In our search for new things in life, anything “borderline magic” always strikes a special cord, maybe because it awakens the child in us – that little version of us that, in all likelihood, was a lot more familiar with fun and awe than we are in our adult version.
Lee Nicolson met Jonny Arthur of New Zeland manufacturer Lightning Wave seems aware of this. Not only their pedals are extremely playful, but their videogame-inspired names and graphics also feature brightly colored lights reminiscent of sci-fi devices. As if that wasn’t “magical” enough, in the press shots they are presented floating on a deep purple background that seems stolen from a David Copperfield show!
“But what do they do”? we hear you ask. First of all, the three circuits available for sale belong to the modulation/tremolo realm of effects. Each pedal sports two footswitches, a big rubber knob referred to as “Control Dial” on the top right and a fluorescent slider on the left side.
The units’ mind blowing/borderline magic factor resides squarely within the slider, which can be used to create original waveforms that are then applied to the modulation (to “record” a waveform, simply press the knob down and start moving the fader). the slider also sets the waveform’s depth during playback.
The Control Dial, when pressed, does a very important job: IT CHANGES THE COLOR OF THE LIGHTS!!! That, actually, is not just a merely fun thing, but also signifies you are accessing a different memory bank, where you can store your presets, or subdivisions. When rotated, instead, it changes either the BPM or the pedal’s Modes.
The Tap Tempo footswitch features some extra functions related to changing sequence, changing subdivisions and mode (hold for more than 1 second).
Yes, things seem to get a little tricky with the navigation of the various options, but it’s all stuff you can learn within 15 minutes (it sure took you a lot longer to learn how to use all the weapons in Doom, the videogame…). You can find more detailed instructions here.
Check out the pedals’ videos by clicking on the thumbnails in the gallery below and meet the makers in the video interview at the bottom of the post.
