We were really hoping to have the new Tensor on the Red Panda board at this past weekend’s L.A. Stompbox Exhibit.
There is a lot of excitement about this pedal, in particular among experimental and psychedelic guitarists, since it plays with forward/backward looping, stretching and pitch shifting in unforeseen ways. I guess we’ll have to settle for having the Tensor’s first official video on repeat on our screen (forward AND backward!) until NAMM 2018 – check it out at the bottom of this post!
In the words of the manufacturer:
The tensor gives you live reverse and tape stop effects, pitch shifting, time stretching and hold functions you can combine in creative ways. Slow down, speed up and rewind in real time. Stretch or compress time with no pitch change. Loop, overdub, and randomly slice phrases up to 4.8 seconds. Foot switches have momentary and latching modes to inject pitch jumps, glitches, or rewind your last riff.
Features:
- Tape speed from reverse to stop to forward
- Realtime time stretch up to 4:1
- Loop time compression and stretch from 1:4 to 4:1
- Pitch shift from -2 to +2 octaves
- Intelligent randomization
- Overdub, replace, and dual buffer (next) loop modes
- Forward/alternate/reverse loop direction
- Momentary or latching foot switches
- Assignable expression pedal, CV-friendly (0-3.3V)
The Tensor™ gives you live reverse and tape stop effects, pitch shifting, time stretching and hold functions that you can combine in creative ways. Slow down, speed up and rewind in real time. Stretch or compress time with no pitch change. Loop, overdub, and randomly slice phrases up to 9.4 seconds (4.7 seconds in stereo).
Intelligent randomization adapts to the knob settings. The results range from occasional CD skips, stutters, and rhythmic repeats to random slicing and erratic pitch shifts. Both foot switches have momentary and latching modes to inject pitch jumps, glitches, or instantly rewind what you just played.
The Tensor™ is in a pedalboard-friendly enclosure with all jacks on top. All controls are immediately accessible with well-spaced knobs for live tweaking, and USB MIDI for recording and sequencing.
Listen to music written around the Tensor: Tensor Tracks on bandcamp
Features:
- Tape speed from reverse to stop to forward
- Realtime time stretch up to 4:1
- Loop time compression and stretch from 1:4 to 4:1
- Pitch shift from -2 to +2 octaves
- Intelligent randomization
- Overdub, replace, and dual buffer (next) loop modes
- Forward/alternate/reverse loop direction
- Additional looping functions via remote switch or MIDI
- Momentary or latching foot switches
- Assignable expression pedal, remote switch, remote tap, or MIDI port
- +5.5 dBu maximum input level (adjustable to +8 dBu)
- Stereo input/output (TRS)
- MIDI (USB and TRS)
- Web-based editor for editing presets and accessing hidden parameters
New in firmware version 1.1:
- Loop sampler functions (retrigger / stop / one shot) via MIDI or remote switch
- 31 presets via MIDI or remote switch
- Expression pedal assignable to any knobs
- Improved MIDI scaling for speed, time, and pitch
- Kill dry mode (always mutes dry signal)
