh truths to consider.

1) The fact that none of us can conceive of an ENTIRELY new type of effect speaks to exactly how hard it is to come up with something that hasn't been done before. Is there room for incredible innovation? Of course. But a wholly new TYPE of effect? I don't know.

2) Doing something completely unheard of before means that it will almost certainly be esoteric. The margins on effects building are small to begin with. To sink months or years of time into R&D for a unique pedal with limited appeal flat out doesn't make finanical sense.

Look at something like the Schumann PLL. Phase locked loop technology is many decades old, but as far as I know he WAS the first one to build a pedal incorporating it. It's an incredible little box and made all the more mythic by it's eccentric creator and it's unattainability. But imagine it was a $150 pedal that you could buy from any number of online retailers. Do you honestly think there would be a ton of people scooping them up?

Quite honestly, it's much easier to make money with an improved muff circuit fuzz than go way out on a limb with something wacky and unique. That said, the person that I think best matches the bizarre and the functional, the novel and the usable is Taylor at Iron Ether. Will he create an entirely new type of effect? I don't know. But he WILL release some of the most innovative pedals available anywhere. And they'll be more than just noisemakers. That I can guarantee.

[cssbass]

Originally Posted by Jared Lash

I understand this is a bit tongue in cheek, but there a couple harsh truths to consider.

1) The fact that none of us can conceive of an ENTIRELY new type of effect speaks to exactly how hard it is to come up with something that hasn't been done before. Is there room for incredible innovation? Of course. But a wholly new TYPE of effect? I don't know.

2) Doing something completely unheard of before means that it will almost certainly be esoteric. The margins on effects building are small to begin with. To sink months or years of time into R&D for a unique pedal with limited appeal flat out doesn't make finanical sense.

Look at something like the Schumann PLL. Phase locked loop technology is many decades old, but as far as I know he WAS the first one to build a pedal incorporating it. It's an incredible little box and made all the more mythic by it's eccentric creator and it's unattainability. But imagine it was a $150 pedal that you could buy from any number of online retailers. Do you honestly think there would be a ton of people scooping them up?

Quite honestly, it's much easier to make money with an improved muff circuit fuzz than go way out on a limb with something wacky and unique. That said, the person that I think best matches the bizarre and the functional, the novel and the usable is Taylor at Iron Ether. Will he create an entirely new type of effect? I don't know. But he WILL release some of the most innovative pedals available anywhere. And they'll be more than just noisemakers. That I can guarantee.

I wholeheartedly agree with everything you just said. But, the amount of R&D involved would be what makes me want to purchase it, knowing a lot of effort was put into the box. Also, when the effects we all talk about were invented, they were new kinds of effects. So there is always that room for innovation.

[Jared Lash]

Originally Posted by cssbass

I wholeheartedly agree with everything you just said. But, the amount of R&D involved would be what makes me want to purchase it, knowing a lot of effort was put into the box. Also, when the effects we all talk about were invented, they were new kinds of effects. So there is always that room for innovation.

I guess part of my view is that now that there are digital effects, I'm not sure how there even CAN be a new type of effect. You can already create a program to alter sound in any conceivable way. All of these complex sounds that required a huge modular synth can be replicated on a laptop with free or relatively inexpensive software. Builders can create pedals to perform those sounds in an analog fashion, but that doesn't make it a new effect type any more than the Whammy pedal was an original effect - being just a digital attempt at aping a guitar's whammy bar.

So many of the more esoteric pedals I see these days are very cool but are understandably niche products. There's certainly nothing wrong with that but it is much harder to be a profitable, sustaining company when you create complex, involved products that have a naturally small base of customers to appeal to. I'm not arguing against innovation and I've certainly owned more than my share of wacky stompboxes and more than appreciated the people who do use innovative pedals to great effect, but it's a tough road to hoe for the builder.

[metaball]

bitcrushers are a pretty new effect. with the advent of digital processing in the last few decades the chirpy squealing fax machine like distortion was typically seen as a nuisance. now there are several flavors of pedal, modular & standalone box versions of bitcrush distortion. in a way it's an extension of fuzz, but it takes it into all new sonic territories.

WMD Fat Man & Geiger Counter - Binary Soul by Tone Factor - YouTube

i think there are other potential "glitch" fx that could be implemented, stutter fx & clipping drums like the sound a cd makes when it skips was a remix fad for a while, or perhaps some effects we use regularly in photoshop like motion blur, ripple, diffuse, maybe there is a way to apply those types of algorhythms & impose a sonic equivelant on the wave you're playing realtime. time expansion has been an editing option in DAW's for years but has yet to find it's way into a pedal. (strike that, there is the EHX Freeze). they'd all present challenges but there are possibilities for something "new".

Electro Harmonix Freeze Sound Retainer Demo on bass

[Martin89]

the freeze seems dope...

[JBTucci]

I don't know about entirely new effects - But.. I'm seeing a lot of common themes in the last few years. I'm thinking that 'in the future' these 5 things Should be standard: 9volts dc (voltage doublers), multiple wave shapes, tap tempo, expression pedal control and midi - and of course with jacks -on the top.

[Kwesi]

Originally Posted by cssbass

Dear pedal builders,

I have a proposition of for you. Isn't it about time some new effects were created? Not just new takes or versions on other effects, but a new kind of effect entirely. That means it can't be a flange, chorus, vibrato, phaser, delay, fuzz, overdrive, distortion, filter, delay, reverb, ring mod, octave, compressor or whatever. I want an entirely new kind of effect, something we've never seen before. I'm sure the guitar and bass community would appreciate you if you could do it.

Thank you,
A Bass Player

The problem I see with this is that you don't actually put forward any sort of goal. Most effects were created to fill some sort of need or meet an idea. You're basically telling pedal makers to create a need and then fill it. What could you possibly want that doesn't already exist. Personally, I can't imagine and effect being made that isn't an alteration or combination of effects that already exist. You're almost asking the equivalent of "Engineers everywhere, create a power source that's never been conceived before." Maybe it could be done but considering how much we already have available to us, it's unlikely.

[superbassman2000]

Originally Posted by cssbass

The admiration and purchases from builders and musicians the world over.

I probably won't buy it.

as Kwesi said, pedal makers need to eat--they'll make what the players want. Plus, asking for something like you are asking (creative and different!) is not terribly specific. Why don't you figure out something new and exciting and take it to a custom pedal maker and see if it can be done.

[s_mcsleazy]

well as someone whose studying electrical engeneering to get the most out the pedals he is going to build i'd like to say this.

there is only so much you can do with given components and theres only so many wave forms you can produce. ok we may be lost in a sea of fuzz but theres pretty much a fuzz unit out there for everyone at almost every price

[jwr]

Expressionator is a new idea isn't it? There's one I've never seen before.

Brian at smallsound/bigsound creates some pretty original stuff.

I think builders would need something more to go on. I agree though that most effects are redone ideas of other effects.

[s_mcsleazy]

Originally Posted by jwr

Expressionator is a new idea isn't it? There's one I've never seen before.

Brian at smallsound/bigsound creates some pretty original stuff.

I think builders would need something more to go on. I agree though that most effects are redone ideas of other effects.

its how the entertainment industry is run.

[robd]

This is the pedal the world really needs

[kevteop]

A bass pedal that generates an inverse wave of whatever your guitarist is playing, maybe with the output level on an expression pedal - you'd sell a fair few of those.

[caeman]

Have a need, and someone will build it.

As it stands now, there are many variations on the standard effects. No two phasers are exactly alike, for example.

[DBCrocky]

Turn up the kickass and turn down the suck.