The Free The Tone Cosmic Wave is the latest pedal by a Japanese builder that’s probably one of the best-kept secrets of the pedalverse. A company that’s really good at making delays, and that with this new pedal officially enters the more creative niche of time-based effects within the compact case format, which is all the rage these days.
Cosmic Wave is a compact, mono digital delay with multiple filter functions (Cosmic Filter, Bandpass Filter, 3-Band EQ, Tone) that can be applied to the signal at once, and also a bit-crusher ranging from 8 to 24 bit to simulate the lo-fi resolution of older digital units.
There are knobs for Time, Mix, Feedback, and Tone and a small LCD screen that allows navigation of the presets through a bunch of push buttons and the Time knob, which in edit mode adjusts the various parameter highlighted on the screen. Two of those presets can be assigned for quick switching to the right footswitch, which also does tap tempo.
It features also a reverse delay, although it’s not immediately clear how to get that sound, probably featured in one of the presets mentioned above.
The delay time can be indicated in milliseconds or BPM and entered via tap-tempo, while the two presets can be easily switched via the right footswitch. At low time values, the Cosmic Wave can easily produce chorus and other modulation effects.
Kill Dry function, Trails On/Off and Delay Phase Inversion are other useful features.
Check out the videos of the Free The Tone Cosmic Wave below, we added it to our article about the best experimental delay pedals.
Free The Tone Cosmic Wave, Builder’s Notes
COSMIC WAVE is a compact, but epoch-making digital delay with multiple filter functions. Using high-speed signal processing with a dedicated DSP and analog & digital audio circuits we perfected over time, this compact unit attains high sound quality equal to our FT-2Y FLIGHT TIME Digital Delay and FF-1Y FUTURE FACTORY RF Phase Modulation Delay.
This unit’s tone filter can process the delay sound to have a rich tone or conversely adjust it to be far from the original sound. The proprietary COSMIC filter creates an effect sound reminiscent of outer space, adding a new color to your delay sounds. Utilizing a new method, the newly developed reverse delay succeeds in producing a smoother, more musical reverse sound.
In addition, we added a new function to adjust the number of output bits of the delay sound in 1-bit units, from smooth and high-quality 24-bit to rough 8-bit sound that contains distorted noise when the volume is lowered. You can reproduce the nuances of the delay sound used in the 1980s and 90s, and even the delay sound with the bitcrusher effect applied.
Enjoy the world of COSMIC WAVE with attractive new features.
FEATURES
• Built-in multiple filter effects including equalizer function. It is possible to apply multiple filters at the same time (Cosmic Filter, Bandpass Filter, 3-Band EQ, Tone).
• Equipped with a newly developed reverse delay.
• Equipped with output bit number adjustment function (8–24 bits).
• Equipped with a small display: Dramatically improved operability.
• High-speed effect processing performed by a dedicated DSP
• Combination of high-speed arithmetic processing with 32-bit fixed-point arithmetic and high-precision arithmetic processing with 32-bit floating-point arithmetic achieves both high quality sound and high processing speed, and provides the best performance.
• Delay time can be indicated in milliseconds or BPM.
• Tempo can be tap-entered via the footswitch.
• Presets 1 and 2 can be easily switched via the footswitch.
• Feedback Level Limit function
• Kill Dry function
• Trail On/Off function
• Delay Phase Inversion function
• Equipped with Free The Tone’s original HTS (Holistic Tonal Solution) circuit. Unlike conventional buffer circuits, the HTS circuit performs impedance conversion while drawing out the sound characteristics of the guitar and bass to the utmost limit, achieving both “high sound quality” and “low noise.” Even when the effect is off, this HTS circuit prevents the deterioration of the sound quality of the guitar and bass sounds.
